American publisher Mad Cave Studios new collection of the hard-to-find, beloved issues of Flash Gordon, written by Mark Schultz, drawn by Al Williamson, is available now, featuring a new cover by 2000AD artist Chris Weston.
Chris has very kindly shared various roughs and works in progress of his stunning cover with downthetubes, which we hope you enjoy…
Click the images for larger versions!
As we previously reported, Mark Schultz and artist Al Williamson paired up for a two-part Flash Gordon tale in 1995. Celebrated for its gorgeous detail and classically epic story, now the legendary specials are now being collected on their own for the very first time, alongside other collections and ongoing stories.
Offering a beautifully designed collector’s item with a new introduction, the collection features some of the best work of Al Williamson, a highly respected star of the American comics industry.
Check out Flash Gordon (1995) (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Click the images for larger versions
Since entering the world of cartooning in the mid-1980s with the science-fiction adventure series Xenozoic Tales, Mark Schultz has slowly but consistently produced a very diversified body of work. He has produced illustrations for Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories, scripted four years of Superman, composed a science guide to Genetics and DNA, created the Stormforce 10 adventure SubHuman with paleontologist Michael J. Ryan, and written the novella Storms at Sea, which he also illustrated.
Currently he scripts the comic strip Prince Valiant, and in free moments continues to work on a sequel to Storms at Sea. Flesk has been his publisher since 2005, and continues to regularly release collections of his sketches, commissions and personal works.
Al Williamson (21st March 1931 – 12th June 2010) was a highly influential American artist, whose work encompassed adventure, Western, science fiction, and fantasy. In addition to his own illustrations, he was well known for inking collaborations with major artists such as Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel, and Angelo Torres. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2000.
• Flash Gordon (1995) (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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It’s always nice to see new Chris Weston art.
There’s a bit of a Dan Dare link to Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon.
Al must have got hold of some copies of Eagle back in the 1960s when he was illustrating the King Features’ Flash Gordon comics, because there are spaceships cribbed from Dan Dare in them. There’s also at least one Frank Bellamy frame that’s been copied.
I’ve seen Dare spaceships turn up in Williamson’s work for Warren’s B&W magazines too.
You can see some Dare/Gordon examples on my blog: britishcomicart.blogspot.com
Just type Williamson into the search bar.
Thanks Jim – love your blog, always worth a visit! Here’s a direct link to Jim’s “Al Williamson” related posts!