The speed force is strong with this one. Barry Allen is back as The Flash in one of the better New 52 titles. The creative team of Francis Manapul and Brian Buccelato did a terrific job with their run on this legendary DC character. So just how good is this title and what makes it really stand out from the rest? Well let's take a lookie.
Story:
The story in this series is well written and fast paced but in that really good way. It captures the perfect pacing for The Flash comic books to have and never gives you time to get bored. There are always interesting things to look forward to. The whole story is very speed force oriented and it does a beautiful job in reintroducing the whole concept of Flash's power source for the New 52 universe. But let's take a bit of a deeper look into it
Spoliers Ahead
Move Forward (issue 1-5):
When you start reading this series the very first thing that catches your eye (literally) is the art. It is amazing and some of the most beautiful art in the whole New 52 book roster but more about it in the art departament.
The series start with us having a few moments with Barry Allen and his new girlfriend Patty Spivot who now replaced Iris. Now Iris is still a major player in the overall story but she is no longer Barry's current girl. It is something that many people who read Barry's adventures before will not like because Iris for Barry is like Lois Lane for Superman (got replace with Wonder Woman) and Mary Jane for Peter Parker (got replaced too). But I urge you to give Patty a try because she is a really likable character and a great fit for Barry. I loved their chemistry and relationships and honestly did not even miss the days of Barry and Iris that much.
The main plot deals with Barry's friend Manuel returning to city and brining bunch of trouble with him in the face of the army of his own clones. Right off the start I will tell you that Manuel might just be THE weakest and least likable character in the whole run. His motivations are never really too clean, his character offers nothing that is to be liked. They tried to tell his past by Flashbacks but ultimately tried to put too much of the story into too little of the comic book space and it ended in us knowing his past but not really caring about him much. At the end of the story he even sort of promised to be back but he never did and I am not surprised...at all.
But enough with the bad parts of the story. Besides the main story,every other aspect of this part of the run is magnificent. The way Barry's powers are shown is just stunning thanks to the awesome art, the idea of his brain tapping into the speed force is also really cool and implemented in a really awesome way (thanks, the art...again). Relationships between every single characters exept for Manuel that is are just wonderful. They all feel good, natural and none of them are boring or unlikable. Even the secondary characters that don't do much feel like they have their own personality and are interesting to read.
Even though the Manuel (the key character of this story) is rather uninteresting, everything else is done so well that I am absolutely ready to forgive the series and call this a great read. Also I can't call this story unneccery because it give us the EMP puls in Central City which is a major plotpoint and basicly the reason of the event of almost the whole run ahead.
Rouge's revolution and Speed Force Revelations (Issue 6-12, Annual 1)
Because of the EMP (people think The Flash caused it) Captain Cold's sister is can't get a surgery that is neccery for her to survive. Captain Cold snaps and breaks his honor code of no killing and goes after The Flash. Oh and now he has frost superpowers so nor more gun (will be explained in the series later). Thanks to the art we are treated to a GORGEOUS fight scene. It also really nice to see Flash's good ol' enemy to return and stir up some trouble. From issue 6 and onward series take a good leap in story quality by starting exploring some of the more interesting stuff for The Flash mythos like The Rouges and how the Speed Force works and the connection between Gorrila nation and the Speed Force.
Basicly as the fight concludes it so happens that Iris and three more people are sucked into Speed Force and Barry goes after them. This is where we get all the information about the New 52 Speed Force and let me tell you they did not drop the ball on reintroducing this awesome concept. It was a joy to read. Barry was unable to save Iris and the other folks stuck in the Speed Force but got teleported to the Gorrila City and guess what. They are worshipping Speed Force now and are waiting for a chosen one (The Flash) to come. We are introduced to Gorrila Grodd who just became the king of Gorrila city and well after a bit of time and grudges Barry Kicks his butt and returns to our time only to see that 3 month passed andhis old pal who helped him understand the speed force turned the city against him and used Barry's storaged Speed Force (long story) to create a "New" source of energy for the city which direly needed it after the EMP blast. This basicly covers issuess 6 - 9 and they are fast paced, well written, beautifly drawn and ultimately fun and interesting.
