This years SDCC is looking to be a huge event for Flash Fans! The below is taken from Sam J. Jones Facebook page –
“San Diego Comic Con 2024 is going to be unforgettable! This year, I am collaborating with @madcavestudios booth #2806 and @necaofficial booth# 3545. Please check out the next slide to see my schedule for meet and greet! Stop by my own booth# 4023 Check out the special Flash Gordon cover collaboration between: @necaofficial x @madcavestudios x @flashgordoncomics . Don’t miss the limited edition Flash Gordon convention exclusive variants, available at SDCC 2024 by Ian Churchill. Explore the latest toys at NECA’s booth. Looking forward to having a great time!”
Enjoy this vintage bumper pull-out mini magazine from famous Italian publication ‘Il Monello’ to promote Flash as ‘The Christmas Movie’ for its theatrical release in December, 1980.
Il Monello (meaning The Rascal in English) was a weekly comic magazine for kids and teens published from 1933 to 1990, and with its mix of cartoon strips and coverage of Sports/Pop Stars & Movies was seemingly the equivalent of the UK’s Look-In Magazine. Though the feature includes a plenty of info and photographs from the upcoming picture, the emphasis is firmly on national treasure Ms. Ornella Muti – A status which happily continues to this day…
With its bright colours and loud blurbs, vintage French Children’s publication Pif Gadget appears to be atypical of its time but its origins are far more interesting than most and steeped in history. While the magazine may have began as illegal Communist youth fare, several incarnations later it became a periodical most noted for its ‘free gift’ or ‘gadget’ to be assembled by the reader.
By Issue #612 the arrival of a new Flash Gordon to cinemas was so greatly anticipated that not only was it the cover story but theme for the gadget (Le Pistolflash, no less) a condensed photostory and an exclusive behind-the-scenes report from EMI Studios itself.
While Le Pistolflash sadly never made it to these shores (most likely due to the evident choking hazard) the accompanying articles (featuring and unpublished still of Max Von Sydow gleefully pointing a youngster in the general direction of the Bore Worms) are fascinating, with some nice illustrations of how the cloud effects and front-projection were achieved. A translation of the piece would be most welcome but in the meantime, feast your eyes on this rare piece of Le Flash ephemera…
