The Flash #9 – Review

By: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato (story and art)

The Story: For God’s sake, Barry, don’t do anything stupid like quote Planet of the Apes around here.

The Review: The Silver Age of comics might have superficially drawn upon an ever-growing understand of science to tell stories, but that did nothing to stem the tide of totally illogical and bizarre ideas and storylines upon which comics fed.  The Flash (Barry Allen flavor), perhaps as a resulting byproduct of that era, thus comes attached with some seriously wacky history, probably epitomized by his completely random relationship with gorillas.

It’s always been hard to take DC’s gorilla villains seriously—and yes, I use the plural because DC actually has at least two reputable villains of simian persuasion.  If you’ve watched Young Justice, you might know Monsieur Mallah, a hyper-intelligent gorilla who wears a beret, speaks French, and is a mutually reciprocated romance with an out-of-body brain.  Gorilla Grodd thus seems plausible by comparison, a hyper-intelligent, telepathic ape who feeds on brains to increase his mental power, but he’s still just too goofy to be considered a legitimate threat.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: Fantastic Four #605.1 – I probably should give this to Saga #3 and can’t believe that I’m giving any honors to an issue with art by Mike Choi (because his art was very pedestrian in this issue), but Jonathan Hickman did enough to get it over the hump.  The story is basically an alternate history that shows Germany winning World War II and what a Nazi Fantastic Four would look like…..only to see that this story was really about one of the many Reed Richards from the Council of Reeds.  Very clever.

Top 5 this week:

1). The Unwritten #37 – I can’t wait to see what this story does next.  We’ve finished the “War of the Words” storyline that had all kinds of big events for the characters.  Last issue we had one of those done-in-one issues featuring that foul-mouthed bunny rabbit.  So, this issue will finally show us where the main story will go.  Lots was accomplished in the finale of “War of the Words” and I’m very curious to see if this series acts like it is going to wrap up OR if it will settle into another long story cycle.

2). Prophet #25 – If you’re looking for trippy science fiction storytelling, Prophet is the place to be.  We’ve now moved beyond our “wasteland Earth” setting of the first 3 issues into more of a space opera.  The storytelling and art have both been wonderful in this series so far.

3). Mind Mgmt #1 – Matt Kindt doing a monthly comic series?!?  Sign me up.  This is the guy who gave us the excellent OGN’s Super Spy, Revolver, and 3 Story, as well as the art on the OGN The Tooth–and did that great fill-in arc on Sweet Tooth a few months ago.  I don’t even really care what this is about.  I’m just excited to see how Kindt does with a monthly comic (much the same way I was eager to see how Jeff Lemire would do with Sweet Tooth when it launched a few years ago).

4). Elephantmen #39 – Last issue brought in a character I never thought I’d see in the contemporary Elephantmen storylines: Yvette!  And, that’s after years of seeing her character in these old flashbacks about “the war”.  Elephantmen never disappoints….it’s always interesting, the art is always pretty and the production values are unparalleled.

5). Hero Comics 2012 – An original TMNT story by Kevin Eastman?  An original Elephantmen story by Richard Starkings with art by Dave Sim?  With a J. Scott Campbell cover?  Plus, lots of other goodies from name creators and all the profits benefit the Hero Initiative?  These Hero comics are always good and the money goes to a great cause.

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: The Manhattan Projects #3 – It was between this and Saga, but ultimately, the awesome, European, Heavy Metal style artwork totally won me over.  Top this with ridiculously kooky characters, and you have a winner.  However, what made this issue special was that Jonathan Hickman actually made the bombing of Hiroshima comedic.  Seriously.  That alone is a massive achievement.  It was certainly irreverent, which can be said about this series in general, but not at all tasteless.  Between this and that FF done-in-one with  Spidey and Johnny as room-mates, Hickman is showing himself to have a surprisingly great handle on comedy.

Picks:  First up would have to be Justice League Dark #9.  Next to Catwoman, JLD was the biggest disappointment of the new 52 for me.  I loved the concept, the characters, and the art, but the book just wasn’t clicking for me, much that  having to do with the glacial pacing.  Now Jeff Lemire, a guy on my “buy anything he writes list” is taking over.  JLD is a winning concept and Lemire should be the man for the job.

Next up would be Fantastic Four #606.  With his major story wrapped up, Hickman seems to be spending the rest of his run with done-in-ones, each with a clear creative idea.  This week takes the team to Wakanda and if the done-in-ones last month were any indication, this should be fun.

Secret Avengers #27 continues what is so far my favourite AvX tie-in.  It’s last-stand heroism, the return of Mar-Vell, cosmic adventuring/politics, double-crosses, and Renato Guedes putting out some of the best work of his career.

Batman Incorporated #1 seems like a bit of an outsider these days, as Scott Snyder has so firmly taken control of the Bat-verse.  Still, it’s Grant Morrison doing his thing, which should provide a nice counter-point to Snyder’s Batman and provide a high-quality bat-book sans owls.

