FLASH GORDON: CLASSIC COLLECTION

DAN BARRY was born in 1923. His life-long career as a comic strip artist began in 1941 following an encounter with fellow cartoonist George Mandel who gave him his first break working on Funnies Inc. comic. Barry would go on to work for several of the major comic book publishers of the time, including Timely, Feature Comics and Fawcett on titles such as Scottie, Black Owle, Airboy, Boy King, Spy Smasher and Doc Savage. Following his national service, where he served in the Air Force, Barry returned to comics, assisting Burne Hogarth on the Tarzan daily newspaper strip before taking over the strip from 1947 to 1948. In 1951, Barry was hired to revive the Flash Gordon daily strip and eventually took over the Sunday edition too, following the death of its artist, Mac Raboy in 1967. In 1980, Dan Barry created the official poster for the Mike Hodges Flash Gordon movie. Barry would go on to draw Flash Gordon for nearly 50 years, before leaving in 1990, following a disagreement with King Features Syndicate. He went on to work as the writer and artist on the Indiana Jones comic books published by Dark Horse and died in January 1997 at the age of 74.

Don Moore was the writer of the Flash Gordon, taking over scriptwriting duties from strip creator Alex Raymond in August 1935. Moore was a former pulp editor. Raymond was the creator of several strips at the time (Flash Gordon, Secret Agent X-9, Jungle Jim) and needed Moore’s scripting assistance.

Alex Raymond is one of the most famous artists in the history of comic strips. He created Flash Gordon, Secret Agent X-9, Rip Kirby, and Jungle Jim. George Lucas has indicated that Flash Gordon was the inspiration for the Star Wars movies, and Raymond’s work has inspired decades of writers, artist, and filmmakers.

Harvey Kurtzman (1924 – 1993) was an American cartoonist, writer, editor and pioneer of comics. He is probably best known for creating the trailblazing and revolutionary humor magazine MAD in 1952 before eventually leaving the publication in 1956. However, his influence extends far beyond that legendary 28 issue run, with his work continuing to inspire generations of cartoonists worldwide.

After working for a while at advertising agency, he became an assistant to the cartoonist Alex Raymond on Flash Gordon and succeeded him on Secret Agent Corrigan. In 1940 he drew a Flash Gordon Daily strip which he stayed on until about 1944. He drew the prestigious Flash Gordon Sunday strip from 1944 until 1948. He was one of the founding faculty for the Famous Artists School. In 1969 he was elected to the Society of Illustrators’ Hall of Fame.