Reilly2040's Blog

So the end of the story is finally here.  Granted, we new through Blackest Night that Barry cheered up, Wally, Bart and co were still around, and Thawne was locked up in Iron Heights, so really it was just seeing how they got there.

Scarily I first talked about the solicit for this issue back in June last year.  EVS has since revealed that health issues were behind the delays to this series, which is entirely understandable, although I do think DC could’ve done more to get it back on track.  Instead the book is currently well known for its delays, and I hope that hasn’t damaged the relaunch of the Flash too badly.

The delays have been discussed to death, but instead I thought I’d mention the original solicit for the issue:

“In a battle along the outskirts of time, the secrets of the Speed Force have been revealed! The new archnemesis of those who ride the lightning is coming for Iris Allen. And the Barry Allen you knew is gone forever…or is he? What change does Wally West face? What destiny will Kid Flash choose? Prepare to meet a Flash Family that’s both familiar and different…and get to the starting line for the next epic adventures of the Speed Force!”

New archnemesis?  Well, nope.  Just the same old Reverse Flash who was revealed as the villain in #3.  Barry Allen we knew is gone forever?  No idea what that’s talking about.  What change does Wally West face?  None that I could see in this issue.  Unless they’re counting Thawne’s hints about his future.  What destiny will Kid Flash choose?  Nope.  Never happened.

I’m used to hyperbole and misdirection in the solicits, but this solicit seems pretty far off the issue we got.  Did something change?

As a final moan, I have to say I really am not a fan of the final cover.  Barry’s pose looks awkward, and as a fanboy gripe, Jay’s helmet is drawn wrong.  Its a pity that the series has ended with what I think is probably the weakest of the covers.

However, that aside, I actually really enjoyed this issue.   Without the need for a last-minute new villain, we get a neat wrap up to the menace of Thawne.  The fight to save Iris is well done, played against Thawne’s lightning bolt staff falling to the ground to underline how fast its all happening.  Also welcome was the way that Wally was key to the solution, helping Barry follow Thawne back in time using his knowledge and experience of the Speed Force.  Its not the first time in this series that Geoff’s played on the fact that Wally’s actually more knowledgeable on the nature of speed than Barry, and it helps to balance out the fact that Wally’s losing his place as the main Flash to Barry.  While Barry is undoubtedly going to learn more in his main series, at the moment its a good way to help differentiate the heroes and give both their strengths and weaknesses.   The fact that Thawne’s eventual defeat is using the booth from Rebirth #3 was a nice solution, using what was already in place.   And here, for the first time I actually liked an aspect of Johns’ Speedforce retcons, allowing them to depower Thawne, while acknowledging that as the source of the Negative Speedforce, its only temporary for as long as they can keep him immobile.   While I generally dislike the “Barry is the origin of the Speedforce” aspect to the story its an interesting idea that the main character can never be de-powered.

With Thawne locked up, the second half of the story shifts more towards teasing future events.  Its perhaps a shame that half of the issue is donated towards teases that don’t actually relate to the main story, but as I’m intending to pick up the monthly anyway, it didn’t really bother me that much.  I wonder if its a reflection of the original 5-issue solicitation of this series, or if its just down to Johns’ usual habit of building up his storylines and laying the groundwork for them well ahead of time.

I found Thawne’s comment to Wally about one of his children destroying his life interesting.  The obvious candidate is the de-powered Jai who will doubtlessly not be happy to have had his powers snatched away, while his sister is enjoying life as a full speedster.  But I wonder if this couldn’t be a misdirect.  Iris is very young so I have to wonder if she might not be responsible, doing something through inexperience or the like.  After all, Thawne never said one of Wally’s kids would become a villain.

