The Washington Post ran a photo this morning of a couple of kids on the National Mall playing in superhero outfits. One was identified as a Flash Gordon outfit but it didn’t look anything like Flash Gordon to me. The costume was red with a red cape, and an insignia on the chest that was a yellow lightning bolt on a solid black pentagonal shield (point down, same shape as the insignia holding Superman’s “S”). The Post’s photo does not appear to be available on its web site.
I think the kid was wearing a generic superhero costume and the writer of the article combined/mixed up The Flash (for the lightning bolt) and Flash Gordon (the cape), and didn’t really care about accuracy.
I mean, aside from comic book geeks, pop culture mavens, and the folks at this Board, who’d really care?
You’re probably right. It wasn’t even an article, it was just a big human-interest photo with a caption. I figure maybe the photographer asked the father about the costumes (two kids) and he said, “Superman and, uh, lessee, Flash Gordon. Yeah, that’s it. Flash Gordon.”
It used to really annoy me when I was 10 and I would get a Flash comic book and my dad would say, “So, what’s Flash Gordon up to now?”
