What’s Going On In Flash Gordon? Are you covering Flash Gordon regularly? January – April 2024

I’m hoping to make Dan Schkade’s Flash Gordon part of my regular rotation, yes, but I haven’t yet figured on a good spot for it. So for now it wanders through my schedule much as the rogue planet Mongo does. You can catch all my recaps of its plot at this link, though, and there’ll probably be a successor plot recap by July 2024 or so. For those not reading this in mid-April 2024. Now, let’s recap:

Flash Gordon.

14 January – 14 April 2024.

With the killing(?) of Ming the Merciless, the wedding of Barin and Aura, and the inauguration of both as co-rulers of a free Mongo what could go wrong? Other than Ming’s son, Ming W Merciless, crashing the wedding dinner demanding how he’ll take the throne, peacefully or by force. Flash, taking a walk to cool his temper, encounters him alone in a dark hallway and something something Ming II is stabbed to death.

Dan Schkade’s Flash Gordon for the 25th of January, 2024. Aegia makes a good case. I’m a little sorry the genre precludes the chance of seeing how the Mongo justice system — especially immediately after the Revolution — works. The suggestion of the inquisitors acting so completely independently of the rest of the government is an one I’d like to see more of.

Aegia, the Inquisitor, rules Flash Gordon a legitimate subject, and Barin and Aura agree they can’t interfere with the course of justice just because, c’mon, it’s Flash Gordon. The jailmaster “loses” the directions to give Flash decent quarters while waiting for trial, instead sending him to The Bellows, the subterranean mine/open battle royale pits that prisons always are in this genre. The viridium patch radio pin Dr Zarkov slips Flash isn’t much good for contacting anyone that deep underground. It’s even worse when it’s lifted by Bones Malock, a tough, energetic woman who gives me Tank Girl vibes. (Based on what I remember from seeing the movie in like 1997. I don’t know if I’m right.) Malock has an idea how to get out of there, and it depends on bringing Flash to the Death Pit.

The first Death Pit battle goes pretty well, considering. Flash doesn’t die at the hands of Death Pit champion Bok, a dragonman. Bok doesn’t want to kill him either, but, y’know, Bok was prematurely anti-Ming and that’s what his life is now. At the next round, Malock calls in a debt and has someone use a galvanic cutlass to smash the meter-thick window between the audience and the fight. Malock, Flash, and — with Flash’s encouragement — Bok escape.

Dan Schkade’s Flash Gordon for the 5th of March, 2024. Bok’s introduction put me in mine of one of the Flash Forward strips Schkade did back in 2021, for the anniversary side strip that might have been a test-run for the revival. The idea of a Death Pit opponent being touched by a bit of kindness is a straightforward one, but it does have me wonder if Schkade was sketching out ideas for the strip even back then.

Dr Zarkov and Dale Arden consider how to prove Flash’s innocence. Since Flash was the only one on the scene the obvious explanation is he was mind controlled by the witch-queen Azura. Arden sneaks off to find evidence, along the way encountering Brian Blessed hollering at someone how they can’t just murder whoever they like. You have to dislike them, at least a little, first. Azura’s delighted to catch Arden snooping around. Also to sneer at the “peasant thinking” Arden’s bringing to the investigation, as though whoever held the the throne of Mongo was particularly relevant to where power was. And then she shoves Dale off a hundred-storey balcony. She’s rescued by Thun on his hover-motorcycle thingy.

Azura’s talk about “peasant thinking” makes Arden realize something. Granted the assassin was there to kill a prince of Mongo — who knew that Ming W was going to be there? Nobody, that’s who. The target was someone else. And Bok notices something. There’s a Kiran Skel, invisible to you folks who don’t have heat vision like him, right there. With a whole party of space-opera heroes around it’s easy to catch one invisible assassin. Queen Fria of Frigia takes Flash and company under her protection and Aura accepts this.

Dan Schkade’s Flash Gordon for the 16th of March, 2024. I am very interested, yes, in why Vultan might want Ronal dead. And also that Aegia, introduced as what felt like a strong voice of integrity, is willing to be even more political than Barin and Aura were.

And we see Aegia and Brian Blessed talking. Aegia knows that Blessed accidentally ordering the killing of Ming W, when Prince Ronal — cousin to Barin — was the real target. Why Blessed wanted Ronal dead is, as yet, unexplained.

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From the 18th of March we journey to the ice kingdom of Frigia. Some curious major rumblings derail the magnetic rocket train and almost send Fria plummeting to death. But, you know, Flash Gordon. And they can at least see there’s some 300-foot-tall thing moving in the haze.

