BEACH BUM COMICS : FLASH GORDON STRANDED IN THE LOST CONTINENT !!!

I hoped you watched the Captain America 75 Years special on ABC last night. It was terrific! Included Jack Kirby's son, Joe Simon & relatives, Stan Lee, Steve Englehart, Mark Millar and a host of others recounting their personal stories. Fantastic!

Flash Gordon from the King Comics Reading Library series!

Now, back to business, King Features Flash Gordon series, beginning with #6, really opened by eyes to Reed Crandall. Sure, I'd always enjoyed his artwork in the classic Warren magazines, but seeing him bring Flash Gordon to life was a real treat.

Foreign edition of Flash Gordon with a nice painted cover!

Flash Gordon is the hero of a space opera adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. King Features turned to Alex Raymond, one of their staff artists, to create the story. The Flash Gordon strip was well received by newspaper readers, becoming one of the most popular American comic strips of the 1930s. Like Buck Rogers, the success of Flash Gordon resulted in numerous licensed products being sold, including pop-up books, coloring books, toy spaceships and rayguns. Flash Gordon is regarded as one of the best illustrated and most influential of American adventure comic strips

Flash Gordon #6
"Cragmen of the Lost Continent"
Flash Gordon, Dr. Zarkov and Dale Arden unknowingly wander upon the beautiful, but strangely terrifying valley of the barbaric Cragmen.

"The Totem Master"
A hundred snarling Cragmen scrambling up cliffs toward Flash and Dale, a hideous Mongo bird about to attack, leading them toward the Totem Master!
Both stories written by Bill (Creepy, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, The Phantom) Pearson with Reed (Blackhawk, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) Crandall artwork.
Secret Agent X-9 back-up feature written by Gary (Battle of the Planets, Mandrake the Magician) Poole.

Letters page from Flash Gordon #6. The first letter is from Margaret Thompson, could this be The Maggie Thompson from the fabulous Comics Buyer's Guide?

King Comics Reading Library #R-16 didn't include number or price on the cover.

"Cragmen of the Lost Continent" was reprinted in the King Reading Library #R-16. Flash Gordon comics were featured in #R-08 & R-16. The King Comics Reading Library were previously published stories but re-written to be accessible to younger readers or readers with limited reading skills, prepared for distribution in schools. The series was printed by Charlton and World Color Press, produced by Charlton for King Comics.

I always enjoyed the paperback reprints!

Pinnacle Books reprinted "Cragmen of the Lost Continent" in their Flash Gordon #2 On The Lost Continent of Mongo paperback. The pages are reformatted to fit the paperback format. Some editions lack the Pinnacle logo & price on the cover.

This series is a gem in my library!

Thankfully, Dark Horse's Flash Gordon Comic-Book Archives Volume 2 reprinted Flash Gordon #6 in a handsome hardcover edition, cover and all. Very Highly Recommended series.