Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery

First off it should be said that this book is not for everyone. It's an incredibly deep book and demands several readings. If you accept that and are okay with this then you are in for a real treat with this book. It's a fantastic story centered around golden age hero Flex Mentallo and his search for his former partner The Fact. His search takes him through all periods of comic history, from the golden age all the way to what Grant Morrison believes to be the new Renaissance of superheroes. At the same time we meet a down on his luck rock star (who looks oddly a bit like Grant Morrison with long hair) who's about to end it all. As we come to find out this rock star is more important than he believed. Part of what makes this story so good is the the subtext to everything that happens. It tackles growing up, finding worth in life, the grand ideals of superheroes. Every reading reveals more layers. This book looks fantastic in both it's presentation and it's artwork. This is Frank Quitley at the top of his game, rivaled only by his work on All Star Superman. If you're a fan of the creative duo of Morrison and Quitley or you're just looking for a smart comic read definitely give this book a try you won't regret it.

This review will focus on the edition of the book itself rather than the work of Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely, you can find many great reviews about the story itself right here in Amazon. I'll just say that both artists shine so much in this volume that you will suffer of temporarily blindness after reading it, only to then gain a 4th dimensional vision of what Super-Heroes and Ideas are about. Fortunately, this book is quite a "Deluxe" edition, as DC/Vertigo applied the Fables Deluxe series standard of quality: - The paper stock is glossy and heavy weight and the printing quality is great. - The book features a full-color printed hardback under the dustjacket (unlike the rest of DC/Vertigo HCs that have just a shamelessly dark grey presentation. That's right, dark grey, not even true black). - It's a solid glued binding book. Of course I would have liked a sewn one, but given that this is a slim volume and there's almost no gutter loss, I can totally live with the glued binding. Other good things to consider: - The dustjacket features a new illustration by Frank Quitely, really beautiful. - The original comics were re-coloured for the ocasion. I'm usually against re-colouring, but in this case I'm happy with the results. The original comics were presented in a typical mid-nineties digital colouring fashion that hasn't aged that well. The new colouring is a great enhancement that respects the original intent, but with a much better use of the tools. - We get a 14-pages section of extras at the end of the book, with sketches and original artwork by Quitely. - We also get a 4-pages prologue which was previously featured in issues #2 and #4 of the original series as a 2-part article section. - Finally, the overall design of the book is quite nice and eye-catching. This is a great opportunity to get this series, it was out of print for legal issues for about 15 years and was nearly impossible to get due to the insane bidding prices. Get this book, OWN IT, because this is the kind of work that you will read once and again and again and again, and then again and again. That's just how multilayered this book is!

A masterpiece of postmodern comic book storytelling. This is a love letter to comic books with a critique of the Gen-X nihilistic attitudes that were worn on sleeves like badges of honor. Deeply personal to Morrison and clever.

great read

this is a hard to understand story that you have to read slowly and 2 to 3 times in order to fully apreciate the master storytelling contained here in. this is what comics are lacking in this day an age. please note, this is absolutelly not for children, it contains mature themes, not that a smart kid could not understand it, it just contains real world stuff that parents try to keep their offspring away from, that being said, if you want to challenge the way you look at comics and celebrate the beauty of what superheroes are all about, this is for you. crafted with the finest ideas these side of the west, seasoned with only the best storytelling directly from London! I'll need to buy a second copy in case this one wears out

Tripping the whole way. Fun story and great artwork! If you like Grant Morrison style you should definitely check it out.

Grant Morrisonhas written some of my favorite comics, but this tops the list: deeply autobiographical, and managing the alchemist's trick of forging profundity out of stoned out surrealism. The book is propelled by the art of Frank Quitely, one of Morrison's very best collaborators and an artist of astonishing talent. In short, get it.

I wasn't a fan of this story, I like Grant Morrison too, but the story jumped around a lot and was not very easy to follow. I figured based on the reviews and cover it would be a lot more accessible but did not find it to be. I would recommend a lot of other comics to friends and family before this one.

Gute Texte sind brauchbare Texte. Text ist etwas Ge- beziehungsweise Verwobenes. Im Idealfall ist das Gewirkte das den Text ausmacht nichteuklidisch. Denken wir an Dreiecke die mehr oder weniger als 180° Winkelsumme aufweisen. Denken wir uns einen solchen Text als eine Linse die nicht bündelt sondern vielfach bricht oder zerstreut. Flex Mentallo ist ein solcher Text. Der Vorteil/Mehrwert dieses Werks ist der daß es Bilder und Worte kombiniert. Frank Quitely (Bilder) Grant Morrison (Worte)- zwei Herren aus Schottland - besser geht es in der Welt der Comics nicht. Flex Mentallo hat einen weiteren Vorteil, nämlich den daß es sich im Lesen nicht aufbraucht, das heißt man kann es immer wieder von neuem Lesen, ähnlich wie man ein geliebtes Stück Musiks immer wieder hören kann. Im Lesen erneuern wir diesen Text und werden durch ihn erneuert.

Great. The epitome of genius. Stan the man was historically influential, but this was on another level, to be sure. .

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.

One of Grant Morrison's most important HQs, together with Invisibles, the Filth and All Star Superman

Esta obra se lleva 5 estrellas fácilmente, agrego también que la portada tiene un acabado mate muy bonito. Desafortunadamente para mí el cómic llego golpeado en la parte inferior, haciendo así de un producto perfecto algo un poco imperfecto.