The other big hint is towards multiple Zooms.  While locked up in Iron Heights, its revealed Thawne’s cell is next to Hunter Zolomon.  After Hunter had his powers stripped from him in Rogue’s Revenge, this was a great moment.  It’d really felt at the time that Hunter was being moved out of the way to make room for Thawne’s return, so for Geoff to pick up the character again so soon was welcome indeed.  I imagine that’s a reaction to the fact that Hunter was such a successful character and villain and so Geoff must’ve been keen to address his status as quickly as possible.  Between this scene and Abra Kadabra having dolls of both Zooms, it seems like a given that Hunter will be returning as Zoom at somepoint in the Flash’s future.  And now that’s been teased, Geoff can happily sit it to one side while he focuses on other plots, without worry about fanboy “what about Zooooooooom??????” questions every 5 minutes. (In fairness, I’d have been one of them asking it )

Something I’m less keen on, is the previously unrevealed second cave painting in Gorilla City that shows Thawne powering other speedsters in the same was as the painting Barry found in Blackest Night Flash (although that painting showed Barry and his family).  The hint of a “Zoom Corps” leaves me a little worried.  Professor Zoom returning and being the villain in Rebirth had been assumed after Geoff did the same thing with Sinestro in GL: Rebirth.  The yellow spectrum was introduced in much the same way as the negative Speed Force, and now a Zoom Corps just seems much too derivative of the Sinestro Corps War.   I don’t doubt that Geoff will probably have something planned that will greatly differentiate the stories, so I’ll wait and see what happens, but I worry that if Geoff does go down this route, he’ll just be seen as copying his own previous work.

A bit like Blackest Night Flash, I found this series to be a bit of a mixed bag.  It was certainly not helped by all the delays, and I really didn’t like the retcons about the nature of the speed force, which bogged down some of the middle issues.  That said, the emotional beats of the story worked well, especially Max’s return.  I’d still like to see more time given to the Barry/Bart relationship which keeps getting approached but doesn’t feel like its really being explored yet.  I’d love the monthly to have a whole issue given to the two characters getting to know each other.  With Geoff having had such a successful run on Wally’s series, I’m also hoping we’ll see Barry and Wally teaming up in the monthly, as opposed to Green Lantern where the book has remained almost completely focused on Hal (although I’d imagine Wally team ups will be shied away from for a while in order to establish Barry on his own properly, which I don’t have a problem with.  But with a plot thread surrounding Jai and Iris now hinted at directly, I’d presume Wally will have to feature in the book to some degree).

What was very effective was the re-introduction of Eobard Thawne as the Reverse Flash.  Very fond of the sound of his own voice, and very threatening in the scenes where he targeted Wally’s family.  Out of the two I still prefer the Hunter Zolomon Zoom but Thawne is been established as a key threat, and someone to be feared, and I look forward to the story that sees the return of both Zooms.

Now with everything setup for the monthly, I’m really hoping that this new direction for the Flash clicks into place.  The Flash has long been one of my favourite DC characters along with Green Lantern, so I really hope Geoff can enjoy the same kind of success with Barry Allen as his Wally West run had.

I must admit, I think the initial run of three mini-series that tied into Blackest Night had an advantage over these later entries.  With the first 4 issues concerned only with Black Lanterns attacking and building up to Nekron’s return, they were freer to tell a story within themselves, unshackled by any other events in the main series.

However, of these later series, Flash and Wonder Woman are directly impacted by the main series, and so each issue ends up reflecting a different part of the status quo (for example, in Wonder Woman #1 she’s just battling Max Lord, in #2 she’s a Black Lantern, while in #3 she’s a Star Sapphire).  Granted, this allows them to expand on these events in more detail, but I’m not sure if it makes those miniseries more satisfying within themselves.

Blackest Night: Flash I found to be a bit of a conflicted story.  There were two main strands: Barry during Blackest Night, sounding the alarm and learning to be a Blue Lantern, and the Rogues, travelling to Iron Heights to do battle against the Black Lantern versions of their fallen comrades.

Really, the Rogue story could’ve been a mini-series within itself.  Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge was well received, and made for a good read, and I’m convinced the same could’ve been done here.  However as the story was sharing pages with the Flash tale, I felt it ended up a bit more rushed when it could’ve easily supported three issues on its own.

