Review by Booklist Review
In 1996, years before they struck paydirt with All Star Superman, Morrison and Quitely collaborated on Flex Mentallo, a continuation and amplification of the metafictional approach Morrison explored in his groundbreaking Animal Man series. Flex is a square-jawed bodybuilder in leopard-print briefs who can bend reality by flexing his muscles; but his most salient superpower is his self-awareness that he is a fictional character brought to life by the psychic powers of his creator, comic-book artist Wallace Sage (an analogue of Morrison). On a search for his missing crimefighting compatriot, the Fact, Flex discovers that the decadent superheroes who populate the real world are a far cry from the simple but virtuous paragons he knew in his fictional existence Morrison's commentary on the dark and gritty comics that were then in vogue. The ambitious story's success is due in large part to Quitely's exemplary artwork, which brings an essential clarity to the convoluted proceedings. A lawsuit filed by the Charles Atlas company has kept Flex out of print, but now Morrison's current fans finally have the chance to read his early triumph.--Flagg, Gordon Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This legendary epic in the oeuvre of the acclaimed Morrison/Quitely team (We3; All-Star Superman) is at long last available after legal troubles kept it out of print for years. Flex Mentallo is just one of dozens of secondary character in the acid trip of comic artist Wallace Sage, who is attempting to commit suicide on an industrial-strength drug cocktail while Flex and other super-powered beings attempt to save the earth from an all-consuming menace called the Absolute. The power of imagination is the most supreme force of all in this consummate comic saga, as Sage's boy-incarnation becomes the most unlikely of possible saviors in this wacky existential epic. With more competing narratives and alternate realities than any string theorist could ever fantasize about, this comic is a difficult plod at times, the convoluted story line and laborious text requiring preternatural focus. Quitely's art is unrivaled-the superabundant imaginative details going toe-to-toe with the artist's stunning graphic flair. Morrison has attained a kind of metaphysical apotheosis with Flex, seemingly combining multiple competing realities until the difference between mind and matter withers into pure abstraction-but the gushing stream-of-consciousness text bubbles, and pervasive captions overburden the sizzling art at times. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
