Flash Gordon daily strips
by Dan Barry
For many years Flash Gordon appeared only in the Sunday newspapers. An attempt was made during the 1940s to launch a daily strip drawn by Austin Briggs. It ended in 1944, when Flash creator Alex Raymond joined the military and Briggs succeeded him on the Sunday page.
It wasn't until 1951, when the great American Space Craze was just beginning, that Flash returned to the daily strips. This time, though, Flash was a full citizen of the Space Age, travelling a universe full of rockets and space stations. The strip was credited to Dan Barry, who set a consistently high standard of story and art. While Barry often used assistants for writing and pencilling, his personal stamp remained and the daily Flash Gordon is a strip well worth rediscovering.
Manuscript Press has released a softbound collection of three terrific 1950s Flash stories under the title "Star Over Atlantis." This is very nice work, and the color cover by Tom Yeates doesn't hurt at all.
Flash Gordon: Star Over Atlantis: $25