Defenders of the Earth is back! Well not the animated series, but a new 8 part miniseries has been ordered by Mad Cave Studios with previews of the first issue being available along with pre order through retailers.
With the recent exposure to Defenders of the Earth with the NECA Toys, Comics Kingdom releasing all the episodes and movies on YouTube, Monogram International keyrings and the upcoming trade paperback of the Marvel miniseries, also from Mad Cave, this upcoming miniseries is phantastic news.
Mad Cave, brought the license to Flash Gordon back in July 2023 and have announced their plans for the series along with the reprint of the Marvel series back in January. Previews have been out very recently.
From the previews in the League of Comic Geeks website, a synopsis, preview of the first issue and variant covers along with the creative team have been revealed.
"Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and Lothar are united again in this reimagining of the classic animated series, Defenders of the Earth. Picking up with characters and storylines from the original series, Flash confronts Ming in a final battle, only to find that even greater threats await him as his teammates as they each must confront ghosts of their past to protect their families and future." - reads the synopsis.
The previews of the first issue include the creative team with Dan DiDio (former co-publisher of DC Comics) as the writer and Jim Calafiore (Aquaman, Exiles) as the artist and Carlos M. Mangual as the letterer.
Three variant covers have been revealed with two normal and one incentive limited cover.
The main cover (A) is done by the main artist Jim Calafiore, which also previews what kind of art to expect in the comic.
Cover B is done by Djordje Djokovic, which depicts a Flash Gordon NECA figure in a old Galoob style packaging (Djordje will be one of our next podcast interviews coming out in June 2024).
The limited incentive 1:10 cover is done by Andy Clerke and depicts the Defenders in the style of the show and DVD covers.
The variant covers are as follows.
Interesting that the covers mention the series from "the world of Flash Gordon" which hint at the potential connection between Mad Cave's regular Flash Gordon series, which is to be launched from June. The synopsis also hints at this.
Issue #1 is slated to come out on 14 August. A few online retailers have also advertised the different variants for sale with a price of $4.99 (AU$ 7.44, €4.58, ₹415.66 and 53.48 kr) for the regular covers and $24.95 (AU$ 37.22, €22.90, ₹2078.31 and 267.39 kr) for the limited incentive variant.
According to the Flash Gordon publication schedule of Mad Cave published in the latest Flash Gordon Free Comic Book Day issue (#0), the series is supposed to release monthly from August to December, with a break in November, four number of comics are to be out this year. The schedule is provided below.
Nothing more about the series but more details are expected to be revealed closer to release. We are also in communication with Mad Cave Studio's about some podcast interviews with the creators and have been teasing this announcement for the last two months on our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast.
It's indeed a great time to be a phan in the US and around the world with so many publications of the Phantom. Mad Cave are now joining Moonstone in publishing our hero in the USA for 2024.
If you are in the USA and would like to help us with reviews of these comics, please contact us via our email chroniclechamber@gmail.com or contact us via any of our social media platforms.
Until then, Happy Phantoming.
Comments