**Reader BOMC** - Flex Mentallo (Morrison/Quitely) - SPOILERS INSIDE Thread

mguy1977

The pick is officially announced.

Flex Mentallo on Grant Morrison writing & Frank Quitely on art DC/Vertigo

http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/DC/FLEX-MENTALLO-MAN-OF-MUSCLE-MYSTERY-DLX-HC-(MR)/OCT110285

It sales for $12.64

If you have orders over $50.00 it is free shipping.


The book will be discussed in depth so if you have not read said book it could likely be spoiled for you. Please read the book in question ie Flex Mentallo first. Thank you.

Thanks & happy reading.

Matthew

dubbat138

Nice I will have to dig out my issues and re-read them. So I assume this means the next BOMC will be an indy book.

mguy1977

That is 100% correct. A indie pick (big or small indie publisher it just has to be in print on IST) will be next month's selection w/ everyone's picks up to decide.

Matthew

John_Steed

Love, love, LOVE this book. I've read it 3 times the last 2 days (3+2 =5; the number of anguish ...)

The art is gorgeous. The writing is .....well..... morrisonish. The reader becomes an active part of the proceedings. Guess one might appreciate the book more after having read some of Morrison's earlier work. Doom Patrol being the most helpful. I don't think the book is too difficult to understand though....and [copy/paste:]...the art is gorgeous.....a visual masterpiece.

The HC has a nice written intro/outro - explaining a lot of the story in a meta way. Some quote on the back of the book says "The Paul McCartney/John Lennon of comics." One could also say: The Frank Zappa and Mothers of Invention of comics. A wild mixture of various blends of the superhero comic genre, at times a bit heady and weird - but always highly entertaining.

"Brace yourselves for total reality!"

easily a fat 5/5

Mr_Cosmic

Crazy.

Sometimes crazy-good, sometimes crazy-confusing, but never bad.

What more can be said of the art? Simply fantastic!

I'm glad I read it but I don't see it as a story I'll want to go back and read again.

Because of that I give it a 4/5.

nweathington

I haven’t read it since it originally came out, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit. Maybe I’ll dig my issues out and read it again.

busty

It's Morrison,Nuff said 2/5.

dubbat138

Reread it last night. This is good Morrison. Great artwork and a fun story. Sucks it took so long to come out in Trade,but thankfully I have had my issues for years now.
3.5 outta 5. Would have gotten higher but it does get a little too weird for weirdness sake in some parts.

ChrisBeckett

Love it. Morrison & Quitely together = great comix. It's interesting how each of these creators seems to raise his game when working with the other. I haven't read anything from this team that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed.

I am hoping to make the time to read it once more before I have to return it to the library. I know there's stuff hidden under the surface I did not catch on this first reading. If I do, I may drop some more commentary in. But for now - 4.5/5

chris

ChrisBeckett

Oh, one more thing. Is anyone here able to compare the new coloring with the original coloring? I never had the original issues, so I only have this newer collection to go on, but I thought the coloring in this was spectacular. Gorgeous work that really complemented Quitely's beautiful linework perfectly.

chris

dubbat138

Oh, one more thing. Is anyone here able to compare the new coloring with the original coloring? I never had the original issues, so I only have this newer collection to go on, but I thought the coloring in this was spectacular. Gorgeous work that really complemented Quitely's beautiful linework perfectly.

chris

From what I have seen online I prefer the original coloring of the issues to the new coloring. But being partially color blind might effect this.

davidtobin100

Oh, one more thing. Is anyone here able to compare the new coloring with the original coloring? I never had the original issues, so I only have this newer collection to go on, but I thought the coloring in this was spectacular. Gorgeous work that really complemented Quitely's beautiful linework perfectly.

chris

I think the old colouring had a more "pop-art" and psychedelic feel to it, but it was dated by the technology of the era. The updated colouring makes it a bit more subdued in contrast but I think it would play better with expectations of modern readers approaching the material for th first time. Both are good in their own way and are coloured by the same colourist (who's a great artist in his own right) so I wouldn't worry about the changes.

Flintlockjaw

Oh, one more thing. Is anyone here able to compare the new coloring with the original coloring? I never had the original issues, so I only have this newer collection to go on, but I thought the coloring in this was spectacular. Gorgeous work that really complemented Quitely's beautiful linework perfectly.

chris

I think the old colouring had a more "pop-art" and psychedelic feel to it, but it was dated by the technology of the era. The updated colouring makes it a bit more subdued in contrast but I think it would play better with expectations of modern readers approaching the material for th first time. Both are good in their own way and are coloured by the same colourist (who's a great artist in his own right) so I wouldn't worry about the changes.

