The Text Pages

"An Age of Gold, a Golden Age" from Flex Mentallo #2

"Silver Like Our Anniversary, Silver Like the Threads in Your Hair" from Flex Mentallo #4

Annotations:

dual histories: There’s a weird juxtaposition between the gee-whiz belief in the comics pages and the satire in the text sections.

#2: The Golden Age. Homoeroticism, drugs... "The Golden Age Flex was a simple character; his foes were mainly metal ants and so on... politics and the profit potential of WWII.

#4: The Silver Age and beyond. Acid. In 1990, a radical "postmodern" or "Dark Age" version of Flex. This Flex was used to challenge the ontological categories of the hypothetical DC ‘universe’ and his success led to various imitators both here and in other lands, where the people are quite different. Characters with names like "Stress Psycho, Mindwrestler" and "Brute Braino, Psychic Weightlifter" are selling in the millions and offering eager readers the chance to face their deepest fears and insecurities on a monthly basis."

This annotation copyright © 1999-2000 Jason Craft.  Flex Mentallo and all images are copyright © 1996 DC Comics/Vertigo.