Now That's More Like It

Merciless: The Rise of Ming tpb
Dynamite Entertainment
Scott Beatty, writer
Ron Adrian, artist

This four-issue limited series tells Emperor Ming's back story and leads directly into Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist, a series I actually found a little bit disappointing. I actually read Zeitgeist first because I received that trade in the mail a few months before this one. Not sure if the collection for Merciless was delayed for everyone or if maybe I just ordered mine late and had to wait longer for my copy to arrive, but I did order Merciless before Zeitgeist. If I'd read them in the "proper" order, maybe my perceptions of both series would be different, but that ship has sailed.

On the whole, Merciless just read better to me. Maybe it was because there were fewer expectations in the story of Ming's younger years, a subject not often breached before, versus the more well-tread path of Flash Gordon's adventures featured in Zeitgeist. I mean no disrespect to Zeitgeist scribe Eric Trautmann when I say that it might also have been the writing. I have read a number of things written by Scott Beatty and liked almost all of them. I have read only a handful of Trautmann stories and found those few a more mixed bag when it comes to lining up with my tastes.

Ming is not the only familiar character in this tale of his rise to power on Mongo. Of course, most of the races of Mongo are familiar to those who have read the exploits of Flash Gordon -- Frigians, Arborians, the Lionmen and the Hawkmen, among others -- but we also are introduced to a younger Prince Vultan before he became ruler of the winged denizens of the Aerie. We also see a young scientific researcher named Klytus rewarded for his efforts by Ming and elevated to being the new emperor's second-in-command. And we witness the birth of Ming's heir, Aura, another character quite central to the later Flash Gordon tales.

But mostly this tale centers on Ming's cunning and ruthless rise to power. His father, the Emperor Krang, seems to be an emperor in name only. Rather than ruling over the other kingdoms, he is head of a council of rulers who enjoy a shaky non-aggression pact with each other, a pact that is often broken and reformed with the whims of any of the various players.

That changes quickly once Ming decides to usurp his father's title. He does not win every one of his early campaigns, but he learns quickly from defeats and ultimately, with a few well-placed, decisive victories -- and one nasty bit of genocide -- to pull the other people of Mongo into line under his reign. And once Mongo is under Ming's complete control, he sets his sights on the rest of the universe and beyond.

As always, the Alex Ross designs and covers for this series are simply beautiful. But Ron Adrian does an excellent job, too. Adrian follows Ross' designs for these characters so closely, a casual observer might even miss the fact that one artist is responsible for the covers and another for the interiors. Kudos all around, gentlemen!