The Barry Allen story I was less fond of.  With Barry being a major figure in the main Blackest Night series, my immediate feeling was that it might’ve been interesting to use the tie-in to focus more on the Flash family, so we could see what was happening with Bart and Wally.  We finally got this in the third issue, and for my mind that was part of what made the third issue the most satisfying to read of the three.

Issue 2 however was more focused on Barry and the Blue Ring.  Now in fairness, this is an obvious choice to make.  Given the Blackest Night #6 cliffhanger, ignoring the opportunity to expand on those events would’ve seemed odd.  However my problem is that I’m not really buying into the idea of Blue Lantern Barry.  I find the Flash interesting enough on his own, and with Barry only recently returned I was enjoying his spotlight and seeing him using his speed powers in creative ways.  Given a blue ring, he feels like he becomes just another ring slinger, and less interesting as a result.  The constant (or at least it felt like it) repetition of the new Blue Lantern catchphrase “all will be well” throughout the issue started to grate as well.

Another aspect to Barry being a ring-slinger is that it seems to undermine being a Lantern somewhat.  Johns went to lengths to show in Rebirth and in the Sinestro Corps Wars that not just anyone can use a ring.  Sinestro had his recruits transported to Qward for extensive training, and Green Arrow struggled to make even a basic construct in Rebirth.  By having Barry running around, mastering his blue ring so easily it seems to devalue that power somewhat (more-so when you consider that Saint Walker had to sacrifice his entire family before being deemed hopeful enough to be able to handle a blue ring, although granted this is a ring issued under emergency circumstances).  I’ve found the Scarecrow and Luthor recruitment more successful as that seems more in tune with their characters, and is adding to them, although in fairness with at least Scarecrow you can also make the argument that he’s using the ring far too easily.

There’s some interesting events here as well.  We discover that Professor Zoom is locked up in Iron Heights (a disappointing scene given it slightly spoiled Zoom’s fate from Rebirth), and I liked the way the two Zooms confused the Black Lanterns.  I have to wonder what Geoff’s plans for Captain Boomerang are now though.  Owen as a character has always flitted between good and bad, but here he’s made pretty irredeemable, and then finally killed by his Black Lantern father.  I do wonder if this means we’re going to get an all-new Captain Boomerang?  If so it’ll be a shame that Owen was never fully capitalised on.  His origin as Bart’s half-brother was never explored, and the idea of him being a twist on a speedster supervillain likewise was never really used.  However given what he does in this issue, I can’t see him being brought back in any kind of sympathetic way.  Unless he gets brought back and set up as a (pardon the phrase) rogue element, with as big an axe to grind against the other Rogues as the Flash.  As a much darker character that’s after everyone, he could be interesting.

Overall, I found this series a bit of a mixed bag, but I did enjoy the last issue.  Its a pity we couldn’t have had more time donated to the Rogue story in a separate miniseries and more focus on the Flash family as a whole, but when we did get it, the story really kicked off.  I loved the scenes between Barry, Wally and Bart, and the way Barry brought back Bart worked well.  Its nice to see both Bart and Connor’s Black Lantern takeovers dealt with in tie-ins though.  Adds a bit more weight to them, and you can see that neither would really have affected the main series much (as its got a lot more going on).

Its been an interesting week for fans of The Flash, with the announcement that not only will there no longer be a Wally West co-feature in the main Flash title when it relaunches next year, but also the Kid Flash book that was supposed to accompany it has also been scrubbed.

Its quite disappointing news as far as I’m concerned.  The loss of the Wally co-feature stings as the character was the main Flash for over 20 years, so it had been nice to think he still had a home in the DCU with Barry’s return, however the real pain comes from the cancellation of Bart’s book before it even began.   As a fan of the old Impulse series and Bart as a character, the prospect of a new book, with Bart and Max (and whoever else from the Flash family crossed over, Iris West being an obvious candidate) had been something I was really excited about and was possibly the new book I was most looking forward to next year.