But that sort of thing just happens and might even be normal. Back to Frigia for the first time in a year Fria examines how her regent has been doing. Just the occasional spot of trouble, you know, witchcraft in Gwynedd and pirate miners and this walking mountain thing. So Fria begins a tour of her kingdom to see what all is going wrong and what she can do about it. And they find some pirate miners. So they have a project now, which is nice.

Next Week!

Still planning on the Sunday Phantom. See you then.

What’s Going On In The Phantom (weekdays)? Why does Mozz care when Kit Jr decided to come home? July – September 2023

The weekday story has just started the seventh and final part of the tremendous wrack-and-ruin story. It begins with Kit Junior visiting the Skull Cave and finding everybody but Mozz gone. Mozz is low-key freaked out because to get from Arunachal Pradesh, India, to Bangalla he must have set out more than a day or two ago. And this whole story has been the course of two nights, one in which Mozz lays out his prophecy and one where The Phantom acts on it. We appear to be in the morning after that second night.

In Mozz’s prophecy, told the first night, The Phantom should have been suffering from a near-fatal gunshot to his hips. Over the course of several days he reveals Kit Jr’s location to Savarna Devi, who goes to find him and meet her old enemy, Constable Jampa. If Kit Junior was already going to Skull Cave when Mozz had his vision, though, then — what did he see? It’s hard to imagine Kit Jr getting to Skull Cave, finding his father not there, and heading back home in time to meet Devi there. But how is he here, now, if that’s not what “would” have happened without Mozz’s interference?

Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 22nd of September, 2023. Not sure what Mozz is more upset by, Kit Jr appearing in possible defiance of his vision or that he didn’t see having an answer in mind in case one of the Walker twins should happen to pop in. Anyway wildly speculating here but I wonder if this is going to be a chance to fill in aspects of the wrack-and-ruin prophecy elided over before, such as the collapse of Kit Sr and Diana’s marriage and Heloise’s disenchantment with The Phantom project.

So this is what has me waiting to see the new day’s installment of Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom as it’s published. Any news I get about the strip, or updates on the Sunday-continuity story, should go at this link. And sometime around December I should have an even more updated plot recap.

The Phantom (weekdays).

3 July – 23 September 2023.

Last time I checked in with the daily story, the jailbreak was all but broken. The Phantom’s done everything he can to be sure if he’s injured he dies without revealing where Kit Jr is. Savarna Devi appears to be the woman of destiny. What remaining Rhodian guards are shooting at her can’t get near hitting her. She figures, why not try shooting even more people?

The Phantom arranges for the Bandar tribe to accompany the liberated prisoners. Most of them drive to Bangalla for an asylum I’m sure won’t cause further crises. But he, Devil, Savarna, and Babudan are on their own. And the warden who’s just seen the greatest jailbreak in Gravelines history catches them. Devil, Devi, and Babudan escape untouched. The Phantom, no; he’s shot in the hip, exactly as in Mozz’s vision. The Phantom’s done everything he can to make sure he dies, since he can’t get Babudan to leave him behind.

Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 14th of July, 2023. I agree with The Phantom, I would be much more comfortable with one last sweep of all the bathrooms and dresser drawers to make sure nobody’s left a charging cable behind.

The weird thing is he doesn’t die. The wound is around where he expects, but it’s not as deep as it “should” be. Even without the Bandar wound powder it’s healing up. He’s able to get back to Hero, his horse, and to ride to the Bandar camp. Where, among other things, Guran’s given Diana a tea to make her sleep. Between the amnesia powder and the sleep tea he’s got a potion of dubious consent for everything. Anyway, The Phantom’s back in safe territory and isn’t dead from his wounds or in danger of revealing anything he doesn’t want to. And that, the 16th of September, finishes “Dungeons Undone”, the sixth chapter of this story.

The seventh, “The Journey Home”, began the 18th and my clickbait introduction tells you everything going on there. So now there’s not much to do but look to …

Next Week!

Telemarketing scams! A Minute Mystery! A professor who’s been in his office for eleven months now! And yet another friend of the mayor’s been murdered. Mike Curtis, Shelley Pleger, and Shane Fisher’s Dick Tracy gets the spotlight, if my plans hold up. We’ll see.

What’s Going On In DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom (Weekdays)? Who is John X and why does Jungle Patrol care? April – June 2023

John X is yet another alias of The Phantom, the Ghost Who Walks, Kit Walker, the Unknown Commander, et cetera. Jungle Patrol cares because they know him. In a story back in 2014-15 The Phantom got a case of jungle-poison-induced amnesia. Jungle Patrol found and nursed him back to health, and gave him the placeholder John X name. The Phantom’s plot amnesia didn’t suppress his incredible physical talents, and with not much else to do, “John X” joined the Jungle Patrol.

