I'm not gonna lie, I didn't quite get this one and it's probably going to take me another pass or three before everything gels in my mind. It's still entertaining on a surface level, though, even if I do t quite grasp what Morrison is trying to get at here. Frank Quitely, as always, is a joy and is clearly having a lot of fun here with Flex's impossible physique. One to come back to someday. ( )

A very polished bit of nonsense. The art is quite attractive, though it often seems as lost on what exactly is going on as the reader is. Morrison had many clever ideas for this meta/postmodern/cheeky self-comic, but he had nothing to hang them all on. There's no real story, no real characters, and only tiny bits of real human interactions. For the most part this is a collection of nerdy comic-books references. Writing a deconstructionist comic doesnt mean you can just drop things like plot, progress, and general coherence. ( )

The 1996 popular four issue series languished, uncollected for over 15 years. Inspired by the long-running Charles Atlas "The Insult that made a Man out of Mac" comic book advertisements, the Charles Atlas company filed a trademark infringement suit. The suit was eventually thrown out citing fair use in a parody. Flex Mentallo, refugee from another reality, fights crime using "muscle mystery." He can affect reality by flexing his muscles. Suddenly other elements from Mentallo's homeworld pop up, spawning his quest for the truth. Simultaneously, in typical Morrison fashion, a despondent, drug-addled artist struggles with his own reality issues. In their first collaboration, Quitley's lush art beautifully illustrates the bizarre twists and turns of Morrison's tale. Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery proves once again why Morrison and Quitely ([b: All-Star Superman|7719640|Absolute All-Star Superman|Grant Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320551085s/7719640.jpg|10465171], [b:Batman and Robin|6672183|Batman and Robin, Vol. 1 Batman Reborn|Grant Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320480968s/6672183.jpg|6867146], [b:JLA: Earth 2|22364|JLA Earth 2|Grant Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167348901s/22364.jpg|23406], [b:We3|22358|We3|Grant Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167348898s/22358.jpg|23384], [b:New X-Men|22365|New X-Men Omnibus|Grant Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167348918s/22365.jpg|23391]) are the best and most reliable duo working in comics today. ( )

Definitely...weird. It starts out like some stream-of-consciousness hodge-podge, but about halfway through starts to make a kind of eccentric sense. At some point I'll probably have to revisit it, and see if its "message" holds up, but if nothing else it adds a bit of originality to my largely traditional graphic novel collection. ( )

So I thought this was going to be quirky/funny and instead it was quirky/gritty/serious and very meta. Interesting read but not what I was looking for. ( )