'Flash Gordon' by Ben Turner, originally created for a special outdoor screening at the Clifton Observatory for Bristol Sunset Cinema in September.
It's a 15.25" x 22.25" 3 colour hand pulled screen print on 250gsm acid free mixed media paper, in a signed and numbered limited edition of 45 for £15.
This rendition is clearly heavily influenced by the 1980 movie version.
There was a 1980 comics adaptation of the movie, written by Bruce Jones, with art by Al Williamson. It was released as issues 31-33 of the FLASH GORDON comic series at that time, in standard newsprint and in comic book size. Sylvester Stallone had a small role in the movie, and I got a special kick out of seeing Williamson's version of Stallone.
And simultaneously, the same story was also released in an 8" X 11" collected volume with offset printing, in both paperback and hardcover editions. What I like to call the "digitally re-mastered stereo surround-sound version" of the serialized comic version.
Flash Gordon was originally begun in 1934 as a newspaper comic strip by writer/artist Alex Raymond. It was enormously popular, Alex Raymond was a suberb draftsman, whose work was beautifully rendered and continued to evolve, and was influential on the then-emerging comics industry, and you can see in comics from 1938-1942 was influential on early artists, pretty much the instruction manual for drawing adventure comics in those early days, you can see how much virtually all the artists drawing comics in those early years resemble Raymond's work.
Al Williamson, in his 2-page introduction to Volume 1 of the Kitchen Sink reprint collection of the earliest Alex Raymond strips, cites Alex Raymond as one of the greatest influences on his own work, and what a pleasure it was to draw issues 1, 4, and 5 of the comic book series (in 1966), and 31-33 adapting the 1980 movie.
Flash Gordon was also adapted into 3 consecutive movie serials, in 1936, 1938, and 1940, starring Buster Crabbe (a former Olympic swimmer in 1928) and Jean Rogers as Dale in the first two. (Replaced by Carol Hughes in the third serial.) Years ago, I paid for a DVD of the first movie serial for next to nothing, but you can watch them for free on Youtube if the urge strikes. Buster Crabbe also appeared in an episode of the 1979-1980 "Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century" TV series. Crabbe also played Buck Rogers in a 1939 serial, so if you know this, it's fun to watch this episode and see the first Buck Rogers pass he torch in playful tribute to the new Buck Rogers (played by Gil Gerard), in he second episode of the series, a 2-part episode titled "Planet of the Slave Girls".
And while the 1980 movie version of Flash Gordon was widely panned and not a great commercial success, I thought it was a consistent expansion of the original comic strip and 1936 movie serial. If you're familiar with these earlier versions in comics and film, you can appreciate it more. And I also love the movie theme song by Queen (who also did the memorable theme song for the later 1986 movie Highlander).
This rendition is clearly heavily influenced by the 1980 movie version.
ReplyDeleteThere was a 1980 comics adaptation of the movie, written by Bruce Jones, with art by Al Williamson. It was released as issues 31-33 of the FLASH GORDON comic series at that time, in standard newsprint and in comic book size. Sylvester Stallone had a small role in the movie, and I got a special kick out of seeing Williamson's version of Stallone.
And simultaneously, the same story was also released in an 8" X 11" collected volume with offset printing, in both paperback and hardcover editions. What I like to call the "digitally re-mastered stereo surround-sound version" of the serialized comic version.
Flash Gordon was originally begun in 1934 as a newspaper comic strip by writer/artist Alex Raymond. It was enormously popular, Alex Raymond was a suberb draftsman, whose work was beautifully rendered and continued to evolve, and was influential on the then-emerging comics industry, and you can see in comics from 1938-1942 was influential on early artists, pretty much the instruction manual for drawing adventure comics in those early days, you can see how much virtually all the artists drawing comics in those early years resemble Raymond's work.
Al Williamson, in his 2-page introduction to Volume 1 of the Kitchen Sink reprint collection of the earliest Alex Raymond strips, cites Alex Raymond as one of the greatest influences on his own work, and what a pleasure it was to draw issues 1, 4, and 5 of the comic book series (in 1966), and 31-33 adapting the 1980 movie.
Flash Gordon was also adapted into 3 consecutive movie serials, in 1936, 1938, and 1940, starring Buster Crabbe (a former Olympic swimmer in 1928) and Jean Rogers as Dale in the first two. (Replaced by Carol Hughes in the third serial.)
Years ago, I paid for a DVD of the first movie serial for next to nothing, but you can watch them for free on Youtube if the urge strikes.
Buster Crabbe also appeared in an episode of the 1979-1980 "Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century" TV series. Crabbe also played Buck Rogers in a 1939 serial, so if you know this, it's fun to watch this episode and see the first Buck Rogers pass he torch in playful tribute to the new Buck Rogers (played by Gil Gerard), in he second episode of the series, a 2-part episode titled "Planet of the Slave Girls".
And while the 1980 movie version of Flash Gordon was widely panned and not a great commercial success, I thought it was a consistent expansion of the original comic strip and 1936 movie serial. If you're familiar with these earlier versions in comics and film, you can appreciate it more.
And I also love the movie theme song by Queen (who also did the memorable theme song for the later 1986 movie Highlander).