I disagree. The colors on this hardcover are horrendous. Almost as bad as what Bolland did by throwing out Higgins colors on 'The Killing Joke' (totally disrespectful to Higgins). And equally as bad as what DC did with Superman v Muhammed Ali.

There seems to be a trend within DC that by 'updating' or 'recoloring' a book...that they are making it better. It's total nonsense...in these cases...they've ruined the material. The reason they recolor and re-release the material is so they can 'double-dip'. It's a purely a marketing strategy...because if they did care about the material. They'd leave it well enough alone.

They've removed the sense of wonder by dulling down these books. DC aren't alone...what marvel did with Kirbys 'Tales of Asgard' is equally horrifying.

These asshats need to leave classics alone. They're trying to do a TurnerClassicMovies on them and it's disgraceful.

davidtobin100

I think in this case and The Killing Joke's case the artists wanted the recolouring done. Tinkering with classics such as these stories won't suit every reader. I can appreciate and respect that the artist's vision of what they wanted first time around wasn't met and this is an opportunity to give readers the "definitive" version in the artist's eyes. I think there's a balance between nostalgia and the artists wishes that can push readers either way and there's no real solution other than the economically unviable solution of two different print runs for each colouring.

Personally, I loved the recolouring on The Killing Joke and was delighted that Bolland finally got to fix all those little errors in draftsmanship that he had complained about for years. I also thought the recolouring made it flow a lot better, especially when it was transitioning between past and present.

Couldn't agree more about the Superman Vs Muhammad Ali recolouring. It seemed to be very dated and reminded me a lot of the first attempts of digital colouring back when the technology was still in its infancy. Personal taste aside I felt it was just a poor standard of work.

davidtobin100

I would strongly recommend watching the Grant Morrisson: Talking With Gods documentary from last year before reading Flex Mentallo. There is a huge autobiographical aspect to the character of Wally Sage. Many of the scenes of Wally in his childhood have a direct correlation to what he speaks about in the documentary. The anti-bomb and hippy aspects of his childhood come up frequently for example.

There's also a lot of echoes of The Invisibles here. The idea of fictional beings actualising in our space-time, the silver liquid covering Wally's hand, and the idea of fictional beings influencing our reality are explored in both works. Anyone interested in picking up The Invisibles Omnibus later in the year could use Flex as a good taster to see if yours your cup of tea.

dubbat138

Oh, one more thing. Is anyone here able to compare the new coloring with the original coloring? I never had the original issues, so I only have this newer collection to go on, but I thought the coloring in this was spectacular. Gorgeous work that really complemented Quitely's beautiful linework perfectly.

chris

I think the old colouring had a more "pop-art" and psychedelic feel to it, but it was dated by the technology of the era. The updated colouring makes it a bit more subdued in contrast but I think it would play better with expectations of modern readers approaching the material for th first time. Both are good in their own way and are coloured by the same colourist (who's a great artist in his own right) so I wouldn't worry about the changes.

I disagree. The colors on this hardcover are horrendous. Almost as bad as what Bolland did by throwing out Higgins colors on 'The Killing Joke' (totally disrespectful to Higgins). And equally as bad as what DC did with Superman v Muhammed Ali.

There seems to be a trend within DC that by 'updating' or 'recoloring' a book...that they are making it better. It's total nonsense...in these cases...they've ruined the material. The reason they recolor and re-release the material is so they can 'double-dip'. It's a purely a marketing strategy...because if they did care about the material. They'd leave it well enough alone.

They've removed the sense of wonder by dulling down these books. DC aren't alone...what marvel did with Kirbys 'Tales of Asgard' is equally horrifying.

These asshats need to leave classics alone. They're trying to do a TurnerClassicMovies on them and it's disgraceful.

I think you mean a Ted Turner instead of Turner Classic Movies. TCM is great about showing films uncut and in the right aspect ratio.

fredzilla

I would strongly recommend watching the Grant Morrisson: Talking With Gods documentary from last year before reading Flex Mentallo. There is a huge autobiographical aspect to the character of Wally Sage. Many of the scenes of Wally in his childhood have a direct correlation to what he speaks about in the documentary. The anti-bomb and hippy aspects of his childhood come up frequently for example.

There's also a lot of echoes of The Invisibles here. The idea of fictional beings actualising in our space-time, the silver liquid covering Wally's hand, and the idea of fictional beings influencing our reality are explored in both works. Anyone interested in picking up The Invisibles Omnibus later in the year could use Flex as a good taster to see if yours your cup of tea.

I did a little searching and found this on Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/260325/grant-morrison-talking-with-gods