Eric Trautmann, writer
Daniel Indro and Ron Adrian, artists
Alex Ross, plotter and art director
Beautiful, photo-realistic covers and story concepts executed by others seems to be Alex Ross' stock-in-trade these days. The artist admits he works too slowly to handle the demands of being the sole artist on a monthly series. But when he does provide the art for the odd book from time to time, it is well worth the wait.
Adding to my appreciation for Ross' work is the fact that we are of the same mind on a number of areas of interest. Almost 15 years ago now, he collaborated on a series of picture-book style projects with Paul Dini focusing on Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and the entire Justice League. More recently, he worked on a two-year maxi-series featuring the Justice League titled simply Justice. All of these books revealed an underlying appreciation Ross and I have in common for the old "SuperFriends" television cartoon series.
We also share a fondness for the source material for this Flash Gordon collection -- the original Alex Raymond newspaper strips, the 1979 Filmation cartoon series and the 1980 feature film starring Sam Jones, Melody Anderson and Max von Sydow. Ross cites his goal to tell the definitive Flash Gordon story, combining elements from all the previous incarnations of the character. I can appreciate that goal, and I can see the influences of each of those sources in this collected 10-issue series from Dynamite.
I also like how Ross incorporates real-world events into the story. The Flash Gordon comic strip debuted in the 1930s, so this story is also set in those times. The evil emperor Ming's advance invasion force from Mongo comes to Earth, and the aliens ally themselves with a charismatic figure who seems to be rising in power in Europe -- Adolph Hitler. While Flash, Dale Arden and Prof. Hans Zarkov are battling Ming's forces on Mongo, there are also battles going on here on Earth, between Mongo forces teamed with Nazis fighting against a resistance at least in part made up of rebels from Mongo and Ming's rule.
There is much to like about this series, and I really do appreciate a great deal of it. I think the problem comes in with this project being a little too ambitious. Some key parts of the story seem glossed over in favor of the overarching story. For instance, when Flash and his companions first travel to Mongo, they are quickly captured. Ming takes a liking to Dale and decides to keep her for himself, tries to make use of Zarkov's scientific genius for his attack on Earth, and opts to dispose of Flash by sending him to a gladiator-style tournament. Nothing new here, that is all established lore for the characters. Flash not only defeats a few opponents in the tournaments, but over time, he gains their trust and loyalty and uses them to begin forming an army to challenge Ming's tyranny.
It is an often-repeated concept simply because it is so great. And it is great to watch. But it is missing here. In just a couple pages, we see the beginning of Flash's first experience in the arena. Then some beautiful panels of random battle scenes. And then the unity has already been achieved.
Amid all of this, we get "voiceover" dialog boxes of Flash explaining the significance of the title of this collection, "Zeitgeist," which is very well written, but it's not the rallying speeches I expected to read. And this is just one example where familiar scenes are omitted simply because they are well-known. It's understood that they happened, but they are omitted here. I wish they were still there simply because they are the moments when the hero shines.
This series includes some great scenes, some incredible action, but it is missing some key things I expect from a Flash Gordon story leaving what almost feels like the Cliff's Notes version of what should be a rousing tale. Your mileage may vary, of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment