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geekwayne's review against another edition
3.0
'King's Watch Volume 1' is a sort of reworking of the 1980s cartoon Defenders of the Earth. It's got classic pulp heroes in a more modern setting. The Phantom, Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician all team up when Ming threatens the Earth.
On a safari tour he's leading, Lothar (Mandrake's old sidekick) is threatened by a strange dinosaur-like animal. He is saved by the Phantom. Meanwhile Flash Gordon is in the process of developing a spacecraft with Dr. Zarkov and he runs into problems on a test flight. It seems that Ming the Merciless on the planet Mongo is attempting to create waypoints on planet Earth for his invading army. Our three heroes are thrown together to try to stop it or push it back onto Ming's planet.
It's an interesting concept and I'm not sure I felt like it totally worked. There have been some great retro comics lately featuring pulp heroes, but in their own element and time that have been amazing. This one felt a little anachronistic. For example, Mandrake's ability to summon magic and call anyone in the world are great, but we do have cell phones now. The only character that fares the best is The Phantom. Still, it's a valiant attempt, it was fun to read and the art wasn't bad at all. Extras include alternate covers and a script to page of the first issue.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
On a safari tour he's leading, Lothar (Mandrake's old sidekick) is threatened by a strange dinosaur-like animal. He is saved by the Phantom. Meanwhile Flash Gordon is in the process of developing a spacecraft with Dr. Zarkov and he runs into problems on a test flight. It seems that Ming the Merciless on the planet Mongo is attempting to create waypoints on planet Earth for his invading army. Our three heroes are thrown together to try to stop it or push it back onto Ming's planet.
It's an interesting concept and I'm not sure I felt like it totally worked. There have been some great retro comics lately featuring pulp heroes, but in their own element and time that have been amazing. This one felt a little anachronistic. For example, Mandrake's ability to summon magic and call anyone in the world are great, but we do have cell phones now. The only character that fares the best is The Phantom. Still, it's a valiant attempt, it was fun to read and the art wasn't bad at all. Extras include alternate covers and a script to page of the first issue.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
saintdoormatius's review against another edition
3.0
The art is fantastic and worth the price of admission on it's own. The story, honestly, would have benefited from one or two more issues. The premise is great, but is so rushed at the end it lessens any emotional impact (and boy does it try, but it's very shoehorned in). Finally, while these are well-established characters, an opportunity was missed to really flesh them out and make a newer generation care about them again.
standardman's review against another edition
5.0
Goodness this was fun. Takes some great heroes that are under served in the modern era and makes them fresh.
grilledcheesesamurai's review against another edition
3.0
I guess this is supposed to be the prequel to Jeff Parker's new ongoing Flash Gordon comic? I'm not 100 percent on that - but it seems that way. For the record, the first issue of Parker's 'Flash Gordon' just hit the shelves this week - and it was fantastic!!
Anyways, Kings Watch features Gordon, The Phantom, Mandrake along with Zarkov, Dale Arden, and Lothar. Our group of heroes are desperately trying to stave off an attack of portals opening up all over the world connecting them to Planet Mongo.
Nobody wants to be connected to Planet Mongo. Nope, nope. Seriously, Ming The Merciless is one bad ass mother fucker. Best to stay faaaaaar away from that dude.
It was a fun 5 issues. Nothing in particular blew me out of the water with it - but I'm a pretty big Flash Gordon fan, so yeah, rose colored glasses.
The writing is good, the art is fun... Especially when Mandrake is using his illusion spells, and most important of all is that it gives you some nice back story to the new monthly Gordon comic hitting shelves now.
movingtoguam's review against another edition
2.0
An electronic edition of this volume was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The 2/5 stars isn't really a bad thing. I liked this volume a lot, but it wasn't really that different from anything I've read before in the superhero genre. The illustrations fell flat a few times and the jumping between perspectives was really confusing before the main characters joined eachother. I didn't really get what was happening at first, but it picked around the middle of the volume. A nice read, but I've seen it all before.
The 2/5 stars isn't really a bad thing. I liked this volume a lot, but it wasn't really that different from anything I've read before in the superhero genre. The illustrations fell flat a few times and the jumping between perspectives was really confusing before the main characters joined eachother. I didn't really get what was happening at first, but it picked around the middle of the volume. A nice read, but I've seen it all before.
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