Thursday, June 03, 2010

Comics News: Defenders of the Earth and Space Dock 7

Together Again: The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and Mandrake the Magician



I got an email from Dynamite Entertainment last week about their now having King Features' top three characters. According to the press release, this is the first time that Phantom, Flash Gordon, and Mandrake have been under the same publisher in 43 years. Which makes for some cool crossover possibilities.

I'm mostly curious to see how they handle Flash. I know nothing about Mandrake, so they can do whatever they want with him, but I'm not at all excited about their version of the Phantom. I've heard good things about their Buck Rogers though, so maybe Flash will be okay. I hope so, 'cause I'd really like to read some new, good Flash Gordon stories.

It sounds like they'll be starting with a faithful re-telling of the origin story:
Dynamite's comic book story begins as Earth is bombarded by fiery meteors. Dr. Zarkov believes the meteors are from outer space and invents a rocket ship to locate their place of origin. Half mad, he kidnaps Flash and Dale, whose plane has crashed in the area, and the three travel to the planet Mongo, where they discover the meteors are weapons devised by Ming the Merciless, evil ruler of Mongo.
Space Dock 7



The webcomics portal that was teased back in February is live and full of awesome scifi comics including some I've mentioned here before and some I'm brand new to.

3 comments:

Ken O said...

I'm already a big fan of Joel Carroll, so I'm excited to see where his Topaz strip is going.

Brendan Deneen said...

ARDDEN ENTERTAINMENT’S
FLASH GORDON RETURNS THIS FALL!


Ardden Entertainment LLC is excited to announce the launch of FLASH GORDON: INVASION OF THE RED SWORD for an Autumn 2011 release.

Coming off the heels of Ardden’s critically-acclaimed FLASH GORDON: THE MERCY WARS mini-series (called “good, old-fashioned fun, freshly polished” by Publishers Weekly), Ardden plans on continuing an expansion of the characters and situations created in the first story arc, which was directly inspired by Alex Raymond’s groundbreaking comic strips.

FLASH GORDON: INVASION OF THE RED SWORD chronicles the invasion of Mongo by a splinter group of the CIA, as first introduced in FLASH GORDON: THE MERCY WARS #1. The group’s name, “The Red Sword,” was first created by Alex Raymond.

“When preparing to write the first four six-issue arcs we have planned for FLASH GORDON,” says FLASH GORDON writer and Ardden Co-Publisher Brendan Deneen, “I re-read every single one of Alex Raymond’s original comic strips. There was a treasure trove of material in there, including an arc where Flash, Dale and Zarkov end up back on Earth. While there, they battle a mysterious group called ‘the Red Sword.’ I thought that was the perfect name for the invading force in our second arc.”

“Like everyone else,” Deneen added, “I’ve heard about Dynamite’s plans to launch their own FLASH GORDON series. I look forward to some healthy competition. I hope they’re ready, too.”

In addition to their ongoing FLASH GORDON comic book series, Ardden Entertainment LLC is the publisher of CASPER AND THE SPECTRALS, a re-imagining of “Casper the Friendly Ghost,” which Aint It Cool News recently described as their favorite comic of the week (“Buy CASPER AND THE SPECTRALS and I guarantee you will enjoy it,” they also wrote).

CASPER AND THE SPECTRALS #2 hits comic stores in June after an unfortunate delay, with issue #3 coming out in July. Ardden will also be launching a new license at this October’s New York Comic-Con, based on a storied comic franchise with over three decades of history to its name.
Ardden Entertainment was formed in mid-2007 by ex-Miramax Films executive, Brendan Deneen, and ex-Markosia Editor-in-Chief, Richard Emms, and their business model is to produce contemporized versions of classic licenses and exciting new creator-owned titles. Joining Deneen and Emms is veteran comic book creator and writer, JM DeMatteis, who works as Ardden's Editor-in-Chief.

Michael May said...

Hey, Brendan! I was wondering what Dynamite's announcement meant to the Ardden license. Thanks for that update. I'll post it next time I do a comics news update.

I'm wondering if there's a story here like when Dynamite first announced they had the Phantom license when Moonstone still had it too.

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