Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon is the hero of a space opera adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip.

The Flash Gordon comic strip has been translated into a wide variety of media, including motion pictures, television and animated series. The latest version, a Flash Gordon television series, appeared on the United States Syfy in 2007–2008.

Creation

The Buck Rogers comic strip had been very commercially successful, spawning novelizations and children's toys.King Features Syndicate decided to create their own science fiction comic strip to compete with it. At first King Features tried to purchase the rights to the John Carter of Mars stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs; however, the syndicate were unable to reach an agreement with Burroughs. King Features then turned to Alex Raymond, one of their staff artists, to create the story. Raymond's first samples were dismissed for not containing enough action sequences. Raymond reworked the story and sent it back to the syndicate, who accepted it. Raymond was partnered with ghostwriter Don Moore (1904-1986), an experienced editor and writer. Raymond's first Flash Gordon story appeared in January 1934, alongside Jungle Jim. 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, colouring books, and toy spaceships and rayguns.

Sam J. Jones

Samuel Gerald "Sam J." Jones (born August 12, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the 1980 film Flash Gordon.

Early life

Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Sacramento, California, where he graduated from Mira Loma High School in 1972.

Career

In 1975, prior to his first screen roles, Jones appeared in full frontal nude under the alias Andrew Cooper III as the centerfold for a photo-spread in the June issue of Playgirl magazine.

He made his first film appearance in the 1979 romantic comedy film 10. His appearance in 10 allowed him to beat Kurt Russell and Arnold Schwarzenegger for his most famous role, that of Flash Gordon in the 1980 film of the same name. Jones dyed his hair blonde for this role. The film was moderately successful at the box office grossing $27.1M in North America, and $22m in the UK - double its $20M budget. However, a falling out between Jones and the producers helped to scrap the planned trilogy.

After the release of Flash Gordon, Playgirl magazine reprinted his 1975 photo-spread in their January 1981 issue, this time using his real name. He went on to play Chris Rorchek in the TV series Code Red (1981–1982). He had guest roles in other TV shows including The A-Team, Hunter, and Riptide. In 1987, he played the lead role in an adaptation of Will Eisner's comics character The Spirit. He also played the title character in the short-lived NBC sci-fi series The Highwayman. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he portrayed Johnny Valentine on the HBO series 1st & Ten.

Jones

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Flash

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Gordon

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Australia

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