The Stage is Set
Ok. That cover. Is Stunning. Such a simplistic but clever idea coupled with PHENOMENAL execution... Just... wow. Beautiful. Perfect. Menacing. Catchy. Everything.
The mystery of Reverse-Flash develops at a nice pace this issue, much more akin to the beginning of the arc than the unfortunate filler tangent last issue. Unfortunately this issue delves more into teasing a Barry-Patty-Iris love triangle, the idea of which infuriates me to no end because of all the amazing relationship developments we've had between Barry and Patty; and Iris only being involved in this due to nostalgia, which could end up being her winning edge. But in the story itself she's still far from winning Barry over, but they keep shoving the idea in our faces and I hate to be reminded of it. And this issue was pretty chock full of teases for that. I'm also baffled as to why Barry's suit protects Reverse-Flash from detecting the Speed Force in him, but it never did anything to stop Gorilla Grodd from sensing it.
This issue heralds a meeting of the villains, as Reverse Flash stumbles upon Dr. Elias' secret Speed Force storage. We actually get a lot more insight into Dr. Elias and his motives, and a lot of seemingly odd inconsistencies actually really add up now. I'm intrigued to see him perhaps step up to become maybe the major Flash villain once this Reverse-Flash story is wrapped up. He's been involved on the fringes of every arc thus far, and it's clear we're building into something big for his eventual full villain debut.
But as for THIS arc still in progress, we've reached the halfway point, and our pro and an tagonists finally meet at this issue's end. The way the fight reaches a desperate point in all of maybe 3 pages makes things feel a bit rushed though. It kind of makes the rest of the issue feel like more filler, and overall the whole issue ends up feeling really short by the time it ends. Maybe it's because we spent too much time on Barry and Iris bonding.
In Conclusion: 4/5
Next issue should be what we've all been waiting for. This issue wrapped up the setup with the first trading of blows as the hero finally joins the villain on stage. Now we have to wait for the next issue for the brawl to explode across the entire issue and give us the payoff.
