Mad Cave Studios’ relaunch of Flash Gordon continues this month with the debut of new title Flash Gordon Quarterly, a collection of short stories set within the main title’s universe and various alternate universes. The Beat spoke with up-and-coming comics writer Louis Southard and artist Nuno Plati about their story in Flash Gordon Quarterly #1, “The Battle of Little Mingo.”
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Jared Bird: You’ve been promoting Mad Cave Studios’ Flash Gordon Quarterly issue 1. How did this project start at Mad Cave?
Lewis Southard: Well, I think it’s all down to the mastermind Chas Pangburn, who is Mad Cave’s senior editor of licensed works. Since acquiring the rights to Flash Gordon and many of their properties, they’ve been trying to make the most of it and get top creators to buy into big ideas. If you look at the Flash series as a whole, you can see it culminating with the amazing flagship with Jeremy Adams and Will Conrad, the kids’ version with Franco Aureliani and Art Balthazar, reprints of classics, and the Defenders of the Earth sequel with Dan Didio again. The quarterly magazine is the next step. It’s a combination of expanding the new main universe and opening the door to the Flash Gordon multiverse, and I’m lucky to be a part of it.
Bird: Flash Gordon is having a big year this year with a new Mad Cave release, a Dan Schkade comic strip, and a variety of universe titles. What was it like writing such a legendary character as Flash Gordon?
Southard: I love comic book history. I wrote a book about comic book history called “Comics Are Dying: The Comic.” It was a lot of fun learning about the Alex Raymond version of Flash Gordon and the Buck Rogers version of Flash Gordon. It’s very interesting to learn about the rivalry behind it and the impact it has had on pop culture over the years. It’s a character that’s been around for 90 years. The fact that I can now be a part of that tapestry with a great team is exciting. There’s never been a multiverse story before, so the fact that myself and Nuno Prati and the other multiverse team, Jordan Thomas and Russell Mark Olson, will be making the first Earth-2 and Earth-3, so to speak. It’s a little scary to add a new chapter to the history and the continuity, but I think it’s exhilarating. How do we make a better Flash Gordon in the multiverse? We decided that if we could go to a whole new world, let’s do something totally different, and we were going to do it the first chance we got. I’m very proud of the fact that I’m the first Gen Z person to write a Flash Gordon story, and I may be the youngest author to do so at 24. I don’t know for sure, but I think so.
Bird: That shouldn’t be a pressure, being the youngest person to ever write a Flash Gordon script.
Southard: I’m not worried at all!
Bird: I’m not that familiar with the character Flash Gordon myself. I’ve never read his books, only seen the ’80s movies. Would you recommend this book to someone new to Flash Gordon?
Southard: I think what Mad Cave is doing with the relaunch is a really clever move. Ninety years is a long time, and there are still people who started with the Alex Raymond comics and comic strips, the ’80s cartoons, the Defenders of the Earth cartoons. There are a lot of entry points you can jump into. The idea of this series is that no matter how you imagine it or even if it’s your first time, it all happened. Your mental version of what happened happened. Here’s what happens next. What lead writer Jeremy Adams has done is to make it satisfying for old fans, while also being a great starting point for new fans. With the quarterly titles, other creators get a chance to play with older characters while showing a new world for Jeremy and Will, and a different side of the characters who live there. I think it’s an even bigger starting point for flash fiction and multiverse stories, because you have to boil your characters down to their most essential aspects. I truly think that if you want to find out who the characters are, this Quarterly is the best way to do it. If you like what you read, try reading the other books in this series with some knowledge in mind.
BIRD: How did you end up getting involved with this project with Mad Cave?