So what happened to change DC’s mind?  No one’s really sure at the moment (and in honesty, its probably unlikely we’ll ever really know).  Regarding the loss of the co-feature from Barry’s book I can understand that from a certain point of view.  Co-features push the price of the book up to $3.99, and a lot of the comic buyers have complained about that price point.   So, with Barry currently getting a big push in Blackest Night, it makes sense that DC would want to target the Flash ongoing at the $2.99 price point to keep the book affordable to new readers.

The loss of the Kid Flash companion book makes less sense to me.  Ever since Green Lantern successfully relaunched, Green Lantern Corps has done well.  Now admittedly, Green Lantern Corps waited a little before launching as a monthly, although it did have the Recharge mini-series as a lead in post-Rebirth.  So I wonder why something similar couldn’t have happened here.  The Rebirth format is proven through Green Lantern, and Bart and Max sustained the Impulse ongoing for many years, so at least having a Kid Flash mini-series to test the water in a similar way to Green Lantern Corps Recharge might’ve made sense.

Of course I think its also fair to say that Flash: Rebirth hasn’t entirely been as well received as Green Lantern: Rebirth.  Complaints about the delays, story pacing and retcons to Barry’s history have dogged the series (not that Green Lantern Rebirth didn’t have its share of complaints about the Parallax space bug retcon).  So I have to wonder if this is in part to attempt to focus a build up on Barry once again to try and drum up some more enthusiasm for the franchise that might’ve been lost by the complaints about Rebirth.

The Flash as a franchise has really struggled since Infinite Crisis.  Prior to that, the series was wobbling, trying to re-find its feet after the stellar run from Geoff Johns.  Then came down the editorial edict that Wally was to die in Infinite Crisis as a way to shake up the DCU, and place Bart as the Flash.  The backlash to this move was pretty strong, and the Bart series failed pretty much straight out the gate (a pity as there was some good creative talent on board, and given time to breath it might’ve worked, however I still feel it was pushing Bart into the main role way too soon).  Then Wally comes back, with his new familly, but that doesn’t take either, so now we’ve got Barry.   But then Rebirth isn’t as well received as planned, so now there seems to be yet another shakeup in direction.

There’s definitely the feeling that DC recognise the importance of the Flash, and really want it to succeed, but they just can’t get it to work.  Look at the two most recent reboots.  First the return of Wally, with Mark Waid writing, and then Flash: Rebirth with Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Skiver.  Both of these come across as really winning ideas.   Both should’ve really worked, and yet when its come down to it, neither has particular taken off.

Which kind of leaves me wondering if this latest move, to slim the proposed franchise right back to just a single Barry Allen title is a move to try and bolster the new direction once again.  To keep reader’s attentions focused purely on Barry and on Geoff John’s plans for the character, and then, when the direction is firmly in place, we can hope that the Kid Flash book resurfaces, or some other “Flash family” type book.

For myself, I must admit, while I’m now a bit less enthusiastic about the Flash next year, I’ll probably still pick up the first few issues of Barry’s book to see where Geoff Johns is going with it.  While I’ve not been a huge fan of some of the Rebirth retcons, his take on the character in Blackest Night appeals to me so I’m happy to give the book a try, and after Geoff’s run on both Wally’s book and now his Green Lantern work, can anyone really say they’re not expecting big things from the Flash book over the next 2-3 years?

But I’ll definitely miss the Bart book we never got.

Since the two are closely linked, I’ll start by covering Green Lantern #48 which finishes filling in the story of how the Corps leaders get together, as Atrocitus and Larfleeze are saved from the Black Lanterns on Okaraa by the timely arrival of Hal, Sinestro, Carol, Indigo-1 and Saint Walker (with Ganthet and Sayd along for the ride). There’s some interesting ground covered in this issue, which focuses entirely on the group getting together.  Particularly interesting is the idea that the Guardians are actually responsible for the War of Light.  Of course, we know that Scar pushed them into challenging Larfleeze directly, although it was the Guardians themselves who were willing to sell out Ganthet and his Blue Lanterns.  When Hal hears this he’s none-too-impressed, vowing that once the Blackest Night is over, he’ll never work for the Guardians again.  How Johns plans on tackling this post-Blackest Night will be interesting indeed.

