In the Continuous Casting process, molten metal is poured through a die of the desired outside profile. If an inner shape is also desired, the material may flow around a mandrel to create that profile. As the material flows through the water-cooled die, sufficient heat is extracted to solidify an outer shell.
In the comic strip, when the heroic Flash Gordon and his friends land on the fictional planet Mongo, they found it was ruled by an evil Emperor, a despot who quickly becomes their enemy. He was not named at first, only being known as the Emperor until several issues later when his name was revealed to be Ming.
In fact, when DC moved from the Flashpoint universe to the New 52, there were some stragglers: Bruce suddenly had a letter from his father from that alternate timeline, and Pandora, who created the new universe, appeared in the first issues of all 52 comics released at launch.