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‘The Flintstones’ #1 (review)

flint_cv1_dsWritten by Mark Russell
Art by Steve Pugh, Chris Chuckry, David Sharpe
Published by DC Comics | $3.99

In the immortal words Of Frederick J. (or W. for some) “Twinkletoes” Flintstone, “Ho Boy.”

DC Comics unleashes what possibly could be the worst comic book I have ever read. And I have rad some doozies in my day.

The New Flintstones comic book is so far off the mark that it should be embarrassing for anyone involved to admit they had anything to do with it.

Whether it was an editorial FUBAR or the creative team, it doesn’t matter, This book is atrocious. It took all I had in me to finish reading it.

This comic makes the 1994 live action film starring John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Rosie O’Donnell and Elizabeth Perkins look like Citizen Kane.

It makes me wonder if the entire creative team and editorial staff had ever even seen an episode or even read one of the old Dell, Gold Key or Charlton comics.

The concept isn’t a hard one. I mean, the formula is a derivative from another show from the same time period, The Honeymooners. The Flintstones have been in pop culture, spoofed within spoofs, paid homage to in countless other shows and they have their own damn vitamins for cripes sake.

So what went wrong?

Literally everything.

In a nutshell they messed with what worked.

They tried to re-invent the wheel, as they say. They disregarded what works and forgot to add in the most crucial part: Humor and satire… or maybe that was their idea of what humor and satire are.

Maybe they thought they could do it better then what came before them? They thought they could “modernize” the “Modern Stone Age Family”? They thought they could make it more accessible by trying to make it relevant to today’s readers by adding in references to vaping, Skymall magazine, Outback Steakhouse and giving them “shell phones”?

Well they all failed miserably and miserable is what I was while reading this. I kept saying “WHAT THE HELL?” and “WHAT THE F*CK IS EVEN GOING ON?!?!”

As for the art. It is a comic book after all and the writing is only half of it.

It was a well drawn comic book but the style is very jarring. It is reminiscent of those 90’s and early 2000’s comic book adaptations of hit movies that aaaaalmost look right but in the end don’t look anything like what they are trying to represent at all.

I think what they were trying to go for was what Archie Comics is doing so well right now with their titles but here the new redesigns are just not doing it for me.

Fred looks like the weird love child of Patrick Warburton and Richard Kind who fell out of the ugly tree hitting most of the branches on his way down. Wilma looks reminiscent of Lucile Ball in some panels then a Gillian Anderson/Christina Hendricks hybrid in others. Which should be gorgeous right? Unfortunately it is not. Steve Pugh has great anatomy, dynamic art, great design and wonderful facial expressions.

Unfortunately his art style does not fit with a Flintstones book.

I actually had high hopes for this book when I heard what they were doing. I grew up on Flintstones reruns and love it. I honestly enjoyed both the live actions movies as silly and dumb as they were. I used to read the comics and I also love The Honeymooners from which they are derived. So I am extra saddened by the awfulness that I just had to sit through and read.

Save your $3.99. Go get a Bronto Burger instead.

Yabba Dabba Doo NOT waste your samolians on this dreck.

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