Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #3 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (writer), Oliver Nome, Scott Kolins, Trevor Scott (artists), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: Run, Flash, run!  And bring back some fries while you’re at it.

The Review: Some people see it as a burden, but I rather like that DC has a bunch of legacy heroes, those who’ve taken up the name, mantle, and mission of those who came before.  But all of us have our favorite “version” of the character, and it can get a little awkward when the current writer’s favorite doesn’t match ours.  Like most comic readers from my generation, I’ve always been a Wally West fan, while Barry Allen remained a respected, but distant name to me.

Barry’s return and resumption to being the primary Flash didn’t bother me at first, but now I find his idolization pretty tiresome, especially when it relegates every other speedster in the DCU to sidemen.  So please forgive my cynicism when I confess that I was unmoved this issue, seeing every member of the Flash family quite literally give themselves up to help Barry Allen be the great rescuer of the universe for—what is this now?—the third time.

By itself, this plotline already bears a lot of problematic implications for the story and for the future of the Flash mythos in general, but it also reminds you that even in a title where he’s the star, Kid Flash remains a sidekick.  Having gone through life-and-death to regain his powers and prevent the hellish future he landed in from becoming reality, Bart ends up a pawn for the Speed Force, a glorified courier whose sole purpose is to pass the torch of attention to his grandfather.

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #2 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (writer), Oliver Nome (penciller), Trevor Scott (inker), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: Oh, Bart, you can’t hide anything.  I can see right through you.

The Review: In watching a few episodes of Dexter I noticed that even though the titular lead is one of the most compelling figures in television, very little about the overarching storyline or supporting cast bears enough interest for me to keep watching.  It sort of proves that even if you have a fantastically developed character, if the rest of the material underwhelms, then the piece as a whole can never reach beyond serviceable.

That’s sort of the case with this series, as Gates writes a pretty excellent Kid Flash.  Bart started his existence as a hardcore gamer and television addict, and his portrayal as a geek culture otaku really works as a modern spin on that.  If you count yourself among that particular demographic, you’ll be delighted with his frequent references to definitively nerdy media, like the relatively obscure, “Put me down, Dr. Ball!” (see Robot Chicken cartoon, “Dr. Ball, M.D.”).

On the other hand, Bart is also a much more thoughtful, serious young man than the hyperactive boy he once was as Impulse, so a few gags and lines in this issue come off a little over-the-top.  Bart seizing the Cosmic Motorcycle may be fun as an idea, but in the context of the story and the current incarnation of his character, it seems wildly stupid and kind of pointless, as it steals one of Patty Spivot’s few opportunities to do something useful.

As the only supporting character to this tie-in, Patty really deserves more to do than act the cipher to Bart, but she functions merely as a means for Bart to escape from his predicament.  Why else would she take up Hot Pursuit’s costume and equipment?  Even Gates has a hard time rationalizing her previously adamant decision to involve herself in meta-crime again with her inexplicable, left-field declaration that “I’d found the tools that would let me pursue justice.”

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #1 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (writer), Oliver Nome (penciller), Trevor Scott (inker), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: You ever get the feeling you just don’t belong to this world…and era…and reality?

The Review: Dealing with an altered reality and all the taken-for-granted conventions it entails (subtle or not) can get pretty mind-boggling to begin with.  And by now we all know anything to do with time-traveling comes packaged with paradoxes and quantum leaps and all sorts of other nonsense guaranteed to give you a considerable headache.  Now, mix the two together and you’ve got a whopper of a migraine just waiting to happen.

And so it is with Kid Flash, a character out of time to begin with, and now skipping along the time stream in a strange universe.  But you can shelve your aspirin for now; Gates sticks the issue to mostly one setting: the Flashpoint world of 3011, conquest of Brainiac.  His eternal quest for knowledge apparently involved watching The Matrix, as everywhere is covered with techno-organic structures bearing humans trapped in glassy cocoons (head attachments included).

Bart actually makes a veiled reference to the film when he finds himself trapped, Speed Force-less, in this dystopia, which thankfully saves the plot from looking like one giant cliché (not to mention unashamed plagiarism).  In fact, his casual use of pop culture for problem-solving is a kind of relic of his Impulse days, and tempered with the good sense and focus he’s gained as Kid Flash, Gates offers the most balanced portrayal of Bart we’ve gotten in a while (especially compared to emo Bart in the last few issues of Geoff Johns’ The Flash).

Plot-wise, we still have a lot of questions left up in the air: how Bart got dragged into the time stream in the first place, how Brainiac managed to “fish” him out, and what role he’ll have in the grand scheme of Flashpoint.  Gates gives some hints as to how all these issues will tie together when Brainiac claims he’ll “find a way to pull the chronal energy from your cells…”  It wouldn’t be surprising if this winds up playing an integral part of solving the whole Flashpoint mess, continuing DC’s tradition of giving young heroes central roles in these “crisis” stories.

Batgirl #5 – Review

By Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett (penciller), Sandra Hope & Oliver Nome (guest inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Core Requirements, Part One of Three: Batgirl is in a burning building, taking on some meta called Diesel. She’s not making huge headway, when Oracle (her handler) tells her she’s got company: Batman and Robin. They all take on Diesel. Neither Batman nor Robin is impressed with Batgirl. This leads later to a massive fight between Dick and Barbara, and a smaller parallel one between Damian and Stephanie. Stephanie agrees to take it easy, but by the end of the book, she’s back in the sorts of unpremeditated adventures she falls into.

What’s Good: The whole freaking book, from beginning to end! Great writing, great conflict, great art.

The writing pulled together some quality character and conflict in this book. Stephanie, Damian, Dick, and Barbara were all clear and distinct in dialogue and in the text boxes and there were lots of zingers. Miller captured both Dick and Damian perfectly. Damian gets a line like “You certainly aren’t very skilled in…anything.” The irrepressible Stephanie owns most of the book (Barbara is still a big tenant), but the conflict between her and Damian allows her to get the essence of her Bat-book in two lines: “Everything doesn’t have to be about fear. There’s room in our line of work for hope, too.” Very insightful and even a bit metafictional. Batgirl is Gotham-lite. And while Damian and Stephanie have a baggage-free fight, Dick versus Barbara is an emotional slap down born of some real disagreements, but also leftovers from romantic might-have-beens. They trade some verbal blows that were painful to watch and will leave marks on both of them. Finally, Miller lightened the mood by giving Damian and Stephanie some parallel stalker moments that were just plain fun to read.

The art seemed different to me this issue, with Hope and Nome filling in for Scott. The inks were lighter than with Scott alone or with his occasional co-inkers. It was an interesting departure. Check out the splash page of Batman and Robin crashing in on the Diesel-Batgirl fight. The fine lines of Batgirl’s cowl are nothing like we’d have seen in any of the last 4 issues, but they work. The action sequences were great and everything was clear, if occasionally stylized (check out Damian under the tree with crows).