Mad Cave Studios is a comic book publishing house based in Miami, Florida, USA established in 2014. The company was created by writer Mark London, with founding members including Giovanna Tobar Orozco, Miguel Zapata and Cecilia Medina.
Mad Cave Studios publish a range of comic books and trade paperbacks, originally partnering with distributor Diamond Comic Distributors. In following years, Mad Cave Studios continued to grow, partnering with Maverick imprint and Simon & Schuster for distribution, plus acquiring Papercutz and the introduction of licensed and creator-owned projects.
An all original Defenders of the Earth comic book series was released on the 10th of December 2025, with each edition containing 32 full color pages, published on a monthly basis. Titled ‘Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny‘, the comic book series is authored by Dan DiDio, illustrated by Alex Sanchez, colored by Juancho Velez and lettering by Carlos M. Mangual.
The description for the series as seen in online advertisements read:
THE DEFENDERS ON TRIAL!
Mongo is a shattered empire — and it’s at least partly Flash Gordon’s fault. The Defenders of the Earth may have saved their home planet, but Mongo paid a hefty price for Ming the Merciless’s games. Now the toll’s come due — and it’s the Defenders who will pay it.
And while the Defenders face their former friends and allies, their offspring face challenges of their own. Determined to find Rick’s missing mother, Dale, the Gordon child and his friends K’Shin, Zuffy, LJ, and Jedda investigate a former secret base held by the son of Ming. Kro-Tan may be gone, but the danger is not. A fan-favorite villain goes after the Second Gen Defenders!
Writer Dan DiDio and artist Alex Sanchez pick up the beloved characters from the classic animated series and spin a whole new adventure!
Edition number 1 is published with color pages in December 2025 in both physical and digital formats. It was released in three variant covers: Cover A illustrated by Marco Santucci (depicted below left), Cover B illustrated by Vasco Georgiev (depicted below center) and Cover C illustrated by Bob Quinn (depicted below right).
Edition number 2 is published with color pages in January 2026 in both physical and digital formats. It was released in the one cover design, an illustration by Marco Santucci as can be seen below.
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