The new series is written by former employee of the Weinstein Brothers' Dimension Films company, Brendan Deneen, with art by newcomer Paul Green, and is setting its aims... uncertainly, as Deneen explains:

While remaining true to the spirit of Alex Raymond's incredible creations, I'm looking to craft a story and world where our unsuspecting heroes come face-to-face with unimaginable threats and breathtaking landscapes (aided in no small part by Paul Green's amazing artwork). At the same time, the civil war on Mongo, and Ming's certainty that he is doing what's right for the 'insurgents' battling him, will ring true to anyone who's been paying attention to world events over the last five or so years.

Has anyone really been waiting for a "Ming The Merciless is really Saddam Hussein" moment? Does this mean that we're going to discover that Mongo really didn't have any weapons of mass-hawkman destruction after all? Is Prince Baron really a stand-in for Barack Obama? The answers to potentially some of those questions await you when the book launches in August.

Flash Gordon #1 Preview [Newsarama]

"Ming doesnt have to be asian, but at least let him be bald! for a ming that has hair, is no ming at all:("

"no he doesnt have to be asian but he needs the fu manchu beard/mustache and a skullcap."

"He doesn't need to be bald, but a long beard like the pirate Blackbeard would help. A skullcap would also help and maybe some skull-shaped trinkets in necklaces and bracelets."

Of course, not everyone feels that Mingness is skin deep:

"Ming the Merciless has to be MERCILESS. Killing people because they oppose him, because they stepped on his toes, because they blocked his view of the sun, or maybe because he was just plain bored that day, Everything else is trivial and probably racist. The 30s movie version certainly was."

"I don't give a rip what ethnic background Ming has - although the name does evoke an Asian feel - or how much hair he sports where. baldy46 got it right in that regard - show me someone who kills on a whim and not worry about the consequences, who wants Earth because Earth is there and apparently vulnerable, someone with no morality or humanity about him. The milquetoast accountant on Flush Gordon is about as menacing as my 5-year old grandson. No, on further thought I have to admit my grandson exudes more menace than this guy ever could."

I have to admit, I do think that this Ming...

...is much more menacing than the one at the top of the post. Speaking as a man no stranger to the receding hairline, the idea that baldness makes someone more evil is a distressing one. That said, facial hair? Always a telling sign of badness. Look at history: Attilla The Hun, Hitler, Stalin, Santa Claus. Each one of them more trouble than a truckload of Amy Winehouses.

Ming doesn't have to be Asian [Sci-Fi Forums]