Merciless: The Rise of Ming #3
Written by Scott Beatty
Art by Ron Adrian
Colors by Roni Setiawan
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Alex Ross
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 1, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Merciless: The Rise of Ming #3 is a great sci-fi action/thriller. From front to back, it’s got everything that fans of classic science fiction could ask for. And it’s cooler because it’s Ming the Merciless.

Writer Scott Beatty gives us another chapter in the origin of Ming the Merciless, and it’s a great roller coaster ride. This is CLASSIC sci-fi writing, but the format is updated for today’s audience. It’s action from cover to cover and you only catch your breath and the very end…and then there’s the last page. Beatty has been a fantastic science fiction writer for awhile now (his Buck Rogers series from Dynamite is totally underrated), and it’s nice to see him take the reins on another series. What I also like about this series is that it’s not just a spin-off of Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist that doesn’t need to exist. The audience needs to know how Ming got so merciless, and it’s nice that it flows into the current Flash Gordon series.

Merciless: The Rise of Ming #2
Written by Scott Beatty
Art by Ron Adrian
Colors by Roni Setiawan
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Alex Ross
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 20, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

In Merciless: The Rise of Ming #2, I’m not sure what happens. Either Ming’s already beyond-repair black soul falls deeper and deeper into the abyss of Hell or more of his own personality comes out. Maybe it’s a little of each. All I know is, it’s pretty fun to watch.

Imagine the creation of Darth Vader. No, not THAT one, the 1983 one. The one that you envisioned in your head after you saw Return of the Jedi and Obi-Wan explained, without too much detail (thanks for that, Ben!) that Anakin Skywalker had indeed fallen to The Dark Side of the Force and became Darth Vader. Remember the story you came up with in your head on the way home from the theater? Well, that’s pretty much what Scott Beatty has done here for Ming the Merciless.

Merciless: The Rise of Ming #1
Written Scott Beatty
Art by Ron Adrian
Colors by Roni Setiawan
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Alex Ross
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: April 25, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Merciless: The Rise of Ming #1 takes everyone’s second favorite guy in the Flash Gordon universe and reveals just how he came to rule the planet Mongo and just how he got so…well….merciless. It’s an origin that’s not needed, like Doctor Doom and Lex Luthor being evil just comes with the territory. But hey, Dynamite Entertainment decided to give us one, so why look a gift horse in the mouth, right?