Flash Gordon Faces a World Without Its Greatest Hero in Scott Chantler’s Epic Two Worlds

Mad Cave Studios and King Features launch a bold two-volume graphic novel rooted in the romance, danger, and cosmic spectacle of Flash Gordon’s original adventures

What happens to Earth when Flash Gordon never reaches the stars, never challenges Ming the Merciless, and never becomes the hero destiny needed?

Mi gente, we are about to find out.

Mad Cave Studios, in partnership with King Features Syndicate, has announced Flash Gordon: Two Worlds – Vol. 1, the opening chapter of an original two-volume graphic novel from award-winning cartoonist and 2026 Ringo Award nominee Scott Chantler (Two Generals, Northwest Passage, Three Thieves), with colors by Eisner Award nominee Kike J. Díaz (The Rocketeer: The Island, Los Monstruos, Queen of Swords).

Nearly 25 years into his career, Chantler is taking on a major licensed character for the first time, and he did not exactly start small. He went straight for one of the foundational heroes of science-fiction comics.

Completely separate from Mad Cave’s other Flash Gordon series, Two Worlds returns to the visual language, sweeping romance, and high-octane pulp adventure of Alex Raymond’s legendary 1930s comic strip and the classic movie serials it inspired. Chantler is reaching into the character’s past to create a fresh, standalone story about heroism, destiny, and the lives shaped by a man who never became Flash Gordon.

In this fractured reality, Flash never traveled into space to oppose Ming the Merciless. Without him standing in the tyrant’s path, Ming conquered Earth and left the planet devastated beneath his rule.

The man who might have become Earth’s greatest champion is now a nameless laborer living under oppression, staring toward the sky and dreaming about the hero buried somewhere inside him. He does not know the life he was supposed to live, but something within him still feels the pull of the stars.

Meanwhile, Dale Arden remains trapped on Mongo as Ming’s tormented bride. She cannot forget the face of a man she briefly saw aboard an airplane years earlier. She does not know who he was or why the memory refuses to release her, only that their paths feel connected by something larger than coincidence.

Yo, this setup is cold. Flash and Dale have been separated by worlds, history has gone completely off the rails, and the universe is practically screaming for its missing hero to wake up.

Chantler approached the project with the goal of honoring everything that made Flash Gordon an icon while still finding unexplored territory within the mythology. He cited his late friend Darwyn Cooke as an inspiration, particularly Cooke’s ability to embrace the history, nostalgia, and playful energy of classic characters while giving their stories something sharper and more sophisticated to say.

“Despite a 25-year career in comics, and fifteen books under my belt, something I’d never really done is put my stamp on a classic character,” Chantler said. “So I picked the most classic one I could think of.”

Chantler’s résumé makes him a powerful choice to guide Flash through this ambitious alternate history. His graphic novel Two Generals earned two Eisner Award nominations, appeared in The Best American Comics 2012, and was selected by CBC’s Canada Reads as one of the 40 best Canadian nonfiction books.

His acclaimed historical adventure Northwest Passage received Eisner and Harvey Award nominations, while his Three Thieves series won the Joe Shuster Award for Best Comic for Kids and earned recognition as a YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens. In 2015, Chantler also became the University of Windsor’s first Cartoonist-in-Residence.

With Two Worlds, Chantler and Díaz are tapping into the bold imagery, operatic romance, fearless heroics, and wild imagination that have fueled Flash Gordon for generations. This is not a dusty museum tour through comic-book history. The creative team is rebuilding that classic engine, polishing the rocket, and firing it toward a new destination.

The story remains firmly rooted in the world of the original comic strips and movie serials, but it has been designed to stand completely on its own. Longtime fans can reconnect with the elements that made Flash Gordon legendary, while new readers can enter the worlds of Earth and Mongo without needing an intergalactic map, a history lesson, or a stack of back issues.

Flash Gordon: Two Worlds – Vol. 1 arrives November 10, 2026, in paperback for $19.99 (ISBN: 9781545834206) and hardcover for $24.99 (ISBN: 9781545834190). Readers can preorder the graphic novel through their local comic shop, bookstore, or directly from Mad Cave Studios.

Stay connected with Mad Cave Studios and its imprints Papercutz, Maverick, and Nakama Press on social media. Visit Mad Cave Studios for more new releases, licensed adventures, and creator-owned comics.

Earth has fallen. Mongo belongs to Ming. Dale remembers a man she was destined to meet, and somewhere beneath the chains of a conquered world, Flash Gordon is waiting to become Flash Gordon.

The rocket launches this November. Let’s go!