Like the main characters in the comedy Ted, I was a big fan of the Flash Gordon movie - first for all the cool trippy visuals and Queen soundtrack, and later for the campy quality of the whole production. So, it's no surprise that I loved all the humor derived from the movie, and the scenes with Sam J. Jones really cracked me up. I'm glad he was a such a good sport and rolled with the films over the top attitude.
Here's a fun fact for you: Lorenzo Semple wrote both the Flash Gordon script and the 1966 Batman script. Camp in the '60's and later in the '80's. Factor in that Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman was developed by the same people as Batman - and there you go...
ReplyDeleteVery cool cover. I love it when SW gets connected back to its space serial roots, and the timing of the Flash movie makes this specific pairing perfect.
ReplyDeleteThere was a West End Games SW RPG book that had this big collage of villainous characters, and there was one that was clearly supposed to be Ming. I always thought that was awesome.
Another triumph!
ReplyDeleteFLASH!....Savior of the universe!
ReplyDeleteAmen, Wolfhammer! That's why I once described that film (and rightly so, as far as I'm permanently concerned) as having a child-like joy about itself. As in; everybody involved in the production knew they'd be called an EMPIRE STRIKES BACK rip-off. Especially by those too young to remember the Buster Crabbe franchise! But, they didn't care. They just had fun with it.*
ReplyDelete*Especially, Max Von Sydow as the scene-stealing (and scene-chewing) Ming the Merciless.
Thanks for doing this version, Ross. :-)
Interesting *well, to me anyway), Sam Jones was also the titular comic strip hero in the mid-'80s TV movie of THE SPIRIT, in which he actually looked like Will Eisner's character... and not like a badly reimagined version of the Shadow as Frank Miller made him.
ReplyDeleteI boycotted the Miller version because of the two unforgivable mistakes he made. 1) Needlessly ampeing up the Spirit with a Wolverine-like healing factor; and 2) they made the Octopus less of a b-t-s mastermind.*
ReplyDelete*Which, quite frankly, is why he was so much scarier in the comics. Nobody ever saw his face! He either wore a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-type mask, or he was just drawn with his hands on top of an office desk.
Cary,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a bit like Inspector Gadget's nemesis, Dr. Claw. Another character I don't remember seeing on this blog, yet.
Considering that Dr. Claw's organization had the same acronym as the one fought by Agent Tom of T.H.U.M.B. (i.e., M.A.D.), I think it'd be more appropriate for Inspector Gadget to team up with the latter. :-)
ReplyDelete