The Midas Flesh #4

By Ryan North, Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb

The last issue of The Midas Flesh left our team of scientist adventurers trapped in the clutches of a large federation ship. This issue actually starts with a flashback showing how Cooper and Fatima came up with the whole idea to go after the lost planet of gold and convinced Joey to help their mission. After showing how this band of explorers came together and formed their initial plan, we return to the present where Joey, Fatima, and Cooper realize that there are no easy choices when you’re at war.

The end of this issue marks the halfway point for this eight issue mini-series and even though all good things come to an end, you feel so attached to these characters it’s kind of sad realizing the story almost over. The Midas Flesh has been such an enthralling read that it reminds you what it is that you love about comics. Writer Ryan North has done a great job of telling an original story that readers of any race, gender, or age could find something enjoyable within the pages of The Midas Flesh. It’s sad that the phrase “all ages” has been turned into a stigma of a series that’s for kids. Stories, whether it’s in comics or any other medium, don’t have to be chock full of nudity, violence, and drugs to be considered good enough to be read by an adult. In fact, it goes to show how great of a writer North is that he doesn’t have to rely on those gritty shocks that seem to be more prevalent in comics these days. The Midas Flesh is an innovative story that can be enjoyed by any and every body.

The inventive story isn’t the only reason The Midas Flesh has been so pleasing, it’s also the art team of Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb. Trying to describe their style of art for The Midas Flesh isn’t an easy task, there is simplicity in their style, but every page also feels incredibly detailed which helps with the sci-fi setting. The Midas Flesh is a series that isn’t just fun to read but also consistently looks attractive on every page. After this series ends it’ll be interesting to see what Paroline and Lamb work on next and whether they will continue to work together or not, us fans of The Midas Flesh are hoping they will.

The Midas Flesh has been honestly an outstanding series so far. Each issue reads so smoothly and even though it’s a month’s wait between issues; the story still flows remarkably well from issue to issue. This series is now half finished but so much happened in the first four issues, who knows what’ll happen in the last four. We will have to keep reading and wait to see but so far it’s pretty obvious that The Midas Flesh has been successful at delivering an original and entertaining story.