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"Merciless - The Rise Of Ming has been announced by Dynamite Entertainment. The series, scheduled to debut in April, will serve as a prequel to the publisher&amp;#039;s Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist comic, focusing on the rise of the titular villain. Scott Beatty is writing the series, accompanied by artist Ron Adrian. Alex Ross will provide cover illustrations.  &amp;quot;In most heroic fiction, we (the readers, that is) never really question why the villains do very bad things. It&amp;#039;s always just assumed that evil is as evil does,&amp;quot; said Beatty.  &amp;quot;Ming is one of the great antagonists of science fiction. In many ways, he&amp;#039;s archetypal and the model for all intergalactic despots to follow. But he&amp;#039;s not just Ming. Everybody knows he&amp;#039;s Ming the MERCILESS. And he&amp;#039;s successful at being just that.&amp;quot;  Beatty added: &amp;quot;Ming has a plan. For EVERYTHING. Readers of Flash Gordon can think of Merciless - The Rise Of Ming as &amp;#039;required reading&amp;#039; for the series&amp;#039;s central conflict.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a primer that reveals not just who Ming the Merciless is - well before he ruled all of Mongo - but just what he did to get there... and WHY he did it.&amp;quot; Merciless - The Rise Of Ming arrives in stores in April. &amp;gt; Pathfinder licence acquired by Dynamite Entertainment "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a360022/merciless-the-rise-of-ming-announced-by-dynamite/>