Captain Cold is back and he's not holding back once he gets Flash in his sights.
The Good
It's funny but when we have the main characters talk about things that happened before the first issue, there's a bit of excitement. We have that mysterious five year gap that we hear about and we can't be sure what exactly did or didn't happen in that time. This issue opens with Barry referring to past encounters with Captain Cold and the Rogues. Their first encounters may have been similar to what has already happened but obviously but we can't be certain. That's part of the excitement of the "New 52."
We've heard about Captain Cold getting some updates in the "New 52" He is indeed back with a vengeance. He's always had it in for Flash but now it's personal. With his new powers, Barry is going to have his hands full.
Of course the issue is more than just about the Flash and Captain Cold. There are more developments between Barry, Patty and Iris. All this while presented with Francis Manapul's art and Brian Buccellato's colors makes it a great read that looks equally good. The way the art and colors mesh, it makes you wish you could jump into the comic and become part of the world.
The Bad
There is fun in not knowing what happened before but it can also be a distraction at times. We think we know all the characters but we can't be certain what the full extent of the past histories are.
The story tends to jump around a bit. I understand it's part of the storytelling technique but it goes from "now" to "yesterday" to "last night" to "now" to "this morning" to "fifteen minutes ago" to "five minutes ago" and finally back to "now." Thankfully, each transition is clearly labeled. We see some cool things in the different 'time' periods but I felt like it interrupted the flow of the battle.
The Verdict
We had a great first arc and new set of villains with Mob Rule. We have an idea where Barry is in this new established world. Now we can see the return of a familiar foe. Captain Cold is back but it's not quite the same Captain Cold we knew before. Besides the tweak in his powers, he has a reason to really want revenge against Flash. Manapul and Buccellato continue to amaze us with their storytelling and gorgeous art and colors. There is an interesting flow in terms of the way the time goes by in this issue. It was a good way to mix up the story telling but I found it to be a little distracting and that it interrupted the flow. With all the big action, cliffhanger and gorgeous art and colors, there's no way you'd want to miss out on this issue.