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| Guy Ricketts |
 Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:39 am |
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| Guy Ricketts |
| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:29 pm |
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Here is something to whet our appetites...
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| Guy Ricketts |
| Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:34 am |
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issue one (of six)
This is a review of the first issue, written by a friend of mine named Pete Johnson, at my LCS Back to the Past. It came in their weekly emails. I haven't read the issue yet, and I thought his review was so good that I would reprint it here.
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Before I review Flash: Rebirth, I'd like to take you on a journey...
It's no secret that I am the store's resident Flash fanatic. I have been since I was a kid. He inspired me to run track in high school, no kidding! I didn't learn until later in my collecting that The Flash may have been the character that saved comic books. Barry Allen's first appearance in Showcase #4 was the event that ignited the Silver Age in 1956 and brought comic book heroes back into the mainstream after nearly disappearing entirely. By the mid-60's Flash was outselling Batman!
It's been a tough gig being a Flash fan all of these years. It was pretty easy as a kid to be a fan, when Flash would fight a wacky rogue or team up to help the Super Friends each week. This Flash was Barry Allen. There wasn't much to him as a character. He was a police scientist and his personal life was kind of boring. The Barry I knew was given his powers by cosmic chance by way of a lightning bolt and some chemicals. He was prompted to use his new found powers for good because he was a decent guy. Other Super heroes even looked up to him. Batman once said, "Barry is the kind of man that I would've hoped to become if my parents hadn't been murdered". He didn't have the personal tragedy to motivate him like the Batman or Spider-Man. This may be what made Barry boring to some readers, but I always felt that what Barry lacked in personality, The Flash made up for with his fantastic exploits. Plus the pseudo-science that the writers used to pull his fat out of the fire each month made me come back for more. I never expected that my Flash was going to be a victim of DC politics.
In the 1980's, Flash sales were lackluster and they tried some things to boost sales. The killed his wife, they framed him for murder, and then he died saving the universe(s). Damn, that stung. So after running my heart through the wood chipper, they announced that Wally West (Barry's nephew, and for years "Kid Flash") was going to be in the new Flash in his own series. I was a little apprehensive at first, but it made sense. Wally earned the right to be the Flash, plus the yellow outfit kinda sucked. For me Wally started out kind of rocky because he was the opposite of the Flash that I had grown up with. This Flash was actually kind of a jerk. It took awhile, but Wally eventually grew on me. It didn't hurt that they still used Barry as a mentor. He would hop back and forth from the 30th century to give some sagely advice, while everyone kept their mouth shut about his demise in the first Crisis. Toward what would be the end of Wally's first run as the Flash, it got really good. The Rogue's gallery was second to none and the supporting cast was incredible. I was in my glory seeing all of the speedsters across the DC Universe. This expansion prompted several spin-offs and mini series including Barry's grandson, Impulse. Good times.
Just when I thought Wally West was safe, DC decided to rip my heart out again. The speedsters started falling like flies, Impulse was canceled and the worst was yet to come. The Flash ended abruptly after Wally "died" in Infinite Crisis, yet at the same time seemed to be retiring at the end of his own book. I was left speechless. I had no idea what had happened, but the madness continued.
Bart Allen, formerly Impulse, would take over for a 13 issue run of a new Flash series. The first 9 issues of this run was excellent for the bottom of any birdcage. Bart was aged 4 years in the Speed Force and hid the fact that he still had super powers from everyone for a whole year (in continuity) prior to the new series. After 9 issues it started to get a little better, but WHAM! Bart was dead, too! But...Wally was suddenly just fine? Apparently, DC thought it would be good for the Flash to retire to the land of alien llamas, where his wife Linda, could shed her moniker of reporter and become a Speed Force expert and have twins. This last paragraph makes my head spin faster than a Tornado Twin in a Large Hadron Collider.
Ok, so Wally was back again, but this series was weak and goofy. He spent his time raising his kids that had aged quickly because of the Speed Force. Nobody liked it, and nobody could tell what in Zeus' name was going on. Dan Didio and DC Comics were having fun playing pinata with my favorite characters, and it was the opposite of fun.
So, DC decided, in their infinite wisdom, that it was time to bring back Barry.
You might have noticed that, by now, my heart had been ripped out, set on fire, piddled on, set on fire again, and stomped on by monkeys wearing stilettos. I didn't know how to react about Barry coming back. I was numb. I had always felt that he was one of the sacred few that would remain dead as to show readers that sometimes heroes have to make the ultimate sacrifice. He's been gone over 20 years, now! The whole Flash universe was crumbling around me, and uncrumbling...and recrumbling! It seemed that this joke was played on me by making the Flash so ridiculous that I would be begging for Barry to return. This new book even launched on April 1st, so I was pretty sure of it. The only thing that I was excited about was that Geoff Johns was handling it. I can honestly say that the vast majority of stuff that he does is great. He even brought back Green Lantern and made amends for how Hal Jordan was handled.
