The Midas Flesh Vol. 1

The Midas Flesh Vol. 1 by Ryan North
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The premise of this comic is fantastic, and I don’t blame Ryan North for working on it for 10 years, just to find the right way to tell it. We all know the story of King Midas, who was both blessed and cursed with the ability to turn things to gold with a single touch. But what if that golden touch was transmuted through objects as well, turning everything that touched an object Midas was touching into gold as well, including air? It wouldn’t be long before the whole planet is covered in gold, everything dead and frozen, all turned literally into gold.

That is exactly what happens in this book, but the story doesn’t end there. Centuries after the Midas “miracle”, another race of people (that look remarkably like humans) happen upon the planet, realize what is going on, and quickly erase the planet from their maps and database, to hide the potential weapon from the rest of the universe.

Oh, you didn’t realize this was a weapon? Well, in the planetary war we are thrown into, an all-powerful Federation is in control, and a few rebels who stumbled upon long-lost information about the golden planet are trying to fight back to rescue their people. A team of three (Joey, Conner, and Fatima) travel to the gold planet to try to figure out a way to weaponize whatever caused the golden epidemic, because if they can harness that power, they can use it to stop the Federation. Instead of a mechanized weapon, though, what holds the power is literally Midas’ flesh and blood. And they quickly discover possessing the Flesh isn’t the same as being able to use it.

So far, I love the characters and find the plot really intriguing. So far, we’ve seen a little bit of Conner the dinosaur’s backstory (Did I mention there were dinosaurs? THERE ARE DINOSAURS!!), but I can’t wait to hear more about Joey and Fatima’s motivations. It’s easy to see why Conner is fighting back – his wife was murdered and his people destroyed by the Federation. He either runs and lives in hiding his whole life or fights back at this point. But Joey and Fatima both appear to be humanoid somehow, so I haven’t quite figured out why they are on the wrong side of the Federation.

There are a few things so far that are rather curious. First, that humanoid beings could possibly develop somewhere other than Earth is pretty far-fetched. Also, all the aliens of all species seem to speak English, which is pretty much not just improbably, but impossible. At least North acknowledges the unlikelihood of this when he has them able to read the crown that says “MIDAS” and argue over the likelihood of being able to read the language of a foreign planet. That made me laugh, and I understand that simplifying the language and cultural barriers makes it easier to focus on plot. I’d rather have interesting, well-written story and characters that just happen to speak the same language.

Last but certainly not least, I love Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb’s artwork. The style is simple and engaging, and I appreciated being able to read in the back about not only North’s process of creating the comic, but the artists’ process of visual conceptualization, from establishing a visual style to the collaborative process. The more cartoony style of art really suits the subject matter well, and I can imagine the art style appealing to not just adults like me, but also to kids.

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