The original hero of space opera is up for debate. Chronologically, most would claim that John Carter, of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels, starting with A Princess of Mars (1912), is the beginning of the science fiction tradition of a lone man out to save the universe. Second in line is the comic strip hero Buck Rogers, who came from Philip Francis Nowlan’s novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. in 1928, and then became a smash hit comic strip in 1929. And finally, in 1934, Flash Gordon emerged, created by Alex Raymond.
Flash Gordon rapidly became the most popular of these space bros, partly because Raymond’s art was just so damn compelling. The ostentatious look of Flash, bolstered by the mega-popular film serials starting in 1936, starring Buster Crabbe, solidified him as a foundational sci-fi hero, before we even used the term “sci-fi.” George Lucas even wanted to remake Flash Gordon outright in the early 1970s, but couldn’t get the rights, which then resulted in Star Wars.