There's my personal feelings going into Flash: Rebirth #1. Now, finally, my synopsis and review. (If you haven't read Flash: Rebirth yet, then stop unless you can handle SPOILERS!)
Writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver have created a 5-issue mini-series bringing Barry Allen back to a leading role in the DC Universe as the Flash. The first book starts with celebrations abound over the return of, "Central City's Flash." There are a few panels that show the rogues realizing that their lives are going to be a little less boring soon as they hear the news of Barry's return. Barry avoids all the hoopla and instead contemplates his new role in the universe and wonders why he is alive after all this time. He visits the Flash Museum and chats it up with Hal Jordan for a bit as they both seem to have this whole coming back from the dead thing in common. After a brief chat, Barry says to Hal, "I can't be late,". Hal asks, "Late for what?". Barry replies, "For whatever the rest of the world needs me for." For me the book could have stopped there. It was short and sweet and reintroduced my childhood idol. But, no, it had to get weird.
Remember way back in the beginning of this long-winded review when I said that Barry was a boring guy that really didn't have much in the way of personal tragedy to motivate him to be a hero, well scratch that. I guess you can just throw in this never before known fact into the Flash history: It is revealed that Flash's mom was murdered when he was a kid, and it looks like his dad did it! Flash describes this as, "the only one open case I left behind." This unknown nugget of information completely changes everything about who Barry Allen is and what his motivations are. Does every superhero need a tragic murder in their childhood to be fully realized??
However, before you can get a handle on this little gem, the speedster villain Savitar escapes the Speed Force through Flash and Barry gives chase. When Flash manages to put his hand on Savitar's shoulder, the villain screams in agony and becomes dust in the wind. Before he dies, he tells Barry, "...You were the beginning, Allen...and you're the end." At that moment, all of the speedster (resurrected ones, un retired ones, etc.) all experience painful convulsions and are engulfed in lightning. Shocked at what happened to Savitar, Flash asks himself, "What the hell did I just do?" Deaths and disappearances of the speedsters? Get out that pinata, here we go again!
It's a first issue, so we will see what happens. The art on the book was great. I felt that they used a lot of imagery to give you a grand sense of nostalgia and welcomed back Barry the only way that they could have. The story was well written, but still scares me. Is Barry back or is he just keeping the legacy warm for Wally or Bart while they decide what to do with them? Only time will tell. Until then, I feel like Charlie Brown racing towards DC, er Lucy, ready to kick the football.
If anyone at DC is going to make the Flash a great headline character again, my money is on Geoff Johns, so I continue to be optimistic about the future of the Flash. I recommend reading along with this Rebirth series, and we'll all be crossing our fingers for better things to come!
Scott says I have to add an "out of 5 stars" rating, so I will say a cautious 4 out of 5 stars for the first issue.
Pete
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Last edited by Guy Ricketts on Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| Guy Ricketts |
| Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:59 am |
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issue one (of six)
Well, I finally got my copy and read it. It is as excellent as Pete said it was.
It really captures the man Barry Allen was when he had regular ongoing adventures, yet manages to update him as well. No small feat, that Geoff Johns.
One thing in Pete's review that I wish to comment on: the death of Barry's mother and arrest for the crime of his father. It never happened in the Silver Age history of the character, and I believe that it ultimately never happened in this current history. I suspect an enemy of his went back in time and did the deed, framing Barry's father. Just a theory I had as I read the issue.
Otherwise, I agree with Pete's assessment of the issue. The Hal and Barry scene was great, it was nice seeing these two buddies catching up. And it seemed like the various fan reactions are echoed in certain characters, particularly Impulse/Kid Flash, who feels that Wally is being slighted here with Barry's return.
In any case, the time has finally arrived, and the story of Barry's return in full to the DCU is finally underway. So far, so good. |
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| Guy Ricketts |
| Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:51 pm |
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Joined: 27 Dec 2006
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Location: Detroit, Michigan
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issue five (of six)
Pretty heavy goings-on with FLASH REBIRTH 5, as Barry Allen learns an uncomfortable truth regarding a traumatic event from his past. From the Reverse-Flash twisted cover of The Flash 123 (volume one) "Flash of Two Worlds" - including the villain replacing Jay Garrick and keeping the man in the foreground from being saved this time - to Reverse-Flash revealing his latest objective for destroying Barry Allen's life, this is a truly fast, hard-hitting issue. Revelations by our villain here really make one ponder how much hate one person can have for another as we see just what he has accomplished with his negative speed-force. Writer Geoff Johns has really shaken up the Flash world, especially Barry's corner of it, and it's good to see the speedsters pull together in this current crisis. First-rate artwork by Ethan Van Sciver really puts this issue over the top. |
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