The following contains spoilers for Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1 from Marvel Comics.
Flexo, an obscure Marvel character from the 1940s, makes a surprise appearance in Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1 with a revised origin and an unusual symbiote connection.
"January, 1940," a short tale written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Cafu, sees scientists Joel and Joshua Williams introducing Flexo to a representative from a comic book company. In an inspired bit of fourth-wall-breaking, the representative is from Mystic Comics, a publication dedicated to covering the "marvels of the age" that is an ode to the real-world magazine of the same name published by Timely Comics, the company that eventually became Marvel.
Flexo's Origin - Then And Now
The Williams brothers tell their guest that Flexo is composed of a substance dubbed "live rubber," and recount how he saved them from a mad scientist. Their recollections are almost the same as the very first Flexo story, from Mystic Comics #1, which was written by Will Harr and illustrated by Jack Binder. While Flexo defeated his foes with a spurt of gas in the tale that introduced him, Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1 introduces a twist, showing the shape-shifting humanoid exhibiting the jaws and tongue of a symbiote.
The "nonlethal gas" is revealed as a lie that the Williams brothers tell their Mystic Comics friend, and the finale of the story shows them debating Flexo's true nature. "If he obeys, it's only because we feed him and he likes us," one of them comments. "So what happens when we're not around? When someone new tells him what to do, will he let them?" A heavily upgraded Flexo is seen exchanging blows with Venom on the last page, hinting at the possibility that the modern incarnation of the Rubber Man is about to go toe-to-toe with the most famous symbiote in the Marvel universe.
Flexo's new symbiote ties were hinted at in 2022's Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom special in a splash page illustrated by Bryan Hitch that showed various symbiote hosts throughout the multiverse. The character has been teased fighting alongside Venom on the cover of Venom #22, and Flexo also plays a role in the Summer of Symbiotes event unfolding in the summer of 2023. These appearances are a massive comeback for Flexo, who rarely appeared after his original Mystic Comics run finished aside from a stint in 2012's Marvel Zombies Destroy!, where he served on the Ducky Dozen, a zombie-slaying team led by Howard the Duck.
Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1 features stories by Zeb Wells, Al Ewing and Jonathan Hickman, artwork by Patrick Gleason, Cafu and Bryan Hitch, inks by Andrew Currie, colors by Marcio Menyz, Frank D'Armata and Alex Sinclair and letters by VC's Joe Caramagna and VC's Clayton Cowles. The special is available in comic shops now.
Source: Marvel