Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge # 1 - Book One

If Geoff Johns has proven one thing to us(out of the many great things he has accomplished as a writer in the industry) it's that he knows how to use the Flash's villains. And this start to the three issue mini series seems to be a way of fixing what had been done poorly with the Rogues in the last year(starting with them killing Bart Allen, being hunted as fugitives, and being put onto a prison planet with other villains during Salvation Run). This story brings the Rogues back to the troubled and menacing villains Johns proved that they could be during his fantastic run on the Flash.

Scott Kollins worked alongside Geoff on his original run of Flash as the artist conceptualizing villians' looks such as Zoom and the new Trickster(Axel Walker). I personally like his art sometimes while other times I'm not a huge fan. Though I'm happy to say I loved the art in this issue and am very happy with how it's eventual look turned out.

The story is solid and really is all about the Rogues trying to reccuperate from their tough year and get revenge on Inertia for tricking them into killing Bart.
 
Johns proves that he knows how to weave a great story while using all of the characters' personalities and motivations mixed in. Captain Cold was really proven to be a threat during Geoff's run on Flash and not just some guy wearing a lame outfit and running around with a freeze gun. Weather Wizard is interesting as well but he doesn't truly shine until the third issue of this series. Mirror Master is fun and Geoff employs his abilities in creative and fun ways. Heatwave has always been a favorite of mine and I always sympathize for him and his pyromania problem. I'm not sure why Kollins redesigns his suit when he draws him but I like the way Kollins draws him better than anyone else's rendering of him. He's got a cool mouthpiece and backpack. Axel Walker also makes a return(since the original Trickster was killed by Deadshot in Countdown) and we haven't seen Axel since Trickster threw him in a dumpster in Johns' last arc on his first Flash run and it was a joy to see him back! He's such a unique character because of the fact that he has no morals. He will is a criminal just for the fun and excitment of it. Axel seems to be in the story because it's easy to look at the Rogues as he does because of the fact that he hasn't seen them since before all of the craziness of last year happened to them. This issue also features Inertia's escape from his frozen state that Wally put him in back in All-Flash #1(the only issue I like of Waid's most recent run on Flash) and I believe it is the first time for Johns to write his character and for Kollins to draw him. Kollins' design for him is good(I especially like the sick fun he gives his face while killing people) and Johns performs masterfully at making Inertia as demented and psychotic as possible, for example having Inertia looking forward to killing Wally's children. And then in the final image of the issue, in my opinion Geoff's greatest creation...Zoom shows up. Yellow outfit, fast speech, and all that good stuff are present as he makes Inertia an offer, handing him a Kid Flash outfit(with a reversed lightning bolt insignia). Lot of fun stuff for a first issue and a great beginning to the story.

5/5!!! I'll be reviewing issues 2 and 3 next!