The Flash #8 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Scott Kolins (art), Brian Buccellato (colors), and Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: The origin of the Reverse Flash…or at least the origin that he creates for himself.

What’s Good: In many ways, this issue can be read as one centered around a comic writer gone mad.  Rather, it’s about a character gone retcon crazy, who is hell-bent on retconning his own history as many times as necessary until he gets the optimal result.  It’s a very dark, but also slightly humorous bit of self-aware superhero comic goodness and it shows just how clever a writer Geoff Johns can be when he really tries.

The best part of it is how closely Johns plays it; Eobard Thawne and the Reverse Flash are separate characters.  Thawne is the story’s lead, no doubt, and the Reverse Flash is rather a demonic, mostly wordless presence, lurking around the corner, always ready to jump in and give Eobard a redo whenever things don’t go his way.  What results is a ridiculously fun romp through time that’s an absolute pisstake on the very idea of retroactive continuity.  The Reverse Flash “redos” become increasingly frequent as the issue wears on, which only makes it more amusing.  By issue’s end, you get the sense that if Eobard got a B on a paper, his future self would step in to kill the professor before ever having to write the paper.

That’s not to say that the things the Reverse Flash perpetrates are minor.  We learn that in his becoming antisocial and isolated was a slow, gradual process, one that he was one the one hand doomed to, but one that is also ironically exacerbated by his later attempts to retcon his own history.  Along the way, he does some truly evil things as only the Reverse Flash can.  As ever, the Reverse Flash is a bad, bad man and the acts he’s guilty of are fairly shocking.  Of course, Eobard and the Reverse Flash are two different kinds of evil, and one sees the descent between the two.  At least Eobard, while a wretch, is still human; the Reverse Flash comes across as something not so much

The Flash #6 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Francis Manapul (art), Brian Buccellato (colors), and Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: The Flash goes on trial and tries to settle the score with Top.

What’s Good: I remember a little over a year ago, when I lived in the UK (Bristol to be exact), having a conversation about Geoff Johns with a Forbidden Planet staffer. He said that he enjoyed Johns’ work because, while it was rarely overly cerebral, he could always rely on Johns for “good old fashioned superhero stories.”

As this issue wraps up this Flash relaunch’s first arc, that really stuck in my head regarding this month’s installment, and this new Flash series in general, because that’s exactly what this book’s strong-point is. This issue ties everything up in a “good, old fashioned superhero story” sort of way and yet, while this means it doesn’t re-invent the wheel, in typical Johns fashion, it also doesn’t feel phoned in or uninspired. In fact, the book feels incredibly lively, exciting, and downright gleeful. It may be just your average superhero story, but that only makes Johns’ own excitement all the stronger and all the more infectious.

Breaking it down into its components, there’s a lot to like here. The action scenes are great and Johns does a really great job in making Top and Flash’s dialogue flow amidst and among the fighting, no small feat given how explosive the battle actually is. Johns also does surprisingly strong work on Top, creating a villain who believes the reasons behind his actions to be totally rational, even though those very reasons are so absolutely absurd to everyone else. Despite this, Top never comes across as exaggerated in his lunacy.

Johns also handles the whole time-traveling thing fairly well, which could’ve gone horribly awry given how much this issue is centered around changing the past. It’s all kept as simple as possible, never really leading to any big head-scratchers, while also opening the door for some light ruminating over the Renegades’ MO that works quite well. The fact that this reflection occurs in a conversation between Barry and Iris only makes it better, as the Iris/Barry dynamic has been one of the strongest, and warmest, aspects of this series.

The Flash #5 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Francis Manapul (art), Brian Buccellato (colors), and Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: The Flash and Top try to stop the Rogues from unleashing the Mirror Lords while the Rogues and Renegades to battle.

What’s Good: Despite my feelings to the contrary during the first couple of issues, I’m really starting to warm up to this whole Rogues/Renegades plot.  The involvement of Captain Boomerang, Top, and the Mirror Lords have imbued the story with a needed life.

Top in particular continues to be an asset this month.  He gives the otherwise bland Renegades personality, giving us an individual character to latch onto.  There’s also something rather cool about seeing Barry Allen team up with a Rogue lookalike.  While I can’t go into things too much for fear of spoiling the issue, Top is most definitely a star this month and is just as much fun to read as he is to see in action.

And really, between the giant Mirror, the Rogues, the Renegades, and Captain Boomerang, there’s a lot of action this month.  There’s a feeling of total mayhem that lends the issue quite a bit of excitement, truly making it feel like the penultimate issue of a story arc.  There are explosions and desperation aplenty, and as a result, this ends up being a pretty fun ride.

Of course, Francis Manapul again deserves his due on this end, as his art really defines this new volume of the Flash and is a good chunk of why it’s as much fun as it is.  Manapul’s action scenes and his depictions of speed are fantastic, and his illustrations of the Rogues’ powers in action are no different.  Seeing the Weather Wizard conjure a cyclone is magnificent and when it combats a spinning Top, it’s all the better.

Speaking of Weather Wizard, I liked how Johns gave him a moment to shine this month.  It’s these little moments that show how great Johns is when it comes to dealing with the Rogues.  While the rest of them don’t have big moments like Weather Wizard does, each of them maintains a distinct and uniquely villainous voice.