Flex Mentallo (spoilers)

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A few weeks ago I read Flex Mentallo for the first time. It was pretty good. I should've known that I needed to dig a little deeper into this in order to appreciate it for what it is.

I've said this before, but with every Grant Morrison comic I've read with the exception of All-Star Superman, I've needed to read it multiple times and consult 3rd party commentary to "get" everything. That is not a complaint. I might be the only person who needs that. I'm OK with it because unlike most other writers he offers so much more to get into if you take the time and make the effort to.

Flex Mentallo is pretty brilliant. I read it once and only really appreciated it for what it was on a superficial level. Then I re-read it with commentary from Sequart and came away more impressed with what it does and says and what it's really about.

The problem I had with it is that it's so obscure that I don't feel I would ever have "gotten it" without that commentary (which was decent but all. over. the . place). Maybe I'm just not intelligent enough as a comic reader to get stories like this on a grander scale. EVERYTHING represents something on multiple levels (both in terms of comics and their history and Morrison's commentary on them and on human development, social development, etc.). It's not that representation that I had a problem with, but the obscurity of it. I felt like a lot of it not only wasn't explained, but not even hinted at very well.

That said, I *did* read the commentary that explained it, and after I did understood what an incredible idea it was. "Prepare to become fictional." What a huge concept.

I ordered the Deluxe Edition hardcover and it will be here Friday.
 

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