Midas

The Midas Flesh #1-8

by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline (Illustrations), Braden Lamb (Illustrations)

Space Captain Joey, navigator Fatima, and scientist (and dinosaur) Cooper are headed to Earth--a planet completely sectioned off, abandoned, and covered in gold--and are confronted by the most powerful weapon in the universe: some ancient dead guy's body?! Now they've gotta keep King Midas' body from being dropped on planets across the universe, and figure out exactly what to do with a gross dead dude with one truly ridiculous superpower.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comics, Fantasy, Young Adult, Mythology, Middle Grade

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2019

About the author

Hi, I'm Ryan! I was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1980 and since then have written several books. You can read my Wikipedia page for more, or check out my author site at RyanNorth.ca!

I'm the author of the webcomic Dinosaur Comics (that's the comic where the pictures don't change but the words do, it's better than it sounds and I've also done crazy things like turn Shakespeare into a choose-your-own-path adventure, write a comic for Marvel about a girl with all the powers of a squirrel, or mess up walking my dog so badly it made the news.

I'm working on more stuff as we speak, hopefully it's good

Reviews

[Monika Sadowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun ride. Once for a while I like to read good comic book and of course I couldn’t go wrong with Ryan North. It is a sci-fi graphic novel about voyages of Cooper, Fatima and Joey with king Midas body :). Great story, a lot of action and good humor. Illustrations are great, and I liked the element of Greek mythology.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such a weird concept for what is ultimately a sci-fi adventure. King Midas gets his wish that anything he touches turns to gold and instantly turns the entire Earth to gold. Thousands of years later three rebels harvest his body to use as a doomsday weapon against the evil federation. There's lots of twists and turns as our rebels are chased through space for Midas's flesh. Up to the last issue, the book was a lot of fun, at least 4 stars. But the finale to the story just brought the book to a screeching halt. It was so out of leftfield. It's a literal deus ex machina ending that completely ruined the entire book for me. I liked the art. It was a bit cartoony at times but I thought fit the fun back and forth space adventure element of the story.

Note: This was originally published as The Midas Flesh and then now changed to Midas from what I gather just to confuse readers.

Received a review copy from Boom and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Selena Reiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

This was… kinda dumb at parts kinda cool at parts

[Arin · Rating 4 out of 5]

eARC provided by Netgalley
I really enjoyed this graphic novel! It was fast paced and I loved seeing a new, interesting twist on the myth of King Midas. All of the characters were interesting and I loved seeing them interact, especially when they would snap back and forth at each other. My only complaint was that there seemed to be a lack of exposition or explanation about the setting and what everything was which made getting through the beginning hard.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty amazing story.

Suppose that when King Midas wish that everything he touched, turned to gold, that mean not that when he used his hand to touch something, but everything that touched him, including the air he breathed. And each molocule, in turn, would change things to gold, if it was touched, and so on, until the whole world, including King Midas were turned into gold.

And on that day, all life on earth died. And although gold was still rare through the rest of the universe, it was not so on earth. And so the galactic government, hid the planet, and didn't allow anyone to approach it, until our heroes did. And that is where the story begins.





The crew wants to solve the mystery of the gold planet, and discover why it has been hidden so long.

Along the way, there is evil and adventure, and gods. All good fun.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Alex Sarll]

When I read something by Ryan North, especially with his Adventure Time collaborators on art, I expect upbeat. This isn't that. Starting (well, almost) with Midas' touch turning the whole Earth to dead gold, it then takes us into a future where your usual evil galactic federation is oppressing everyone, and three desperate rebels are trying to retrieve Midas' body to use as a planet-killer against them. The bleakest, most genocidal, war-is-hell side of Star Wars, in other words. Which makes the cute art and glimpses of typically North dialogue* feel weirdly out of place. And even as the plot increasingly hinges on the sort of extreme problem-solving he usually does so well, there are a couple of places I'm not sure the rules are being consistently applied. It's certainly not bad as such, but I feel a little like a kid who's been watching Peppa Pig videos online and has suddenly ended up with one of those weird generated ones where she's eating a pregnant Spider-Man or something.

*"Yes. Well. They're going to be buried in space now. They will be space plants. It is honestly the most exciting death a plant could hope for."

