Complete Monster (includes Merciless: The Rise of Ming prequel): This incarnation of Ming the Merciless may be one of the vilest yet. Ming the Merciless begins as the Prince of Mongo, and a ruthless schemer from the start to climbs his way to power by cutting off the wings of a rival and driving her to suicide while mercilessly murdering everyone else in his way, culminating when Ming uses a portable black hole to kill his own father. Ming comes into his own as a violent tyrant, once using his new siege projectors to suck an entire race out into vacuum to freeze to death. When Ming's lover is found to be cheating on him, Ming sets up her adulterous lover to be vaporized-—along with three other planets. Ming continues slaughtering planets as a matter of course, while personally murdering minions and councilors alike for any reason he can think of and destroying the minds of women so they may be his concubines and attempting to force this process on Flash Gordon's beloved Dale. Ming masterminds World War II and Hitler's rise to power, using the Nazis to annihilate major cities while simultaneously pelting Germany with disasters so as not to let them get complacent. When Flash Gordon stands in his way for the final time, Ming merely opts to destroy Earth for the sole purpose of hurting him.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: There are lots of things to like about this comic — gorgeous art, a story blending multiple continuities, Flash Gordon punching Hitler! — but at the end of the day, does the world really need a Dark And Edgy version of Flash Gordon? Doesn't a lot of the escapist fun of most versions of Flash come from the fact that it isn't depressing, cynical, or pretentious?
