C is for Commentary: Morrison’s Flex Mentallo and More!


Flex Mentallo #1

Flex Mentallo #1

by Josh Crawley

On Tuesday, DC Comics announced on Vertigo’s Graphic Content blog that this year will deliver unto us a deluxe hardcover collection of Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely’s Flex Mentallo, and the first thing I heard was a collective groan as resale prices on the single issues plummeted.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no problems with that. I really have no problems at all, except that I really hope people don’t have it in their mind this is some grand opus. Keep your head on straight, and don’t build up your expectations. It’s not like the Charles Atlas people brought legal action because this was such a great work of sequential art that we didn’t deserve it. (For more on the legal action, check out Comic Book Legends Revealed #284, and/or the brief itself, located at The Annotated Flex Mentallo.)

That being said, I understand enjoying someone’s earlier work much more than their later work. Also, I’m not trying to keep you from spending your money on comics. I just don’t want comics to let you down!

Morrison also has some kind things to say about the animated adaptation of his All Star Superman series on DCU’s The Source blog.

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Having exchanged a few emails with Kelly Sue DeConnick, I can tell you she’s a lovely person. Then she says things like this “…there’s nothing innately masculine about heroism. Nothing innately masculine about science fiction. Nor about power fantasies or revenge fantasies or the pulp aesthetic…” in an interview with Tom Spurgeon, and it reminds she isn’t just lovely, she’s awesome! If you’re one of those people worried it’s just going to be about Feminism in comics, it isn’t. I just really liked that quote. All around, it’s got some great comics-making talk I’d recommend reading.

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For more on comics process stuff, Tamar Curry (doing a guest column for the All About Manga blog) gives ten tips for webcomic-making beginners. I’d really just like to add that — in a broader sense — many of those tips can be applied to print comics, too.

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While I’m not confused by Disney licensing out their comics to multiple companies when they have their own in-house publishers like some people are (because, really, it’s not like they don’t do that with piles of other licensed merchandise & publications, too), Graeme McMillan shares some thoughts on the matter over on the Robot 6 blog.

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While I don’t normally like to talk about movies too much before they’re out (unless playing Devil’s Advocate), it’s nice to see Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, but I’m sad to see she doesn’t have her classic black headband. I’m not going to lie, though: the knee-high boots and thigh-high stockings alleviate that sadness a touch.

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Josh Crawley

Josh Crawley

If you’ve made it this far, I’m guessing you’re wondering why I have yet to mention the new column name. Basically, I think it better describes what I’ve been doing more often than not (though the extent and quality of that commentary is another matter entirely), as opposed to what I had intended to originally do. So, that being said, Fifth Degree isn’t dead, it’s just going to be used much less frequently (and hopefully in a more fitting manner).

And that’s it for this week!

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Josh Crawley may or may not be the keyboardist for Everclear. He strongly suggests you not bet that he is.

Flex Mentallo cover from the Grand Comics Database.