(Netgalley ARC)

[ReadBecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I requested and received a copy for honest review, thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

A spacefaring trio of scavengers (two women and a dinosaur) on the hunt for a big score, discover a golden opportunity - literally. The planet Earth is encased in gold, making for an easy target, though they go in cautious, only to discover the epicenter is Midas and anything touched by his body quickly turns to gold. Flash back to Greek antiquity where Midas, drinking with Dionysus, is granted a wish and on blurting it out, the gold conversion spreads across the planet immediately.
Now with Midas golden body carefully in hand and a plan for personal gain, the Federation suddenly show up off planet under the guise of preventing the crew from doing harm, but they are wary. The opposing groups both think they know what to do with Midas flesh, and become locked in a potentially world ending fight for the golden prize.

This is the bind-up of the Midas Flesh series, so I actually wound up doing a partial side-by-side read to compare with the prior publication. The major changes to the comic itself is to cohesion, the speech bubbles have been changed from oblong and square to all more traditional consistent looking round speech bubbles. In addition the positioning and occasionally text breaks within the bubbles has been altered, for me the update makes total sense, it has a very obvious improvement in the ease of following the flow of reading order. I really enjoy this story, especially the ending, though one must wonder if the earth was frozen in gold... where are the humans in space from? I definitely recommend this for people looking for fun sci-fi adventure.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Midas is a fast paced, action graphic novel. I enjoyed the story line, mythology and also the artwork. I love to read middle grade, graphic novels and this book was no exception. It was a bit long for my personal liking but I do think middle grade readers will enjoy the book!
Thank you to Boom! studios and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy, my opinions are my own.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun take on the myth of King Midas. I really loved the artwork and the coloring was very nicely done as well. Our three heroes (two ladies and a dinosaur) start out their adventure by finding a planet made entirely of gold. They face gods, evil people, and many adventures along the way. There are people that want to take the special gold and turn it into a weapon to use it to gold-ify other planets and essentially suffocate them. I very much enjoyed this book and I really only had a small issue with the beginning. Not much is explained about what is going on so it's a tiny bit confusing but it didn't take long to figure out what was going on so I still ultimately enjoyed the book. I would recommend this to fans of books that deal with myths and retelling of myths.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Nate]

I wasn't feeling this at first but the story grew on me as it progressed. A wacky concept where King Midas accidentally transforms the Earth into gold, killing all life. Thousands of years later, a rogue crew from a galactic planet heads to Earth and finds Midas's body preserved. They decide to use his body, an insanely powerful weapon that still has the ability to turn anything it touches instantly to gold, against the oppressive galactic empire. Space adventure with heavy doses of science follows.

This has Ryan North's storytelling tics, particularly lots of quirky dialogue. Even with several sci-fi tropes I could not predict where the story was going. The ending (admitedlly a bit deus ex machina) was genuinely surprising.

My only question is, why are human characters part of this crew? Earth has been destroyed for a long time. I guess they're human-like or something.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is SO. MUCH. FUN. Ryan North is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine after his run on Jughead, so when I saw that he had a book that contained both King Midas and a space dinosaur-scientist, I really couldn’t pass it up. It sounds so bizarre and unworkable on the surface, but it’s a really great science fiction romp full of really likeable characters.

[Yvonne Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel was interesting. I love the myth of Midas and his touch, and seeing it play out with a twist of SciFi was pretty interesting.

[Mari Mankle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes you read a story and it has you in the first half…then loses you in the back half. That was this book for me.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunningly illustrated, fun, intense, and haunting space adventure — really, a somewhat absurdly hard sci-fi approach to a mythological question: what would it mean for everything one touches to turn to gold?

[Paul Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received this book as an eARC from BOOM! Studios via NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

I hadn't heard of this series before. When it was first released, it was titled Midas Flesh. This book compiles all of the issues from the series into a big, over 200 page collection. I read the whole story in just a few sittings.

I love books that have high concepts that really play into their unique stories. The basic premise of this book is that when Midas was given the ability to make everything he touched turn to gold, the whole planet of Earth became gold and became stuck in that moment. Hundreds of years later, an interesting space crew is on a mission to defy the government and change the world using the power of Midas.

The crew is great! There's only three crew members, but they each have such great personalities. And one of them is a dinosaur!

There are wonderful moral quandaries brought up in this book. The morality of a super weapon. How to put the genie back in the bottle. This book, especially the ending, really made me think. And I LOVE that in sci-fi!

At the end of the book there's a letter from the creator about the origins of the story as well as some concept art.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's such a great, complete story. It's long, but it kept my attention the whole time. The concept is great. The characters are excellent. There's excitement throughout the book. I could absolutely see a movie made from this book. I give this book a 5/5 and will be recommending it to many friends.

