{"id":117,"date":"1997-04-01T22:22:09","date_gmt":"1997-04-02T03:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/?p=117"},"modified":"2016-01-30T18:25:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T23:25:39","slug":"a-classic-hero-crossover-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/a-classic-hero-crossover-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"A classic hero crossover adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"
By James Chambers – As a short-lived Saturday morning animated series, Defenders of the Earth <\/i>united Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, and the Phantom to confront the evil forces of Ming the Merciless. Marvel Comics handled the comic book based on the show, publishing it under the Star Comics imprint (another short-lived venture), which specialized in comics aimed at younger readers. I\u2019ve never seen the cartoon, but when I came across this book in the clearance box at the comic shop, the idea of bringing three of King Features\u2019 best-known adventure heroes to\u00adgether really intrigued me. A story by Stan Lee and art from Alex Saviuk, a long-time favorite of mine, clinched it.<\/div>\n
\"Defenders<\/a>
Defenders of the Earth #1<\/strong>
by Stan Lee, Bob Harras, Alex Saviuk, and Fred Fredericks
Star Comics\/Marvel Comics
January 1987<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In classic Marvel style, Lee\u2019s story hits the action on the \ufb01rst page, when a desperate Flash Gordon crash-lands his spaceship on the front lawn of Mandrake\u2019s mansion. The Master Magician and his loyal aid, Lothar, take Gordon in, only to \ufb01nd that minions of the nefarious Emperor Ming are hot on his tail. Ming intends to invade Earth, and spaceman and magician set off to secure the help of the Phantom in stopping him. The group then travels to Mongo to confront the enemy on his home ground.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting things about this book is the addition of some family to each of the characters\u2019 backgrounds. Flash, Mandrake, and the Phantom each have a young son or daughter to help them out. I suspect this was a marketing decision, designed to make the series more accessible to younger children, but it works, since each of these new characters is interesting and well-developed, thanks mostly to Stan Lee. Lee became a legendary comic writer partly because he knows how to establish a character\u2019s personality immediately in a few panels\u2014a skill which lets him keep the action moving without skimping on the story and helps readers care about the heroes and villains.<\/p>\n

Visually, the book enjoys a great classic style, courtesy of Saviuk and Fred Fredericks. Saviuk is a master of his craft and can combine dynamic visual images with clear, exciting storytelling. He does an excellent job of conveying everything from the soaring cosmic setting of Flash Gordon to the dark jungle world of the Phantom.<\/p>\n

Defenders of the Earth <\/i>offers a top-notch adventure story, sophisticated enough to satisfy adult readers as well as kids, and it\u2019s worth rescuing from the bargain bin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By James Chambers – As a short-lived Saturday morning animated series, Defenders of the Earth united Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, and the Phantom to confront the evil forces of Ming the Merciless. Marvel Comics handled the comic book based on the show, publishing it under the Star Comics imprint (another short-lived venture), which specialized in comics aimed at younger readers. I\u2019ve never seen the cartoon, but when I came across this book in the clearance box at the comic shop, the idea of bringing three of King Features\u2019 best-known adventure heroes to\u00adgether really intrigued me. A story by Stan Lee and art from Alex Saviuk, a long-time favorite of mine, clinched it. In classic Marvel style, Lee\u2019s story hits the action on the \ufb01rst page, when a desperate Flash Gordon crash-lands his spaceship on the front lawn of Mandrake\u2019s mansion. The Master Magician and his loyal aid, Lothar, take Gordon in, only to \ufb01nd that minions of the nefarious Emperor Ming are hot on his tail. Ming intends to invade Earth, and spaceman and magician set off to secure the help of the Phantom in stopping him. The group then travels to Mongo to confront the enemy on his home ground. One of the most interesting things about this book is the addition of some family to each of the characters\u2019 backgrounds. Flash, Mandrake, and the Phantom each have a young son or daughter to help them out. I suspect this was a marketing decision, designed to make the series more accessible to younger children, but it works, since each of these new characters is interesting and well-developed, thanks mostly to Stan Lee. Lee became a legendary comic writer partly because he knows how to establish a character\u2019s personality immediately in a few panels\u2014a skill which lets him keep the action moving without skimping on the story and helps readers care about the heroes and villains. Visually, the book enjoys a great classic style, courtesy of Saviuk and Fred Fredericks. Saviuk is a master of his craft and can combine dynamic visual images with clear, exciting storytelling. He does an excellent job of conveying everything from the soaring cosmic setting of Flash Gordon to the dark jungle world of the Phantom. Defenders of the Earth offers a top-notch adventure story, sophisticated enough to satisfy adult readers as well as kids, and it\u2019s worth rescuing from the bargain bin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5,4,28],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-closet","tag-april-1997","tag-issue-27","tag-james-chambers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}