Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #7 Review


When I reviewed Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #5 a couple months backs, I was reasonable positive about the series, and its connection to the awesome prequel, Merciless: The Rise Of Ming. But with issue #6, I find myself questioning that assessment. Here’s the official description from Dynamite:

As Ming prepares for the final offensive against the Earth, Flash Gordon — and allies both new and old — moves against Ming’s palace. Fighting alongside his fellow Earthmen, the brilliant Dr. Zarkov and the beautiful Dale Arden, Gordon leads a rebel band into the teeth of Ming’s fearsome defenses. But will even the universe’s greatest hero be in time?

For some reason, I just can’t get excited about this series. It’s partially because I came in late, and still don’t have the best grasp of what’s going on, which is completely my fault, but it’s also because I get no sense of depth. Whereas Merciless did, for the most part, a great job of fleshing out Ming as a character, making him nuanced, Zeitgeist falls flat in that regard. Ming makes dumb mad scientist-dictator mistakes that would probably work great in the original “Flash Gordon” serials, but here they go against much of the great character work we saw in the prequel.

Eric Trautmann’s script is full of action, and there are a few clever twists (one expects the characters to say “that was the plan all along”) but, as I said, the characters, Ming in particular, have no nuance, and the betrayals come so thick and fast that they quickly lose all emotional impact. Daniel Indro’s art however, remains superb. It’s detailed and dynamic and as realistic as can be expected from such a fantastic series. Slamet Mujiono’s colors are excellent. They’re very vibrant and rival Roni Setiawan’s in Merciless (The two are strikingly similar, and that further increases the cohesion between the two series.) I only wish they were a bit less constrained by Indro’s somewhat heavy lines.

While the art remains fantastic, Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist is ultimately another pretty action-oriented book that offers more in the way of style than substance.

2.5/5

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