Besides Titans, I would say that The Flash is the book we'll see get the most change from the big DC "Rebirth" push, mostly thanks to the events of DC Universe: Rebirth #1. The Flash is also one of the books with the most hype around it, thanks to a new creative team and a brand new, never-before-seen villain for this opening story-arc. Add in the fact that The Flash television series is a big hit and the fact that major "Flash" characters are returning/ have a new status quo for us to examine and you've got yourselves a making for a good story. Shame we don't see much of that here.
Okay, yeah, we do see some new things. Godspeed, the new villain for the story, makes a possible appearance at the end and we do get to hear that Barry has been hanging out with Wally West, the regular one, for a bit trying to catch up with him and get information out of him about who it was that robbed all of them of ten years. Plus there are two new characters introduced, which is fun.
But it's just a bore to get through the first half of this book, and then the second half sort of picks things up but not in the most exciting ways possible. I really don't have much to say about this book because of those factors. It's a pretty by-the-numbers "Flash" story, including the scene of Barry getting his powers.
One thing of note is that the cover is mostly a complete lie. It's a cool cover, don't get me wrong, with a nice blend from yellow to orange and then purple at the bottom, with Barry's red suit dominating the page. But out of all the characters on the cover, we only see two, technically three, actually in the book: Barry and Iris. At least I think that's Iris.
Wally does show up in the book, but not in his Flash suit. Captain Cold and Godspeed don't make a regular appearance in this book, nor are they mentioned. Why slap them on the cover? It'd be a better cover if the two halves of the page Barry runs through are the two things he has to do later: stop a fire and stop a robbery. Both have characters key to the plot and would be more truthful rather than having Captain freaking Cold on the cover.
The story begins with the scene that every fan of The Flash has seen a million times and doesn't need to be reminded what happened:
Yeah Barry gets struck by lightning what a twist...
Actually there is a bit of a twist here, as we see that Detective August Heart was there with Barry on the night he was struck by lightning. Why is this important? Just so we can establish that, yes, he knew Barry in the past and so we can be emotionally invested in him later. Also apparently his brother was killed by someone in a subplot that I'm sure will be just as relevant as the next character we're introduced to at the crime scenes.
We get some more of Barry running around as The Flash as he exposits to the audience that, yup, the Wally West that people love and have been wanting for years is back and that he is back with the Titans. It's interesting to note that Wally has made some headway, which actually wanted me to pick up Titans and see if that's true. Kudos there for weaving the book so close like that. Not that it feels like I'm missing out on the story, but it does make me want to see more of what Wally is up to and how it'll affect Barry later on.
The problem outside of that stuff is that it's more of the same. "I was struck by lightning, now I'm super fast." "I help people, but not everyone." "I'm a forensic scientist!"
Look we get it, this is all important information for new readers to know about The Flash. And it's fine but the problem is that the scene we get of him being a scientist is so boring. It's foreshadowing for events that come later but that also comes out of nowhere and doesn't feel all that connected to the attack on S.T.A.R. Labs since Heart gets a call about something else.
Here we meet the "not an intern anymore" Kristen, who just so happens to be noticed by Barry for the first time. This feels a bit forced, especially given the premise of this series. How can Barry have never noticed someone on this team before? Don't they have to share data and analyses with each other to get all the clues and answers necessary for reports? If she hasn't been an intern in so long, doesn't that mean she's almost just as qualified as Barry and therefore the two will certainly have to work together?
Just the fact that Kristen is so forcibly placed in the scene and made a big deal of is what bugs me. You could'v eased her in a bit more, maybe leave her in the background doing things in this issue so that in the next issue when Barry does finally acknowledge her it's almost as if he's doing this alongside the audience.
Anyway, Barry, Iris, and Wally talk and, again, it's pretty uninteresting. It doesn't really establish Wally and Iris's characters all that well and really the only thing we get out of it is that Barry and Iris are romantically interested in each other. It's clear that Iris cares about Barry but Wally's purpose in the scene is pretty negligible.
The book finally picks up when Barry is forced to make an impossible choice: stop a burning building or stop an armed robbery. His choice?
Heck yeah, Flash!
Also: Iron Man is invading S.T.A.R. Labs alongside Ultron. Guess Dr. Manhattan did more than blend Wildstorm and Vertigo into the DCU in 2011.
Barry manages to save everyone, with a nice little panel showing him talking with kids to reassure them of their safety, while Detective August squares off with these Iron Man-esque dudes, the Black Hole, and he realizes that these might be the men who killed his brother!
Gosh this is crazy. Ultron would never kill anyone!
Wait...
Barry rushes to save August, somehow knowing that he would be shot apparently, and boy oh boy am I the only one getting flashbacks of "Act of God"? That's never a good thing.
However, we get a nice little mirror of what happened at the start of the book to save Detective August.
Thus, our comic comes to a close as some other speedster takes down the Black Hole and Barry is left to watch as we see August get imbued with the powers of the Speed Force.
The art here by Carmine Di Giandomencia is pretty decent, though it feels a little too scratchy for me. I've always liked The Flash with a bit more polish and sheen. Sure the scratchiness could help out with the speed-effect the book is always going for, but it's something about a prestine, solid image of the Flash that really strikes me. Still, it gets the job done and nobody has stupid faces. And the effects of the Speed Force and lightning are all great. You really feel the power of every lightning bolt and the bursts of power Barry gets when he runs.
In the end, though, this isn't a great start for what is supposed to be a very epic "Flash" story. It's fairly average throughout, serving mostly as a way of setting up new characters and getting them in the reader's face so we can recognize them later on for bigger plot events. Iris and Wally are wasted in this issue, and it feels as if they exist in the book solely because they have to. The action does pick up in the later half and does get exciting, with good tension around Barry rushing to get to August. There is a good bit of mystery left at the end, though I do wish we could've seen Godspeed appear before the Flash.
Next time, though, we'll be departing DC Comics for now to take another look into the dark adventures of our good pal Jake Lockley as the Shadow Knight continues to stalk him in Shadowland: Moon Knight #2.
Social media:
Twitter: @seanovan13
Instagram: @seanovan10
No comments:
Post a Comment