This book has yet again proved itself to be a work of near-genius in my eyes. I love the Flash Gordon character, and the further we get into this series the more giddy I am becoming. The first issue was shaky and perplexing, but at the same time engaging; the second was a decent introduction into the FG world (the world we’ll be dealing with for the most part, anyway); and now, we come to the third issue, which had me jumping up and down like a kid at Christmas.

While this issue was great, it also posed many questions that need answering, chiefly when are all the storylines are going to tie together. Now, while this is only the third issue, it still needs to show some sort of connectivity in my opinion, and while the final scene boasts a crossing of paths between our hero and antagonist due to supporting characters (thereby smashing the two main plots together), it is only in the merest of suggestions at this point.

The sub-plot involving Professor Zarkoff, meanwhile, is something of an oddity. When I started this issue the character of Zarkoff seemed weak and his plotline didn’t really speak to me, but the introduction of Vultan and the promise of Zarkoff’s expansive role in the story may prove to be the best thing about this issue.

The art in this issue, as always, was spectacular. The colouring is really on the ball with this book, too, bringing the pencils to life. The design for Ming is strangely good and bad at the same time. He doesn’t seem to be as terrifying as he’s implied to be, but occasionally the art shows the glint of evil behind his eyes, and he becomes the personification of villainy.

So, was this the greatest comic of the week? Probably not. In fact, definately not. But I had so much fun reading this that it is definately the best thing I read by far. Forget Batman and his “issues” (which was actually frickin’ awesome), this is pure sci-fi, comic-book action, and by far better than the crappy TV show of last year.