An explosive reboot that captures the fun of the beloved classic series.
Adams resurrects the famous space adventurer in this graphic novel.
Ming the Merciless, tyrant of the planet Mongo, has his new Unraveller (which fires “a ray of plasmatonic energy”) pointed straight at Earth, ready to vaporize the home-world of his hated nemesis Flash Gordon. Flash, who has joined the resistance attempting to liberate Mongo from Ming’s rule, manages to topple the Unraveller at the last minute, saving Earth—but destroying Mongo instead. When Flash regains consciousness, he discovers he is tied to a rack in a dungeon with robotic jailers. In this reconstituted world, the planets that survived the Unravelling have allied to govern the new universe, and Flash Gordon, the so-called “World Killer,” has been incarcerated on a prison planet known as Planet Death. When word reaches him that his beloved Dale Arden, a leader of this new alliance, is the target of an assassination plot, Flash launches a daring escape. With the help of a healer named Daranek, Flash must battle his way through a massive, labyrinthian prison, stalked by all manner of armed guards, deadly beasts, and an also-imprisoned Ming, who now arranges gladiatorial fights among the other prisoners. To escape the planet for good, Flash may have to do the most dangerous thing he can imagine—put his trust in Ming the Merciless. Adams understands the assignment, and he brings Flash to life with swashbuckling, space-opera gusto. The full-color artwork from Conrad beautifully realizes the pits, palaces, and spaceships in which Flash and his companions battle. The premise provides a reset for the geography and alliances of the established Flash Gordon universe, and Adams takes the opportunity to delve into his characters’ backstories. (Ming’s rise to power from a cohort of genetically engineered children is a particularly fun digression.) Old fans of the comic strip will find as much to enjoy here as those just discovering it for the first time.
An explosive reboot that captures the fun of the beloved classic series.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781545812488
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Lush visuals bring this thoughtfully constructed tale to life.
Wondrous visitors encounter a desperate pocket of humanity.
Lori, a white orphaned teen who’s finally been adopted after bouncing around various foster homes, awakens to discover that nearly everyone has disappeared. The rapture? Maybe. She runs into her classmate Annette, who has brown skin and curly black hair, and they partner up to scavenge for food. The pair tries to evade several threats, such as the large Wolves and a gang called The Dogs. Supernatural Giants arrive, seemingly from space, speaking an impenetrable language of “musical chiming and weird bass-rhythms.” Lori and Annette then meet Beatrice, an older white woman who shares important observations about the Giants and Wolves. The tone of the story then subtly shifts from post-apocalyptic desperation to one that’s somewhat playful. After a certain point, a visual element that appears early on takes on clear significance and meaning in the context of the story at large, offering a subversively humorous twist for readers to consider and a creative element that deviates from other alien invasion narratives. Hans’ artwork and paneling fill each scene with wonders. An interaction with a giant sees the red, violet, and pink figure standing against a bright, otherworldly white-and-blue backdrop with dark contours. Elsewhere, Lori and Annette pause at night as they behold ominous shadows, their foggy breath forming clouds, and they hear a “KRRNCH” sound. The quick-moving plot wraps everything up neatly.
Lush visuals bring this thoughtfully constructed tale to life. (character designs) (Graphic science fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781534387072
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Image Comics
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
Immensely enjoyable.
The debut graphic novel from Mohamed presents a modern Egypt full of magical realism where wishes have been industrialized and heavily regulated.
The story opens with a televised public service announcement from the General Committee of Wish Supervision and Licensing about the dangers of “third-class wishes”—wishes that come in soda cans and tend to backfire on wishers who aren’t specific enough (like a wish to lose weight resulting in limbs falling from the wisher’s body). Thus begins a brilliant play among magic, the mundane, and bureaucracy that centers around a newsstand kiosk where a devout Muslim is trying to unload the three “first-class wishes” (contained in elegant glass bottles and properly licensed by the government) that have come into his possession, since he believes his religion forbids him to use them. As he gradually unloads the first-class wishes on a poor, regretful widow (who then runs afoul of authorities determined to manipulate her out of her valuable commodity) and a university student who seeks a possibly magical solution to their mental health crisis (but struggles with whether a wish to always be happy might have unintended consequences), interstitials give infographic histories of wishes, showing how the Western wish-industrial complex has exploited the countries where wishes are mined (largely in the Middle East). The book is exceptionally imaginative while also being wonderfully grounded in touching human relationships, existential quandaries, and familiar geopolitical and socio-economic dynamics. Mohamed’s art balances perfectly between cartoon and realism, powerfully conveying emotions, and her strong, clean lines gorgeously depict everything from an anguished face to an ornate bottle. Charts and graphs nicely break up the reading experience while also concisely building this larger world of everyday wishes. Mohamed has a great sense of humor, which comes out in footnotes and casual asides throughout.
Immensely enjoyable.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-524-74841-8
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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