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Underground > Comic Books >

Flex Mentallo: Question and Review

20:22 / 11.04.05

I was lucky to get the Flex Mentallo series shortly after it was released, and recently read it for the third time. I wrote a review on Amazon for the nonexistant trade paperback, if anyone's interested: Flex Mentallo Review

One thing I've always wondered...at the very end, when Wally's girl wakes up and then rushes to the window, and sees all the heroes flying outside...right before that, we see the Hoaxer behind her, doing his hoaxing thing. Is he hoaxing US, or is he hoaxing her into seeing all those heroes? I've always gotten the idea he's attempting to hoax us into seeing what she is seeing. Any thoughts?

20:45 / 11.04.05

Would you be interested in, basically, cutting and pasting that into the wiki?

21:50 / 11.04.05

There's a bit earlier on when the detective (I haven't read this in a while) asks the hoaxer what his greatest hoax was, he replies, "Wouldn't you like to know," or something...

I like to think he stopped everyone seeing the superheroes, and that he's undoing this in the final scene.

Of course, I could be very wrong...

21:59 / 11.04.05

Okay, I just pasted it on there. Actually, I got to use the "uncut" version...I had to edit a few paragraphs out of the one I posted on Amazon, due to their wordcount limitations.

23:28 / 11.04.05

Hey, buttergun, nice work. And welcome to the forums, too. Oh, you got me drooling here. I'm going home tonight to re-read. It's been ages.

I still don't know what it was that made me pick FM up when it came on the stands - probably just because it was by the guy who did the invisibles. I didn't really get it the first couple of times, but eventually the penny dropped and oh. my. god.

have you seen The Annotated Flex Mentallo?

m.

23:38 / 11.04.05

Sorry, haven't read your review yet, a bit pressed for time, but *yes*... Flex Mentallo is my favorite comic book ever. The first time I read it it literally broke my brain, changed my view of the world, and I swear I had some kind of headache/hangover by the time I was finished reading it. A damn fine piece of graphic literature.

00:13 / 12.04.05

DAMMIT.

Where can I get a copy of this golden piece of literature? Anyone willing to Ebay this mutha?

00:33 / 12.04.05

If you're American, it's going for forty-some dollars here.

If you're a Brit, it's pretty cheap (I mean, for Flex, hell!) here.

03:14 / 12.04.05

Chad;

I sometimes wake up in the morning and wonder what the hell the point is.

And then I remember, I have Flex Mentallo #1-4 !

Seeing as you appear to be a non-owner of that, all I can do is express my extreme sympathy - It must j-just seem like you're dead, trudging about the place, knowing deep down that there's something missing.

I'd be a different person if I hadn't read that.

On the one hand, I wouldn't be in prison, but on the other, these walls would not... seem quite... so, I don't know, made of butter.

06:25 / 12.04.05

Pappuce, get over here and explain the mystery.

As far as I can remember Flex is tremendously upbeat. Without rereading the series (Christ, I haven't read it for years) I'd go with Optimistic's interpretation.

11:30 / 12.04.05

There is, of course, the option of DLing it. Not entirely legal, probably impedes the trade getting a proper and quick release, but these aren't things known to stop too many people from too much.
I like reading Morrison comics on the machine, anyhow, with the brightness levels upped. 'The Filth' uber-daygloed is just gorgeous. No offense to dead-tree-format-ophiles, but, electro-communication's so much lovelier.
More to the point of this thread: The Hoaxer is the greatest hoax.

12:50 / 12.04.05

That's a great theory, Optimistic. In fact, I'm hitting myself because it never occured to me. As a "supervillain," it would be in the Hoaxer's best interests to hide superheroes from everyone.

I agree with all the positive comments on here about Flex. And that annotated site is great, it's just too bad they can't provide art samples as well. This is the series that introduced me to Quitely, and for years I wondered why no other comic writers were clamoring for him to be their artist. His depiction of the Mentallium Man in #2 is one of my favorite illustrations ever.

Thanks for the comments on my review! I hope this thing is released as a trade soon...is it still DC's unwritten policy that if the Doom Patrol trades sell well, they'll release Flex?

13:32 / 12.04.05

is it still DC's unwritten policy that if the Doom Patrol trades sell well, they'll release Flex?

It's always been my understanding that there will never be a trade of FLEX MENTALLO. Ever. The legal issues surrounding it (the Charles Atlas lawsuit) prevent that, and while there might be some kind of wiggle room DC are not at all comfortable with doing it.

Cowboy Scientist

18:25 / 12.04.05

For me, the Hoaxer is Grant's fictionsuit in Flex Mentallo; the Hoax is our "reality", he's pointing the mirror at us, the readers.

20:22 / 13.04.05

And even if DC did plan to collect Flex after the release of all the Doom Patrols, it'd probably be 2010 or so before they even got to it. I'd say if you want to read the book, just look for a good deal on Ebay, or check your comic stores for back issues. I got issues 1, 3 and 4 for $15 last year, and then only had to grab 2 off Ebay.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

06:27 / 14.04.05

I'm still missing #2. I found the other three in my favourite comic shop one day. Bothers me to this day.

Reading it again right now! It's a weird jump, from the Golden Age to the Dark Age - no Silver Age to buffer them, but a similarity that is stark. Just thinking of Batman way back when, and the Batman now. I think the narrative stream of consciousness thing does something that the Invisibles couldn't, it makes the time shifting / simultaneous realities thing work a lot better (other than in Glitterdammerung, which coincidentally had the Quitely art), at least from my perspective. We're submerged in it from right off.

The wild crazed, one-off ideas send me! "I sure could have used the powers of Walter Ego's X-Ray Mind down there-- he once reasoned that, in complete darkness, people and objects cast shadows of clear light and it was this deeply-held conviction that allowed him to see in the dark." "Think as hard as you like, earthman, you'll never be my intellectual equal! I, the Counting Tree!"