Jay Garrick is remembering things that were long forgotten. Not things that faded from memory, as things do – things that were deleted. Such as a 1941 Justice Society mission to Germany to track down the fabled Spear of Destiny held by Adolf Hitler.
No one expected the Ro-Bear.
Today, Judy Garrick, teenager speedster recently returned from a time-lost limbo, is excited.
Oops, just missed her. Well, she’s on her way to meet Stargirl Courtney Whitmore at the Keystone City shopping mall to buy clothes fit for a 21st-century girl. And shopping makes a young person peckish. Especially a speedster.
Guess who interrupts this lovely moment. The cover is a pretty big, furry clue.
Jay Garrick: The Flash #2 is even better than this six-issue mini’s debut issue. There’s the Second World War flashback, some terrific domestic business between Jay and wife Joan, a freaky new villain, Courtney’s guest spot and, of course, Judy, Judy, Judy.
I love this kid. She’s been through the wars – literally – but is settling into a weird situation and grabbing life with gusto. And how lucky is she to have Stargirl, the mildly obnoxious teen who grew into one of the DCU’s most inspirational heroes, looking after her?
Mom Joan is also a star here, obviously trepidatious about Judy finding her place in a world decades away from the one she knew, but understanding that you can’t put reins on a teenager with super-speed and bags of moxie; you trust you raised her right. Joan’s also very understanding towards Jay, the nervous poppa – given the circles he and Judy moved in when she was his sidekick, regularly travelling from the Sixties to the Forties to learn at his side, I get it.
Writer Jeremy Adams loves super-speedsters. Really loves them. He juggled the modern Flash family in Wally West’s book for two and a half brilliant years and now he’s having just as much fun with Jay, Joan and Judy. He’s heavy on superhero action, light on the angst… which isn’t to say this series won’t have dark moments, but if they come his characters have the spirit, brains and humour to deal with them.
Diego Olortegui did a wonderful job providing the visuals last time and his work is even better here, super-kinetic but never frenetic. His JSA is excellent – especially the Spectre – while his 2023 scenes are equally fine, with Judy and Courtney enjoying a pretty convincing mall. As for the villain of the piece, the concept is bonkers and the execution is terrifying. Every page looks great but my favourite is a spread showing, across four wide panels, just what Jay can do with his super speed. It’s breathless, brilliant storytelling.
Colourist Luis Guerrero makes a big impression on the first page as he shows Alan Scott’s power ring reflecting back onto his costume, a logical bit of business we rarely see. And that’s the kind of intelligent, vibrant work we see from Guerrero throughout.
Letterer Steve Wands gives Ro-Bear a suitably stiff font, Jay has a natty narrative box inspired by his costume – complete with flash of lightning – and so on. Wands knows what he’s doing.
I’m not quite so keen on this issue’s cover by Jorge Corona and Sarah Stern as I was last month’s; Judy and Stargirl are far too passive, while the splitting of the image into two areas makes the whole thing too choppy. If Jay isn’t going to be on-scene, a surprint would be better. I do hope Diego Olortegui gets to do at least one cover before the series is over.
If you didn’t try Jay, Joan and Judy’s first issue, jump on board here for fabulously fast fun.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Loved this issue despite disliking the art but I’ve always been more about the story. This story would have won me with most art (except Sam Kieth. Ugh) I had fun reading this with just two minor glitches.
The first is that if they were hunting the Spear of Destiny Doctor Fate would be Nazi controlled in their territory and maybe the second best Green Lantern possibly too. I’ll head canon in a workaround they forgot to mention because I’ve always wondered why no one came up with an in story workaround ever before anyways.
The second glitch was very distracting to me. I pronounce Ro-Bear the same as Robert from Hogan’s Heroes. There was even a French accent involved with his dialog! Bad, Mister adams. Bad!
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I’m going to have to find a Hogan’s Heroes clip, I remember it was on UK telly when I was a kid, but nothing bar the name and set-up.
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I am glad to see that DC learned from a Marvelous competitor that it is okay to have multiple characters going by the same name, AND it won’t confuse fans! There is one bad thing about this new Jay Garrick Flash comic book: What took so long? Garrick is a huge part of so many parts of the DC. Mythos, and it’s fantastic to see him AND Joan get the spotlight decades long overdue.
The whole Golden Age revamp could have come off as a terrible idea, but I give the powers- that be at DC, who appear to be more fans than bean counters—and what comics would make the most profit. I always believed that you give the fans what they want and the profits will most certainly come.
DC is inserting a whole lot of characters sort of retroactively into continuity and actually making it work—no better example than the introduction (or is it re-introduction?) of Judy Garrick. DC may not be putting out a huge quantity of books, but the quality of the books has been the best in years. It’s been a long time since I got excited about the NEXT issue of a comic book—like the current Garrick series. What a fantastic read!
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I love your enthusiasm, it really does seem like fun and optimism in certain parts of DC. Someone let me know if it reaches Batman! At this rate we may see the return of classic Blue Devil, or Firestorm.
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