#princess aura

[paspresfutu]

Flash Gordon (1980)

[60sgroove]

Ornella Muti as Princess Aura in Flash Gordon (1980)

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Flash Gordon (1980)

[blackalisondilaurentis1996]

[chernobog13]

R.I.P CARLOS PACHECO

What a crappy week this has been, and I’m not talking about the election results.

First I got news of Kevin O’Neill (Marshal Law, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) passing a few days ago.  Then I learned that Carlos Pacheco Perujo passed away this morning.

Carlos Pacheco, a Spanish artist, spent a long time working on this side of the Atlantic for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

Although he had been doing work for Marvel since 1995, the first book I remember seeing Pacheco’s work on was the 12-issue Avengers Forever.  I initially picked up the book because it was written by Kurt Busiek, who was doing a bang-up job with George Perez on Avengers at the time.  I liked the story, and was very impressed with the artwork.

This was also the first time that Pacheco worked with inker Jesus Merino and - like Kirby & Sinnott, Swan & Anderson, Adams & Giordano, and Byrne and Austin - it was a match made in Heaven.  Merino would continue to be Pacheco’s regular inker for many, many years afterward.

Pacheco also had runs on Fantastic Four and X-Men.

Of course, with me being a DC guy, I was very excited when PAcheco moved to DC tin 2003 to draw a 96-page JLA/JSA crossover, Virtue and Vice, wherein he depicted the entire roster of each team.

Pacheco also drew covers for several issues of the JSA’s own book.

He then teamed with writer Jeph Loeb for a few issues of Superman/Batman.  

Then he joined up again with Kurt Busiek for (most of) a year-long run on Superman.

Busiek and Pacheco teamed-up again for their creator-owned series Arrowsmith.

Arrowsmith: Behind Enemy Lines, the second volume in the series, finished up earlier this year.  The trade paperback collecting the series was released in September, at around the same time that Pacheco announced he was retiring from comics due to being diagnosed with ALS.

Despite the dire news, I was hoping we’d have more time to spend with him. As is always the case with someone you love and admire, they always pass away far too soon.

Rest in peace, Carlos.

[brokehorrorfan]

Plastic Meatball has released a set of four Flash Goardon glasses inspired by vintage fast food collector cups for $30. Each 16-ounce glass features different artwork (Flash, Ming, Dale & Aura, and Barin & Vultan), pictured below.

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

March: Pink Redux

Flash Gordon / Ornella Muti as Princess Aura

For a princess, Aura doesn't dress much differently from the average court member on Mongo. But then, with this level of elaborateness, there isn't a lot of room to get fancier! The exact shade of her off-the-shoulder dress appears to vary quite a lot with the lighting. We see it both with and without the pointy-shouldered cape.

The belt is not only highly decorative, but a practical way of concealing weapons, apparently.

[marzena-doe]

Spotlight: Princess Aura

Princess Aura is the (half-)sister to Hadea, Sheila, Krotan and Castra. While she did not appear in the original show, she is a canon charater from the Flash Gordon universe. Let's take a look at her in This Is Their Story. 

We first meet Aura on Mongo during scenes there but she does not have a bigger role until the Season 1 finale, where we meet Future Aura (or Alternate Aura) who is an ally to our heroes. However, even she warns them about the real Aura. 

When Sheila is part of the Defenders but secretly working for Ming, Aura knows all about it but choses to do nothing to help her sister. When she learns about Sheila's feelings for Flash Gordon, she is convinced by Castra to not tell Ming. Instead of helping Sheila, she warns her about going too far. When push comes to shove, Aura does help her sister, but that might be more due to Castra's good influence and the fact that Ming is working with Cathleen, whom Aura does not trust. 

Aura is taken hostage by Barin and the rebels at some point. Aura once again proves to be dangerous and starts making demands of her own as soon as she gets the upper hand. However, Aura and Sheila do not deliver Barin to Ming in the end. Aura regrets this later and fears that the rebels might attack again. 

When Aura and Barin meet again, Aura sees a new side of Mongo - one she doesn't like very much.

Aura's royal artefact is the Mirror of Souls. The artefact is later named Mirror of Truth.

When Sheila is supposed to get executed, Aura tries to help her and fails. It's revealed that Aura has healing powers. 

Aura is very intrigued by Barin. When the rebels are gone, she offers her help to start a new underground organisation. 

When Krotan's on the throne, Aura is not too happy with his reign. She does, however, support Sheila's marriage to Flash Gordon. 