I also enjoyed the way Larfleeze was convinced to join up with the group.  Seeing Ganthet and Sayd, he automatically gets jealous about how the other Corps have Guardians and his doesn’t.  This leads to Sayd making a deal whereby she’ll be the Orange Guardian if he helps them out.  Again it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the long term and whether Sayd will have to uphold her side of the deal (I can see her potentially getting out of it, as Larfleeze tends to be easily distracted by anything else new that turns up).

And with the leaders of the various Corps all together, they’re in place for the start of Blackest Night #5…

With last issue being focused on the Flash and co trying to keep their heads above water while Hal assembled the various Corps together, this issue brings all the Lanterns together in a big way.  Starting out straight away with a role call of all the main Lanterns reciting their oathes, the Lanterns are quickly teleported to Coast City having discovered the Black Battery is no longer on Ryut.

And its just in time to help the various assembled heroes.  I have to say, there’s some great dialogue in this issue.  The interactions between Hal and the various Corps (with Hal’s dialogue revelling in the inherent silliness of the multi-coloured Lanterns) and with the Flashes was great.  Line of the issue for me was undoubtedly Barry and Kid Flash’s exchange regarding Bart calling Barry “Grandpa”.  Although the Captain Planet wink to the readers from Carol comes very close.

It was nice to see Wally turn up in this issue having previously only been referred to in the series.  And in his new costume no less.  With the delays to Flash: Rebirth I have to wonder what would’ve happened to Blackest Night had Rebirth #5 had slipped any further.  Would Blackest Night also have slipped, or would DC just have accepted Wally’s new costume premiering in Blackest Night?  Also, I notice than Ivan Reis has also picked up Ethan’s version of Bart’s Kid Flash costume and is drawing the boots as the simplified Flash-style boots as opposed to Bart’s more stylised pair.  I wonder if this is another running change that will stick.  On one hand I hope not as they were part of what made Bart’s outfit distinctive, although realistically they’d probably be a pain to run in.

With all the players in place, Geoff then successfully turns everything on its head, as the Corps combine their rings to create the white light of life, only to find it actually makes Nekron more powerful, not destroying him as they’d thought.  And its here that the plot revelations start hitting, with Black Lantern Batman making a brief appearance, and Nekron’s use of “Bruce Wayne” in quotes adding fire to the theory that the skeleton isn’t actually Bruce’s (although the fact the heroes believe it to be is obviously enough for it to act as the emotional tether for the Black Lanterns).

Nekron then explains exactly why there’s been a revolving door to death in the DCU, as its actually been him preventing the heroes from moving on fully, and setting them up to be resurrected, and further along his preparation for the Blackest Night.

There’s a lot been made of how this series would address death and resurrection in the DCU and lay out the rules going forward, and this is obviously the start of that.  I must admit, I really like the idea that there’s been a wider explanation behind all the DCU resurrections.  Okay, so its being retrofitted in, but it does make all the resurrections easier to swallow.   The only thing I’m not entirely sure about is how this actually works.  For example, Ollie was clearly seen in heaven, having passed into the afterlife in the Quiver storyline.  Although so was Barry and we know he was also in the Speedforce (clearly there must be some overlap between the Speedforce and Heaven in the DCU, both are versions of the afterlife, so I think it kinda works if you squint at it for long enough).  How Ollie being happy in Heaven works alongside Nekron’s revelation that he was preventing the deceased characters being judged I’m not quite sure.  Although I guess there’s always the fact that Quiver was pre-New Earth as well.

That’s fanboy nitpicking though, and ignoring it, this explanation feels right.  With Nekron’s comments about souls being judged and moving on beyond his grasp as well, we’re perhaps seeing the wider hints for how death/resurrection will work post-Blackest Night.

And then the kicker.  As Nekron was the one who prevented them passing over, he still holds power over all the resurrected heroes, as he proves by sending the Black Rings to convert them fully into Black Lanterns.  Clearly Donna’s infection over in the Titans special was a tease that the resurrected heroes were still bound to Nekron, and the payoff here, with Diana, Donna, Clark etc all instantly turned into Black Lanterns is chilling.  The only two left trying to escape the Black Rings are Barry and Hal.