At his induction ceremony his memory came back: he wasn’t some new patrolman. He was the Unknown Commander. So he disappeared when he could, and as the Unknown Commander left a note that John X was on special assignment. Since then, the Jungle Patrol folks have enjoyed having the mystery of what is John X doing for the Unknown Commander to agree they’ll never know. Agreeing they’ll never know who the Unknown Commander is gets old after a couple centuries. Getting hints is thrilling for them.

Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 29th of May, 2023. The Phantom: ‘Yeah, you gotta give them a little thrill now and then or the Jungle Patrol starts asking questions about their pay and authorization to use force and stuff.’

So this should catch you up to the end of June 2023 in Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom, weekday continuity. If you’re interested in the separate Sunday continuity, or you’re reading this after about September 2023, there’s probably a more useful plot recap here. Thanks for joining me.

The Phantom (Weekdays).

10 April – 1 July 2023.

Way back in mid-April, The Phantom and the Bandar nation were attacking Gravelines prison. They still are. It’s a lot of prison.

The Phantom calls the Jungle Patrol. The word spreads fast that the Unknown Commander is on the phone of all things. Also that he’s in on some kind of action. The Phantom demands the analysis of the prisoner roster that he’d snagged in, reader time, 2021. He wants Jungle Patrol’s analysis of what prisoners in Gravelines are probably there on legitimate grounds. That is, things that a non-fascist state would jail someone for. I’m pleased the strip addressed the question of what to do with the people who “fairly” deserved jail. I think my argument from last time, that in a fascist state it’s impossible to be “fairly” convicted of a crime, stands. But I also understand the need in the moment to keep the situation down to freeing people not likely to make the situation more confusing.

Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 28th of April, 2023. I do wonder how many of the prisoners are grabbing their day clothes as they leave. I get everyone being dressed in bedshirts, but it does make the battle scenes weird in an interesting way.

So, after thrilling Jungle Patrol with the promise that John X is there, yes, it’s off to prisoner-liberation. The Phantom picks Viola Odhiambo, schoolteacher, to start with. He sets up directions for everyone not on the list of “the worst of the worst” to be freed and assist in freeing other people. Also, everyone who can pick up a gun or drive a military vehicle? They should do that. Yes, he acknowledges not everyone is able to do that, physically or emotionally.

But they will need guns to do that. The Phantom talks that sergeant, the one left in the office, into opening the armory, by pushing his head into the door. Having seen reason, the sergeant is eager to ask: is this a coup? If it is, you’ll remember I helped, right? If you win? Right?

There is a grim beat in the midst of all this merry prison-fighting. One prisoner, excited to be released, begs to be let out next. He’s described as “one of the most feared men in Gravelines”, which is not to say that he’s on the list to be left behind. Through the bars he grabs Odhiambo. Babudan slashes him with a poison-tipped arrow, killing the prisoner. I know you can hardly credibly do this sort of story bloodlessly, but it’s still a slap to the reader.

Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 29th of June, 2023. I hope Captain Savarna’s awareness of how much the hardcore Phantom fandom likes her isn’t going to wreck her character.

The major, the one who runs, or ran, Gravelines, calls The Phantom, promising reinforcements are on the way. The Phantom calls his bluff. He’s got the Bandar warriors with him. Also a growing cadre of former prisoners with weapons and grudges against the Rhodian government. Also Savarna Devi, who while we weren’t looking grabbed the BFG9000 and is running around like she’s got the cheat codes. Which she might: she’s filled with a sense of destiny, that somehow she will survive this night, and return to her native India. It’s a heck of a bet to make. But when the guards waste whole belts of ammunition without getting her, you see her point. She can’t get enough of this. She asks The Phantom why stop here.

Next Week!

But I stop here, for now at least. We’ll pick up The Phantom’s story in a couple months. Next week, I plan to look at Mike Curtis, Shelley Pleger, and Shane Fisher’s Dick Tracy and see … uh … what that board game villain was up to? It was a board game villain, right? Yeah, that’s what’s in my notes. Huh. All right, we’ll see where this is going.

What’s Going On In The Phantom (weekdays)? Are tribesmen really going to conquer a prison? January – April 2023

Well, not only tribesmen. Women are there too. But yes, the current story in Tony DePaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom, weekday continuity, has the Bandar tribe’s warriors attacking Gravelines. It’s the maximum security prison for fascist Rhodia. Tony DePaul has tried to make this a fairer fight. The prison’s a lousy posting. The already-lousy posting got a heap of new, under-trained soldiers. This is the consequence of cracking down after The Phantom broke The Trusted One out of the prison. And the Bandar have numerical superiority.

