The Flinstones
By Mark Russell
Illustrated by Steve Pugh
Fred and Barney reunite for Mark Russell's modern take on Hanna-Barbera's most famous stone-age family! This new series starring the first family of Bedrock (and civilization, really) tells the story of who we are and why we do what we do as if it all began with Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, and the rest of the citizens of Bedrock. Shining a light on humanity's ancient customs and institutions in a funny origin story of human civilization, Mark Russell (PREZ) blends modern interpretations with Hanna-Barbera's classic character's, bringing a breath of fresh stone-age air. Hanna-Barbera has created some of the most recognizable animated characters of all time. As part of DC Comics' re-imagination of cartoons like Scooby-Doo, The Flintsones, Johnny Quest, Space Ghost, and Wacky Racers, these new series will be infused with modern and contemporary concepts while keeping the heart and soul of the classic animation. Collects THE FLINTSONES #1-6.
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 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….
Thank you to Netgalley and DC Comics for allowing me to review this book.
*synopsis and pic from netgalley.com