Flex Mentallo
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Flex Mentallo is a comic book character who first appeared in 1990 in issue #35 of Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol as a member of the audience for Danny the Street's Perpetual Cabaret. Later in the storyline, Flex realises that he is actually "The Man of Muscle Mystery", and tidies his appearance. Flex is revealed to be not an entirely original creation, but rather a parody of the post-workout protagonist of Charles Atlas' long-running "The Insult that made a Man out of Mac" advertisements seen in American comics from the past.
Also parodied was My Greatest Adventure, the title the Doom Patrol originally appeared in. Part of a long string of fictional characters "come to life" in Morrison's writing, Flex was apparently created by a psychic child with a green pen. The characters created in this child's youthful scrawlings, titled "My Greenest Adventure", apparently came to life. Amongst Flex's "Greenest Adventure" siblings were the villainous Waxworker and the heroic Fact.
In 1996, Flex Mentallo received his own four-issue mini-series written by Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quitely. Although ignored by the Charles Atlas company at the time, it was later brought to the company's attention by a fan of the comics. The Charles Atlas company was unhappy with its likeness being used this way, and threatened DC Comics with a lawsuit. DC won the subsequent case, but the verdict dictated that DC must pay the Charles Atlas company royalties for any reprint collection. DC has so far declined to reprint the mini-series - although his initial appearances are included in DC's third and fourth collections of the Morrison Doom Patrol stories, "'Down Paradise Way" and "Musclebound".
The mini-series Flex Mentallo forms part of a thematic trilogy of Morrison's work, along with The Invisibles (which also featured artwork by Quitely, among many other artists) and The Filth.
[edit] History
Flex made his first appearance in Doom Patrol #36, where he appeared as a shaggy amnesiac on Danny the Street. When the false Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., controlled by one Darren Jones, tried to destroy Danny the Street, the Doom Patrol came in to try and put a stop to it. Seeing them battle was what gave Flex his memory back. His origin story was given in Musclebound.
When Flex was still a "mac" instead of a "man", he was bullied a lot while on the beach. Tired of being scrawny, he was approached by a man with a TV for a head and smoked three cigarinos at a time. He gave Flex a coupon to fill out to get a body building book, "Muscle Mystery for You". The instructions in the book turned Flex into the muscled strongman he is now, and he learned that when he flexed one type of muscle, he could alter reality. As he did, his "Hero Halo" appeared over him, which read "Hero of the Beach". After this, he decided to become a crimefighter and dressed in wrestling boots and leopard-skin trunks.
Flex teamed up with a group of heroes, the Zipper, the Atomic Pile, Dr. 45 and his assistant Romantic Rick, and the Fact. Strangely enough, he hinted, all their adventures revolved around the color green.
In 1956, while judging a swimsuit competition, Flex fell in love with and later married a woman named Dolores Watson. He was then approached by a reporter named Norman Grindstone, who was investigating the disappearance of detective Harry Christmas. Harry was "on to something big", as Norman put it, involving the Pentagon, a rash of 32 mysterious disappearances since 1949, silver sugar tongs, and an Ant Farm. Norman found Harry's conclusion about what was going on, and showed it to Flex. Both were horrified, by Flex couldn't remember what it was, and then Norman Grindstone was seemingly erased from existence. For two months Flex flexed about every muscle in his body to try and turn the Pentagon into a circle. Dolores left him in this time because he wouldn't stop flexing. He failed, and investigated the Pentagon up close. What he found was associated to the sound of telephone rings, but he couldn't remember what it was.
He was captured by the real Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and placed inside the Tearoom of Despair. He lost his powers and his memory, and was left to wander around the gutters before he found Danny the Street.
Flex eventually recalled that the 32 disappearances were because "their" number was 5, "3+2=5 and that is their number. It is the number of anguish". After the recalled memory, he was reunited with Dolores, who withered away after returning his of costume; her parting words were "I love you. They made me." The Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. stood in her place, then kidnapped Flex and young psychic Dorothy Spinner, bringing the two to the sub-sub basement of the Pentagon. The sub-sub basement contained the mechanical monstrosity Flex discovered all those years ago: The Ant Farm.
While given a tour of the Ant Farm by the demented Major Honey, Flex learned that he was created by a psychic named Wallace Sage. Sage, along with Dorothy, were kidnapped as a means to summon the Telephone Avatar, a being that has enslaved the dead and haunted the telephone system for 50 years. Flex got his powers back when Wallace died, and successfully transformed the Pentagon into a circle, but couldn't destroy the Avatar. The Avatar was eventually destroyed by the The Candlemaker, an entity that had been imprisoned within Dorothy's mind. Flex went on to star in a four-page miniseries in its own continuity.
[edit] Powers
As The Man of Muscle Mystery, Flex Mentallo's powers are apparently vast but ill-defined. In a general sense, Flex can affect reality by flexing his muscles, in a reverse form of mind over matter. In the most extreme exertion of his power, he was able to transform the Pentagon into a circular building for a brief moment.
When Flex uses his power, his "Hero Halo", a shimmering projection of the words "Hero of the Beach", appears above his head.
[edit] External links
- The Annotated Flex Mentallo by Jonathan Woodward (homepage)
- Flex Mentallo at Barbelith
