3 out of 5

Yeah, alright, this is cheesy and doesn’t really give itself enough room to act as anything more than a “preview” of the show, but the comic – as scripted by creators Kevin Burke and Chris Wyatt – does share the show’s amusing blend of young-teen-friendly, but not-dumb humor, and some above-average intelligent plotting that has our team of teens often making solid decisions.  As a lot of hero books require forehead-smacking logic to move things along, that Stretch avoids this is an instant plus, and with the leads a tolerable blend of believable but youthy-snarky, it’s a totally easy read.

The story isn’t going to wow anyone, but again, this seems more used as a fluff piece for the series: a mutant mishap gives each Flex Fighter the opportunity to reflect on their homelife or past, and, of course, use that reflection to positively affect the outcome of said mishap.

Also a plus: artist Nikos Koutsis takes what would generally be a toss-off job and applies his own, limber style to it, appreciably not being forced into a house style to match the show one-to-one.  His energy brings a lot of character to the page, as does Mike Toris’ well-balanced colors – smartly toned down from the bright primaries which would otherwise dominate every panel.

I didn’t think much of these when read alone, but after enjoying the show, read as an addendum, they’re solid pieces of work, and do make me wish we’d get an ongoing series (from the same creative team…) with its own adventures.