New 'Dragon Ball' Artwork Reimagines Bardock's Showdown With Freeza

Dragon Ball has become a wildly popular series over the years thanks to its various science-fiction elements with even some of the space adventure stories in the canon seeming perfect for a classic science fiction film.

One such story is between Bardock and Freeza, as Bardock's last stand was lovingly upgraded into a Flash Gordon-type of story with a new piece of fan-art.

The Man Who Defied The Emperor (Dragon Ball Z) by Astor Alexander from r/dbz

The piece is titled "The Man Who Defied The Emperor" from artist Astor Alexander, who has provided several pulp-science fiction novella inspired covers for Dragon Ball Z's Android Saga as well. Along with sharing the above art of Bardock and Freeza's encounter, Alexander's Instagram page (which you can find at the link here) is teasing more "covers" in this series and they all look fantastic.

This art invokes the Dragon Ball Z film, Bardock - The Father of Goku in which Bardock tried to stand against Freeza when he found out the tyrant planned to kill all the Saiyans. His last stand unfortunately ends in a loss, but Bardock passes away happily knowing his son will come for Freeza some day.

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.

If you want to catch up with the English dub, the first 52 episodes of Dragon Ball Super are now available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and available to purchase on Amazon Video as well. The 52 episodes span the full range of what has aired in the North America and covers the "Battle of Gods" arc, "Revival of F" arc, the "Universe 6" arc, and bringing the series right up to the current TV airings of the "Future Trunks" arc.

The first Dragon Ball Super film is set to release this December in Japan, and it has just released its first trailer. The film will focus on the Saiyans, the "origins of Goku's power," and potentially the story of the very first Super Saiyan. Not only does it aim to be the best film in the series, original creator Akira Toriyama will be contributing to the film's script and character designs.

Would you buy this kind of Dragon Ball book? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me @Valdezology!