Mark Evanier – Writer
Richard Howell – Artist
Tim Burgard, Jim Mooney – Inkers
Janice Cohen – Colours
Carrie Spiegle – Letters

Flaxen is an interesting book for the fact that it is semi-autobiographical, at least in part about a woman named Susie Diane Owens. The hero of the tale is a woman who calls herself Flaxen and loves to help those in need. She will do whatever it takes whenever it is called for and she does so from the goodness of her heart. One day she meets a woman who is about to commit suicide over the shame of her actions and her looks and it then leads readers to discover the hero’s origin. Flaxen was just a plain-jane-looking type of woman, the kind nobody dreams of ending up with but one who has a heart of gold. Suffice it to say, good intentions only get a person so far in world full of vanity and Cora’s heart is broken more often than not due to the cruelty of others. Soon enough she gains powers through a freak accident involving a bolt of lightning and it transforms her outward appearance from that of an overweight, frumpish type of woman into a Barbie doll blonde and the rest is history. The autobiographical part of the book comes into play as Susie was just like Cora, a woman of no renown, a person whom most would simply ignore if passing by her to a statuesque blonde who would go on to become a Playboy Playmate no less through hard work and perseverance. Susie would have no powers in real life obviously but her story is one of inspiration, if not hope for those who feel or felt like she did when she was one of the masses. Exercise, diet and a complete change in her life led her to become someone else on the outside while still remaining the same within and her story was intriguing enough that Golden Apple Comics would not only make a comic book about her but make her their mascot as well. As for the comic itself, Mark Evanier does a good job with the story while Richard Howell provides his always steadfast pencils and overall the end result is a win. If it did not have the real-life ties to Susie Owens though, the book would probably not be half as compelling, but the fact that it was inspired by and features bits about her makes it better than it might have been. If there is one thing that was not shown that would have been nice to see, was a happy ending for Cora. What that happy ending might be, whether seeing her in a relationship or accepting herself as she is, is hard to say and while she does find solace in the helping of others and in her new beautiful body, it does not feel like it is quite enough. Altogether though, this issue did have a beginning, a middle and an end telling a complete story that satisfied on more than one level.