Kings Watch Volume 1 (KINGS WATCH TP)

Jeff Parker does an amazing job boiling these classic characters down to their essence and making them accessible for new and old readers alike. Marc Laming's art invokes the classic nature of these beloved characters while also adding the dynamism and realism found in modern comics. Out of all of Dynamite's King related publications, this is certainly the strongest.

great condition. arrived on time

This is one of those graphic novels that I read because I wasn’t in the mood for ultra-realistic, deeply complex or serious. Nope, I wanted something mindless to pass the time, introduce me to some new characters and have a little bit of harmless fun with. The graphic novel equivalent of a B movie, I guess, and with King’s Watch I got exactly what I was looking for.Does that mean this was a star studded comic that dazzled me with its artwork or its stellar story?Naw. Like the three stars shows, it was just an okay graphic novel, not anything more than that.The main reason it is even a 3 star is due to the art. Honestly, Mark Laming impressed me. He showed a diverse range of abilities from penning some fairly ferocious monster men and magical spells to big battle scenes and normal day-to-day activities. Whether the characters were in the jungles of Africa or the urban jungles of America/Europe or space, I never felt anything looked out of place. Hell, he even did a good job of making the Phantom not look too corny, and that, my reader, is a damn hard task to accomplish. So anyway, the artwork was top notch in my opinion.The problem with the graphic novel was simply the characters. Honestly, how was Jeff Parker going to come up with a dazzling story teaming up Flash Gordon, the Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician? Not to even mention who the main super villain turns out to be.It might be possible, I guess, but it has got to be highly unlikely. I mean, let us look at our tremendous trio.Tops on our list is Flash Gordon: a rich guy who is a great athlete and a brave dude but has absolutely zero super powers. How is he even involved in a group of supers trying to save the world? He wouldn’t be, but here he is at ground zero, trying to turn back an alien invasion on a global scale.Then there is the Phantom. This is the Purple Shadow we are talking about here. You know, the guy who runs around in his striped underpants in the African jungle, lives in the Skull Cave, fights crime with his two pistols and rides into action on his white horse. Yet somehow, he gets pulled into a group of heroes fighting an interstellar invader. It seemed somewhat implausible, but whatever.And finally, there is Mandrake, who was the only one of the group that really made sense being in this position. I mean, the Magician is a master of illusions, has been fighting against an international crime organization for years, and would probably try to stop his nemesis from unleashing a global invasion. Unfortunately, for everyone, the Mandrake is a horribly boring dude.When you put these guys together, I honestly think Jeff Parker was given the most atrocious super team since the Legion of Super Pets, but even with such a tough draw, he gave it a decent go, crafting a story that – while not terribly realistic – made it, at least, sound plausible that these three would get together. He even kept the unrealistic concoction fun until the last few chapters when it sunk into the realm of nonsense, making even me begin to shake my head at the absolute ridiculousness of it all.So anyway, to summarize, King’s Watch is like a decent B movie; it has some really pretty pictures, some bad characters, and an okay story, . Maybe, it isn’t great, but it is still very suitable to waste an hour or two following along with. I don’t regret reading it, and honestly, if the book did nothing else, it helped me not hate the Phantom as much as I did before. Don’t get me wrong, he still sucks, just not so bad now.I received this book from Netgalley and Dynamite Entertainment in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank both of them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.

The chief value of the series is how it takes old pop culture icons and modernizes them. Flash Gordon actually makes sense; he's not a walking parody--just an aimless young man looking for whatever adventure he can find. Ming's army actually looks threatening.Sadly, the short page count means they have to rush through a lot of plot points and don't have the time to give moments the weight they need. A lot of lines fall flat because they can't be given the proper dramatic framing. And--it must be said--some of the dialogue just doesn't work.It's a fun way of bringing the universes together and reviving old comic heroes, but on its own the story lags. Still enjoyable.

A great start! Hopefully this will open the door to more stories with Mandrake, The Phantom, Lothar, & Flash Gordon there is a huge amount of untapped stories and potential here with these characters be in 1950's or today.

More adventures with the DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH!There's a lot going on in this series. It could have been drawn out to 12 issues easily. The art is great too!

Product as advertised and delivered safe, sound and quickly.

Another great title from Dynamite! This is a vehicle for Flash Gordon and an origins novel for him and The Phantom. Phantom has a history with Mandrake but they meet up with Flash and Zarkov who are just getting started out on their space exploration but their first foray has mixed up the plans of The Cobra who just happens to be working for Ming. Along with Dale and Lothar this group travels to Africa to foil Ming's merciless plot to take over the Earth. This is my first time reading Flash Gordon, though I'm a big fran from the serials of the '30s and the cult '80s movie. Even though Gordon is most definitely the centre of attention here his world is entwined with The Phantom's and thus it satisfies my "masked hero" love at the same time. This was my first intro to Phantom's world and I loved it. He and Mandrake have a supernatural element about them using real magic giving Africa an even more exotic feel to it, just like the original comics these guys are based on. A fun romp with monsters and mayhem, crossing Africa's jungle dangers with space travel and evil alien empire lords. The art was fantastic and the story was pure pulp. Loved it!

Excenlente ,gracias

Well done - both storyline and art are top notch! It was "busy", introducing several characters and situations. They did tie together well, and was great to see the creators "modernizing" these old "King Features" characters into one storyline.

Pas mal, le scenario un peu fouilli mais les dessins sont magnifiques. L'action se déroule très rapidement. Je préfère l'ancienne version: Defenders of the Earth !

a shocking graphic novel. for a fan of Mandrake and Phantom who grew up with Indrajal comics- there was something special in seeing three...make that four heroes coming together- Phantom, mandrake, flash gordon and lothar. true one cannot expect the charm and nostalgia of reading the Indrajal comis- but this is a Phantom and Mandrake comic meant for this generation...the disheveled phanotm with a stubble, was something which I couldn't digest at the first juncture....but once into the story the reasons became apparent...... However, the ending was a shocker............guess who the new phantom is and guess who the new Cobra is........never ever imagined such a twist. and for fans of Phantom and Mandrake there are three other comics in which these iconic heroes comes together. the first is "Defenders of the Earth" (mid Eighties) where the trio are joined by their children; and two comics "Shadows on Devil Road"and the more recent "Bon Voyage"published by Frew.