And that to me is something really nice about this mini series.  Its not about the “Trinity” of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.  This is a Hal and Barry story that everyone else has just happened to get caught up in, and this cliff hanger positions the series to continue building on that partnership the way the first three issues did.  It does make sense, since this is the first big event since both Hal and Barry have been re-established in the DCU to put the focus on them working together again.  Of course it helps that they’re written so well by Geoff Johns, who’s clearly having the time of his life working with them both.

The next issue looks to be a real corker.  With the majority of the DCU’s heavy hitters now Black Lanterns, and Barry and Hal desperately trying to escape the same fate there’s a real “how will they get out of this one” been built up.  Interesting should be the development with Atom and Mera, who’ve been dragged into Black Lantern Damage’s ring by Black Lantern Jean Loring.  With Atom and Mera being the other significant pairing of this series, I can’t help but think that being shrunk down inside one of the rings is going to put them in a key position to help out in the next issue or two.

After some quite lengthy delays, Flash: Rebirth issue 5 finally came out this week.

I’ll say it now, I think this is the best issue of Rebirth so far.  The pace finally felt right to me, and it built on the Zoom stuff from issue 4 well, and resolved some of the lingering subplots.

Most of the issue is taken up with the fight against Zoom and the subsequent revelations.  Professor Zoom takes great pleasure in telling Barry how he’s been time travelling back and changing the past, affecting Barry’s personal history, and explaining things like Barry’s mother’s death (prior to Rebirth, Barry’s parents had both been alive).  It also explains why Barry’s mood has been so affected since the start of the series, as its explained as nothing to do with Barry struggling to adapt to being back, but infact his mood was a side affect of Zoom’s continual changing of Barry’s history (which was presumably happening off panel during the first few issues).

We also get the Flash family re-established for the franchise going forward.  Max, of course, returned last issue but this issue also brought the much-heralded revamp to Wally’s outfit (to solve the issue of Wally and Barry’s outfits being so similar visually).

I must admit, I was slightly dreading the revamp, half-expecting it to be some modification of his old Kid Flash outfit that a lot of fans have such affection for.  Thankfully though, this wasn’t the case, with the costume only receiving slight tweaks, and still recognisably being a “Flash” costume.  The changes work well, and it reminds me of the Return of Barry Allen storyline, which never ran into the issue of the characters looking similar, due to the dark red used in Wally’s “shiney” outfit he was wearing at the time.  Its also interesting to note the lifts from Wally’s outfit as seen in the JLU cartoon, with his belt and chest logo (possibly the only part of the update I’m not sure on.  I prefer the normal lightning bolt) being from that variation of the costume.  I’m definitely pleased with this updated look for Wally.

The other development I was very pleased with, was Iris West’s transformation into the new Impulse.  Its a move that had been signposted throughout the series, with her hero-worship of Bart and Zoom’s comments about the twins’ connection to the speedforce last issue, and I for one am really pleased to see not only Iris turned into a proper speedster, but also that she’s adopted Bart’s old identity.  It adds another nice link to the chain of the Flash legacy.

It also nicely places the characters for the upcoming monthlies.  Presumably Iris will be in Wally’s co-feature, but also sets her up for appearances in Bart’s Kid Flash book.  I think it’ll be quite interesting to see how Bart deals with her following in his footsteps and it could be quite amusing  And you have to assume it’ll not be long before Jai starts to resent the fact that he’s been left powerless by Iris taking on their previously-shared Speedforce connection.

Speaking of Bart, it was interesting watching his interactions with Max.  Bart’s grown a lot since Max was trapped in the Speedforce, and it was interesting to see how sometimes he was ahead of what Max was telling him, with Max attempting to guide him as he did when he was Impulse.  It was a nice way of showing that not only has Max been out of the loop for a while, but also how much Bart’s developed as a hero.  It does promise that their relationship in the upcoming Kid Flash monthly will have evolved beyond their relationship in Bart’s original Impulse book, and it’ll be interesting to see what direction the writer takes there.

