The origin of one of science fiction's seminal supervillains, and the arch nemesis of Flash Gordon, is explored in this softcover collection of ''Dynamite Entertainment's'' critically acclaimed ''Merciless: The Rise of Ming'' four-issue mini-series! Set decades before the would-be interplanetary conqueror turned his attentions upon an unwitting Earth, ''Merciless'' chronicles the formative years of Prince Ming, heir to all he surveys and the fabulous people of distant Mongo, a planet politically divided by its divergent species and as physically fractured as the ring of shattered moons orbiting it. Disillusioned by his father's rule and anxious to begin his own dynasty, Ming engineers events to seat himself upon the imperial throne of Mongo, sooner rather than later. Armed with mindboggling weapons of planetary destruction, Ming the Merciless won't settle for anything less than dominion over his world...and every galaxy in the known universe!