Wally West has lately been finding his perceptions changing. Members of his Rogues Gallery are showing up in powerful new forms. People are being kidnapped by space bubbles. Extra-dimensional aliens have been appearing. Jai West has been getting emotional in the school basement. Barry Allen is in a fug and has shut himself away. Max Mercury had an encounter with a mystic bison before getting lost in the Speed Force.
Ah yes, the Speed Force, the magic-science realm that powers speedsters and has always seemed generally benevolent, if unknowable. Those touched by it don’t always manifest the same abilities. Barry runs and has complete control of his molecules. Wally runs and masters momentum. Jai uses mass to become a mini-Hulk.
And here Irey West is showing new aspects of her speed powers, like an uncanny knack for feeling where other members of the Flash Family are.
Such as speeding strongwoman Jesse Quick. Irey’s father having faded away before her very eyes, she doesn’t panic, or go to Mom Linda or twin Jai – she throws herself into action, seeking to learn who the new speedster Chad was. He showed up to help Wally against a souped-up Gorilla Grodd and was soon soup himself. And his trail led to the abandoned building where Jesse was checking out a drugs case handed her by Barry.
Where’s Wally? In a Graeco-Roman sub-basement of the Speed Force, trying not to lose his mind.
The voice in the jagged balloons belongs to… they’re never named, but appear to Wally as a bald, busty creature of metallic thread. Or stone. Something grey that evokes Marvel’s Moondragon, anyway. Take a look.
Anyone else having flashbacks to Seventies Marvel comics when the likes of Steve Gerber would have cosmic deities witter on in perhaps profound but basically meaningless statements. Or does this make some kind of sense?
I have to admit, I struggled with this issue, despite enjoying the first three since the latest Flash relaunch. A packed story is usually my cup of tea, but writer Simon Spurrier is throwing so many strands at us that I’m having trouble keeping them all in my head. Maybe the mystery person blowing bubblegum in Mr Terrific’s lab a couple of issues ago will prove important. Was Jai communing with a gingerbread man in the first issue?
And I didn’t enjoy Wally spending most of this chapter in a fugue state, needing to be talked into rescuing Irey by his enigmatic new associate who, I’m guessing, will be an upgrade of longtime foe The Kilg%re, perhaps merged with twirling villainess the Golden Glider.
Who’s narrating at various times this issue?
How old? Weren’t Irey and Jai about nine when Jeremy Adams was writing them? And even if she is now older, I don’t like kid heroes swearing, as she does here. Mom Linda – who we find writes turgid op eds – would not put up with that.
I applaud Spurrier’s creativity, aspects such as Wally perceiving Jesse and Irey as statues, which has an eerie Weeping Angels vibe, but this series looks like it’ll be best read as a oner, in a collection.
Certainly, this feels like something special, helped hugely by the most attractive art I’ve seen from veteran Mike Deodato. The ‘extra panels’ bleeding off the page speak to the idea that Wally’s world is a massive tapestry that’s currently unravelling. Deodato’s people look fantastic, with the exception of Mirror Master, who has swapped the classic costume for this codpiece-led number.
Deodato’s use of shadows and application of zip-a-tone-style texture fields add depth to the world, while colourist Trish Mulvihill balances tones beautifully, and gives Wally real ‘pop’ every time he appears. Mulvihill and Depdato have been working together for at least 30 years, they did Bill Loebs’ Wonder Woman together, and their intimacy with one another’s styles shows.
Hassan Otsame-Elhaou’s mixing of upper and lower-case lettering is handy for conveying volume and tone of voice, and smart tricks such as adding a trail to a word balloons as Jesse Quick starts running will hopefully catch on.
Deodato and Mulvihill’s cover illustration is fantastic, but the triangular composition leads the eye from bottom to top, ending at the little Flash man in the new logo… that has to go.
To sum up, this issue is great looking, with all the creatives at the top of their game. I don’t have a handle on the story but suspect it’ll be a smooth read when it’s finished and can be binged. Meanwhile, my love of the characters and lots of intriguing moments mean I’m engaged. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I’m a little lost myself. Wally seems out of character at times, like not worrying about the people who were trapped in bubbles and sent to outer space in the second issue, but that kind of got explained in issue #3. There are a lot of concepts being thrown at us in #1-4 and we barely get to spend time exploring one before the next one is introduced. This new series has been compared to Alan Moore’s re-imagining of Swamp Thing and his abilities and while I don’t think Spurrier will achieve those same heights it’s probably the closest comparison I can think of. Solicitations tell us we’ll get more development on Jai and the mystery visitor who spoke to Mr. Terrific but it seems like this will be a series that will dole out concepts very fast and information relating to them very slowly. I can’t say I’m “excited” exactly, but I am intrigued. Sales numbers will ultimately determine if this book is a success or if DC will have to bring in/back (Adams?) to get the numbers up and The Flash back on track.
I did enjoy the Irey/Jesse team up, though it does seem like the kids are growing up too fast. I thought for a second that Velocity 9 was responsible for giving the woman/junkie superspeed, which would have been a neat callback, so I was surprised it came from Mirror Master’s experiments.
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Read any series by Spurrier and you’ll see that is what he does. He has a lot of fantastic and intriguing ideas but for my taste, he throws too many in one issue and never really dives too deep on any in the end. Your mileage may vary.
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I get what you mean, though I was able to enjoy his Constantine month by month. I’m looking forward to its return.
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His first Legion work and Doctor Aphra lost me by the end and so many bad ideas were used in his X-Titles. His Black Knight was the one thing that didn’t lose coherence by the end.
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It’s a long time since I read Moore’s Swampy, Craig, but I don’t remember being as confused as I am here… actually, a reread would be fun. Bring on the bloated water vampires or whatever!
I could see Velocity 9 having been involved here. It’s a shame MM is involved, it’s bad enough Grodd is now connected to the Speed Force without him too.
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Could a metallic ethereal being be a new version of Magenta? I can’t remember where she ended up in Doom Patrol, but the magnetic powers might fit and she would have a connection to Wally? I’m hopeful for something big out of the book, he’s clearly wanting to do one of those definitive runs, like Moore’s Swamp Thing or Ewing’s Immortal Hulk, but like everyone else I do struggle with Spurrier’s writing. In a newer writer it might feel like nervousness forcing him to throw a lot of words and ideas at the reader, but a lot of the time, it feels like it’s a lot of words that don’t say anything. Stu
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Oh, Magenta is a great idea, she’s been a tad unstable over the years, I could see her somehow winding up in the Speed Force and addling Wally’s mind.
I never did finish Ewing’s Hulk, I packed in at #25 after three attempts to get at least halfway through, it read like a psychedelic Seventies concept album.
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I have to say, I really liked this issue. Wally’s time in the garden read like a quiet moment in a horror story, where the audience is realizing something is really wrong before the lead character does. The thought that Wally couldn’t remember Irey’s name, and struggled with how to save her — and then went right back to the garden when he was done — is wonderfully creepy. He saved her this time… but next time, the pull to stay will be even stronger…
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That’s a lovely perspective, Rob, you have the soul of a poet!
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