The Flash #800 review

‘A celebration of Wally West’ is what the copy atop Taurin Clarke’s slick cover illustration promises, and while this anniversary issue doesn’t always keep the focus on the third hero to ride the thunderbolt, it’s a cracking anthology.

Most recent writer Jeremy Adams kicks off the issue with a villain tale, but for once it’s not the Rogues who are front and centre. It’s a bunch of low-level bad guys discussing which DC Universe cities are safest to rob over a card game. And it is a delight.

Why is Central City the worst? Adams and regular artistic partner Fernando Pasarin, with inker Oclair Albert, colourist Matt Herms and letterer Rob Leigh, show us over the next nine pages. It’s a goodbye gift to the loyal Flash readers after one of the greatest runs of all.

This issue also features other writers of acclaimed Flash runs, for example, Mark Waid returning to give us a tale starring Wally’s cousin Impulse. Wally’s in this one too, but he’s trapped by a Mirror Master gimmick, along with Bart’s guardian Max Mercury, the Zen Master of Speed. This is so much an Impulse story that we even get an editorial note telling us it’s set between the sixth and seventh issue of Impy’s long-gone, much-lamented series. I don’t mind, though, as I loved that book, and it’s not like Wally was never there. Teaming with Waid is Todd Nauck, who used to draw Impulse in Young Justice, and it’s a case of lightning recaptured in a bottle. We even get one of Bart’s legendary pictograph thought balloons. Messrs Herms and Leigh are back to do their colouring and lettering thing, and very well they do it too.

Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico kicked off Barry Allen’s DC Rebirth era in 2016 and they’re back for a story showing us what Barry and wife Iris do on their weekly date night. Wally thinks he knows, but he’s far from the truth – 1000 years away, in fact.

It’s the Tornado Twins, Dawn and Don Allen. The scene is a lovely coda to Williamson’s run, but if you never read the issues in which Barry and Iris’s kids appeared – or know ancient Legion of Super-Heroes lore – you’d likely be at a loss. It’s a shame Williamson didn’t find a way to make clear who the purple people are for anyone who’s just dropped by because they enjoy anniversary issues. Rob Leigh letters once more while Ivan Plascencia handles the hues.

Now, you may think I’m never happy, but I have to say, the next story has the opposite problem – reams and reams of backstory. If you missed the very long Hunter Zolomon storyline in Geoff Johns’ excellent Flash run, here’s Johns to lay out it all out again, joined by longtime series artistic partner, the great Scott Kolins.

Wally is in one panel – well, two if you count a foot – and doesn’t get any dialogue. The story reads like a set-up for a Zoom mini-series. The craft level is immense – Luis Guerrero colours, you know who letters – but it’s a very odd choice for a celebration of Wally West and the other Flash Family members.

We began this issue with a story from outgoing writer Jeremy Adams, we close it with a sequence by incoming author Si Spurrier and artist Mike Deodato. Visually, it’s a jolt to the eyes, with Deodato splitting the pages into tiny panels to match the fractured nature of Wally’s latest run-in with the Mirror Master. The photorealistic presentation of Wally and Linda (she brings to mind Meghan Markle) is a little stiff, but Deodato’s Flash shines. The great Trish Mulvihill provides the colour art, while Rob Leigh… has a day off? Letters are by a different talent, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, who negotiates the story’s challenges with style. Spurrier’s script captures Wally’s familiar voice and reminds us that he’s one smart cookie. Also, extra points for use of the very obscure Irish word ‘banjaxed’. With an ending as intriguing as the rest of the story, it all bodes well for Spurrier and Deodato’s upcoming turn at the Flash tiller.

Does the cover look like a house ad to anyone else? That background lightning bolt manages to dominate while not looking quite enough like a lightning bolt. And the subtitle font is pretty awkward. Again though, great illo from Taurin Clarke.

That subtitle font recurs on the contents page, but it’s smaller there, not so jarring. The page is pretty snappy, with story previews in a series of lightning bolts.

I would say roll on Flash #801 but Spurrier and Deodato are getting a new #1… then again, rumour had it DC is adding legacy numbering. And if they don’t, you can bet they’ll revert to the big numbers as #900 approaches. Ach, I’m rambling, just buy this comic, it’s a fabulous celebration of speedsters by classic Flash creators and two veterans ready for their shot.