The Flash #40

The Good

Everything wraps up here in spectacular fashion. THE FLASH goes back to the status quo, in a sense. There's still lots of possibilities for things to change and a lot of doors that could easily swing back open, although they appear to be closed. Is that vague enough for you?

Before even stepping into the madness of this story, penciller Brett Booth, inker Norm Rapmund, and colorist Andrew Dalhouse deserve a round of applause for their work on this book and this issue. FLASH is a book that has to show movement and an artist who is a bit stiff can destroy the momentum of the book. Booth keeps the characters, story, and panel composition completely fluid and gives this book such a smooth pace. It's also a nice addition that his art, along with the inks and colors, are seamless and beautiful. This is a book you could buy for the art alone, but luckily, you'll be treated to a pretty solid story as well.

While the part of the story that had Barry in the savage world of the Speed Force fell a bit short for me, as a whole, throughout this book, it concluded in spectacular fashion. Honestly, it was the one part of the book I wasn't looking forward to, but the way Van Jensen and Robert Venditti wrapped it up was phenomenal. In addition, we get this sweet reveal page that is going to lead to some great things. At this point, FLASH fans should be really pumped that Venditti, Jensen, and Booth are going to continue forward on this title, post-CONVERGENCE.

The book is filled with a ton of action and while FLASH, like every other DC book right now, is forced to wrap up their stories this month, to prepare for CONVERGENCE, this is really the most natural conclusion of a book to date. It really feels like this is where it should end and it wasn't cut short, which is actually a really refreshing thing.

I think future Barry is still around or in the Speed Force world, but I can come off like a crazy conspiracy theorist at times.

The North by Northwest variant cover, by Bill Sienkiewicz, is my favorite cover of the week. Not only is it a great homage, but it also works as with Barry Allen in Cary Grant's place.

The Bad

The whole Speed Force storyline never really grabbed me. It didn't really have the same impact, plot wise, that the future-Barry story has. Running the story like this, with two antagonists in separate universes, takes away from the overall focus. All-in-all, it delivers a great story, but splitting the two up felt like it distracted a bit from the purpose of the book.

The Verdict

I was incredibly surprised with how well this final issue turned out, considering so many stories feel a bit rushed this month because of CONVERGENCE. The art is downright stunning here and while the speed force world story wasn't my favorite thing to come out of this book, the impact it had on the overall arc and the finale was wonderful. The creative team on this book is doing some awesome things and I cannot wait to see what they have planned after the upcoming DC event.

This is quite the offering from DC.

/rimshot

Remember Thawne.

Don't like the art.

Still miss Francis Manapul, but I enjoyed this issue. I want so see if Van Jensen and Robert Venditti are going to stick to the previous Geoff Johns version of how Barry's mother died.

@jackcryan: I think they will. Robert venditti and van jenson probably don't have that much control on the book and dc will want it in the same vain as the tv show.

I'm not going to be surprised if vibe and killer frost show up in the future and they do that b.s of the three were friends at one point.

When they replace this artist with someone that can actually draw better than a second rate Jim Lee knock off I might consider picking this series up again.

YAY ZOOM IS BACK ! The whole Patty angle though, kinda saw it coming. Well there is always Iris :P

What was it with Patty?

@carlomaldonado10: I don't want them to make it like the show, but I really haven't liked this run so it probably would be better.

Also I think Vibe actually would really fit as a Flash supporting character.

@sealife: broken arm and broken heart by the Future Flash.

@rubear: I stopped reading after about three issues. Does she know it is Future Flash?

@sealife: She does now, but now she sees Future Flash (oh so bad murderer from furure who murdered or mauled bunch of future mass murderers!!! What a terrible crime! What a monster! Murderer!) every time she sees Barry. So she left him.

@rubear: Really? That sounds like terrible writing. I really liked her under the previous run and didn't really like the way the new team wrote her. Seems like it continued.

@sealife: I'm pretty sure he'll end up with Iris. She seems to be very much in love with him already.

@thearchon: I'm sure he will. I was just really hoping for a Gwen Stacy situasion for Patty. I liked her very much under the previous team and hoped they would do it liked they did with Gwen. Kill her, but he will always love her. It would bring something new to Barry and make his eventual love for Iris more interesting.

@sealife: To be honest, I never really enjoyed Patty. I found her quite boring actually. But that's just my opinion. Maybe it's just because I always liked Iris, even in the Pre-52.

Awesome Issue! That last page reveal was sweet!

I haven't really liked Iris in the new 52, but I know they would end up together. I just think the last team did a good work with Patty and kinda made it seem like they were going with the Gwen Stacy route. Which I think would make it a good end for her. And the new team I don't think made a good job with either of the girl. And if this was how Barry and Patty broke up it doesn't really work with the previous team and just was such a bad way to break them up.

Is the current run any good? I need an objective p.o.v. on this. I love the Flash- my favorite character at DC- but I honestly stopped reading after Boosh & Manapul left, & had other things on my pull list at the time, that I have now dropped because of quality, shake-ups & events- wondered if it was worth picking up again; if it was still the same feel of Boosh/Manapul.