Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Marvel Comics, Venom | Tagged: al ewing, Flexo, marvel, venom

Flexo, The Rubber Man Comes To Venom… or is a Venom? (Spoilers)

Venom #19 is about Normie Osborn, and Dylan Brock as friends, dealing with Norman Osborn and his new Gold Goblin identity. And an accident.

Venom #19 is solicited as being by Al Ewing and CAFU thus: "Battered, beaten and brutalized across nearly all of space and time, Eddie Brock's grit, determination and faith have wavered at times, but never broken. Here he reaches TRUE ENLIGHTENMENT, and you Venomaniacs will meet his most powerful form yet…" Of course, none of that happens in this issue at all, instead, drawn by Roge Antonio and is a story about Normie Osborn, and Dylan Brock as friends, dealing with Norman Osborn and his new Gold Goblin identity. And an accident.

Lots of brick walls get bashed in New York superhero and supervillain fights. Bricks rain down on passers by, they sometimes need to be webbed up, but very rarely are readers invited to worry about the impact of such infrastructural damage. Especially not to some internal piping behind the door…

…piping that happens to have been pumping liquid nitrogen into a holding cell for something. Or someone.

…was this entirely a coincidence? Could this someone have seen a symbiote be summoned to act in such a foolish manner in close proximity? Because this, is Flexo, The rubber Man. And as seen in the recent Free Comic Book Day Venom comic book, he has something of a symbiote-like past himself.

Flexo The Rubber Man was a character created by Will Harr and Jack Binder for Mystic Comics #1 from Timely Comics in 1940. The comic anthology had his origin as built by brothers Joel and Joshua Williams out of a malleable, rubber-like material. Flexo was filled with a "secret gas," and operated by remote control to fight crime. He appeared for four issues, and Flexo hasn't been used a lot since. Though when Jimmy Woo was selecting his Agents Of Atlas in the recent Marvel Comics series, Flexo was one of the considered candidates. Howard the Duck also included him in his Ducky Dozen to fight Marvel Zombies. But Marvel is planning to rewrite everything – and presumable rewrite those appearances too. And of course, this is Al Ewing doing this, who did similar with the Masked Raider/Masked Rider before.

It all begins in an upcoming story set in 1940, featuring the Williams Brothers and their discovered of "live rubber".

And how they manage to use this "live rubber" to create their own remote-controlled robot, Flexo, The Rubber Man.

And so we get a rundown of Flexo's actions, which seem very familiar to anyone who has read his first appearance back in Mystic Comics over eighty years ago. And even an in-universe explanation of that comic book, as a fictional account of real-life actions, turned into comic books for the general population, just like the Fantastic four comics of the Marvel universe are meant to.

So we get an origin of that concept as well. And a chance to compare the Mystic Comics version of events to the version that was explained as having happened. Crashing through a window into the room to rescue those held hostage…

Or showing his stretching powers when holding a gangster's car to account.

Escaping from jail…

Being shot by gangsters and dealing with scientists holding acid…

Using a control device…

But maybe that control device doesn't work?

Because some people have been keeping an eye on Flexo The Rubber Man since last year's Free Comic Book Day. And this scene from the Venom/Spider-Man Free Comic Book Day 2022. Remember?

Middle top right?

Flexo The Rubber Man. And this is what Flexo The Rubber Man actually looked like in the Marvel universe, rather than the way Timely Comics showed it in Mystic Comic back in 1940.

He's Venom. Or a Venom. A symbiote at least. Living on Earth since before America entered World War II in a very different form. And now the Venom of this time has gone and woken him up… and this fight is coming.

VENOM #19
MARVEL COMICS
MAR230756
(W) Al Ewing (A) CAFU (CA) Bryan Hitch
TRUE ENLIGHTENMENT! Battered, beaten and brutalized across nearly all of space and time, Eddie Brock's grit, determination and faith have wavered at times, but never broken. Here he reaches TRUE ENLIGHTENMENT, and you Venomaniacs will meet his most powerful form yet… Rated T+In Shops: May 17, 2023 SRP: $3.99

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