Interestingly enough, Flash Rebirth continues to be a bit slow out of the gate for me. Given the name and creative team, it immediately invites comparison to Green Lantern: Rebirth, but while that book was a complete page turner for me, Flash: Rebirth is not entirely clicking yet, although it is still a good read.
Geoff Johns continues to build on the mystery from last issue, although the killer from issue 1 is all but ignored this issue in favour of flashbacks to Barry’s past, and re-establishing Barry in the current DCU. Using Wonder Woman’s Government connections to fake Barry’s witness protection was a good move, and neatly gets rid of the issue of where Barry’s been. Likewise using last issue’s murders to provide the reason Barry gets his old job back works great.
Its always nice to see Wally and Barry together again, and here its nice to see them team up the minute there’s problems with the speedsters. Of course, Barry’s quick to realise that the surge experienced by Wally, Jay and the rest not only didn’t affect him, but also occurred at the same time Savitar died. They travel to Barry’s original hometown, which we find was the place the Black Flash was discovered last issue.
Here we get a nice nod to Final Crisis with them mentioning how the last time they saw the Black Flash was when they used him against Darkseid (nicely addressing my concerns that the Black Flash/Black Racer connection was being ignored), and again there’s a big nod to Max Mercury. With Max’s name continually cropping up, and the surprise release of an Impulse Trade (Mercury Falling) this week, surely this is hinting the Barry and Bart won’t be the only resurrected Speedsters by the end of this story? Certainly, in light of events at the end of the issue, having the Zen Master of Speed around could only help.
Furious over Savitar’s death last issue and empowered by the speed from his followers, Christina attacks Barry and Wally. Here, Ethan and Geoff make the nice trick of having her initial attack rip apart Wally’s costume, making Wally and Barry easy to differentiate in the action scenes. There’s also the really nice line where Christina is boasting how she’s now got the speed of 100 speedsters and Barry catches her with a simple “We’re faster”.
Of course, on being touched by Barry, Christina suffers the same fate as Savitar, immediately crumbling to dust. However this time, it has a more lasting affect on Barry, as Wally finds Barry turning into the new Black Flash.
The end revelation was widely speculated last issue, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out over the course of the series, as I think it ties into one of my key problems at the moment with this series.
Barry Allen.
He’s coming across as a very plodding character here. While I love the CSI side to him Geoff’s embracing, at the moment he’s so introspective and gloomy, its hard to get excited for his return. Bart also picked up that something was wrong with him last issue (I wonder if Bart’s recent death and run-in with the Black Flash is why he could sense something wrong with Barry?), so hopefully now that its revealed, the Flashes can get about the business of how to restore Barry. There’s a heck of a lot of emphasis on how Barry is the slowest man alive, and out of place with the world, and I’m hoping that over the course of this series Barry will find himself settling into his role as the Flash once again, and picking up some enthusiasm towards it.
Its here where I think the comparisons to Green Lantern Rebirth probably hurt the book. Geoff is writing a very different story here. Back in Green Lantern Rebirth, Hal coming back as Green Lantern was a punch-the-air moment, and you then had him revelling in being back while he fought Sinestro. I think I was probably expecting the same feeling of celebration in Flash: Rebirth, but that’s been shot dead really with Johns going for this much more introspective take. In that regard, I think re-reading the series as a whole once more issues are released will probably serve the series better, in much the same way as I think Final Crisis (which also started much slower) will work much better read back-to-back.
I also found the art in this issue not quite working for me. While Ethan’s art is as detailed as ever, I found something a bit muted about it all, which I’m putting down to the colouring. The whole book and art seem to really come alive whenever Barry’s in his Flash costume however, but for the scenes where he’s standing still or in plain clothes, it doesn’t quite click and, as I say, comes across muted. Possibly that’s deliberate though, tying in thematically to Barry’s introspection, in which case I can appreciate what they’re doing.
I’m aware I’m sounding very down on the series here, and I don’t really mean to. While there are aspects that aren’t quite clicking in this issue, I’m still excited for the series as a whole, and events in this issue are key to the rest of the series, with Barry revealed as the new Black Flash, and his role as a CSI in Central City restored. Yes, there’s a slow pace here, but I think that’s largely due to the amount of setup going on, and now everything’s in place, we’ll have the Speedsters investigating Barry’s condition, while Barry is also going to be investigating the murders from issue 1. I’m enjoying the mystery very much, and if the book just cheers up a bit (Kid Flash needs to be in more than 1 or 2 pages) it’ll be really cracking.
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