[Ivana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Midas is a graphic novel written by Ryan North. The illustrations were done by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb. The plot of this graphic novel revolves around a small group of space explorers who come to Earth to find the reason it has turned to gold centuries ago. They find the corpse of King Midas and there starts their exploration of how he turned Earth to gold. They fight those who want to abuse the power of King Midas and in the end there comes to the re-creation of the universe and life in it.

I found the dialogues in this graphic novel were very poorly written. They were quite childish, simple and unrealistic. The graphic novel is ment to be a middle-grade and yet I have stumbled upon so many things that in my opinion are not on a middle-grade reading level. (Possible spoiler in the next sentence.) I sincerely doubt that a child reading this graphic novel would for example understand what the subatomic level is and why perhaps it could or could not turn to gold.

Also, I was a bit confused with the decision to nickname Fatima Fatty. Why even give her a nicknames if you couldn’t think of something not offensive?

There is one more thing I cannot look over. I really dislike the way they portrayed greek mythology in this graphic novel. I do not see the need to create new characters with names that don’t even sound like they belong in greek mythology when there are already incredibly interesting characters in it. Also, I found the fact that the giant spaceship was named Titanic extremely cringy.

The art in the graphic novel was okay, cute, but it was not spectacular. And because of all these things I cannot say I enjoyed this graphic novel. Even if you disregard all the negative things I said about it, I still would not have enjoyed it very much. It wasn’t gripping, I quickly lost my focus and was simply bored.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Siina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Midas sounded interesting for I'm a big fan of Greek mythology. Mythology combined with space odyssey surely is something! Cooper, Fatima and Joey are off to Earth that has turned into solid gold for some reason. Our heroes find the cause for this, a dead body of an old dude - King Midas. It all comes back to mythology and how Midas wished for the touch of gold and it surely happened so. The group gets a finger, but soon others are on the hunt too, since the possibilities are endless and soon the universe is dying. The scientific approach of how Midas will eventually destroy everything was interesting and how it was combined with the mythological aspect and Dionysus etc. The problem is that the comic is too long and there's too many talking heads and nothing really happens in it. Half of the comic would've sufficed and the text walls eat most of the art basically gone.

The art looks nice and cute even, which is odd in a sense, since this is a grave and heavy comic. The color world is beautiful with lots of read and orange. Our characters lack persona, but they surely look good. The cover looks like this could be an adventure comic for kids or teens, but no. The comic is more philosophical and scientific though and for older readers. So, the contradiction is quite heavy. I'm not saying Midas is bad, but it could've used some polishing in different ways, so that it wouldn't have been so all over the place and nowhere at the same time. The potential is there.

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ryan North is a clever and inventive writer which a knack for pushing a fictional situation to the extremes of logical absurdity. In this book he mixes science fiction and Greek myths, specifically the myth of King Midas's foolish wish that everything he touch turns to gold. In this story, the touch was so powerful that every single part of planet Earth has been converted, killing the whole planet in the time of the ancient Greeks. Meanwhile, multiple other planets with intelligent life have developed enough technology to enable space travel. One of these societies, The Federation, is on a mission to dominate the rest. Three rebels from suffering planets band together to seek a rumored super weapon, the thing that killed Earth. They are surprised to find that the weapon is a perfectly preserved body, but they cut off one finger, intending to use its deadly force against the Federation home world. However, the Federation is hot on their heels and soon it becomes a dangerous race to see who can control more of Midas' body. The book is beautifully drawn and full of action, but not emotion. The characters debate the murdering of entire worlds extremely causally, and when whole worlds are indeed killed, seem barely to mourn them. As reader who worries daily about the potential death of all life on our planet, this aspect of the story didn't sit very well with me. But the book is fast-paced, and a younger (less environmentally stressed) reader would probably really enjoy it.

[USOM · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

In Midas there are all sorts of mysteries happening - why are they on Earth, what is a T-Rex doing in space? But you quickly become accustomed to the world and you are in for a story about ethics. Each of these characters have backstories, scars from the brutal war against the Federation. It's a story about the ethics of war.

full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...

[ngọc ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B)

🚀 YOU CAN ALSO READ THE REVIEW ON MY BLOG! 🚀

Midas combines science fiction with Greek mythology in the most fun way possible. We have a team of two badass girls and a dinosaur (in space!!) looking for an ancient weapon that can help them destroy The Federation and bring about peace to the galaxy. The weapon is said to be able to turn everything into gold, and you can probably guess what it is. Yes, it’s the body of King Midas!

