Star Trekker

Space is the final frontier as Dan Abnett takes over Flash Gordon

- STEPHEN JEWELL

BEST KNOWN FOR ASSEMBLING the famous second iteration of Guardians Of The Galaxy, Dan Abnett admits he has “a rep for sci-fi or cosmic stories”. Now, after recently returning to Marvel’s interstellar super-team with Imperial Guardians, he’s assuming the scripting reins of a space hero with a much longer history in Mad Cave’s Flash Gordon monthly, beginning with a special zero issue before continuing with issue 16 in May. “The unique thing here is Flash Gordon’s legacy, the feeling of a long and glorious tradition of escapades,” says Abnett, who at a young age discovered collections of Alex Raymond’s classic comics – first syndicated by King Features as a Sunday newspaper strip in 1934 – before watching BBC repeats of a ’30s black-and-white serial, and eventually “the delightfully wild” 1980 film.