Big news today as King Features Syndicate and Mad Cave Studios announce a major publishing deal that will bring back the vintage Alex Raymond character Flash Gordon in a big way in 2024, in time for the character’s 90th birthday. The deal – described as a “master publishing partnership” – will see a combination of reprints, new material, plus an additional younger readers publishing line via Mad Cave Studio’s middle-grade imprint Papercutz.
According to the press release:
“King Features Syndicate, a unit of Hearst and home to some of the world’s most popular entertainment characters, today announced a master publishing partnership with Mad Cave Studios to develop a full line of new narratives, comics reprints and graphic novels starring its iconic hero Flash Gordon. The initial Flash Gordon stories are slated to be released in 2024.”
It also states:
“Under this partnership, expect thrilling escapades, imaginative worlds, and epic storytelling as Flash Gordon once again takes center stage in the world of comics and graphic novels.
“King Features and Mad Cave Studios will not only bring new and original Flash Gordon content to eager fans but will also ensure the preservation and availability of timeless classics.
“Additionally, Mad Cave Studios, through their middle-grade imprint, Papercutz, will look to introduce Flash Gordon to the next generation through a young readers program. This collaboration presents a unique opportunity to unite fans of all ages in their love for Flash Gordon.”
King Features’ Licensing Director Christina Nix Lynch said about this new partnership:
“As one of the first action heroes Flash Gordon has always been powerhouse in the comics universe. We’re delighted to have a partner like Mad Cave Studios on board who are true Flash fans as well as publishing experts. This program will bring a long-awaited, regular stream of new and legacy content to generations of readers.”
Mad Cave Studios Senior Vice President Mark Irwin said about this new deal:
“From the incredible art of Alex Raymond to the adventures of the Defenders of the Earth, and on to the cult classic Sam Jones-led film, Flash Gordon is an integral part of both the history of comics and the actual DNA of storytelling. Mad Cave and King Features are not only happy to be working together to bring Flash to our readers but also to grow the Flash Gordon legacy.”
Action scifi hero Flash Gordon was created in 1934 by Alex Raymond, at the time a staff artist at King Features, who wanted to capitalise on the success of the National Newspaper Syndicate’s major hit scifi newspaper strip Buck Rogers (created by Philip Francis Nowlan in 1929). It paid off – the Flash Gordon strip was a bumper success and spawned tie-ins and spinoffs galore. The newspaper strip was even one of the most successful comic strips in the 1930s and carried on for decades (though with declining interest as comic strips became less of a newspaper selling point). The strip ended in 2003.
It is believed that the character was an influence in the creation and design of early superheroes like Superman, Batman, and on comic serials in other parts of the world including Edgar Jacobs’ 1940s precursor to Blake & Mortimer: Le Rayon U (The U Ray, which is finally available in English from Cinebook) in Belgium, as well as Mike Butterworth & Don Lawrence’s gorgeous scifi epic The Trigan Empire in the UK, which ran from 1965 to 1982. There have been TV series, stage plays, novels, radio serials and more – including the cult 1980 movie that had its soundtrack composed by British rock band Queen. Dynamite Entertainment was the last publisher to produce Flash Gordon comics, with a handful of miniseries in the 2010s. Most recently the character had an Archie crossover in 2020 by Jeff Parker, Dan Parent and Rich Koslowski.
Flash Gordon might have trailed off in popularity from his heyday, but this news from Mad Cave and King Features could be BIG. More on this to come.
Actually, I believe the Archie Meets Flash Gordon never got published. Don’t know if it was a victim of the pandemic, or what.
(I would be delighted to be proved wrong!)
How about some proper affordable and COMPLETE collections of all the comic strip KFS characters, not just Flash but also Mandrake and the Phantom, Tim Tyler’s Luck, X9, Rip Kirby, etc. Those sundays and Dailies never have been thoroughly collected in a worthwhile manner. despite the fact that their quality is way higher than anything new that King can churn out today.
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