The Flash #11 – Review

By: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato (story), Marcus To (pencils), Ray McCarthy (inks), Ian Herring (colors)

The Story: Barry’s leaving behind the girl he loves and making a new life—country song, if I ever heard one.

The Review: I find it pretty amazing how much stuff can happen and how little actually changes.  I mean this in any given context, but most especially with fiction.  Probably the clearest mark of a weak story is one where all sorts of events and twists take place, and yet the character has barely moved one step forward from where he started.  Quite frankly, that is the situation where the Flash finds himself now.

For all of Barry’s time-traveling escapades, run-ins with emboldened rogues, and city crises, he doesn’t seem all that affected, either within or without.  Think about it.  Has he really shifted in any of his values?  Has he become any more or less confident?  Is he any closer to a true relationship with either Patty or Iris?  Has he developed any personal relationship with any other character?  Have either of the Gem Cities changed permanently from the unfortunate blackout?

The Flash #6 – Review

By: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato (writers and artists)

The Story: It’s safe to say Patty won’t be putting this in her top five romantic getaways.

The Review: The first arc of this series started off with a bang, almost universally blowing everyone away with Manapul and Buccellato’s dynamic art and fairly strong storyline.  As the arc progressed, however, Manapul-Buccellato’s inexperience with writing became more apparent, and though the last issue ultimately ended on a solid note, it also illustrated that you shouldn’t expect first-class or consistent scripting from this title.

You have to give credit to the duo for trying, though, and on the whole, they bring some interesting ideas to the table.  Elevating the threat of Flash’s rogues is a start.  As much notoriety as they have, the Rogues have always been third-tier villains individually (if you class Joker in the first tier and someone like Scarecrow as second-tier), only really posing a danger as a group.  While that sense of fraternity makes the Rogues rather unique among their peers, now seems a perfect time to make them even more dangerous by building up the powers of each criminal.

Beginning with Captain Cold seems natural, as he’s regarded as the Rogues’ leader and he has the most recognition of them all.  Some traditionalists may think taking away his guns and internalizing his freeze powers is a radical change to the character, but considering this man has had to pit himself against one of the most powerful metahumans on Earth with only a couple pistols, I’d say Cold desperately needed the update.  And I must say, the added ability to slow down the Flash in addition to his ice powers is a very nice, natural touch.

It might be a bit of overkill, though, since Flash can’t exactly run at full speed anymore, or else risk damaging the time-space continuum.  Again, some might think this a random and arbitrary limiter on his powers—and it is—but from a storytelling point of view, it’s kind of necessary.  Considering all the nutty physics-defying feats the Flash is capable of when he stretches his legs and goes all out, he needs every reason to do so as rarely as possible.

The Flash #5 – Review

By: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato (writers and artists)

The Story: Apparently, Mob Rule has a strict literal bros before figurative bros policy.

The Review: Let me tell you about a friend I have.  He’s quiet, but good-humored, intelligent, hardworking, honest, makes a fine living, and is good to pretty much everyone he knows and many strangers besides.  In short, he’s so centered and balanced (in direct contrast to me, for instance), and so devoid of drama, that most people never talk of him but to speak his praise.

While all these qualities make for an excellent human being in the real world, it makes for a rather dry character in fiction.  And that’s exactly the problem—if you can call it that—with the supremely well-adjusted Barry Allen.  While it’s true the emotional and social hang-ups Geoff Johns gave our hero in the previous Flash series annoyed me, at least they gave Barry a platform upon which he could experience some conflict and, subsequently, change.

But as I noted in my review last issue, it doesn’t feel like there’s much room for Barry to develop as a character, at least in the traditional way of improving upon his flaws (of which there are few).  Furthermore, he has such a reserved personality that even when he’s being confronted, he tends to react rather passively, which makes a lot of the tension one-sided, much as Manuel’s (highly misdirected) rage at the Flash feels here.

The Flash #2 – Review

By: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato (writers and artists)

The Story: An apple a day keeps the robbers away.

The Review: It’s not shocking why there’s so much buzz surrounding this title.  On a purely visual level, practically everyone and his mother agrees The Flash is a stunner, if nothing else.  The artistic approaches Manapul and Buccellato have taken to storytelling may not earn them the same prestige as Will Eisner, but clearly, they walk in his steps.  Eisner, however, was a skilled and subtle writer in addition to his artistic boldness; it’s uncertain if we’ll get the same here.

No matter how you cut it, Manapul-Buccellato are still pretty new to this writing business, and it shows in little ways.  With Barry’s narration, they seem to follow the short, staccato school of dialogue, meaning strings of lines that like, “I can see everything before it happens.  I can weigh every possibly outcome.  I can make the right choice.  And I can do something about it.  Before anyone even notices.”  It’s a very specific rhythm, one that occasionally jars rather than flows.