Jai West is having a bad day. He’s had a fair few lately, his Speed Force connection to his father sending uncomfortable vibes his way. And he’s started manifesting a little man from his body. Then someone full-sized appears by Jai’s side. Meet Inspector Pilgrim.
The mushroom-topped mystery man gives Jai the lowdown on his abilities – alone among the extended Flash Family, Jai can’t run fast. But it may be that he has a lot more to offer than the power manifestations he has experienced – growing his bodily parts so large they have super strength, and teleporting without being able to control where he goes.
As for his father, whose supposed perfection is another thing stressing Jai out, he’s working with Mr Terrific and his team of bonzo boffins on working out why all kinds of trans-dimensional nuttiness have been hitting the city.
Last issue focused on Jai’s twin sister Irey, showing us that there’s more to her abilities than the super-speed we’ve seen many a time. And now it’s Jai’s turn as writer Simon Spurrier takes a deep dive into what it’s like to be the son of the Fastest Man Alive, a legend among super-speedsters. It turns out that the kid who considered himself the runt of the litter may be the most powerful Speed Force avatar of all. For one thing, he can jump to anyone else connected to the Speed Force just by focusing on them.
Now that’s intriguing. Also intriguing is a conversation Jai has with Gorilla Grodd, Impulse’s anger at Wally, and Barry Allen’s continuing fug.
Less interesting to me are the enigmatic aliens who pop up for the second time to unnerve Wally.
Ah well, they’re part of the big picture, so I can live with them. Meanwhile we’re getting so many fascinating plot strands from Spurrier that I’m torn between speeding through chapters and slowing down enough to make sure I take everything in… things are a little easier since I stopped trying to make sense of the science gobbets. Is it real-life stuff applied to comic book scenarios or simply pseudo-science? Who cares, the character moments that tie into it are compelling.
A splendid surprise is how closely Spurrier is hewing to the Jeremy Adams run that preceded this series, with Impulse mentioning Gold Beetle and Timepoint. And I loved Wally telling Bart not to act rashly – didn’t Bart choose the name Impulse because of Wally’s comments about his nature?
And the art continues to be gorgeous. Mike Deodato Jr’s compositions tell the story with style and his people are gorgeous – OK, Wally probably shouldn’t have an eight-pack, and middle-aged Iris West apparently uses a hell of a moisturiser, but the overall look is great. And I’m still enjoying the partial panels that surround the storytelling spots, they must be such a faff to draw.
I wonder if Depdato’s wacky design for Zen Master of the Speed Force Inspector Pilgrim, and the whimsical name, hint that he’s a kid himself. I’m always suspicious when a brand new figure shows up with super knowledge but doesn’t show their face. Just me?
Trish Mulvihill’s colour art is again pretty darn spectacular, with a great balance between naturalism and speed effects. And letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s choices emphasise the skewed perceptions which abound in this storyline.
And something as simple as the stacking of the three ‘perfect’ statements helps the story, the gap between the first two and the last one giving us the beat of Jai’s thoughts.
Add in another fabulously creepy cover by Deodato and Mulvihill, and the contributions of editor Chris Rosa, and we have another extremely well-crafted episode of the Flash run I never knew I wanted.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I have a sneaky suspicion that Inspector Pilgrim is actually Jai from the future.
Whatever the case, these last two issues have been really good.
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It’s Mopee with a new look!
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I’m feeling better and better about giving Spurrier the benefit of the doubt. This is good stuff.
And Inspector Pilgrim. I get the feeling he’s named after Billy Pilgrim, the unstuck-in-time protagonist of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, one of my favorite novels. I’m very happy with that.
And yeah, him being Jai himself is a definite possibility. But I’d like it if it were someone else — Wade? Jai’s son? Professor Zoom?– because if it’s Jai, it feels a little too easy to see that coming.
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I don’t think it’s Jai,Inspector Pilgrim has darker skin
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I’d say Wade is unlikely as he’s already done the mysterious aged up but. I do like the Billy Pilgrim idea.
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Glad you’re all enjoying it. I’m finding the book to be a bit of a downer. A lot of a downer, actually. So much moping and angst. Everyone is gloomy and facing a personal crisis.
Neither the art or the colouring are helping here.
Maybe a reread of the first four issues will pull it together for me.
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Looks like Deodato is moving on after issue 6 (at least for the next arc); issues 7 and 8 are drawn by Ramon Perez, an artist whose work I really like, but who definitely has a more conventional style for the Flash.
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Interesting, I wonder if Spurrier will give us a more traditional Flash story to match the guest artist – could this be the return of Barry Allan’s comic collection!?
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Oh, by traditional I don’t mean old-school; he’s still a modern comic artist, but I doubt he’ll continue a lot of the techniques that Deodato’s brought to the table. (He’s co-creator of the excellent Stillwater comic from Image in the last couple years, with Chip Zdarsky writing.)
From the solicits, it looks like the Silence storyline is continuing, but it probably hits an inflection point at issue 6 to close out the arc.
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I’m fine with that. Deodato’s not my cuppa, so I’ll be looking forward to the change of style.
I can put up with a story I’m not vibing with if there’s a cool artist to watch.
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Yeah, so I’ve reread the series. It reads better in one sitting. There’s certainly a lot going on. But… I don’t really love the series any better. Still lots of sadness and heaviness throughout the series. Way too many small panels for my liking. The inks are too heavy and the colours are mostly sombre. Spurrier seems to have a handle on Wally’s personality, and there are little flashes (ha!) of fun here and there. I like how he’s making connections to the previous fun, so that there is continuity between the runs (ha ha) but the story is being told through a lens that just doesn’t vibe with me. Science/horror is, I guess, a fine story-telling choice. But it doesn’t work for me when paired with Flash.
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I totally get what you’re saying, there has been the odd issue when I’ve found the book too much of a downer for my liking. I’m certainly not happy with where Linda is right now, Barry too. But I do want to see where it goes… I’m hoping it’s a nice 12-issue run rather than a self-indulgent 50-issue deal.
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Sure. I could do twelve issues if I felt that there would be a change of tone coming on.
There are enough interesting little moments that make me think Spurrier could tell a tale that would catch my interest.
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