Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery was published as a four-issue miniseries by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint in 1996, with art by Frank Quitely, and it is Morrison’s most concentrated statement of their philosophy of fiction — a love letter to superhero comics and an argument for the redemptive power of imagination.
The series operates on two levels simultaneously. In one narrative, Flex Mentallo — a superhero who gains his powers from flexing his muscles (originally created by Morrison during their Doom Patrol run, based on the Charles Atlas ads) — searches for his missing comrades, the Legion of Legions, who have disappeared along with all the other superheroes. In the other narrative, Wally Sage — a rock musician who is overdosing on pills — makes a phone call to an emergency line and talks about the comics he read as a child, describing the same events that Flex is experiencing.
The relationship between the two narratives is the heart of the work. Wally’s childhood comics — the Silver Age fantasies of heroes who could do anything — were not escapism but a genuine vision of human potential. The superheroes are “real” in the sense that they represent the best of what human beings can imagine, and imagination, Morrison argues, is not less real than physical reality — it is more real, because it contains possibilities that the physical world does not.
The series was out of print for sixteen years due to a legal dispute with the Charles Atlas company; the 2012 deluxe edition made it available again and confirmed its reputation as one of the greatest works in the medium.
Collecting Flex Mentallo
Original issues (DC/Vertigo, 1996): Four issues. Scarce due to legal dispute.
Market values:
- Original #1–4 set, NM: $100–$300
- Deluxe hardcover (2012): $20–$40
- Paperback edition: $10–$20