When very ancient powers awake inside Aura, she's terrified. She gets kidnapped by Zorelda and Suramong and influenced by their dark magic. Angry and bitter, Aura starts a war against everyone she once held dear. Her goal - to become Empress of Mongo. Aura nearly destroys the Netherworld and takes Jedda hostage while Ming tries to get on his daughter's good side again. Jedda nearly gets through to Aura but Ming intervenes and it was all for nothing. Krotan shows up with his army and he and Aura fight a battle only one can win. In order to lose all the dark magic, Aura has to free herself from all the hate within her. Everyone is still fighting with the intent to protect Aura which goes not unnoticed. When Zorelda realizes she loses her influence, she releases even more dark magic into Aura. Aura loses control and attacks Jedda. But when Krotan tries to kill Aura in order to save Jedda, Jedda stops him before she breaks down. With Barins help, Aura finally rids herself of the dark powers. When Suramong then tries to kill the symbol of peace aka Jedda, both Aura and Krotan throw themselves in front of her. Aura later heals Jedda and brings her back to life but she cannot save the unborn baby. 

After all of that, Aura blames herself and stops using her powers completely. It takes Castra getting hurt for her to try and use her healing powers again. Aura then seems to be a member of the rebels rather than the Royal House of Mongo. Things are starting to get serious between her and Barin. 

After Ming's death, Aura is set to become the new Empress and Barin's not sure if he likes that or not. But of course Ming's not really dead and Aura's short reign on Mongo ends. For a while, Aura's busy trying to get "her" throne back but things don't work out. When Barin disappears, she's also in full revenge mode against her father who she thinks is responsible. All of this leads to a war on Mongo, Ming vs Aura (and the rebels). At some point, Aura also duels Zorelda. (I guess nobody stays dead for long in a superhero universe...) Side note: Barin of course also returns at some point. When Aura later gets offered the throne of Mongo again, she has learned from her past mistakes and declines because her greed for power only ever brought her grief. Both Aura and Barin are trying to get Sheila to take the throne. 

Aura is the last one of her siblings to tie the knot (with Barin, of course). 

While trying to 'heal' Amy from her dark powers, Aura ends up in a coma. Thankfully, this doesn't last as long as Kate's did and is resolved eventually. Aura then discovers she's expecting a child. She gives birth to little Princess Azura. 

Princess Aura's main weakness is her quest for power - it never ends well for her and for others. So it's great to see that in the end, when her dream of reigning over Mongo is offered to her, she has learned her lessons and refuses. She also has trust and relationship issues and refuses to marry Barin until he nearly gives up on her. Without the influences of her siblings and the rebels, Aura might have become just like her father. I'd even say she's the most like him. (She's also the one having inherited Suramong's powers but that was never really followed up or properly explained... which is problably a good thing - it’s too similar to the Dark Amy storyline and probably would have to be either cut out or completely rewritten...)

[amanda-multifandom]

Here comes the Mongo arc to this story.

Sheila reunites with her sister Aura and her husband Barin during a crisis mission.

Zyna reveals herself after being presumed dead for years and reveals Castra and Krotan have a long lost sister Katarina, who is the baby of the trio; Castra's younger sister and Krotan's twin sister.

Note: Like with Rachel and Jade (as well as Abby, Sara, Celena, I'm wanting to include Zyna in the special Earth N project: When Worlds and Dangers Collide, unless noted otherwise, they'd just be in the main story. However the characters belong to @james5-doe so

Baylin and Zarkov aid the Defenders and Sailor Guardians with this crisis and it's hinted Joe Wylee once dated Dale before they ended the relationship as Dale ended up with Flash and Joe was killed during a confrontation with Ming.

Krotan sees the error of his ways thanks to his mother, baby sister, and a message from Jedda. Sort of a redemption for Prince Krotan.

The arc ends with a double wedding of Rick and Jedda Gordon and Flash and Sheila Gordon. Hence, Rick is now King of the Netherworld.

[peggy-elise]

Priscilla Lawson as Princess Aura in Flash Gordon 1936 💥

[paspresfutu]

Flash Gordon (1980)

[jadestargirl]

Princess Aura, Flash Gordon

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Homage to Flash Gordon - art by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta (c.1953)

[blackalisondilaurentis1996]

𝓢𝓾𝓰𝓪𝓻𝔂 𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓮.

[chernobog13]

Absolutely gorgeous Flash Gordon commission by Al Williamson, colored by Tom Smith.

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]