Flash Gordon (1980)

In the days before home video flooded the market, people read books. Today we read phones. Weird. Anywho, after "Star Wars" and before video really caught fire, there were tons and tons of children's books featuring the stories from movies. So, in anticipation of "Flash Gordon" being the hit that it wasn't here in the USA, at least a trio of books were published. Like all non-Disney tie-ins, the books went out of print pretty quickly when the movie bombed. But today they're great nostalgia for those of us who grew up with the movie....

The first, The Flash Gordon Book is a hardcover storybook, probably aimed at an 8-12 year old. The book is 60 pages and the text remains pretty faithful to the finished print of the film -- plus it's loaded with tons of groovy color pics of Sam J. Jones, Max Von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Richard O'Brien, Ornella Muti, Melody Anderson and the rest of the cast! There's one or more photos on practically every page!Gotta love any book that features such a cool pic of Ming the Merciless!

For the older freaks and geeks, Arthur Byron Cover wrote a novelization of the screenplay. Clearly the publishers were misinformed, as the cover boasts that it's "THE ONLY BOOK OF THE FILM."

Saved the best for last! The final book (that I'm aware of) is the Golden comic book tie-in.....

Rather confusingly, this is 68 page softcover features the comic-book-movie as a comic book!

And remember! When visiting the planet Mongo, make sure to keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Decapitation may occur. And if you run into a wimpy blonde guy who calls himself Ming, aided by a creepy droid sidekick named Rankol, be very afraid! You just might find yourself hopelessly addicted for 21 weeks to a show that most sci-fi fans hated... Decapitation just might be more humane.