Wally West is the fastest man alive, and tonight he needs to be – a nuclear bomb is primed to explode in five minutes and he hasn’t a clue where it is. The only thing to do is search Central and Keystone Cities at supersonic speed.
He does have a partner in crime, Captain Cold, who’s ready to help in typical Rogues style.
Linda’s reporting skills have uncovered the man who’s been spending huge amounts of money keeping Wally busy while he had a nuclear bomb built under the Flash’s nose. And once the Monarch of Motion and Arctic Arch-Criminal have found and defused the nuke, Wally pays George Stebbings a visit.
Oh, I do enjoy seeing our righteous hero deliver a well-deserved smack across the kisser to the man who’s been manipulating Central citizens to put themselves in danger in return for wads of cash.
Immediate problem solved, Wally turns his attention to his recently developed ‘flashes of insight’ power – how can he make snippets of the future enter his mind on demand?
Is anyone not hearing that old muscleman-jiggling-his-bits tune in their head? Writer Ryan North, only a few issues into his run, has come up with a great voice for Wally. Over at Marvel North has turned every member of the Fantastic Four into a genius, but while Wally is a smart guy, he’s no Brainiac 5. He’s the working class stiff Geoff Johns wrote him as, with an extra helping of goofball humour, easily distracted but quickly back to focusing on the task at hand.
Wife Linda, frenemy Captain Cold, twins Irey and Jay, they’re all on good form, but Wally is the star of the show; I always enjoy Flash stories that take place in just a couple of minutes and this is a winner.
I’m still not a fan of the flashes of insight, but having turned up with the recent DC KO event, I expect they’ll be gone with the next big crossover.
And while North is finding his feet on the story side, new artist Gavin Guidry has settled in nicely. There’s a terrific spread spotlighting the Scarlet Speedster’s search for the bomb, the start of an issue of terrific storytelling. My favourite panel sees Wally entering Stebbings’s building, proving that while generally a light-hearted chap, the Flash can do intimidating as well as any hero.
One thing I love is that Guidry doesn’t go as mad with the crackling speed lines as do most modern artists, he gives us plenty to represent movement without muddying the page. And Adriano Lucas cleverly colours them in yellow with a red wave form in the speed trail.
Lucas does a wonderful job throughout the issue, keeping things nice and bright – even that elusive bomb turns out to be grey and… pink.
Buddy Beaudoin also impresses with the lettering, emphasising the ups and downs of the drama with font choices and sizes.
Guidry gets points for experimentation with his cover design but, ironically, it lacks impact. Colours, once again, by Lucas.
Cover quibble aside, this is a fine issue. What I’m hugely looking forward to is North and Guidry’s first full-on supervillain issue. Is that coming next month? Sorry, my flashes of insight aren’t working right now.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I have two issues of this arc and have only read one and I doubt I’ll get this. I loved North on Squirrel Girl but I dropped his F4 too. I guess I like him in idiosyncratic situations, not mainstream.
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I enjoyed the first few Squirrel Girls, then I was whisked out!
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YOU MISSED THE REVEAL THAT WEAPON X PERFECTED THE TECHNIQUES THEY USED ON WOLVERINE ON A SQUIRREL FIRST!!!
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Well that’s a shame. To be honest, I’ve never read all the Wolverine Weapon X origin stuff. Hairy shirt guy, bone claws, covered in tin foil – sorted!
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I have been enjoying this. I sort of fell off his Fantastic 4 fairly early on possibly because he was too focussed on building clever scientific predicaments (and shuffling the kids off-stage) that I didn’t have a compelling reason to come back each month and couldn’t remember what had happened in an issue, though I’ve dipped in now and then since. The problem is if you tell the same sort of stories consistently, then I as a reader tend to take it for granted and it isn’t as special, regardless of how clever it is. I hope he walks the tightrope here as his Wally is close enough to the Wally I know from reading JLE, JLA etc. that I feel comfortable with the book. I’d agree with Steve on North being a writer who thrives in more idiosyncratic stories, his Adventure Time comics were great and where I got into his work.
Stu
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I enjoy most of North’s FF issues, I just wish we could get a consistently good artist; the most recent one was shockingly bad.
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True that would probably help! I would also probably enjoy them a lot more as a read of back issues than on a monthly basis – I think the single issue stories of the first 10 or 12 issues didn’t build up a big enough momentum. There was nothing wrong with the writing, and there hasn’t been when I’ve dipped in again. I just seemed to slide off. The Flash stuff is working a lot better for me though.
Stu
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That’s something! I’ve enjoyed most of Ryan North’s FF, but I’m ready for a new voice. I really wish Marvel would give FF fill-in writer supreme Karl Kesel an ongoing run.
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I’m loving this run so far. It is so refreshing after the first 25 issues and then the DK KO side quest in 26-30. I’m sure there are those who loved that take on the Flash, but it wasn’t my Wally. This is.
And I love Juni Ba’s Flash Fact variant cover series that seem to be starting with this issue. I know there are at least 3 more in the works. I’d love to see them becoming an ongoing variant cover staple for Flash.
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How interesting, I’ve never heard of this artist or the variants. They’re cute, though I see them more akin to inside feature material, they don’t have the impact a cover needs.
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