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Fred Flintstone has a hard, hard life

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It is one of the best comics in the market right now. I was surprised by the 1st issue, and each new issue is even better than the last. Dark, emotional, yet comicly funny. Consumism, religion, tradition, science, school, minorities, everything was critized. The best social critic right now. Last issue's Fred talking about the gay couple was amazing, and about the marriage too.
 
This is not very good. You would find more subtle writing in a NCIS episode, but I guess its made somehow better because its shoehorned into a reboot of a crummy old cartoon.
 
Vulcano's assistant said:
ZFSNCkL.png
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Now I think this comic is special.
 
It's a little weird to get into at first, since the original cartoon is still what comes to mind when I hear "Flinstones", but the more I read these panels the more I get what they're doing, and I'm starting to like it quite a bit. It's a really cool tonal shift for the series.

It does seem pretty ham-fisted, but not every story needs to be subtle. I'll probably pick up the trade once it comes out.
 
A Link to the Past said:
The approach to Fred's views on same-sex marriage is really interesting. It's not JUST "hetero guy is cool with gay people," it's "growing up, Fred had positive exposure to gay people that allowed him to view the world in a different light than a lot of other people may have had." It actually contextualizes why this masculine, average Joe kinda guy has the views that he has on it.
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captainpat said:
Cute but kinda unnecessary. Coulda just said "because they're people too"
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It's more clever than that. Fred's childhood experience is a reference to a real anthropological theory about the role gay people may have played in early societies. This view is probably outdated now (I haven't kept up with the field) but there have been past attempts to rationalize the benefit of homosexuality to society since it isn't a trait that is passed on genetically.

Edit: Furthermore, taken within the broader context of the series (with sex caves preceding monogamy) it's a statement that homosexuality is much more ancient (and therefore much more "natural") than marriage.
 
I actually really like this!! Haha! That's it's today's modern stone age family makes it even better. It makes you think but also it's funny/satirical.
And the artstyle is easy on the eyes too. Even I am tempted to pick up the trade paperback and I haven't bought any western comics for a looong while.
 
Prax said:
I actually really like this!! Haha! That's it's today's modern stone age family makes it even better. It makes you think but also it's funny/satirical.
And the artstyle is easy on the eyes too. Even I am tempted to pick up the trade paperback and I haven't bought any western comics for a looong while.
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Whenever it drops I'm definitely picking it up.
 
So they named their daughter after a monkey astronaut?
I'm liking the ridiculous serious tone and over-explanation of tidbits from the original material, lol
 
it looks like the monkey is called Sgt Grumbles, Pebbles was in that scene. She has stupid (presumably) stoneage teenager hair.
 
I never realized they had working TVs in the Flintstone universe... wasn't all technology supposed to be semi-realistic to stone age ? Like a TV would be a box with a talking parrot in it ?
Anyway that re-imagined version sure is interesting. :)
 
The goss I heard making the rounds was that the writer said basically "I hate the flintstones and here's my pitch to destroy it" and dc said "that's not a deal breaker"
 
Alx said:
I never realized they had working TVs in the Flintstone universe... wasn't all technology supposed to be semi-realistic to stone age ? Like a TV would be a box with a talking parrot in it ?
Anyway that re-imagined version sure is interesting. :)
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I distinctly remember them watching TV in the television series and the live action movie.
 
WordAssassin said:
Something in me won't let me like this. I'm sure it's good, there are lots of people in this thread saying it is, but I can't get past it being the fucking Flintstones and Scooby Doo. It feels wrong to take something very simple and fun and make it needlessly complex and deep and dark. And I get that that's the point (at least with the Flintstones) but there's some barrier that I can't get past to take it seriously. It's almost too absurd.
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Was it too absurd when Adult Swim gave Space Ghost his own talk show? Or turned Harvey Birdman into a lawyer?
JasonUresti said:
This is not very good. You would find more subtle writing in a NCIS episode, but I guess its made somehow better because its shoehorned into a reboot of a crummy old cartoon.
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Cuz The Flintstones cartoon was so subtle. It's the Stone Age, modern stuff isn't gonna be so subtle which is why the book is funny.
kapowza said:
it looks like the monkey is called Sgt Grumbles, Pebbles was in that scene. She has stupid (presumably) stoneage teenager hair.
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I like her new design:

