The Flash and friends are travelling through space and time to find his newborn son Wade, stolen by the living nightmare that is Granny Goodness. It’s a dire situation by any estimation, but as much as he’s the living personification of speed, Wally West embodies optimism.
And with Mr Terrific, Hourman, Kid Flash, Metamorpho, Phantom Girl, Plastic Man, Goldbug and, yes, intergalactic wrestler Omega Bam Man by his side, the odds are good.
For a while, anyway. Granny is holed up in old JLA baddie the Lord of Time’s abandoned HQ, the Palace of Eternity. The building allows her to teleport in any weapon she wants. Even living weapons.
The Anti-Monitor. And he’s not the only DC Universe giant on the scene to distract the good guys. What’s Wally to do but split his team in two – his half goes off in search of Granny Goodness and baby Wade, while the rest handle the monsters.
After two years and thirty-plus issues, writer Jeremy Adams is going out with a bang. Yeah, he has a story in next issue’s giant #900, but this feels like the real end of his run. We have Wally showing what a fine leader he’s become, classic DC villains and a fun supporting cast (one of whom gets a massive reward for his assistance). Not everyone gets a piece of the action – Phantom Girl isn’t even namechecked – but they’re all part of a fun tapestry, and I’m grateful for any acknowledgment that The Terrifics are still around. And I like the hint that Omega Bam Man may stick around with Terrifictech’s in-house super-team, he’s as much fun as Adams’ other creation, the delightfully bonkers Goldbug.
Granny Goodness is as horrible as ever, running an off-the-books operation – I don’t think this is the first time she’s gone behind boss Darkseid’s back.
By the final page, Wally returns home to wife Linda with Wade. And he’s looking awful.
He really does need a shave. And a haircut. And what’s he doing in that nasty costume he wore for a while, right up through the abomination that was Heroes in Crisis? Yep, barely any time has passed for Linda and off-panel twins Irey and Jai, but months look to have passed for Wally. The sad thing is that Linda has lost out on spending time with her youngest, just as she lost relative years when, after turning three months, the twins aged up. Then again, given she’d miscarried them and they were restored via the wonders of time travel, she’s likely not complaining.
And the great thing about Wally’s lost time is that it leaves a gap for Adams to fill – you can’t tell me he’s not got a mini-series planned out in his head justifying that costume (if not the hair). DC, I demand it!
Flash has been coming out fortnightly – at least – of late, which may be why we’ve had so many artists drawing the book. This time, as well as regular contributor Fernando Pasarin there’s DC fill-in stalwart Tom Derenick. As best as I can figure from the credits, Derenick is doing finished art while Oclair Albert and Wade von Grawbadger are inking Pasarin. There are some lovely pages in this book, including that Anti-Monitor splash and Wally’s biggest moment, but this two-panel sequence is my fave.
Plastic Man sees something that’s jaw dropping – literally. I think that’s Pasarin and one of our inkers. My best guess is that Pasarin and pals are handling the spacecraft set up and back-up battles, while Derenick is in charge of the Granny Goodness fight, with wonderfully kinetic scenes such as this.
And if I’m wrong about any of my attributions, pipe up! The colours are definitely by Matt Herms. Or Pete Pantazis. Anyway, they’re a feast for the eyes. I can tell you, without fear of contradiction, that Rob Leigh is our letterer, which is why we have a great design treatment for the title, Assault on Eternity.
Taurin Clarke has been producing slick Flash covers for a while now, and this is my favourite – Granny looks amazing.
If you’ve not been following The Flash, buy this issue. Then go back and read everything from Adams’s period on this book, starting at #768 and not forgetting the annuals. And a special. You won’t regret it, this is Wally’s greatest run since the days of Geoff Johns and Mark Waid, both of whom are back for next issue’s anniversary anthology. We’ll also get our first look at how incoming scribe Si Spurrier will handle Wally and – please God – family. He has big (yellow) boots to fill.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
DC is leaning hard into the return of lost children lately. A Lord of Chaos and an Atlantean….wow.
Here’s hoping though we don’t ever see a bad Wolfman self-insert come back too with that chaos lord :-p
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Lost children can be found, I like this hopeful message.
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The highlights of the Terrifics plus two’s shenanigans was even better than the main plot!
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I’d love to have seen more of that.
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One issue to go… Boooooo!
The Anti-Monitor splash is fantastic, more of the great Pasarin’s (Derenick is, in comparison, rather lousy – I’ve nothing against him but he’s spent decades as a fill-in artist or Mr Third Choice for a reason. I’m in a bad mood but he really isn’t very good, his art lacks character and personality; on the other hand it’s mystifying that the ever-reliable Fernando doesn’t get more work: he’s superior to Dale Eaglesham and Steve Epting both pretty good artists to name but two. Well, now I’ve finished disparaging Derenick’s art I’ll return you to our regularly scheduled programming) work. And just look at Pasarin’s amusing faces!
It is a bit annoying to see the Anti-Monitor handled as just a Big Monster, since Geoff Johns brought him back into (a) continuity and Snyder fiddled about with him it seems to be forgotten that he was *responsible for the destruction of the original multiverse*. Even Darkseid didn’t manage that, and people in the DC universe still soil themselves at the mere mention of his name.
This issue was mostly a whole lot of fun but, like you, I could have done without the return of the fugly Rebirth costume as well as that hideous Brian Blessedian beard! Scarier than Granny Goodness doing nude Pilates.
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I get your point about Anti-Monitor, I just pretend he’s been teleported in from a point at which he was knackered.
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