Before anybody that's a fan of this
comic groans at my next review, it's not that I have something up my
ass, or I'm uptight, or even a Herbert...
Boy, I gotta stop watching so much
Trek...
...but it's just that, for me, they're
writing the satire/jokes with no breaks. They go into that one extra
step that takes the satire one degree too far to where the message is
less presented and more hitting you over the head while yelling “GET
IT!? GET IT!? GET IT!?”
And the praise for this thing isn't
unwanted, there's a reason the Hanna Barbara Beyond version of The
Flintstones has a following AND
was considered one of the best comics of 2016, there's some very
clever ideas in here. A future issue uses traditional marriage in
place of gay marriage to address the topic, turning the controversy
and issues on its head. The church's scheme, from the last issue,
wasn't to make money but actually make people better than they
currently were. There were even genuine touching and humane moments
in the comic, such as Fred and Wilma getting tired of all the crap
around them and laying out their feelings on the table.
But there's
something that always screws it up. The comic's writer, Mark
Russell, seems to ignore the part of the satire that shouts “Now
wait a minute, stupid” before it goes too far. Having God being
products labeled “Crap,” having a UFC match right after a war vet
has a horrible 'Naim like flashback, and stuff that's coming up
that'll have me tug my shirt and hoping to God I don't say the wrong
joke/thing.
So,
what does The Flintstones No. 3 decide
to satire? Two things that go together like oil and chocolate:
Spring Break and traumatized war vets!
You're not the only one who's brain just had to reboot at that.
Oh, and when you hear just how the Spring Break part gets the satire
treatment, it's gonna hurt. Lots.
So, the comic opens with the middle school versions of Bam Bam and
Pebbles on a field trip to the planetarium. Now, at first, they do
great with the jokes with the Carl Sagon look-a-like, named Sargon...
Ha, ha.
...telling the kids that there's thousands of stars and that Earth
revolving around the sun is ridiculous when it's clearly on the back
of a turtle that revolves around the sun.
You know the drill kids, on the count of 3! 1, 2, 3!
“So, how do they screw this up?”
Sargon decides to show the kids a rocket launch via the Rube
Goldberg/Loony Tunes method by dropping a dinosaur on a plank of
wood, thus launching the rocket ship on said wood, with a monkey in
it. The monkey is named Sgt. Grumbles and Sargon reassures an
inquisitive Pebbles that “His spaceship knows which way to go,”
as Grumbles asks the dinosaur to “Tell my wife I love her very
much,” with said dino replying “She knows.”
Yeah...we have a whole reference to “Space Oddity...” and the
monkey is named Sgt. Grumbles...but don't worry, the title of the
STORY is Space Oddity. As if that excuses it...I mean...IT
WAS RIGHT THERE!
The one time you were allowed to do the obvious joke and have it be
funny...
Naturally, it goes wrong and the monkey dies, causing Pebbles to
wonder if they just killed a monkey to impress some kids. This day
and age, all somebody has to do is heat an iron ball and put it on
top of something to be easily impressed.
Unrelated, note to self, update favorites.
But it turns out the rocket got high enough to get the attention...of
little green men. That's right, this comic introduces us to the
Hanna Barbara Beyond version of the Great Gazoo and his people! Yes,
where as at least the cartoon version had Harvey Corrman to at least
salvage something, this is a Hanna Barbara Beyond comic, the same
line that at one point made Top Cat a Batman villain...
Granted, nothing has come out of it a year later, as of this writing.
...or
decided the Jetson's robot maid, Rose, needed to have the curves of a
sex bot and have the brain of George Jetson's mom. Trust me when I
say you're gonna be wishing the aliens from Viva
Rock Vegas were
the threat in this one.
After reassuring all they're just here is to explore, Mr. Slate
wastes no time and starts kissing up to the lead alien, causing the
alien to freak out and, as soon as he's on board the ship, remark
that they should just note Earth on the “Galactipedia” and bail.
This leads to Fred and Barn having a conversation about it with their
fellow war vets at the pool hall, causing them to share the POVs from
“Don't trust them” to “Being paranoid.”
So, how do they screw that up?
Well, a convo about invading aliens is the perfect time to force a
commentary on returning soldiers! Yes, right out of no where, the
soldier buddy brings up that if this is indeed an invasion, people
will take them seriously again and we get a whole flashback where
they were briefly famous then wound up not able to find work or
homes.
*CRACK*
OW! OW! WHIPLASH! OW!
Mistreatment of our vets is a serious topic and something that is
sadly still done to this very day, but this was really forced. How
did we go to talking about aliens and their intent to 'Society turned
our backs on us?' They couldn't just left it on 'We can finally feel
needed again' or 'If they invade, we'll remind them why they once
loved us?' It's like I said earlier, they have the message and the
joke, they just don't know where to pump the breaks.
