Flash To Flush To Flesh

Let's look at some of the early parodies of Flash Gordon. He's one of our cultural archetypes, with his spawn still going strong. (see Star Wars, et al.) Let's not forget, of course, that Flash was the spawn of Buck Rogers. We won't be ignoring him. (Actually, we will be ignoring him today.)

There is at least one parody earlier than the ones we have here today listed for Lala Palooza in Feature Comics #32. (Don't bother with the digital golden age archives. What i've seen of #32 may have the right cover, but the interior seems to be issue #44. There is an odd superhuman in Poison Ivy reminiscent of Flash, but only in appearance.)

Conveniently enough, since we've been doing a lot of Funny Animals lately, the next earliest i've found is Flash Rabbit from All Top Comics #s 1 & 2, written by Pat Parrish (artist unknown) -

Zany #2 brought us Flush Gordon -

Whack #2 remixed the name to Flush Jordan with artwork by William (Alex) Overgard...

...and Humbug #10, Jack Davis had fun mixing it with the paranoid times and gave us Flyashi Gordonovich, Intergalactic Commissar...

...while Wally Wood was hinting towards later work over in Mad #11 with the title Flesh Garden! -

Of course, there have been many more over the years - we're only scratching into the 1950s here. But this post is getting long, so...
So long!

page art by listed creators, otherwise unknown, for All Top Comics #2 1 & 2, Zany #2, Whack #2, Humbug #10, and Mad #11 (1946, 1953, 1954, 1958)

The Truth Behind The Scenes Of Making Comics

Previously, Stan Lee showed us behind the scenes of how comics are made.

Of course, that was the "Official Version" of what happens. Today, we're going behind the scenes, deep into the world of comics, to see the dark truth of it all...

Now you know.
And, yes - this also came from Timely/Atlas/Marvel. It actually came out a few years before that booklet from The Man.

art & story by unknown for Krazy Komics #12 (1943)

Post #666 - Disney Princess & Prince Edition

Welcome to the 13th hour (locally) as we celebrate the 666th post with a quick look at Disney's under-celebrated Princess & Prince. Brother and sister - the children of Satan, the King of Hell - Damien Helstrom and Santana - Prince & Princess of Hell. When Disney bought Marvel, they ascended to Disney Princess & Prince status (just like Thor and Loki).

Though the Son Of Satan was teased the month before, both really first appeared in July of 1973 (Sell dates, not cover dates), Satana in Vampire Tales #2 and Damien in Ghost Rider #2. Damien also got his first cover that month, taking over Ghost Rider's old slot in Marvel Spotlight -

Satana didn't get her own first cover until over a year later, but finally she got a painted cover for one of Marvel's b&w newsstand magazines - Haunt Of Horror #5, where she had been appearing since, once again, issue #2.

Not that the Son Of Satan didn't get some nice covers of his own along the way...

 

...but though far fewer, Satana did covers better, either with old masters like Gil Kane (as above)...

...or with those painted covers...

Of course, like most brothers and sisters, they didn't always get along...

Both of them were known to get together with the other heroes in the Marvel universe, too...

More recently, the Marvel universe has gone 'dark' and they have seen a resurgence in the 90s and this century. So the Disney Princess & Prince are still active players, even Avengers(!), ready for their toy line. Not surprisingly, we're not going there. We're just looking at some older appearances here.

Also not surprisingly, there was fun imagery in the Son Of Satan's comics at times...

...and long before Spider-Man, Damien did...

Personally, i was always more fond of Satana's appearances in the old b&w mags...

Here's the original model sheet from Esteban Maroto that accompanied the article on her creation appearing in Vampire Tales #3 - Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Satana* (*But were too awestruck to ask)...

Let's close out for today with Satana's original short introduction from Vampire Tales #2 -

art by various for the titles shown (what?! it's the devil's post. Did you expect actual credits?)