Flex Mentallo Man Of MuSCle Mystery Dlx HC [Special Edition] [Hardcover]

I have always been a huge fan of Grant Morrison, owning several of his other works, and the man has always delivered. After reading Supergods, I was thoroughly convinced that there will never be, nor has there ever been a greater writer than Morrison (except maybe Jack Kirby, of course). Whether it's taking the reins as the writer of the Caped Crusader himself, or even rebooting the X-men, he always has a firm grip on the lore behind the story, more so if the story is his own.

And that brings me to Flex Mentallo. Flex Mentallo, on the first and most basic level, is a story about a hulky muscle man brought to life by his own writer, brought into a world that desperately needs people like him. In a world where people are living in the streets and getting beaten up by gangs, Flex does his best to be the "Superman" of his world. The story, like many of Grant's terrific tales, can be a very disorienting ride, especially for newcomers to his work. Some will complain that the story is complex for the sake of being complex; another common criticism of Grant's writing style.

However, on a deeper level, you will learn that the story isn't just about Flex, it's about us. The series is broken down into 4 issues, and this is for a good reason.

The story is a commentary on the writing of comics as a whole. Flex Mentallo covers all 4 comic writing periods (Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze (or Dark) Age and Modern Age). with each issue covering that theme through story arc, artwork, and general atmosphere.

You begin to realise that Flex's world is indeed our world, and what we are making of it. How comics are only depressing and gritty because people choose to make them that way, instead of bringing back the cheerful adventures of the Golden Age, or the weird and wonderful events of the Silver Age; when comics were for everyone.

If you have any interest in the writing and history of comics, I recommend you read this comic.

And hey, even if you don't, at least you get a bloody good story out of it.

EDIT: This is completely embarrassing, but I've only just looked this over and realised that I haven't mentioned Frank Quitely's artwork at all.

Frank is an incredible artist and always has been. His work with Grant is far and beyond his greatest, simply because the duo are the best one-two punch combo in the entirety of comics. His artwork on Flex reflects this, with every facial expression, hand gesture, action sequence and environment perfectly capturing exactly what the reader wants and needs to see with a story like this.

All Star Superman, WE3, New X-Men, Batman and Robin - if Grant is my favourite writer, then Frank is, without a doubt, my favourite comic book artist ever.

If you are a fan of Morrison and Quitely's All Star Superman or We3 be aware that you are not getting more of the same. I bought the comics when they originally came out (in about 1996) and was beaten into submission by the ferocious stream of ideas and images. 15 years later, with larger page size and high quality packaging, the effect is much the same. I'm not sure I really understood Flex Mentallo but I enjoyed it. The basic story can be summed up as 'Flex goes looking for a lost member of his old superteam'. However this is similar to saying The Matrix is about a war between man and machine, there are layers within layers within layers of meaning. I had read elsewhere that Flex was a comment on the state of comics with each chapter representing a different age, silver etc. Damed if I can see it. Buy it and be boggled.

A pop singer tries to commit suicide by overdosing on pills, meanwhile talking to the Samaritans on his Stingeray phone while waiting for death; a fictional golden age superhero called Flex Mentallo is out to find his long lost sidekick "the Fact" while saving the world; and reality and fictional, hyper-reality (remember you're reading Grant Morrison) collide as people and superheroes find out a deeper truth about the cosmos. Muscle mystery indeed!

Having recently read Morrison's nonfiction book about superheroes "Supergods" as well as a documentary about Morrison "Talking with Gods", the book feels part autobiographical from the viewpoint of the suicidal pop singer. The childhood he relates is a lot like Morrison's, growing up with the threat of the bomb, the fighting parents, and the early and long lasting love affair with comics. The kid's drawings of comics might even be reprints of Morrison's early attempts at creating comics (he originally wanted to be a comics artist rather than writer). Flex Mentallo dates back to these teen years when he created him as a parody of the Charles Atlas characters from the 30s-40s.

There's also the theories of other worlds, parallel worlds, and how comics are our true selves trying to remind our parallel selves that we are more powerful and incredible than we think we are, that we're superheroes who've forgotten we're superheroes. The theme stretches across a number of Morrison's works and is explained in full in "Supergods", while the multi-dimensions and superbeings talking to one another echo his own supposed alien encounter in the mountains of Katmandu in the early 90s.

The book is a bit hard to follow, crashing about the place with all sorts of twists and turns, but it's still amazingly creative and interesting. Frank Quitely's artwork is also the best I've seen from him and he's an almost unfairly talented artist. Each page is gorgeous because of his talents and the book is made that much better because of his contributions. The book is also part of a larger trilogy that Morrison created in the 90s, the other two being "Doom Patrol" and "The Filth" both of which are mind-bendingly bizarre and fascinating.

"Flex Mentallo" is a fantastic, metatextual, hyper-imaginative work that's been long out of print and is well worth picking up if only for the artwork, but Morrison's writing is top notch as well. A fascinating look into the superhero genre from the outside in.

Also the hardback deluxe edition is so well produced and has an amazing slip on cover which feels great and doesn't carry fingerprint smudges on it somehow.