The Flintstones, Vol. 1

This reimagining of the Flintstones was an exceedingly clever—almost unpleasantly clever—send-up of modern society. I loved it for its humor and the cutting accuracy of its social commentary, but it's one of the most nihilistic books I've read, which means it's probably more than a lot of people can take on top of life itself in 2017.

I spotted this graphic novel while browsing in the library and recalled reading somewhere online that the new Flintstones comic was a satire on capitalism. Since I had one space left on my library card, I thought why not? And indeed, it did turn out to be an impressively dark little satire on consumerism, the military-industrial complex, religion, and marriage. Most institutions, really. This range of targets made it a bit scattershot, but the writing was also incisive, deadpan, and very funny. Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble are traumatised war veterans (“We participated in a genocide, Barney”), while Wilma is a frustrated artist. One of my favourite sequences was Fred trying to explain to some literal neanderthals hired by his show more boss how employment works: “It’s money.” “What am I supposed to do with this?” “I don’t know. Buy something someone else hated making.” Other highlights include the household appliances as an underclass of oppressed creatures, the alien invasion (a nice allegory for the neo-colonialism of wealthy tourists), and the election (“Now, you are called ‘Clod the Destroyer’, but isn’t that just because you’re the son of Mordok the Destroyer? Have you ever actually destroyed anything?” “Clod’s name is not issue here! Lizard people are issue!”). The colourful cartoonish art makes a pleasing contrast with the surprisingly subversive content. Definitely recommended. show less

Full disclosure: I was given an ARC of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review

I was sceptical when DC announced their line of reimagined Hanna-Barbera titles. Surely we've reached the nadir of bleak reinterpretations when a comic book publisher decides we need to see Fred Flintstone struggling with PTSD(?)

Well, I needn't have worried. Needn't have worried entirely...

Y'see, Mark Russell and Steve Pugh's The Flintstones is actually really funny. The satire of modern America, upper working class aspirations is broad but well judged; where the original parodied burgeoning suburban aspirations, Russell's update skewers religious alienation in an increasingly sceptical world, populism, and the vacuity of Western tourism – all show more while still being about a suburban labourer caveman.

The "but" (and it's a Big Bertha of a "but") is that it does still take itself too seriously. Almost absurdly so at times. Russell and Pugh have crafted an almost perfect update of an old family favourite, but then stick in incredibly misjudged asides about suicide, violence and sex – seemingly out of obligation, as if those are the only things that make this worthwhile.

Not that there's anything wrong with addressing suicide, violence or sex even in a family title but the tone in which it is done is completely out of keeping with both that audience and the rest of the book. I'd love to be able to hand this to my nine-year-old niece, knowing we'd share some of the laughs and have others that were just for each of us – but I can't do that when every few pages the belly laughs give way to a sudden explosion of swearing or depiction of mass slaughter.

It's the fact that The Flintstones is so almost, nearly, practically perfect that makes those mistakes so much worse. If the whole thing were an ill-advised treatise on the horrors of war featuring a caveman in a blue tie I'd throw it at the wall and have done with it – but you can see how terrific this could have been. Sadly, short of taking a pair of scissors to the pages there ain't no way to get it there.

I can't imagine we're not going to see someone try to bring Bedrock back to TV screens at some point and whoever does could learn a lot both about what to do and what not to do from DC's pass. Take a page right out of history. show less

I received a copy of this book for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'd been hearing buzz about this book for some time. Small pictures here an there showed it to be a maturely drawn, titillating sociopolitical study of sorts. Around the time people started sharing pictures of the Neanderthals and the marriage retreat protests I knew I had to get my hands on this. This TPB collects issues one through six and shows [book: The Flintstones] truly deserves not only the buzz, but the title of one of the best comics of 2016. This easily could have been a kid's comic with all of the Odd Couple hilarity the show originally had - instead it's a truly beautiful commentary on life itself.

[book: The Flintstones] uses the show more past to hold a mirror up to the future. From the hilarity of the Mall and television telling everyone that now that they're a civilization they need to be buying the hot new product: Crap, to the commentary about why domestication originally happened and that marriage is another form of it - this comic is brilliant. Having aliens set down and Gazoo be the one to stop the aliens on spring break from partying there was a hilarious move, and Professor Sargon being a poorly disguised Sagan proclaiming that atoms come together because they're lonely was sheer brilliance. This comic produced laughs, but also reflection which still shock me now.

