Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Venom | Tagged: fcbd, Flexo, free comic book day, marvel, venom

Marvel Rewrites Golden Age Flexo For Free Comic Book Day (Spoilers)

Flexo The Rubber Man was a character created by Will Harr and Jack Binder for Mystic Comics #1 from Timely Comics in 1940. And now he's back.

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. Spoilers obviously.

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 the solicitations for Venom #19, a couple of weeks after Free Comic Book Day?

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. As seen in the upcoming Free Comic Book Day Venom/Spider-Man for 2023, from Al Ewing, Cafu, Frank D'Armata and Clayton Cowles from the 6th of May 2023.

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…

FCBD 2023 SPIDER-MAN VENOM #1
MARVEL COMICS
DEC220013
(W) Zeb Wells, Al Ewing (A) CAFU (A/CA) Patrick Gleason
For years, the symbiote family in the Marvel Universe has grown, and the latest smash-hit run on VENOM is no exception. With the violent and dangerous Meridius readying for war, the stage is set for catastrophe and this year's Free Comic Book Day will mark the beginning of the end of the symbiotes!
Exclusive Original Material Rating: Teen

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