Flash Does Tijuana

We've been talking Flash Gordon parodies, so let's look at the Tijuana Bibles, or 8-Pagers as they were sometimes known, though that was sometimes a lie. (And, oddly, the page count didn't include the cover. Printed only on one side and flat stapled, the usual multiply by 4 rule doesn't apply to them.)

There were three of which i'm aware, and one of those was 16 pages in length - an Epic! (Your mileage may vary). In our first, Flash lures Dale into a Moon Voyage...

Obviously, that wasn't enough for I. Wantzum Tuu, and so we got the double length Azura, Queen Of Magic -

Lastly, another standard 8 page tale, Red Hot...

...but this copy later had colour added, so let's use it instead of the original black & white version -

It's a good thing that these were made before Buster Crabbe played the role in the movies, or the puns would have been unending...

art by unknown (1930s?)

The Art Of Flesh (and Friends)

We've been looking at a bit of Flash Gordon parody lately, which quite naturally leads to the most ambitious effort in that arena - Flesh Gordon. We're looking at the artwork, so we're only looking at the first movie. Flesh Meets The Cosmic Cheerleaders used no artwork for the title sequences, so they don't get to play today. But, no worries - we've got some others to join us in a bit.

But, first, from Cornelius Cole III, the title sequence artwork for -

It can be a bit difficult to look at the artwork with credits scrolling all over the place and rocket ship pokings going on, so here is the artwork from the title sequence without all them dang words hanging out blocking the view -

And thus began the film...

Of course, if one is looking at the art of Flesh Gordon, a peek at George Barr's poster is probably warranted, too -

I'm not certain that this one is by Barr as well. Certainly they followed close on the face of Flesh if it wasn't him, but i don't see his signature anywhere (look left of Dale's legs above)...

Meanwhile (okay - actually two years prior), over at the journal of used bicycle seat sniffing, Harvey Kurtzman brings us...

...but only a single "newspaper strip" to accompany the cover...

And, a few years later, from Bill Pearson, having taken over Wally Wood's pro/fanzine, Witzend...

We've already seen Wally Wood's Flasher Gordon 1 & 2 previously, but let's look at that sequel again, this time with the rough page layouts set side-by-side for comparison (and for a look at that rejected alien!) -

Wally Wood brings us the big finish, too -

artwork from Flesh Gordon (1974), Snarf #5 (1972), Witzend #11 (1978), and Naughty Knotty Woody (2007)