Fred and Barney are veterans with PTSD, but they're also devoted husbands and members of the community. Wilma wants to be an artist, and Betty wants nothing but to be a mom. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are teens with their own troubles in school, and close and loving friends. The comic is cutting in its commentary, but it never loses its sweet, wholesome heart. This is still the Flintstones, just for an older audience - and man, I love it just as much as I loved the cartoon growing up. show less

I wasn't sure what to expect with this, but I certainly couldn't pass up a DC adaptation that looked fun and funky. The comic covered many surprisingly relevant topics and was very... modern for a stone age family. Religion, monogamy, marriage, work ethics, the price of war and our obsession with "stuff" were just a few of the many social satire commentaries brought up in the comic. At times, it was a bit heavy handed, but it was witty, funny, and very refreshing. It definitely changed how I thought about the vintage TV show. I don't know if I liked it enough to keep up with this series, but it's definitely worth checking out. There are some pretty great one liners and parodies.

I went into this with the Flinstones I knew and loved growing up as a kid in mind but just as I grew up and took on real world problems like protests, riots and anarchy all around me so have the Flinstones.

The characters are the same from my innocent childhood but nothing else and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Seeing the chaos and emotional upheaval they are going through causes me to view the world around me a little different too. Mark Russell has them handling War induced PTSD, labor issues, questionable religious practices, over-inflated vitamin claims, feelings of personal failure, living beyond your means, and I could go on. Basically he took every major problem in modern American society and threw it back to the Stone show more Age. He’s holding up this color filled mirror and forcing us to look at what we’ve done to ourselves, to the innocence of our childhood.

The dialogue it smart and witty. There’s TONS of humor so you get to keep the fun of what Hanna-Barbera created. The story lines are well thought out and make sense. Even though he altered the characters, their problems and some of their personality from the original cartoon he still managed to keep the essence of who they were.

The art work is fantastic. It took me a bit to adjust because they are so different from the original. The men are more muscular rather than flabby but after a while you get used to it.

I think anyone who did NOT grow up watching the original cartoon is going to have an easier time with the storylines, characters and so forth because they won’t have that idea in their head of what The Flinstones are supposed to be and go through the culture shock of seeing their childhood grown up.

Overall I would definitely recommend giving this a chance, especially with everything going on in the world right now. It might give you some perspective…. show less

Other than getting the theme song stuck in my head, what is the purpose of a rebooted Flintstones? Nostalgia I suppose. Getting to play around within the confines of a system? All those stories you wish the Flintstones had told while you were home sick at lunch during grade school (The Flintstones came on at noon when I was growing up. This may not be the case for people who did not grow up in the same environs as I did -- I don't know. And so, The Flintstones always make me taste Zoodles because that's what you ate when you were home sick. Again, that might not be a universally understood *thing*)?

Recently I read A Hundred Thousand Worlds by Bob Proehl, which briefly touches on whether readers want new characters and new stories or show more simply new stories for comics. Would I have requested a comic about early humans that weren't the Flintstones? I don't know. So I guess that's the purpose of a rebooted Flintstones, for people like me, who are indecisive about what they want out of reading-life, I guess.

And none of this has anything to do with The Flintsones Vol. 1 per se. Hmmm.

So it's The Flintstones, but more for grown-ups with digs at vitamins and chimpanzees spouting David Bowie lyrics. Fred and Barney are veterans of a Vietnam-War-type-of-debacle that clear-cut the way for Bedrock's establishment. Wilma is an artist (was she on the TV show? I remember she was a cigarette girl in one episode). Betty is just Betty (boo!). The elephant vacuum cleaner forms a friendship with the armadillo bowling ball that is the most compelling relationship in the comic, although I get the impression that there are a lot of sight gags and *wink wink nudge nudge*'s that I missed because I am lousy at reading comics (I tend to read the words and gloss over the pictures) and, as an ARC, the quality is not as great as it would be in the actual book.

The strength in The Flintstones Vol. 1 (and I keep typing Flintsones rather than Flintstones, so I apologize if that typo squeezes its way into the final review) is the way each comic feels like an episode of the TV show, even with updated drawings and situations and style. It feels like I watched six episodes of The Flintstones yesterday, eating Zoodles, in my pyjamas. Russell captured that television feeling somehow, and I'm not exactly sure how, but he did, even if I think the whole thing should be abandoned for a spin-off Vacuum and Bowling Ball story line instead.

The Flintstones Vol. 1 by Mark Russell went on sale March 28, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less