The Flash #7 – Review

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

The Story: As Captain Boomerang has a meeting with the Reverse Flash, his back-story is explored.

What’s Good: At the very least, Geoff Johns gets an A for effort on this one, as he works his butt off to put as much emotion, heartbreak, and hatred into this retelling of Captain Boomerang’s origins.  There’s a sense of trauma and a building up of seething anger that works quite well.  This issue does wonders in making the reader actually care about Digger, which is crucial given his position in Brightest Day.  It brings the reader close to Digger, and that’s certainly a good thing.

Johns does a decent job of making Digger’s life follow the track of a boomerang; that being that everything comes back or comes full circle, often violently.  It’s a nice way to structure the issue and plot Digger’s emotional trajectory.  That said, Johns plays it fast and loose with this structure, which means that it’s only ever a subtext and never becomes overbearing.

The end result is a character that is still most certainly a bad guy, no questions asked.  That said, he’s the sort of bad guy that’s comprehensible and human, even if there aren’t many shades of grey.

Moreover, Johns, through focusing on Digger, manages to write a Brightest Day tie-in where the Brightest Day stuff doesn’t feel out of place and doesn’t detract from the comic or distract from its actual story.  Instead, Brightest Day fits well here, forcing an otherwise small-fry villain in Captain Boomerang to look at the bigger picture.

Johns also does a fantastic job of writing the Reverse Flash, who is nothing short of pure evil.  It’s nothing particularly overt or detailed in his dialogue, only its tone.  While Thawne may be a bad guy like Digger, he’s far less human and clearly functions on a different level.  Praise is also due to Scott Kolins, who does an absolutely fantastic job illustrating the Reverse Flash, making him seem downright demonic, which really went well with Johns’ dialogue.

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.

The Flash: Secret Files & Origins 2010 #1 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Scott Kolins & Francis Manapul (art), Michael Atiyeh & Brian Buccellato (colors), and Rob Clark Jr. (letters)

The Story: A primer serving as an introduction to the Flashes’ universe, preceded by a short story where Barry grapples with his past.

What’s Good: If you’re a reader unfamiliar or only slightly familiar with Flash lore and are looking forward to get into April’s relaunched Flash monthly, it doesn’t get any better than this.  In a little less than 40 pages, this book gives you everything you need to know about the major heroes, villains, and locations in the Flash’s corner of the DCU.  As a reference work, this book is a lot of fun for new readers.  The encyclopedic entries are written in about as lively a style as is possible and are matched with absolutely beautiful full-page illustrations.  If you know nothing about the Flash’s world, you will leave feeling 100% comfortable heading into the ongoing and with your Flash knowledge in general.

The short story that precedes this primer is also some pretty outstanding stuff, touching on many of themes Johns clearly views as important in a Flash comic, while also ominously setting up for things to come, directly leading into Johns’ first arc.  All told, the story touches upon family, the camaraderie of DC’s speedsters, Barry’s battles with his past, and what the Rogues are up to, while also making really great use of time as only a Flash comic can.  As a first taste of Johns’ upcoming run, this is really solid stuff and an enjoyable, at times surprisingly emotional, read.  It gives a good sense of the tone Johns will be writing in.

I also have to reiterate just how awesome the art is throughout this double-sized book.  There really isn’t a single page here that isn’t a total blast.  Both Manapul and Kolins, though very different from each other, are perfect for the Flash, both artists emanating the sort warmth and energy that perfectly suits the books tone and atmosphere.  If the art on the ongoing can live up to this standard, we are in for something special.