Now Barry returned to the Central City and is considered dead (long story). Basicly we get a few good standalone issues with Barry encountering different villains from The Rouges who are now all sporting superpowers instead of the usual gadgets. They are short but a rather good time overall. It helps build up the climax of the story with the Rouges. There are even a few awesome moments like Barry and Capain Cold having a drink at the bar and remembering good times, Rouges personalities being explored and ETC.
It all comes to a conclusion when Glider (Captain Cold's sister) gathers the Rouges again under her new leadership to try to kill that scientist who betrayed The Flash. All of the rouges have their reasons to kill him which are explained in the annual. We get some sweet teamwork of The Rouges which just warms my heart. It is so awesome to see the gang back together and kicking all sorts of behinds. And basicly all major character make an appearance in this all out brawl with triple crossing and enough of awesomeness to keep you on the edge of your seat through the whole story. We even get an awesome team up of Captain Cold and The Flash VS the new Rouges even if it is rather shortlived.
Gorrilla Warfare (Issue 13-17):
Without any time to rest just when the battle with the Rouges seemed to reach it's ending, a rather angry Gorrila Grodd envades Central City with his army. And this event is just what it sounds like. Central City fending off a Gorrila envasion.
There is even more awesome The Flash and Rouges VS Gorrilas team up this time and it is freaking awesome. Gorrila Grodd gets the power of the Speed Force which results in an awesome fight scene of The Flash vs Super fast Gorrila Grodd and let me tell you there is just something really awesome in watching The Flash running away from a huge super fast Gorrila in the centre of the city which is raided by the Gorrila army (silver age all over again).
We get some other plotpoints about which I won't be talking about (not like I am just retelling you the story of the book...right?) and it results in Patty finding out that Barry is The Flash and Barry defeating Grodd by pulling him into the speed force. Also Iris and the three guys are saved at last!
I gotta say the fist part of the story is really good but the second part is a bit rushed. The first fight with Gorrila Grodd is great but the second one was too rushed and fast. I just wish the ending to this story was a bit more satisying.
Grodd is not really the greatest villain but does a good enough job in here for me not to complain. He still does some awesome things like chase after Flash with super speed and rip Trickster's arm off.
Trickster Side-Story (Issue 18-19):
A nice two isse storyline to get a little rest from all of the major events and stuff. The Flash now moved in with Patty and their likable relationships continues. Basicly this is a simple enough story with Barry even losing his powers for a moment and we see him being a hero without them and even later aknowledging that Batman and other powerless heroes have it really hard.
Also a major plotpoint is that some of these 4 people that were trapped in the speed force now have superpowers and two of them decided to become heroes and really suck at it. It adds some humor to this story. Basicly a nice bridge between big story arcs
Reverse Flash (Issue 20-24, Reverse Flash Issue 1)
Time for a big one. A reboot of one of Barry's most fearsome enemies, The Reverse Flash. Does the series do a good job and delivers? Well...sort of.
The story itself has a slower pace to it because Barry plays a bit of a detective. The major seller of the story is that the identity of Reverse Flash is unknown and he is just roaming the city, killing all of the people who were touched by the Speed Force before (aka people who were trapped there we talked before). So we have a killer on the run and thus starts our story.
It has a darker tone to it since the creators wanted to make Reverse Flash a bit scarier in the New 52 universe. In which they succed to some extent.
During this story Barry meets Kid Flash for the first time and we get some chasing scenes and interactions between them. They were good in some way and it would be really great to see The Flash mentor Bart but as we know from Teen Titans run by Scott Lobdell this will probably never happen because Kid Flash is trapped on a prison planet in the future.