Finally, while I said that Justice League Dark was among the disappointments of the new 52, The Flash has been one of the nicest surprises of the relaunch.  It’s been nothing but lush artwork and old school gleefulness from Manapul and Buccellato.  The Flash #9 sees the Flash end up in Gorilla City, which is just the sort of wacky, old school “comics” thing that this creative team seems to dig.  Better still, it’ll mean Grodd, a sentimental favourite of mine.

The Flash #9 – Review

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

The Story: Barry Allen finds himself assigned to a very unusual homicide case as Hot Pursuit runs amok in Central City.

What’s Good: For the second month in a row, Geoff Johns hits it out of the park on the Flash.  However, what makes it more important this time around is that while last month was a one-shot of sorts, this is a prelude to the coming months of Flash and Flashpoint.  In other words, this issue being as good as it is a very good sign for the future.

That said, I’ll admit that I’m biased.  I’m a huge, huge fan of Brian Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers series.  The idea of homicide detectives investigating superhero murders will never stop being awesome.  This month sees Johns send Barry into just such a task.  There’s a mysteriously dead “cape,” pre-naturally aged, found dead under mysterious circumstances.  It felt like Johns had basically taken Barry Allen and thrown him into a Powers comic, and the resulting mash-up of superhero noir and classic DC comic was an absolute pleasure to read.  It’s a plot I’m really looking forward to seeing more of, as Johns sets this up perfectly as a superhero-related detective/police drama.  It’s very, very cool.

Johns also does a very good job this month of highlighting Barry’s faults as a human being.  Barry’s presented as a man tied to his job, but not in the traditional, clichéd sense.  He’s tied to his job because he’s utterly bound to doing what’s right and doing as much public good as possible.  The tension and loss that this creates in his private sphere is obvious, however.  It’s a familiar, but really effective clash that Johns puts forth, that between doing the public good and the private, with Barry seemingly unaware of the latter.  This also leads to yet more fantastic writing when it comes to the Barry/Iris dynamic, which Johns has been doing so well with.  Iris is understanding and forgiving beyond belief, but she’s also clearly aware of Barry’s failings and isn’t immune to disappointment, however patient she may be.

Art-wise, this the best looking Flash comic in months.  The reason for this has been colorist Brian Buccellatto’s major adjustments.  While Manapul’s artwork is always really awesome and likable, I’d found that Buccellatto’s colors were getting increasingly brown and muddy to the point where they were starting to mute and detract from Manapul’s great work.  This month, Buccellato completely reverses on that.  Things are lighter and crisper, augmenting Manapul and allowing him to shine.  What results is crisper, cleaner, and much more impressive.  I also have to mention that both men did really well depicting Hot Pursuit’s motorcycle in action, which was a treat to watch.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Hulk #29 – I’ve gushed about Parker and Hardman on this title before: Fast moving story with awesome linework.  But, I’d also like to show some love to Bettie Breitweiser’s coloring.  She colors the hulks so that they look like they are covered in actual SKIN and not highly polished/waxed metal.  Wish everyone colored this way!  Very pretty.  Runner-up: Spider-Girl #3 (for being ambitious and not a typical teenage girly comic)

Most Anticipated: Hack/Slash #1 – If you haven’t read the first volume of Tim Seeley’s creator-owned series, (a) what’s wrong with you and (b) now is your chance to jump on!  I love reading the adventures of Cassie Hack and her intrepid companion Vlad as they deal with demonic beasties and slashers.  This is just the thing for us desensitized people.  Yeah!

Other picks: The Walking Dead #81, Amazing Spider-Man #654, Incognito: Bad Influences #3, Haunt #13, 27 #3

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Secret Six #30 – As good as Sweet Tooth #18 was, I’ve got to go with Secret Six this week.  Despite being the first issue in a crossover I’ve been down about with a title I couldn’t care less about, this issue was just so much fun and was the funniest comic I’ve read in a while.  There are so many great, hilarious lines in this one and the new villain is utterly ridiculous on so many levels.  Even if the Doom Patrol were meh, Bane made up for it with ease.  That said, I wonder how long a title called “Secret Six” can go on with eight members.

Most Anticipated: THUNDER Agents #4 – I’ve been absolutely loving this new title by Nick Spencer.  The art is tremendous and it’s one of the smartest books around.  I’ve really been enjoying Spencer’s decision to start out the series by giving each member a sort of origin issue.   He’s done such wonderful jobs on his issues about Lightning and No-Man that I can’t wait to see what he has in store for Dynamo.  And hey, George Perez is drawing some stuff this month.

Other Picks: Punisher MAX #10, New Avengers #9, Amazing Spider-Man #654, The Walking Dead #81, The Flash #9, Wolverine #5.1, The Unwritten #22, Secret Warriors #24