J1ELOn8.jpg

thelastcrusader said:
This looks depressing as hell. As interesting as it may be, just can't see myself reading the Flintstones.
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It's a nice blend of being a little depressing but also reassuring that everything is gonna be alright. It's a little weird to describe.
 
I'm getting some All-Star Superman vibe from these pages. It's ridiculous and exaggerated while being compelling enough to make me wanna grab a book.

It looks pretty neat.
 
What on earth is going on over at studio that covers Hanna Barbera? I went to check this out and I found there's also a post-apocalyptic Wacky Races reboot called Wacky Raceland. Normally I'm turned off by gritty reboots of old cartoons but these two series have caught my interest. What next? I'd suggest the Laff-a-lympics done as a Munich Olympics style terrorist thriller but Robot Chicken did that already.
 
Jamie OD said:
What on earth is going on over at studio that covers Hanna Barbera? I went to check this out and I found there's also a post-apocalyptic Wacky Races reboot called Wacky Raceland. Normally I'm turned off by gritty reboots of old cartoons but these two series have caught my interest. What next? I'd suggest the Laff-a-lympics done as a Munich Olympics style terrorist thriller but Robot Chicken did that already.
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The two next books are a Wacky Raceland spin-off starring Dastardly and Muttley by Garth Ennis and a The Jetsons book:
jetsons_bdrs-768x5763sq0k.jpg
 
KeyBladerXIII said:
This is enormously stupid.

Are they going to do a Jetsons that explores the rapid progression of technology while human development stagnates in a mire of consumerism where George has an affair with the robot and Judy commits suicide by jumping off their floating house?
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Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
 
Are the other DC Hanna-Barbera comics solid? I enjoyed reading Future Quest, but seeing the panels for the new Flintstones series looks intriguing.
 
Blues1990 said:
Are the other DC Hanna-Barbera comics solid? I enjoyed reading Future Quest, but seeing the panels for the new Flintstones series looks intriguing.
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Everything's top tier except Wacky Raceland. I haven't read it but it's not getting any attention, but I have heard it's been picking up lately.
 
Ross61 said:
Everything's top tier except Wacky Raceland. I haven't read it but it's not getting any attention, but I have heard it's been picking up lately.
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Sweet! I'll check out both this & the Scooby Apocolypse series. I liked Mystery Incorporated, so if the latter can pull off a similar beat to how it handles the Scooby gang, then I'm down.

IalsohaveathingwithgirlswearingGlasses&turtleknecksweatershutupdontjudgeme.
 
Not a fan when I read the super deep stuff, but then you see part when it gets more jokey and lighthearted and it works much better.
Im liking the tie joke, the dinosaur launching the monkey and them talking, with prehistoric carl sagan, the marriage joke, Fred trying to be the mayor...
Thats stuff that really works as a modern intineration of the flistones, similar to the In the Rocks movie.
The things like the war veterans, the super serious flashbacks, Wilma's paintings... not so much.

Much better than the wacky races reboot, thats for sure.
This has at least the spirit of modernising the flintsones with problems right now, thats is something the original series did. Things like Mystery Inc and this are the line where this reboots should get but never pass.
 
kmfdmpig said:
They make fairly regular references to him having fought in a long war and then his day job is obviously physically intensive, so while it looks jarring at first it makes sense when reading it.
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i don't mind it at all, that image of Fred just wasn't the first thing that popped into my head
 
Reading the pages on the first page, holy crap, this seems incredible. I'm going to have to pick up a TPB of this when it comes out.
 
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