Longtime DC Co-Publisher and current Frank Miller Presents Publisher Dan DiDio (see "Frank Miller Launches His Own Publishing Company") is writing a new 8-issue Defenders of the Earth series for Mad Cave Studios, the company announced.  The new series will feature art by Jim Calafiore, with cover A by Calafiore, cover B (action figure variant) by Djordje Djokovic, and cover C by Andy Clarke.

The Defenders of the Earth team, with members Flash Gordon, the Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar and others, is probably best-known from the 1980s animated series, but originated in newspaper strips, and was also featured in a Marvel Comics series from 1987.

The new comic series is part of a major Flash Gordon publishing program from Mad Cave, which kicked off with a Free Comic Book Day release, and is continuing with a collected edition of the Marvel miniseries in June, a new Flash Gordon ongoing series launching in July, the Defenders of the Earth series launch in August, and the launch of Flash Gordon Quarterly in September (see "ComicsPRO: ‘Defenders of the  Earth’").

Click Gallery below for full-size cover images!