Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

The Midas Flesh follows a crew of three - Captain Joey, Cooper, a talking dinosaur, and Fatima (nicknamed Fatty) who appears to be Muslim.  I say this, although appears is the key word: her headscarf is the only indication.   Even if I knew more than I do about the Muslim faith, there’s absolutely no religion in this graphic novel, other than the ancient Greek gods.  

Still, the way Fatima binds Cooper’s tail and dresses her up as a Muslim indicate the religion, as does the fact that she’s a person of color - she appears to be from the Middle East - while Joey is snow white.   Still, it’s nice to see that of the two human characters, at least one is a POC.   The religion aspect is further complicated by the fact that Earth doesn’t exist except as solid gold mass: when King Midas wished for everything he touched to turn to gold, it worked.   Everything he touched, and everything that touched, turned to gold.   This includes the air he breathed, and the food he ate.  The point is that Christianity, Judaism, Muslim, and the religions we’re used to?  I’m not sure they exist.   The confusion is understandable since we’re given clues - visual, nomenclature, etc - that Fatima is Muslim but we’re not given anything else.   

But dinosaur!   Cooper is trying to free the enslaved dinosaurs, as well as others.  I love, love, love dinosaurs!   And I love that the Midas, and the wish-turned-curse, is taken super seriously as far as science.   

The dialogue is clever, the art is stylistic, beautiful and simple, the colors are amazing, and I’m absolutely loving the storyline.   Highly recommended.