Reading Room CLIFF HANGER "Chapter Three: Voice of Doom"

We Have Already Seen...

...ok, that covers it!

Let's continue...

Is Cliff Doomed?

What Will Become of Jill?

Does the Madman Have a Fate Worse than Death in Store For Her?

Be Here in Two Weeks as the Non-Stop Action Continues!

Written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Al Williamson, this backup strip from Pacific Comics' Somerset Holmes #3 (1983) perfectly conveys the fun and excitement of 1930s-40s movie serials!

Reading Room: FLASH GORDON "Chapter Two: Prisoners of Molluskum"

When Last We Left Our Intergalactic Hero...

Flash, Dale, and Zarkov head for Torneo (Mongo's "City of Tournaments", to open the non-lethal Olympic-style games that replaced the annual "Games of Death".
However, Azura, Queen of Black Magic kidnaps Flash for, as yet, unknown reasons!
Flash overpowers the kidnappers and the ship crashes into the sea...

What's Azura's Plan?
Find Out...in Two Weeks!
The opening and closing illustrations by Al Williamson for this post were the inside front and back covers to this tale from Marvel Select's Flash Gordon #1 (1995).

The tale is written (and probably laid-out) by Mark (Xenozoic Tales) Schultz.

Reading Room CLIFF HANGER "Chapter Two: Claws of Death"

We Have Already Seen...

...on with the show!

Be Here...NEXT WEEK!

Written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Al Williamson, this backup strip from Pacific Comics' Somerset Holmes #2 (1983) perfectly conveys the fun and excitement of 1930s-40s movie serials!

Jones and Williamson worked on a couple of other projects together, including a short story for the Alien Worlds anthology series and the comic adaptation of the 1980 Flash Gordon movie!

Reading Room: FLASH GORDON "Chapter One: Treachery in Torneo"

Most people don't remember (or never knew) about this bit of comics history...

...when Marvel tried what Dynamite is currently doing, reviving the King Features Syndicate adventure characters in comic books!

To Be Continued
Next Week!

Of the three characters' (Flash Gordon, Mandrake, and The Phantom) series, this one was the best, featuring the one-time-only dream team of Mark (Xenozoic Tales) Schultz and Al (Do we have to tell you?) Williamson working on one of their favorite characters in a true labor of love!

Look for various "Easter eggs" and tributes to Flash Gordon history, like the spaceship on the first couple of pages, which is the one Flash, Dale, and Zarkov flew from Earth in the first Buster Crabbe movie serial!

BTW, if you want more Williamson Flash Gordon (and who wouldn't?), check out our re-presentation of his comic adaptation of the 1980 movie...

...by clicking here...

Flash Gordon: the Movie

Reading Room CLIFF HANGER "Chapter One: Jungle Peril"

It's the weekend, so, since comic book heroes will dominate the cinemas for most of the summer...

...let's revive the tradition of movie serials, but in comic book form!

Be Here Next Friday!

Written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Al Williamson, this backup strip from Pacific Comics' Somerset Holmes #1 (1983) perfectly conveys the fun and excitement of 1930s-40s movie serials!
Note: this chapter was reprinted (in b/w) in Insight Studios' Al Williamson Adventures (2003), but it's not listed on GCD, nor can I find a copy to check if the remainder of the series was reprinted in that volume.
Bonus: a photo feature about the creatives working on both the lead Somerset Holmes tale and Cliff Hanger!

As we said, be here next Friday...

Best of Reading Room RACE FOR THE MOON "Garden of Eden"

From the final issue (#3) of Race For the Moon comes a tale with spectacular Jack Kirby/Al Williamson artwork combining both realistic 1950s spacesuits and architecture and way-out technology and alien costuming.
Note that the female, Anizaar, looks a lot like Zsa Zsa Gabor in the then-current flick Queen of Outer Space, but in a kooler costume than the simple ones shown in the movie!  
Trivia: Zsa Zsa didn't play the title role! "The Queen" was Laurie Mitchell!
The story itself is a clever reworking of several science-fiction tropes common to the era (1958).
See of you can identify them all...

I dunno...while I'm certainly on the humans' side, that last panel sounded like a rather nasty threat...