But, kudos to the dark joke where the suicide hot line puts one of
the vets on hold and he complains about the hold music.
So, with depressed vets trying to find their place in the world in
mind, now's the perfect time for the second commentary...
It turns out a second UFO, complete with an alien version of that mud
flap of a naked woman, lands full of college aliens looking for
“Galactic Break” fun! This includes wrecking a family moment
with the Flintstones as one of 'em barfs in Wilma's kitchen, several
them being hauled off to jail, and disintegrating the cops.
...how's this different from Florida?
This causes Bam Bam and Pebbles to head to the planetarium, while
Fred runs home as the town is getting slaughtered by the college
aliens. Once there, he tells Wilma to go find the kids while he gets
some back up...while the news argues between the college aliens
killing everybody or actually helping the economy.
*CRACK*
OW! OW! OW!
We then jump to the war vets and learn that in this universe,
“Yaba-Daba-Do” is what the traumatized vets were told to say to
channel through it and say it as in they can “Yaba-Daba-Do-it...”
...yeah, chances are real life traumatized vets wouldn't like that
their issues were reduced to a 60's cartoon phrase...
...as Fred runs in to gather everybody, complete with a note to the
vet who was...and still is...on hold with the suicide hotline.
Meanwhile, Pebbles and Bam Bam hit the Planetarium and...have a
direction about being bullied...
Oh, it's just a bunch of drunk frat E.T.s and sorority E.T.s wiping
Bedrock off the map for a drunkin' good time, that's all.
...seriously, I think Bedrock just invented Florida.
...before realizing the best way to stop these intergalactic A-holes
is to call their parents. It works, as they're sent home and they
send back the shark jumper himself, the Great Gazoo! And in this
continuity, his name means “Game Warden.”
And if you're waiting for Dangerous Game jokes...yeah, my luck
is I saw The Pest instead, and...
...yeah...not gonna do it...
So, the issue then ends with the mayor calling for the town to honor
a true hero...
The monkey.
...who deserves all the reconition that he'll get via a statue...
It's the monkey.
...causing everybody to think it was the soldier that was dusted, the
one that was used to say our vets are being mistreated by being put
on hold for so long after calling a suicide hotline...
I know the joke, it's the monkey.
...only for it to be revealed to be, shock of all shocks, the monkey
that started all of this. Why? Because the comic doesn't think
jokes need breaks.
Here's the thing, I love satire. If done right, not only can it be
funny, but it can deliver a powerful message, be it something major
like politics or your own personal issues like getting tired of a
movie genre. If done wrong, not only can the humor be lost, but so
can the message as it's focus is to just whale you over the head
while shouting “GET IT!?” over and over again.
And issue 3 of The Flintstones shows this problem off.
For every joke that actually works, like the turtle carrying Earth is
what revolves around the sun or the on hold vet asking if the suicide
hot line has good hold music, there's jokes that ether fall flat on
it's face like using the song “Space Oddity” but the monkey is
NOT Maj. Tom, commentary that's hammered in such as the digression of
the vet telling Fred (And thus the audience) of how they were heroes
one minute and treated like bums the next, or something that takes
the satire into “GET IT!?” territory like the monkey statue at
the end.
There are smart comedy moments and smart commentary moments, but when
a joke comes to die, it FUCKING dies, and when the comedy and
commentary collide, the part that should tell the writer “Stop,
your satire's message went through” doesn't kick in and it goes
that one degree too far to be funny OR subtle. Still, if you like
this comic and this issue, there's some interesting takes on classic
stuff from the show, such as Gazoo meaning/being a “Game Warden”
or Mr. Slate trying too hard to be friendly to the aliens in the
first place, making him more of a sleazeball than the cartoon.
But you just have to remember, unlike Maj. Tom's spaceship, when it
comes to this satire, it has no idea where to go.
And folks, the next issue is the most famous/infamous in not only the
entire comic, but the whole Hanna-Barbara Beyond line and it's a
prime example of twisting a controversy on its ear for a satire...and
beating you over the head with it regardless who's side you're
on...mixed with ANOTHER issue that's a touchy subject.
Hint for the first one: Adam and *BLANK*
Hint for the second: A certain Taylor Swift interrupting rapper
talked about it...causing everybody to point out he's ether on
something or insane.
...ain't my job/hobby grand?
FINAL VERDICT: For satire that goes into “GET IT!?” territory,
for jokes that show up here only to die, but bonus points for some
jokes and satire that actually work, this comic gets a MST3K B-MOVIE
BOMB! You might have some fun with it, just not what the writer
intended. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready to review
issue 4 of this thing, bomb shelters don't dig themselves.
