Flash Gordon #1: "Flash Gordon and the Mole Machine" (Al Williamson art)

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In the company of Dale Arden, Flash Gordon embarked for the planet Mongo in 1934. That was in the Sunday funnies in a page drawn by Alex Raymond and written anonymously by former pulp-fiction editor Don Moore. This space opera became one of King Features Syndicate's most popular features, and Raymond's illustrative art was to have a strong influence on many of the young artists who began drawing for comic books in the late 1930s and the early 1940s—Tom Hickey, Sheldon Moldoff, Jack Lehti, George Papp, Mac Raboy, Dan Barry, etc.

Flash Gordon entered comic books early in 1936 by way of reprints in King Comics. His battles with the merciless Ming, a sort of galactic Fu Manchu, unfolded in the magazine from the first issue.

In the early 1940s Dell began issuing now and then Flash Gordon reprint titles. Later in the decade came an occasional comic-book offering Flash adventures "especially written and drawn for this magazine." The artist was Paul Norris, who also began drawing the Jungle Jim newspaper page in 1948.

Harvey Publications tried reprinting the Raymond material in 1950 and 1951, giving up after a few issues. King Features experimented with publishing comic books in the late 1960s. These used original material, and the Flash Gordon book made use of such artists as Al Williamson, a devoted Raymond disciple, Gil Kane, and Reed Crandall. When King quit, Charlton took over and finally Gold Key. The final Whitman Flash Gordon comic book was printed in 1982. He reappeared briefly in 1987 as part of a team that included Mandrake and the Phantom in the TV-inspired Defenders of the Earth.

Al Williamson was the leading exponent of the heroic adventure style introduced by Alex Raymond in Flash Gordon. A genuine boy wonder, Williamson started in comic books when he was only seventeen. He moved from Heroic Comics to Toby Press's John Wayne in 1950 and had Frank Frazetta inking some of his pages. He next drew some very imaginative fantasy and science-fiction stories for such titles as Forbidden Worlds and Out of the Night. In 1952 he went to work for EC Comics.

Williamson drew a wide range of EC titles, including Weird Fantasy, Valor, and Piracy. In the middle 1960s he actually got to draw Flash Gordon, when King Features ventured into comic books. In addition, he drew the Secret Agent Corrigan strip for King from 1967 to 1980. The first artist on the strip, when it was titled Secret Agent X-9, was Williamson's idol Alex Raymond.

Over the last ten years or so of his professional career Williamson concentrated on inking, chiefly for Marvel. A recent hardcover, Al Williamson Adventures, collects some of his best earlier comic work.



Untitled Story

Credits

Cover art: Al Williamson
Script: Larry Ivie
Pencils: Al Williamson
Inks: Al Williamson

Reprinted:

• in Flash Gordon (Pinnacle Books, 1982 series) #[1] [41-333-5]
• in Al Williamson's Flash Gordon, A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic (Flesk Publications, 2009 Series)

Flash Gordon and the Mole Machine

Credits

Script: Archie Goodwin
Pencils: Al Williamson
Inks: Al Williamson

Reprinted:

• in Flash Gordon (Pinnacle Books, 1982 series) #[1] [41-333-5]
• in Al Williamson's Flash Gordon, A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic (Flesk Publications, 2009 Series)

Tales of Suspense #4: "Beware of the... Robots!" (Al Williamson art)

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This post concludes Al Williamson's contributions to Tales of Suspense.


Credits

Script: unknown
Pencils: Al Williamson
Inks: Al Williamson

Reprinted:

• in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)
  

Tales of Suspense #1: "The Strangers from Space!" (Al Williamson art)

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Yet another anthology of fantasy and horror from Marvel, Tales of Suspense began late in 1959. For the first four years of its existence, the magazine showcased yet another batch of Stan Lee-Jack Kirby gigantic rampaging monsters. They included Kraa, Sporr, Goom, Googam, and the Green Thing. But then, early in 1963, the magazine presented not one more destructive demon but a brand new superhero.

The thirty-ninth issue (March 1963) introduced "The Newest, Most Breath-Taking, Most Sensational Superhero of All... IRON MAN!" The plot was credited to Lee, the script to Larry Leiber, and the art to Don Heck. After debuting in a thirteen-page original story, Iron Man pushed the monsters aside to become the star of Tales of Suspense. Other heroes who later showed up included Hawkeye and Captain America. From #59 (November 1964) onward, Cap and Iron Man appeared in separate stories each issue. With #100 (April 1968), the magazine became Captain America. Iron Man moved into a new title, Iron Man and Submariner, for one issue and then Iron Man #1 appeared (May 1968) appeared.

Marvel used the Tales of Suspense title for a one-shot in 1995.


Credits

Script: Unkown
Pencils: Al Williamson
Inks: Al Williamson

Reprinted:

• in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

The Avengers #96: "The Andromeda Swarm!"

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While other superheroes were thinking big, Henry Pym was thinking small. Up until Ant-Man's arrival, Tales to Astonish was just another showcase for fantasy and horror tales and such Stan Lee-Jack Kirby monsters as Moomba, Vandoom, Trull, and the Creature from Krogarr. In fact, in Pym's first appearance in #27 (January 1962) he displayed no intention of ever becoming a mini-crimefighter.

Possibly influenced by the special effects in the 1957 movie The Incredible Shrinking Man, scientist Pym invented a green fluid that could shrink anything and, to be on the safe side, another green fluid that could cause the shrunken object to grow back to its original size. Pym considered these inventions "a boon to mankind!" To test the stuff, he splashed a bit of the shrinking fluid on himself. In seconds he was the size of an ant. Finding himself in his backyard, Pym wandered into an anthill and had considerable trouble with the residents until he discovered he could use judo on the most belligerent ants. Back in his lab, he used the other fluid to get back to his regular size. Tossing both fluids out, he vowed, "They're far too dangerous to ever be used by any human again!" He also promised himself never again "to knowingly step upon an anthill."

However, by Tales to Astonish #35 (September 1962) the demand for new superheroes had increased. Thinking better of his serums, Pym reinvented them. He designed a costume of "steel mesh consisting of unstable molecules which stretch and contract as his body does." He also whipped up a cybernetic helmet that allowed him to communicate with ants. As fate would have it, just as the young scientist had donned his costume for a tryout, communist agents broke into his laboratory to steal the top-secret "gas to make people immune to radioactivity" that Pym and his assistants were also working on. Returning to the anthill as Ant-Man, he recruited a large quantity of ants and defeated the spies.

The creative team behind Ant-Man consisted of Stan Lee, who thought up the character, his brother Larry Lieber, who wrote the scripts, Jack Kirby, who penciled, and Dick Ayers, who inked. Kirby was soon replaced by the dependable Don Heck. In #44 Ant-Man acquired a tiny female associate known as the Wasp. Then in #49, perhaps tired of risking getting stepped on or swatted, Pym used his growth serum to turn himself into Giant Man. Later he became Goliath and then Yellow Jacket. In each of his alter egos he was accepted for membership in the Avengers.


Credits

Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Neal Adams
Inks: Tom Palmer, Neal Adams & Alan Weiss

Reprinted:

• in Kree-Skrull War Starring the Avengers, The (Marvel, 1983 series) #2 (October 1983)
• in Avengers: The Kree-Skrull War (Marvel, 2000 series) #[nn]
• in Essential Avengers (Marvel, 1999 series) #4 [black & white] (2004)
• in Avengers: Kree / Skrull War (Marvel, 2008 series) #[nn]
• in Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers (Marvel, 2003 series) #10 (May 2010)