Updated but familiar in all the right ways.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Parker
Art: Evan Shaner
What They Say:
Flash Gordon never fit in on Earth. But on the bizarre planet MONGO, Flash’s thirst for thrills and daring danger makes him the perfect weapon against world-breaking Ming the Merciless and his awful inter-planetary swarms of terror! Can the cocksure Man From Earth funnel his overconfidence into saving worlds, or will the universe fall to Ming?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Every time someone says that you can’t make Flash Gordon cool, I just want to smack them. While the property has never been a favorite of mine, it’s one that has seen a number of adaptations over the years that all seem to fall from the mark in all the wrong ways. The most well known is of course the big 80’s movie, but the 90’s TV series had its moments as well. But neither of them could really expand on it the way it needed to be done, which can be done with filmmaking capabilities today. Until someone realizes it can be done with the right kind of camp, humor and seriousness, we’re going to have to look elsewhere. And thankfully, Dynamite Entertainment has lucked out in the team here with Jeff Parker and Evan Shaner as they get it.
For me, what makes Flash Gordon what it is comes down to the way that it’s all about exploring. At a time when there was still a lot of exploration ahead within our world, from the typical “Darkest Reaches of Africa” material to ideas about solar system travel, Flash Gordon took us off of our world completely and into something far flung, but still a threat to Earth. Here, we get introduced to the story a bit from a year ago at first, as Dale Arden covers the final landing of the space shuttle and how science types can’t make their field exciting and sellable to the masses. We also get to see the Russian, Doctor Zarkov, who has been reduced to some low rent bartender somewhere with dreams of achieving what he believed he could do in his youth with a special power drive. And, of course, we also get to see Alex “Flash” Gordon, a freewheeling All-American type with the physical skill and quick wits to pull it all off, though he has to deal with a father that is insisting that he put this foolishness away and get his career going.
What we don’t get, however, is how this goup ended up in an experimental craft that put them through a portal to the world of Mongo, as ruled by Emperor Ming. You can fill in the blanks easy enough, though I expect we’ll see more of it in future issues. What we do learn though is that whatever happened on their arrival, Flash and the others have thrown off Ming’s plans for invasion of Earth and damaged the portal that leads there. With a number of access points in the Valley of Portals, Ming has gained several colony worlds of very, very different types that are all useful for his larger plans of conquest. But the loss of Earth stings in a way like no other because it’s the first time he’s been denied his goal. And for a man like Ming, who we only see briefly, it’s made clear just what kind of lasting impact that has in how he views Flash and the others.
The book gives us a good bit of movement throughout it as we see Flash’s piloting skills across several worlds and the clues are put into place with brief bits about what happened and how things work, particularly with Zarkov’s Quantum Crystal. What we also get is a nice bit of exploration in the old school serial storytelling era sense with the group, having landed in the world of Arboria, attempts to catch their breath only to run into more dangers. It’s straightforward, but it’s also fun because it hews to the old style of it while coming across in a fun and modern way, particularly as we see Dale Arden as a more active player here in using her wits to survive while trying to clamp down on Flash’s more outgoing and blunt style.
In Summary:
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this since I haven’t looked at Flash Gordon material in an age because it was so often done so poorly. But Jeff Parker captures the exploration thrill seeking sense of Flash really well here while balancing it with how Dale and Zarkov of as counterbalances with their own agends. It also really works well because Evan Shaner brings a great sense to the story here with his designs, creating some great looking worlds that really make you want to revisit more and explore, but also in capturing the defining characteristics of the main characters but also giving them his own dash of style and modernity. I keep seeing some graet shades of John Byrne’s style in the designs here and that makes it even more appealing. Depending on how this work goes, it could very well be the right template for bringing the character into the 21st century in the best way while still adhering to what makes it so iconic for longtime fans.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment via ComiXology
Release Date: April 9th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
