In which, gosh, so many things happen. This current storyline, which looks like it’s out to rival the Trial of the Flash for sheer length, continues to rumble on. People say confusing things, the visuals, while good looking, are almost migraine inducing… but there are definite signs that an end is in sight.
But just in case you’re joining us late, a quick recap. The world is beset by strange incursions from other realities. Flash Wally West is convinced his connection to the Speed Force is responsible. Flash Barry Allen is mopey and angry. New mum Linda West is deeply depressed. The other speedsters have been kidnapped and put into stasis by the otherwise helpful Inspector Pilgrim.
So, signs we’re nearing a conclusion – for one thing, it’s confirmed that Linda’s depression is due to outside forces.
For ‘outside forces’ read a classic Flash foe.
Barry is also being manipulated. That voice in Barry’s head, represented by the colours of Flash’s most hateful enemy Professor Zoom, it’s actually Zoom, Eobard Thawne, joined to a couple of other Reverse-Flashes, one ‘belonging’ to Wally West, the other to Jay Garrick. Three individual evil speedsters, but a billion of them from a billion parallel Earths, all planted in Barry’s head, urging him to do harm to true love Iris.
Something else we learn is what’s going on with Wally, who’s been drawn to a weird garden of statues of his loved ones.
What’s more, the mysterious Inspector Pilgrim finally takes their hat off, revealing their identity.
I think we all saw that one coming, it ties in nicely with his appearance in the last volume of The Flash.
The only thing of note I’ve not mentioned is the latest attempt by Jai, oldest son of Wally and Linda, to do something useful with his non-speedster powers – that’s because I don’t understand them. Help?
Writer Simon Spurrier either has a sixth-dimensional brain or a very long, very complex spreadsheet. Because while his Flash story is madly complicated it never feel like any of the balls he’s juggling is about to fall to the floor. I think he’ll stick the landing.
What I don’t like is the way he has everyone swearing – a couple of months ago I was moaning about Barry, DC’s answer to Jimmy Stewart, swearing like a particularly sweary trooper. I get that things have been falling apart but Barry Allen doesn’t eff and blind. And neither does this fella.
(And uploading that pic has me spotting that foot in the penultimate panel… hmm.)
Ramon Pérez is settling into this series, dialling down the Mike Deodato Jr vibe and making it his own. He has enormous fun with Barry besieged by dozens of titchy Reverse-Flash heads, but grounds the nuttiness with well-rendered naturalistic backgrounds. And he perfectly captures the emotions of Linda as, yes, she actually starts to feel something again. The manic dynamism of the pencils brings the energy Spurrier’s script requires.
And back to help out after last issue’s efforts is Vasco Georgiev, superbly composing and finishing the Nightwing pages.
(I apologise if I’ve misattributed any of the artwork, blame the editors for not giving a breakdown in the credits.)
Matt Herms fills the pages with blazing tones, their intensity matching the frantic nature of the illustrations. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaoue likewise adds to the drama with tones that scream ‘get a load of this!’
The cover by Perez is a winner, striking and sharply coloured.
I enjoyed this issue a fair amount, it’s anything but boring and I feel I’ve a pretty good grasp on events; it helps that the various confusing extradimensional creatures, such as the Arch Angles, are absent, even though they’re mentioned. There’s a focus on family that chimes with the superb Jeremy Adams run that preceded this one, but weirdness that’s all this volume’s own.
Roll on next issue and the conclusion. Maybe.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
reading your review this series sounds pretty good. Reading the comic is just boring. IMO, there’s something really missing from Spurrier’s script- and the pacing- the pacing is not right.
-Matthew Lloyd
LikeLiked by 1 person
My suspicion is it’s not exactly that there’s something missing from Spurrier’s script it’s that there’s too much. He’s always massively overwritten dialogue and made it needlessly mannered – I guess someone told him he does such dialogue well at some point, but it often works against the art. That’s okay in short bursts like in his Judge Dredd Megazine days where you got five pages of it, but it’s always been a bit posture-y, again like he thinks he has to include that in his scripts because that’s what people want from him and it just overwhelms the action as you imagine someone smugly leaning back from the computer thinking they’re so smart. I used to have a similar issue with Chris Claremont’s overly mannered writing style, particularly if he was working with an artist who wasn’t good at portraying personality.
Still, it’s rare to get something complex in superhero comics these days, even if the idea it’s just a bunch of baddies working together isn’t quite as radical as it felt starting out, so I’m still enjoying that feeling of someone trying to produce something like Alan Moore used to.
Stu
LikeLike
Interesting! I have found some of the earlier issues a bit laboured but this one was delivering for me in terms of plot points.
LikeLike
Oh, man, I loved this issue. Just the way everything has come together, to give the heroes a few wins after some really downbeat issues. Barry has thrown the reverse flashes out (including Edward Clariss, Jay’s opposite number Rival, last seen in 2003!). Abra has released his hold on Linda, bring her true personality to the fore. Iris being absolutely steadfast in her confidence in Barry’s character winning a battle of wills. Inspector Pilgrim showing he’s truly on the side of the angles! Dick’s pep talk to Wally! (Unlike some comic-book cursing, I felt like that one was really earned, as one best friend to another.) All told, fantastic stuff.
It looks like this story will run until at least issue 12, which would put it (with the Annual)…at still about half the length of the Trial of the Flash — even less than half if we include the inciting incident of the fight with Zoom that ended in his death. I think there’s a really good case for the storyline to have run from 321 to 350. And honestly, I might be a little more expansive in my judgement of the storyline: To my mind, it really begins in issue 314, with the introduction of The Eradicator. That issue sets a lot of dominoes in motion, including a plot point that isn’t really revealed as being important for a dozen issues or so!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, now you’re getting me all nostalgic. Well, more nostalgic. The Trial of the Flash in my memory went on for about three years so I think we’re on the same page. The Showcase Presents… book has 323-350, so it’s not as complete as we might like. I still can’t believe they chose the awful #346 for the cover. Mind, most of Carmine’s covers back then were really not great. Still, #326 or #349 would be great.
LikeLike
I think you called it. #326 is the way to go — a great graphic that explains the whole concept. 349 would make an excellent back cover, with a fair bit of space for sell copy.
The cover of issue 349 always reminds me of the first couple issues of Daredevil: Born Again, where Mazzuchelli takes the same motif of the hero lying down as the splash page that opens each issue after a little prologue (until Matt begins to stand again). Looking at the publishing dates, the Flash cover had about a 9 month lead on those Daredevil pages. If you look at the cover of Flash 349 and the splash of Daredevil 228 (and then again in 229) there’s such a commonality in the hero’s fetal pose.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now that’s a great observation. Here’s me bemoaning the lack of classic Carmine compositions and right there is one that could well have gone down in (Marvel) comics history. And excellent design ideas, Rob!
LikeLike