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Page
2: The Flash Gordon serial of 1938 adapted
only a few elements from the newspapers
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| The
Paralyzo Ray
existed on Mongo, but it was a room-sized device,
triggered by Dale Arden to save Flash and Zarkov
during a particularly dangerous moment. Zarkov
built a Paralyzer Gun on Mars, but he eventually
discarded the weapon. |
|
Martian Queen Azura's Death Squadrons of
1938 wore uniforms which recalled Raymond's free-flowing
Undersea Kingdom of Mongo sequence from
1936. Arch-Villain Emperor Ming was a returning
star, in both newspapers and movies. |
| The
Clay People bore a distant resemblance
to
the
underground Death Dwarves of
Witch Queen Azura's penultimate adventure
in the Sunday pages. The
realm of the Clay People was also named
Land of the Dead by Azura's troopers in
the 1938 Universal serial. Prince Barin
was in the second film too, but true to form,
he was often ineffective or unlucky. |
(Above)
Azura of Mongo faces the Death Dwarves.
(Right) Martian
Azura disappears in a cloud of smoke, escaping
her captors in the Land of the Dead.
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 |
| Queen
Azura redeemed herself in both Saturday serial
and Sunday strip.
The rules of the Hayes Office demanded that a
villainess like Mars' Queen of Magic endure severe
punishment, even death -- her treacherous ally
Ming did the deed. Before she perished, though,
she revealed the secret of lifting her curse from
the Clay People. (below) |
|
Raymond's Witch Queen of Mongo abdicated her throne
to Flash Gordon after he saved her life during
their ordeal with the Death Dwarves. When
Ming rejected Flash's claim to be King of the
Cave World with the words "your lying
impudence amazes me," Gordon declared war
on Mongo's emperor, and Azura disappeared from
the strip. |
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