After 25 years and more than a dozen books, Scott Chantler is taking on a classic licensed character. Mad Cave Studios and King Features Syndicate have announced Flash Gordon: Two Worlds, a two-volume graphic novel by the award-winning cartoonist of Two Generals, Northwest Passage, Three Thieves and more.
Chantler will worl with colorist K, J. Díaz. The first volume is scheduled for November.
The standalone story is separate from Mad Cave’s other Flash Gordon series and pulls from the pulp-adventure sensibilities of Alex Raymond’s original comic strip and the Flash Gordon movie serials. It’s also a What If? style story, asking the question — what if Ming conquered Earth?
From the publisher:
In a world where Flash Gordon never flew to space to stop him, Ming the Merciless rules over a conquered and devastated Earth. There, a nameless laborer looks to the sky and dreams of the hero he might have been.
On Mongo, the Emperor’s tormented bride, Dale Arden, cannot shake the memory of a man she saw briefly on an airplane years ago. Who was he? And why does it feel like they were meant to have met?
Chantler said the project marks the first time in his career that he has attempted to “put my stamp on a classic character.”
“Despite a 25-year career in comics, and 15 books under my belt, something I’d never really done is put my stamp on a classic character,” Chantler said. “So I picked the most classic one I could think of. My late friend Darwyn Cooke had a real knack for this kind of material: he could tap into all the history, nostalgia and playfulness of the characters while still finding something new, tough and sophisticated to say with them. I’ve tried my best to do the same.”
Here’s a look inside:
The first volume will be available in paperback ($19.99) and hardcover ($24.99) editions on Nov. 10.