Flash Gordon: The Storm Queen of Valkir Hardcover – Illustrated, October 20, 2015

The issue was as good as hoped for. Looking forward to more of the same

Nicely curated collection. I'd definitely recommend this series.

This is a gorgeous book from a stunning series. Excellent reproductions.

Received as advertised.

Without a doubt, Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon strip is a classic. It came at a time when illustrators like Foster, Sickles, Caniff, Godwin and Salinas were at the height of their game and people dutifully followed the newspaper day-to-day (or Sunday-to-Sunday) to read the adventures of their favorite hero. Today, we have to rely on reprints to find these wonderful stories. The thing is, there have been many, many reprints of the Raymond Sundays. In 1971, Nostalgia Press began publishing several excellent volumes of the Sundays first in black and white and then color. In 1990. Kitchen Sink redid the whole process. More recently, in 2011, IDW began publishing the Definitive Flash Gordon hardcovers. So, Raymond’s version of Flash is well covered from 1934-1944. In 2003, Dark Horse began reprinting the nearly 20 years of Mac Raboy’s work on Flash Gordon (1948-1967) in four books. What has long been missing is the four years from 1944-48 drawn by another accomplished illustrator, Austin Briggs. Those episodes have rarely been collected and this volume finally brings together all of Briggs’ stories together in one place... save the first story in the last Titan volume (and volume 4 of the IDW series).The stories themselves were not high literature. More often than not, they involved Flash landing in some new kingdom of Mongo during his quest (during these years) to battle Kang, the son of the emperor Ming who Flash vanquished in earlier stories. Invariably, along the way, Flash encountered beautiful Queens (who first fall in love with him, making Dale jealous) or egotistical Kings fearful that Flash will usurp them. They then imprisoned him, pitted him against strange alien creatures, threatened his life, put him through a deadly trial or two and then Flash is either released or escaped to move on to the next adventure. One interesting thing in these stories is Kang's development of an "atomic weapon'. Done in 1946, this has to be inspired by the first atomic bombs, and when Flash explodes them he warns soldiers to avoid the deadly radiation.Regardless of the stories, the high point of this book is the art. As the strip developed from 1944-1948, you see that Briggs art got stronger and stronger and arguably proved to be a more than able replacement for Raymond. In fact, Briggs work was popular enough that when Raymond returned from serving in the Marines after WWII, he was not asked to return to Flash; instead Briggs continued Flash and Raymond created Rip Kirby – another classic.From the notes, this book was compiled from proof sheets of the strip and while published to scale at 10 x 7" (w x h) these are smaller than originally published in the newspaper (14 x 10") and do not fill the page, leaving a 1.5” border at the top and bottom of each page . Sadly, those are my two complaints about the volume. To me, a lot of the color obscures the details of the art (I hate to say it, I’d prefer B&W), and the text is small to begin with and difficult for my aging eyes to read; thus 4 stars rather than 5. I realize that the format of these books had already been set with the first three Titan volumes, and to make the pages larger would have required a book about 3” wider, however it sure would have helped the readability of the entire line if that had been done from the start.Regardless, I am very happy Titan finally published this volume (I think it had been cancelled once). It is nice to see Briggs version of Flash! Great art; good fun. And, as I said, it’s about time.

Alex Raymond may never be surpassed as a comic strip illustrator, Austin Briggs, a very talented draftsman occasionally pinch hit for him. When Raymond joined up to fight World War II, Briggs took over the "Flash Gordon" strip full time. This collection is four stars because NO ONE could have filled Raymond's shoes, not even a gifted understudy. The change in artists is noticeable immediately. This is especially true when it comes to how Dale Arden and the other females are drawn. Raymond had a genius for the female form. He also delighted in exposing as much of the strip's heroine's skin as was legally permissible. Gone are the days of Dale exiting bathtubs and being flogged by female baddies. The older Briggs seems uncomfortable with such exposure. Still maintained, however, is the breathtaking scale and spectacle. Mongo looks and feels like a real place. Don Moore continued to write the script so there is no drop off in writing quality. Yes, it is a space opera in all senses of the word. Romance subplots spring up constantly. The strip was designed to appeal to a wide audience, kids, wives, husbands, and teens. The audience for this book no doubt skews male and older, who will find much to enjoy in this collection. The reproduction is beautiful, nicely filling the page and full of all of the lavish original color. If you read volumes 1-3 you MUST own volume four as well. If you have not purchased the previous volumes of this series, this is a wonderful introduction to the magical world of Flash Gordon.

Contains Sunday color strips from Aug. 20, 1944 to July 25, 1948.

Finally the Flash Gordon fans can complete the gap between Alex Raymond's pages and Mac Raboy's sundays! It is true that the colors are not so great as they were on the first 3 volumes,but it will be always unfair to compare any artist to Alex Raymond( maybe they should be in black and white like the beautiful Mac Raboy's books by Dark Horse?).Anyway, the edition is of great quality and a very good introduction. I didn't give 5 stars because I think there is no greater artist than Alex Raymond to pencil a comic book/sunday page.

El pedido llego en la fecha prevista y en perfectas condiciones.

The spectacular adventures of Flash Gordon often limits the extreme limits of human imagination.The children of early Seventies were not addicted to Television or internet like the children of today.There was no internet and Smartphones were completely unknown.After Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon in the summer of 1969, the world was a completely different place, and Science fiction stories and comics captured the imagination of the young. We, in India tasted the spectacular progress in science after the launch of Indian space mission and the popularity of Flash Gordon in India can be attributed to the immense popularity of science Fiction during the period from 1971-1985.Flash Gordon was daring and the Indrajal Comics made him a darling for the teenagers.The beautiful Dale Arden and the cruel Ming, the crafty Baron Daktula and the cosmic entities quickly made Flash Gordon the most admired spaceman in the subcontinent.This collection only adds to the nostalgic value of Flash Gordon and his celestial exploits and reflects the admiration of the Indians for the Comic book hero who indulged in meditation and Yoga , long before these became truly popular in the west.Atleast two generation of Indians have grown up with Flash Gordon and he remains a popular hero who virtually represented humankind in the distant planets and stars and embarked on a intergalactic mission along with his attractive love interest.Carry on Flash Gordon.

alles bestens!!!

Nice book and with my set of b&W books covering Sundays from 1949 to the end of the strip, I have it covered. Would be nice to have the last 4 volumes in colour.

congratulations to the team of titan comics!You made a remarkable work!I attens with impatience April 2016 for the next volume!