Flex Mentall-Oh No It Isn't

Post date: Nov 23, 2012 10:49:30 PM

So, after reading this mildly diverting if appalingly lazily formatted article over at The Beat earlier this week, I got to wondering if - like the legendary 'lost' Zenith Phase 1 book from 2001 - any copies of the trade paperback of Flex Mentallo, originally solicited for release on April 1st 1998, were printed before plans for it's release were canned in the wake of the notorious Charles Atlas lawsuit. After all, there are 3 copies (update: 2 now) for sale on Amazon, starting at a "very reasonable" $430.16...

The short, if non-definitive, answer is no.Ken Kniesel, memorably described by David Brothers as "murderer of Flex Mentallo, saviour of Emma Frost", was the Morrison uber-fan who casually tossed off a reference to Flex in a letter to the Charles Atlas Corporation, directly leading to their lawsuit against DC. DC won the suit on a seemingly precarious parody defence, and solemnly maintained they had no plans to ever reprint the series (here's a good recap of the whole sorry tale). Like Susanna Hoffs said, seasons change with the scenery, and earlier this year all of our Christmases came at once with the Deluxe Hardcover of Flex we'd all been waiting so patiently for.But back in 1998, just before the lawsuit began, DC did have plans to reprint Flex, and even solicited the collection in Previews for release in April of that year. Vague recollections abound online of a long-lost Frank Quitely cover for the collection, a black and white version of which was printed in Previews. At some indeterminate point before the collection shipped, all plans were shelved. But had DC already had the book printed? Did a handful sneak out before the rest were cruelly pulped? Office copies? Editor's proofs? Did these Amazon sellers really have in their hands what was, for so many years, that Holy Grail of unobtainable comic-book masterpieces?I emailed them all this week to find out:"Hi there.

You have a book listed for sale on Amazon by the name of Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery (paperback) (ISBN-13 978-1563894084). Do you have a picture of this book? I'd love to see a picture of the cover and, if its the version that I'm looking for, would be very interested in buying it.

Best regards

Ben"

The interest in buying was just a cunning ruse. I have no doubt that Lady Transmissions would have me slowly killed if I spent $400 on a comic. But to their credit, all three of them responded straight away. The first was sorry, they didn't have the book as they thought and would remove the listing. The next two did have the book but, as their stock is kept in multiple warehouses or offsite, they couldn't send me a picture. Or offer any reassurances that their Amazon listings were accurate. Both suggested I buy the book and return it if it wasn't what I was looking for. Nice try fellas... nice try.If anyone thinks they have ever seen this book, or has a 14 year old copy of Previews lying around they can scan that cover image from, please let me know. In the meantime I think I'm reasonably safe in the knowledge that there's not yet another unobtainable nugget of Morrison ephemera to add to my ever-growing list...