Southard: I had been in talks with Mad Cave to develop different projects for a while, and they offered me to work on a few different intellectual properties. I wasn’t familiar with the first two, but they offered me a third, secret, exciting project, and that piqued my interest. As soon as I found out it was Flash Gordon, I decided to get involved. I did my research and from what little information I knew, I was excited to get involved and write Min the Merciless. There are so many layers to working with licensees and you have to satisfy multiple people, including myself, so I’m very pleased with myself. It’s the kind of work I would love to read too. The story went gold and it was a great process. Everyone was a dream to work with and Mad Cave is just amazing. I really have nothing bad to say about them. It’s a great environment for creators to work in and a great place for aspiring creators. They’re hardworking, smart, and kind, which can be sorely lacking these days.
BYRD: What influenced the Western setting of The Battle of Little Mingo?
Southard: We had a meeting and I had to submit a list of my ideas, including a funny animal version of Mink the Merciless. They looked at my proposal for a Western version, and I’ve written a lot of Westerns before. I’ve always wanted to write science fiction, and they said I’d be perfect for a Western version of Flash Gordon. Yes, I am, exactly! It’s like the desert keeps drawing me back. I didn’t mind at all. It was a lot of fun, and I got to come up with alternate universe versions of Sheriff Gordon, Deputy Sheriff Dale, Governor Ming T. Marcellus, and so on. It was cool to play with Western tropes, and like I said, to do something a little different. To prove why it’s different, what it can do, and if we’re lucky enough to get a sequel, to do something different. Working with Nuno Prati was a lot of fun. We created mood boards to match the characters and their inspirations. For example, we matched Ming T. Marcellus with John D. Rockerduck from DuckTales. I read the DuckTales artbook and it said “Only a real asshole would wear white in the desert” and I decided that was the perfect fit for Ming. Thanks also to colorist Joan Lemos and my always reliable letterer Buddy Beaudoin.
BIRD: What was it like working with artist Nuno Prati?
Southard: As a fan, I was in awe. He worked on the various Spider-Man titles that were the thing that got me into comics in 2013. It was just a magical moment to work with someone who was involved in the book that got me into comics, especially since this was the first book I was hired to work on. It was amazing. He was great, the design was amazing, the pages and the layouts were incredible. He brought in Joan because they’d been working together for a long time. Creatively, he knew what he was doing and I knew that if I let him do what he wanted, he would bring great ideas and pages. The Giraffe horse was his idea and that’s why I knew he was great. I think if you’re going to get a Louis Southard western, you need a quirky horse. It was just a really smooth collaboration and I can’t put into words such a perfect moment.
Bird: It’s not a bad artistic trademark to have the odd horse in a cowboy book. Can we expect to see more of Louis Southard and Flash Gordon in the future?
Southard: That’s entirely up to the reader. If you like this Wild West Flash Gordon world that we’ve teased, please tell Mad Cave that you want to see more. I have a whole story planned out. The Quarterly stories are standalones, but they’re also unintentional setups for something unimaginable. If you really like it, tell Mad Cave and show him that you bought a copy. Here’s where my real motivations become clear. When I was researching Flash Gordon, there was a villain that I was totally obsessed with. His name is Pyron, the Comet Master. He’s a later addition, a guy who pilots an artificial comet that explodes through the sky. He has a sidekick named Flam, and he dresses her up to fit the whole scheme. He has an army of dinosaur-man minions. He’s a regular guy, and Flam is, but there are dinosaurs loyal to him and his comet control. I’ve been begging everyone under the sun to let me bring Pyron back. If you read this, let Mad Cave know #WeWantPyron so I can bring him back and disappear into the night a happy man. That’s my goal!
Bird: I think everybody wants more of that. I think so too, and I think Pyron is the baddie we need in 2024.
Southard: He’s the villain we want! He warms the emptiness in my heart. I want to introduce him to the masses.
Bird: We need a real villain to unite the nation. Thank you for your time.
Below is some concept art for Louis Southard and Nuno Plati’s story that appeared in the first Quarterly issue.
Flash Gordon Quarterly #1 will be published by Mad Cave Studios on September 4th, 2024. Let us know if you enjoyed it or if there is a story you particularly enjoyed!
Like this:
Like Loading…
