Story Synopsis: Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery
The Hero of the Beach, Flex Mentallo, was hunting down a Faculty X operative who had been leaving bombs in public areas. However, things got weird as Mentallo began to hunt down a former colleague in this weeks Comic Rewind: Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery.
Mentallo was a hero made of muscle. He could flex his bicep and destroy a wall. However, he found himself all alone in his search for Faulty X. During his search he discovered his former colleague, The Fact, was also on the hunt. The Fact was one step ahead of him and if Mentallo could catch up they could work the case together.
At every turn Metallo was one step behind The Fact and two steps behind Faculty X. However, Mentallo soon found he was on a different world. It looked a lot like his, but was very obviously not the same. However, Mentallo continued his hunt.
While Mentallo was tracking down The Fact and Faculty X, Wally Sage was on his own journey. Sage created Mentallo and The Fact while drawing in his comic book as a child. However, now Sage was high on drugs and was trying to kill himself while talking to a suicide prevention hotline on the phone.
Sage was hallucinating as he described Mentallo and saw events from his past. The comic flipped back and forth between Sage and Mentallo. Did the creator meet his creation? Were they even on the same world or was Mentallo completely in Sage’s head?
Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery was written by Grant Morrison with art by Frank Quitely and Peter Doherty. DC’s Vertigo imprint published the volume in 2014.
Highly Praised Comic Falls Short
I have long heard about this comic. It comes up pretty often when looking for highly recommended comics. The comic is written by the legendary Grant Morrison and drawn by the equally legendary Frank Quitely. Typically when I read a comic as highly praised as this one I regret not reading it sooner.
Metallo And Sage’s Stories Confused The Crap Out Of Me
However, that is not the case for this comic. I absolutely hated this comic. It was a little confusing in the beginning as to what was happening, but I hung in there hoping things would get cleared up. However, I was wrong and things got even more confusing.
I have no idea if Mentallo is real or if his entire story played out in Sage’s mind. Mentallo’s story wasn’t even very interesting. It was too all over the place to make any kind of sense. Maybe it was supposed to be all over the place to recreate a mind on drugs, but if that’s the case it was not communicated well.
Flex Mentallo Was A Chore For Me To Read, But OMG The Art Was So Good
Reading this comic was a real chore for me. Any time I had a grasp on anything interesting it was quickly taken away from me. Random characters come in and leave and it is hard to know if they are important. It was also hard to remember if these characters existed in Sage’s or Mentallo’s reality.
However, the one thing which I did like about the comic was the art. Quitely’s art is always something to behold. Sometimes it goes off the rails a little bit and becomes ugly. However, in this comic he was producing some beautiful artwork. His attention to detail and his little lines on everything in the panel is truly amazing.
It was very difficult to understand what was going on in this comic or why it was happening, but maybe everything was over my head. Morrison is a comic book legend and there is no way he didn’t intend to write his comic like this. I didn’t enjoy this, but the rest of the comic world loved it.
Rating:
1/5
