YMMV / The Flintstones (2016)

• Anvilicious: The series wears its social satire on its sleeve and gets a lot of mileage for the sheer blatancy to which its ideas are presented as befitting a group of Cavemen trying to piece society together. Depending on the reader and depending on the subject it tackles the comic works because of this, in spite of this, or it doesn't work.
• Author's Saving Throw: The comic does quite a lot to save The Great Gazoo as a character, by turning him from a wacky and out-of-place Genre Refugee whose only purpose was cheap gags to a competent and well-intentioned "game warden" whose people are more integrally tied to the plot.
• Broken Base: The comic's tone and its Darker and Edgier take on everything. On the one hand many readers are surprised at how well the story turned out, with the prehistoric setting used to good effect and the comic's lessons balancing optimism and cynicism in a mature way. Others can't get past the whole "It's the Flintstones, but edgy now!" premise and feel the comic tries too hard in places, like trying to tie Yabba Dabba Doo into PTSD.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Adult subject matter and heavy-handed political commentary is, well, going to evoke a strong emotion. When it's delivered by the Flintstones cast, not infrequently paired with one of its classic recurring jokes or some kind of Mythology Gag, it can become downright hilarious.
  • As just one example: Joe, a war veteran with PTSD, calling the suicide hotline, is not funny. Joe calling the veteran's suicide hotline and being put on hold goes so far beyond wrong that it circumnavigates the Earth and returns in the space of a single panel.
    Joe: (fuming) Okay, but this hold music better be pretty damn good.
  • After Joe is killed by vacationing aliens, we think that he's finally going to get some respect when a memorial is announced... for Sergeant Grumbles, the test monkey whose fault it was that the aliens invaded in the first place. It's heartrendingly cruel and rage-inducing at the sheer injustice of it all, and yet the whole thing is so comically stupid and completely in-character from the people of Bedrock that it becomes hard not to laugh in spite of one's self.
• Jerkass Woobie: Mr. Slate's been reimagined into a crass capitalistic Bad Boss. In spite of this, issue 6 affords him the same glum humanity as everyone else when he gives everyone the day off and confesses a fear of Dying Alone, knowing he's made no lasting friendships and only has his business to his name. To his credit, Slate becomes progressively nicer as the series goes on, culminating in the final issue of the series, where he gives Fred a promotion despite being angry at Fred for costing their bowling team a tournament.
• Memetic Mutation: "We participated in a genocide, Barney."^note One part of the comic details how Fred and Barney, during their time in the army, wiped out a tribe of tree-dwelling cavemen under the pretense of self-defense, only to learn that they were actually offing them to clear out land to develop Bedrock. Flash forward years later, and Fred and Barney see history repeating itself when a presidential candidate rallies Bedrock against the lizard people. After Barney points out how familiar this all feels, Fred then states the infamous line, which even in context comes completely out of left field. Consequently, it became a popular subject for parody, often to mock the comic's Darker and Edgier tone and its dissonance with the family-friendly image of The Flintstones.
• Narm: Say it with us, now: "we participated in a genocide, Barney." The line's already fairly absurd out of context, to the point where more than a few internet-goers who actually saw the panel out of context assumed it was an edit, but even when placed into the context of the actual comic it just seems so blunt and outlandishly-worded that it makes one step back a bit.
• Never Live It Down: Yes, Fred does in fact do more than talk about participating in genocide in this comic, including quite a lot of jokes, classic Flintstone Theming gags, and other lighthearted moments, but you'd never hear otherwise from this comic's detractors.
• Older Than They Think: While it was NOWHERE near the level of this comic, the Flintstones were always pretty subversive and not afraid to touch some deep issues for a cartoon like infertility and (in a TV movie made years later) marital problems.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The Great Gazoo is a stern but compassionate cop instead of the wacky trickster from the show, and actually ends up saving the Earth from the Neighborhood Association.
• Spiritual Successor: To Prez (2015), given that it's written by the same writer.
• Tear Jerker:
  • In issue 1, when everyone ignores Wilma's hand print paintings and she laments that no one gets it, not even Fred. Then she explains their hand prints' importance as a reminder of her family.
  • In issue 4, Fred's speech about how he worries that Wilma will stop loving him someday, and that their marriage is just a attempt to keep her from leaving him.
  • Mr. Slate's soliloquy about dying alone.
  • Vacuum Cleaner dying just before he could hear a joke for the first time.
• Too Good to Last: Despite getting glowing reviews from critics and attracting major buzz from fans, the comic wrapped after just 12 issues.