Soon The Flash meets face to face with the Reverse Flash and we find out his identity...now this is where the major problem of this story lies for me. I know that they would not include Thawne or Hunter Zolomon but their choice was...really uninspiring. Now we had been giving pitched that the Reverse Flash might be Darwin Elias (or whatever his name is. That scientists who turned on The Flash) and I thought to myself that it wouldn't be all that interesting if he turned out to be the main villain. After seeing the real identity of the Reverse Flash I kind of wish they did make Darwin into a main villain. The Reverse Flash is...Daniel West. A new character and a brother of Iris West who only briefly appeared in Gorrila Warfare. He is an unlikable character who is constantly whining and acting like a selfish prick. He is not deep and not awesome. Now I am not against changing some charcters. I think giving The Rouges superpowers worked out really good but changing what might be the most iconic Flash villain into someone so uncool is just...well uncool. Even reading The Reverse Flash villain's month issue did not really help me start liking this charcter. Now as the Reverse Flash he has the power to reverse time but sadly he never truly untilizes this power during his fight with The Flash and that is a pity because it could have turned out being something really special. To top it all off Daniel is defeated really abruptly and in a rather silly manner. The Flash himself even exclaimed that he is not entirely sure himself how he defeated this guy. Now even though I whine about the Reverse Flash all the time, he is not all that bad. His design is sort of good, he has a good feel to him when not in Daniel West form and not talking...and he actually fits this run and it's ideas very well in some ways.
Despite the shortcomings with the Revers Flash, the story is still well worth a read. And the ending pages of the last issue give a good sense of finality to such a good comic book run.
Art:
The art is so good that even if the whole run was just Flash fighting some random villains month after month, it would still be worth a pickup. It is not just good, it is some of the best art New 52 roster has to offer. And it is not just the art. The paneling is just genious. The coloring make it look more like a painting than a comic book art. And you know what is also really great? the guys who did the coloring and drew the book actually co-wrote it too. You will instantly see how the art and the story fuse together in just a perfect matter. Truly they reached something special in here.
The only downside is that a few issues are not drawn and inked by these two and it really is noticable. While the story and character are good, the art just made everything like 3 times more enjoyable. Now the fill-in artist are usually pretty good and if they were the ones who drew the series from the very start I would probably not mind and would tell that they are a good fit but after the sheer genious we have been shown in the art departament, these fill-in artsist don't really stand out. Still these instances are totally understandable because even the great and criticly acclaimed Greg Cappulo took a few issues off Batman comic books.
Characters:
The series really succedes in this departament for the most part. Barry is likable, Petty is great as a new girl, The Rouges are also really cool, the supporting cast all have their distinct voices and are nice to read even when they appear for just a few scenes. The book also really showcases why Barry is a great Flash and a great person. Gorrila Grodd is also done pretty well even without any telepathy whatsoever and I did not mind that change too much.
The weakest links have to be Manuel from the first story arc and Daniel West especially when we watch him as a human though he is not that bad as a Reverse Flash when he is just fighting and killing and stuff.
Verdict:
The Flash is one of my favorite DC superheroes and I am glad to say that Manapul and Buccelato did a fantastic job with this run. The story is fast paced and engaging. The art is beyond gorgeous, the charcters are well written for the most part. I have had a blast reading through these issues and reccomend it to anyone. Flash fan or not, this is one great piece of work. It also does not require too much knowledge of The Flash lore to get into it. Basicly as long as you know who The Rouges are, you are set to go.
8.5/10 (Between Great and Maginficent)
Just a few things keep it from 9, like Manuel's whole character, Reverse Flash's identity and Gorrila Warfare's sort of unsatisfying ending.
How my scoring system works just so you know:
1 - Abomination on every level, Insulting to every writer or artist or human
2 - Plain awful comic with no fun whatsoever to be found
3 - Bad. Just plain bad comic book with major problems
4 - Below Average not really good book
5 - an average MEH comic book
6 - Decent, somewhat good comic
7 - a solid good comic book
8 - a great comic book
9 - a magnificant and wonderful piece of work
10 - Legendary, classic, masterpiece.
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