Admittedly, I wasn’t sold on the story at first, but I was completely hooked around Chapter Six. There’s a lot more action with a much (much) higher stake. I wish we got to know more about the consequences of what The Federation has done and how the survived are affected, though. Nonetheless, the story ends on a hopeful note and it’s very satisfying. The art style is absolutely gorgeous and I really love it. It was what kept me reading when the story didn’t.

Overall, Midas is a really fun adventure comic book for fans of SFF. It’s middle-grade, but I do feel like readers of all ages can enjoy it! (It was a lot darker and deathlier than I’d expected a middle-grade graphic novel to be, which totally caught me off guard!)

eARC provided by BOOM! Studios via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Suppose Midas actually existed. How would that work? What would it do to our world? This book explores those questions and throws a decent sci-fi story on top of it. A crew happens to discover the location of Earth millennia after Midas lived. Their goal: to use him to defeat the empire that is slowly taking over every planet in the universe by any means necessary.

I thought the idea behind this book was fantastic. For the most part, I enjoyed the characters. And the art was pretty good, although it was a bit more cartoony than I tend to go for. Everything that went into the story of Midas and the implications it has for the rest of the story are top notch. I felt like it dragged at times though. This was somewhat made up for by the interactions between the characters. While the idea of this enormous evil empire is nothing original, and the bad guys went over the top at times, it did work for the story.

I'd definitely recommend it for anyone looking for an interesting sci-fi series that is self contained.

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay first off: why does the character Fatima have the nickname "Fatty"? Not Fati, but Fatty. Why? How is that what was decided on?

Second... wow I wish this chose to either by a children's book or an adult book. It's too horrifying to be a children's book but not serious enough to be a satisfying adult book. It's so wordy and sciencey while also taking some big leaps in logic to make it work.

But really my biggest complaint is the eighth issue. The ending to this series ruins everything else. I was having fun up until then! Big grand cosmic sci-fi adventure featuring powerful weapons that take a literal interpretation of Midas' powers into this horrifying weapon used in a rebellion against an evil intergalactic empire. That's neat! But the ending ruins the entire thing and is such a massive shift in style from the rest of the book that it soured me on the whole reading experience. I was going along thinking I would rate the book 3 or 4 stars but nope, the ending completely ruined it for me.,

[Heather]

Unfortunately, I lost interest in this title fairly early on. I wasn't interested in the characters and even though the twist on the Midas mythology was interesting, it wasn't enough to keep me interested. I felt like I was dropped in the middle of the story, that I should already know who these main characters are. But then the story provides a flashback for one of the characters, so that must not be the case.

The art style was nice. I found it detailed and cute, meeting my expectations for a graphic novel for a middle grade age group.

Unfortunately, I have decided to DNF this one and will not indigestion to it.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Midas of Greek mythology is granted his wish, everything he touches, half the earth, turns to gold. Centuries later planet earth is a top government secret, and his body is considered a weapon. Three ragtag civilians- who have been abused by the current reign- will set out to find the truth behind the legend, and unknowingly trigger the beginning of the end.

This story is unique and dramatic. Normally it is the kind of story I love, but the execution of it was a bit painful. It took me forever to finish it because I couldn't get into it.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good! Ryan North's writing is always hilarious, and the story concept is really interesting. It's a beautiful book too, which is why I couldn't resist picking up the graphic novel.

5/5!

[Natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Visually amazing but story was all over the place. Like, it felt was staged like a light hearted romp and then there’s a whole lot of genocide? And I’m not sure what they wanted us to get from it. They had these horrible, awful things happen and then we kinda just move past it. If these things had any sort of impact on the characters we certainly don’t see it.

THE BEST THING WAS THAT THEY GAVE THE DINOSAURS FEATHER!

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't believe it's taken me this long to read 'Midas Flesh' (or why it's taken this long for Boom Studios to release a full collection), but it's worth a read for some of the bonkers elements. Pacing and world building could be a little better. (e-galley from NetGalley)

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, I found the thought experiment (what if Midas's curse was real?) taken to its logical extreme to be fascinating and hilarious. On the other hand, this really, really did not stick the landing.

[Raven Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awkward moments in the story-line that makes it hard to follow at times. Lots of science that might be confusing. Had potential, not sure if made it.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be cute but it was pretty sad! Also, reading a story about a deadly weapon that destroys everything it touches in the middle of an infectious pandemic? Love that for me.