Flash Gordon vs. Star-Lord: The Only Living Boy's David Gallaher talks new print release, pulp heroes

Mar[Editor's Note: March kicks off a season of big-time showdowns, grudge matches and maybe a few team-ups. Infamous as the month when Brutus betrayed Caesar,ch will get even more epic because Batman will take on Superman on the big screen,
Daredevil will get company in Hell's Kitchen in the form of The Punisher on Netflix, and The Flash shall race on over to CBS to meet Supergirl. And, of course, just a few weeks after this kickoff, we'll see a breakdown in the friendship between Captain America and Iron Man in Marvel's Civil War movie. Because we love seeing a good battle between titans, we've dedicated March to versus. Over the next four weeks, check this space for stories on title fights in superhero stories, horror, science and more!]
In the creator-owned comic series The Only Living Boy, Erik is a kid mysteriously transported from his home in modern-day New York City to a patchwork planet where an annihilated version of the Big Apple has been overrun by jungles, fairies, mermaids, dragons, humanoid insects, a mad scientist and other strange creatures.
Created by author David Gallaher and artist Steve Ellis, the comic shares a tradition of sci-fi and fantasy pulps and is reminiscent of edgier children’s animated stories from the 1980s, such as the Dungeons and Dragons TV series and The Black Cauldron movie. Although the creators are releasing the comic for free, a page at a time, across multiple digital platforms, the first of five printed volumes hit stores last week.
Gallaher joined me to discuss the comic and his and Ellis’ strategy of giving the story away for free online before the printed volume was available. But, instead of just one interview, we’ve included a spirited talk about two titans of science fiction: Flash Gordon, the comic-strip Defender of the Universe, created by Alex Raymond, in 1934 vs. Star-Lord, Guardian of the Galaxy, created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan in 1976 for Marvel Comics.
Read ahead for our double Vs. feature, to learn about The Only Living Boy, Vol. 1, and to see who Gallaher thinks wins in several rounds between Flash and Star.