Chapter 105: The Destroying Ray

Flash Gordon (serial)

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Chapter 104: Battling the Sea Beast	Chapter 106: Flaming Torture

Synopsis[]

Officer Torch reports to Ming that Kala's city is collapsing. They watch anxiously on the Spaceograph as the palace crumbles. Anxious to save his daughter, Ming shuts off the magnet that keeps Kala's palace underwater.

The palace rises above sea level, saving our heroes. Prince Thun declares that he will take Flash Gordon and Dale Arden to his father, king of the Lion Men, and Princess Aura tags along.

At Ming's laboratory, Prince Barin introduces himself to Dr. Hans Zarkov as "the real ruler of Mongo"; he was dethroned as a child when Ming killed his father. He asks Zarkov's help to overthrow Ming. Zarkov agrees, as long as they rescue his friends.

Flash, Dale, Thun and Aura make their way to land, where they're set upon by the Hawk Men, who are ruled by King Vultan, an ally of Ming. Flash tries to fight off the Hawk Men, as the others escape. Barin and Thun arrive in Barin's rocket and save Flash and Aura, but Dale and Thun are captured. Barin carries his friends to the Hawk Men's city to save Dale and Thun.

The Sky City is high in the sky, kept aloft with gravity rays. Dale is delivered to King Vultan, and Thun is put to work, shoveling fuel into Vultan's Atom Furnaces. Vultan is notified that Barin's ship is approaching, and he orders his underlings to destroy the ship with the Melting ray. Barin desperately tries to avoid the Ray, before it destroys the ship.

Dale regains consciousness, and finds herself trapped with King Vultan, a lusty, bellicose man who chortles at her discomfort. Vultan frightens Dale with his pet urso, then orders the beast out of the room. With Dale backed against the wall, the lecherous Vultan advances, chuckling.

In the air above them, the Melting Ray hits its target, and Barin's ship falls from the sky.

Recap card[]

With a powerful electrical force,/ Ming raises the doomed shark/ city above the water, saving/ Flash, Dale, Thun and Princess/ Aura, who attempt to reach the/ kingdom of Thun's father, but/ are attacked by hawkmen who/ carry Dale and Thun prisoners to/ their city in the sky.//

Meantime, Zarkov and Prince/ Barin have formed an alliance/ and, after rescuing Flash and/ Aura, are flying in Barin's rocket/ ship to the city in the sky, where/ Thun is being forced to feed / radium to the mighty atom/ furnaces, and Dale is being/ terrorized by the boisterous King/ Vultan.

Trivia[]

Dale faints again in this chapter, as she's brought into the Sky City.
- Dale Arden Faint Tally
  - Chapter 101: The Planet of Peril: 1
  - Chapter 102: The Tunnel of Terror: 2
  - Chapter 104: Battling the Sea Beast: 3, 4
  - Chapter 105: The Destroying Ray: 5
  - Chapter 106: Flaming Torture: 6
  - Chapter 107: Shattering Doom: 7
Titled the "The Destroying Ray".
- Chapter 105: The Destroying Ray
- Chapter 304: The Destroying Ray
At this point, the serial has broken away from the continuity of Alex Raymond's original comic strip. In the strip, after Flash and his friends escape from Kala's city, they're captured by Prince Barin and his men, who are also holding Dr. Zarkov prisoner. (This brings Zarkov back into the strip; he was presumed lost in the rocket ship crash three months earlier.) In the following strips, Flash and Barin become friends, and are captured by Ming and forced to fight for their lives.
The Hawk Men first appear later, on July 8th, 1934, kidnapping Zarkov and Thun and carrying them off to their flying city. Flash, Dale and Barin are captured three weeks later, and brought before Vultan. Aura, who has allied herself with Vultan, has Flash tortured as revenge for spurning her.
The model of the Sky City is very faithful to the comic strip's design.
The fourth chapter of the third serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, was also titled "The Destroying Ray".