Flash Gordon #0: Holy shit, this issue is great. Conrad's Flash is sexy AF, as he's supposed to be, the Earther football jock unexpectedly leading the fight against Ming the Merciless. Adams doesn't spend a lot of time on exposition, keeping us focused mostly on the action, so it helps if you have at least some have hazy memories of the 1980 movie. That said, Adams' focus on the present and not the past makes the issue as exciting as it is.
Flash and the team are trying to hijack a shipment on Mongo (Ming's home world) only for Flash to die when some of Ming's troops open fire on them. Ming is shocked Flash died so ingloriously. After visiting the corpse to confirm Flash really is dead, Ming returns his focus on the Unraveled, a device one of his scientists created to destroy Earth. (Creepily, the scientist reminds Ming of their deal, that he gets Ming's daughter Aura's hand in marriage.)
Of course, it turns out Flash isn't dead. Commenting to herself about the things she does for love, Aura climbs a tree and fires a DNA-seeking syringe into the palace. The syringe finds Flash, awakening him from his "death." Flash being Flash, he immediately leaps into battle with Ming.
Expositing that the locals hate Ming enough to tell Flash about his plans for the Unraveled (hence the plan he and the team put into action), Flash fights to stop Ming from activating the device. However, he's too late. Ming informs Flash that — as the scientist helpfully exposited to us earlier — the Unraveled can't be stopped once activated. Flash does the only thing he can, knocking over the Unraveled, which means it'll destroy Mongo instead!
In other words, it's pretty great. So long as Adams keeps Flash charming and Conrad keeps him sexy, they're giving the people what they want. But Adams really ups the ante as Flash is forced to choose genocide over letting Earth die. If Adams somehow keeps the charm and sex appeal but also make it somehow more serious, like he does here, he'll have something special on his hands.
Free Comic Book Day: Star Wars #1: The best Star Wars stories to my mind involve characters who don't usually get center stage. As such, I loved spending a few panels with the Storm Troopers "guarding" the abandoned Alliance base on Hoth as they complain that their lieutenant got them stationed there for his apparent role in the destruction of the Palpatine statue on Coruscant (from "Star Wars" #36).
Unfortunately (and not surprisingly), it doesn't turn out too well for them. Chewie, Lando, Leia, and Luke return to Hoth after they get word that some Alliance troops failed to evacuate and come face-to-face with the Imperial detachment. After the left-behind troops find the Rebels during the ensuing melee, the gang skedaddles, with the Imperials in "hot" (heh) pursuit. (The lieutenant hopes capturing the Rebels is his ticket off the planet.) Luke leads the gang to the cave where the Wampa attacked him, and they hilariously roast up the arm Luke amputated from the Wampa for food. The next day, they discover that the lieutenant and his men crashed and froze in the storm. Ah, Hoth.
The Darth Vader story is much more interesting, as Vader's time in the Martyrdom of Frozen Tears causes him to suffer a hallucination that reminds him that he has to find Luke. (Did he really forget?) Knowing that he can't approach Luke directly without causing him to bolt, Vader sends out Sabé. She somehow knows to track down Warba Calip, the alleged mystic who trained Luke in "Star Wars (2015)" #69-75.
Warba tells Sabé that she'll help her find Luke if she picks up a box at a nearby cantina. Instead of getting the box, Sabé gets into a fight and helps an indentured servant escape his master. (Of course she does.) Telling Sabé that she isn't sure anyone ever passes tests, Warba tells Sabé to meet her the next day at dawn.
The most interesting part, though, is that Warba returns to the cantina later to meet...Darth Vader! He asks if Sabé failed the test, which Warba says she did. Warba clicks open the box and pulls out some sort of tile with the Imperial emblem on it. Vader tells her she passed the test as she kneels before him. Dun-dun-DUN!
Gathcaman #0 FCBD: Bunn doesn't do anything particularly revolutionary here, mostly just introducing us to the Super Science Team and their never-ending battle against Galactor, an organization whose motivation seems best described as "do evil." Conversely, we learn the Team uses "secretive ninja techniques, fringe science, and bleeding edge technology" to save Earth. But Batista and Lopez are really the show here, as they provide fantastic and kinetic fight sequences. That said, Bunn ends with an intriguing hook, as Dr. Nambu, the Team's coordinator, is preparing a new Super Science Team for the day the current one fails.
The back-up stories are interesting enough, highlighting Ken's grit as he flies back to base while injured (and possibly discovering his "deceased" father isn't deceased) and Galactor chief Berg Katse's ruthlessness as he takes out a rival. If anything, it's these two stories that really sell the concept for me, so I'll be back for "Gatchaman" #1.
Jonny Quest #0: I've seen the rave reviews for this title, and I totally get why after this issue.
In 1964, the Sea Quest crew finds itself in an unexpected storm as Dr. Quest tests his new "quantum counter." A bolt of lightning hits the ship, causing the counter to shed a trippy light. The next morning, the crew finds calmer seas and heads home to a different Palm Key than the one they left a week ago. They're not only surprised to a find insectoid security bot launching itself at them but the dilapidated remains of the Sea Quest itself! Meanwhile, someone watches from a security camera, intoning that Dr. Quest isn't going to like the answer to what happened. Dun-dun-DUN!
Not only does Casey provide a propulsive script, but Piriz's action sequences are spectacular and Scaramella's colors really set the mood. It's an A+ outing, and I'm stoked to jump on this bandwagon.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Free Comic Book Day 2024 #1: This issue is more of a prelude to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher" #1 than it is to the upcoming reboot that Jason Aaron is writing, though I'm not complaining.
We're introduced to the Nightwatcher as we learn that a "mutagen bomb exploded in New York City" a year ago, turning a portion of the population into mutants or, as the narrator puts it, "what many consider to be something other." It's unclear if the Nightwatcher is working alone, but he definitely sees himself as the mutants' defender as he stops some humans-dressed-as-mutants from robbing the mutants' vault.
The other story is a continuity-less one, a fun story about what Splinter does when he sends the boys on patrol because the father of four teenage boys just really needs a break sometimes.
All in all, it's good, FCBD fun.
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