Tons of fun.
This is another one of the series I picked up because it was recommended it to me but I was still apprehensive with it because I wasn’t sure what I thought of the art from previews and it has had mixed reviews some people say it is a really good read others say it’s alright but I still wanted to try it out and see what I thought.
Plot
Patty Spivot takes Turbine to see Captain Frye he is about to announce who Captain Frye really is when Grodd attacks Central City. The Rogues are standing around a knocked out by Flash when Gorillas attack Weather Wizard wakes Flash up the Flash is attacked by Gorillas then Rogues attempt to escape but are stopped so they decide to team up with the Flash to fight the Gorillas.
Review
This is the first Flash issue I have ever read and in fact the first thing I have ever read with Flash in it I know that may sound weird but the DC stuff I read is fairly restricted such as Swamp Thing and Wonder Woman which I don’t think any regular super heroes have turned up in (apart from Superman in Swamp thing issue 1). This is my first Flash book and well I liked it a lot it isn’t perfect but it was a hugely fun read and so is the next issue and after these two issues I’ve decided to get the whole of the Gorilla Warfare story.
At the beginning of this issue we get a flash back to 10 years ago I do like this scene because it shows the relationship between Barry and Captain Frye I did like this scene but I think to fully appreciate it I would have read all the issues before it is nice to see this though since it is basically the only quite moment of this action packed issue and I love the faded sort of watercolour look.
We then get chucked into a massive battle scene with the invading Gorillas, the Rogues and the Flash. The opening two page spread is spectacular in every way everyone is laid out nicely and it doesn’t look cluttered like some of these pages sometimes are also I love the carving of Flash into the wrecked road. We then end up in a fight between the Flash and the gorillas as the Rogues escape Flash is almost immediately out matched by all the Gorillas that’s not to say that Flash doesn’t put up a fight he goes but all the Gorillas overwhelm him and he’s knocked to the ground. This fight seems fairly one sided until the Rogues join in we’ve seen it loads of time when the villains team up with the hero to fight another villain but well it is always fun to see and the Banta that is generally thrown between the hero and villain can be a lot of fun.
The moment that everyone will remember from this issue happens when we actually see Grodd and Trickster I won’t spoil it but no matter how powerful Grodd is it does show he still a savage beast and not a regal king or anything and well the Trickster is not getting out of that one easily.
Then we get back to the Flash/Rogues team up and well the tables have turned and Flash is now winning this whole scene is a lot of fun to read but really it’s its Francis Manupl that makes this scene I’ve heard good things about his work on this series in particular his page layouts and well he uses that here by splitting it to show all the characters fighting the Gorillas and while there are several characters all occupying a page altogether it doesn’t look cluttered it looks amazing the amount of energy is insane.
Then we approach the end and well it’s a bit predictable it’s not bad it’s just I could see coming from the start of the issue it’s only a minor niggle but it is the only ending that would have made sense so I don’t really think it’s a bad thing.
Also if you want character development look elsewhere aside from one page there is basically no character development this isn’t neccesarily a bad thing it’s just this whole issue is a giant action scene it is very well done and a lot of fun but there is hardly any character development but this issue is tons of fun though and for anyone who loves action just pick up this book it delivers action in spades.
The art before buying this I flipped through previews of this series and I wasn’t really warming towards the art it looked to cartoony for my taste and at the time it through me off but after I heard it was good I picked it up and now I utterly love it Francis Manapul’s art the amount of energy that he puts into the pages is amazing and also the page layouts are amazing and very well done also I love the way he draws the Flash it looks as though he’s moving and he never looks stiff or anything. Also I like the colours in the flashback scenes I like how faded they look and it does show that this is earlier period in time.
Verdict
This was a great issue not perfect it does have a few problems but this is one of the most fun issues I have ever read and the art is amazing in every way. I now really want to get the Flash volume 1 trade and might well get some of his other series.
4 stars