And most important, the battle is bonkers. Militias don’t attack maximum security prisons. It’s not something the prison guards could train for. The Bandar don’t even battle “correctly”, refusing to pick up the loot boxes the Gravelines guards drop when they’re killed. So there’s reasons to think Gravelines would be too confused to make a sensible response. Still, have to admit, I’d have to put my money on Gravelines. Except that the Bandars’ battle plan is being improvised and lead by The Phantom, which counts for a lot.

Tony Depaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 18th of February, 2023. This has got me wondering what actual prisons have in mind against mass assaults. I have to figure their training is built more around a riot inside the grounds and maybe a couple vehicles trying to crash the gates. Conceivably a helicopter grabbing someone out of the exercise area.

So this should catch you up to mid-April 2023 in The Phantom’s weekday continuity. If you’re interested in the Sunday continuity, or if you’re reading this after about July 2023, there’s likely a more useful essay at this link. Thanks for reading.

The Phantom (Weekdays).

16 January – 8 April 2023.

The Phantom, having relied on Mozz’s prophecy of wrack-and-ruin like a strategy guide, is still breaking Savarna Devi out of Gravelines. And then the whole Bandar nation rolls in as backup. Their poison-tipped arrows are great ways to kill the tower guards. Savarna, not one to escape quietly, grabs some heavy weapons to blow up the tower and alarm everyone. The Phantom wonders if this is Mozz’s prophecy, for all he’s worked to subvert it, will happen in substance anyway.

But also: how different could things go? And realizing he has considerable surprise, and numbers, and the chance encounter’s started anyway … why not do something really crazy? Why not try and get everybody out of Gravelines? Is that maybe the reason Mozz had his vision of wrack-and-ruin, and was set in motion to change that?

Tony Depaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 10th of February, 2023. A thing that’s gone unexplored is: granted there are many prisoners kept there for acknowledging transgendered people have rights and that abortion is a necessity and other truths fascists can’t tolerate. But aren’t there surely people who are there for legitimate reasons, like the serial murder of sex workers? There’s hardly time to examine everyone and I realized it doesn’t matter. One hallmark of fascism is the disregard of truth in favor of power. In that condition no court judgement — which is, ideally, a determination of truth — can be legitimate. Even the guilty have to be treated as having been framed.

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And so, with the 13th of February, we begin ‘Dungeons Undone’, the sixth part of this story since it began in May of 2021(!). It is about the assault on Gravelines. With a few interludes checking in on Diana Walker, who’s staying, along with Bandar non-combatants, on the Bangalla side of the border. Babudan, leading the warriors into Rhodia, secured her promise to stay in safe territory. He warned he could only keep one Walker safe and if he had to choose, he’d protect her. So she waits and thinks of what she read in the Chronicle of Mozz.

What she read was enough to tell Guran of the need to send as many people as possible to support her husband. Which is how he has a militia on hand to make this assault. He’s optimistic enough. He’s sure the prison guard morale is so low that they’ll declare they didn’t sign up to be poisoned by hundreds(?) of bow-wielding jungle-dwellers. And The Phantom can’t keep Savarna from blowing up stuff. Some of this is of clear tactical use, like the power plant. Some is targets of opportunity. Some is just, she set an egg in the microwave for ten minutes. All in the service of confusing Gravelines’s forces.

And they are confused. As mentioned in my preamble, the attack doesn’t make sense, at least by the standards they expect. The warden, lacking power and communications in the command center, decides to find the leader of the attack himself. He leaves behind a sergenat with orders to guard the command post with his life.

Tony Depaul and Mike Manley’s The Phantom for the 6th of April, 2023. You have to admire The Phantom’s strength of will that he is not just breaking up laughing right now because, goodness but this is funny-ridiculous. And, you know, he is the costumed superhero who’s delighted at being a superhero. I guess he’s saving it for the Chronicle-writing.

The warden doesn’t find The Phantom because, you know that saying, he finds you. Or The Phantom finds the sergeant and the sergeant figures yeah, he doesn’t have to do this. The lieutenant calls his boss, and The Phantom urges the warden to set down his weapons, order as many of his men as he can get to do the same, and leave.

It’s transpired this week, so a little outside my scope here, that The Phantom is calling in the Jungle Patrol too. This makes some good sense, as the Jungle Patrol has modern equipment and could arrange, say, the air evacuation of hundreds(?) of Gravelines prisoners. On the other hand, as angry as Rhodia would (reasonably!) be at the Bandar attack, to have the Jungle Patrol join in will not make things better.

Next Week!

I’m shuffling up the order of these strips a little. So that brings me, sooner than otherwise expected, with … a guy who’s way too into Monopoly? I, too, am eager to know what’s going on in Mike Curtis, Shelley Pleger, and Shane Fisher’s Dick Tracy and with luck will tell you in a week.