Overall, this was a great issue.  I’m glad to see that the second half of this series has improved a lot over the first.  I’m still not entirely sure this series has been a success for me overall, but these later issues are at least ticking the right boxes.  I look forward to the last issue, and I really hope it doesn’t suffer the crippling delays this issue did.  Interestingly, the solicit mentions some new threat to the Speedsters, which I’d really expected to get some hint of here.  Throwing in a new villain in the last issue seems a little Final Crisis to me, which suddenly had Mandrak turn up and felt a bit forced (even if you had read Superman: Beyond), so I’m intrigued to see what this actually means.

Alongside Blackest Night #4, it was a big week last week for Blackest Night with the final part of the Titans mini-series as well as the latest parts of the War of Light as Hal and co contend with the Black Lanterns on Korugar.

The highlight of Green Lantern #47 was undoubtedly the War of Light coming back into focus again.  Unlike last issue, which stayed focused on what was happening with Hal, this issue covers the broader story of the war of light, which was a welcome return, with most of the main lanterns getting a look in.

The issue belongs to Atrocitus though, as the fact the red ring replaces the wearer’s blood turns out to be hugely significant when facing down the Black Lanterns.  Its another example of the great way Geoff Johns throws in things earlier in his run that pay off in a big way down the line.

Talking of which, we also get further teases of Sinestro’s past, with a mention of Abin Sur’s sister dying in his arms.  I can’t help but think that Johns is planting little bits and pieces building up to Secret Origin 2 which will focus on Sinestro’s downfall (in much the same way as Emerald Dawn II did, although I imagine this series will make Sinestro a bit more of a sympathetic figure).

It was also nice to see Odym revisited.  I had been wondering what was happening to Saint Walker, Ganthet and all.  However a better payoff is Larfleeze’s appearance.  Its fleeting, his rescuer from the Black Lanterns is unexpected.  The fact that Atrocitus has gone to Okaraa is pretty unexpected, since we know its the green light that is key to the Black Lanterns’ defeat.  However Atrocitus has the ability of prophecy, so I guess whatever he’s up to, its because he has a plan.

And of course, we have the Black Lantern Inversions.   Given their importance to kicking off this whole event with the original Alan Moore story, I had been quite surprised to see them despatched so early on in events, so their appearance in this book was very welcome.

Blackest night Titans, much like the Batman and Superman minis, sees our heroes manage to escape the Black Lanterns. But only for now.

There’s some particularly grim stuff here, as Donna is forced to face down the Black Lantern versions of her husband and child, and takes them down with her own bare hands.   While its nice to see that the DC characters are now wise enough to largely see through the manipulation of the Black Lanterns, it still made for a grim scene and I thought was well handled by both writer and artist.  It is interesting however that the issue of Donna’s infection by the Black Lanterns is left hanging.  Something the Wonder Woman mini will pick up?

As with the other two issues in this miniseries, its the Dove scenes that seem to contribute most to the main event, and that I’ve found most interesting.  Here we see her as the ultimate solution to the Black Lanterns plaguing the Titans, as she unleashes her power, resulting in all the Black Lanterns being disconnected.  Is this a hint that her power is tied to the white light?  We also see the original Dove appearing to her, and hint about things to come.  With the scene at Don Hall’s grave making it into issue 2 of the main mini-series, I really hope this is stuff that is going to be very significant and play out in the later issues of the mini-series.

I have to admit, for a mini that was originally hovering on my “skip” list, I’m really glad I picked this up.  Its been an excellent read, and I’m definitely going to be interested to pick up any Hawk and Dove stuff that spins out from this.

Overall, I have to say I’ve been very, very happy with these first three tie-in mini-series.  They’ve worked well to compliment the main Blackest Night series and have all featured great art and writing.  I really hope the next three series are as good, and from what we know about JSA and Flash at least, I can’t see any reason why they won’t.

Its been a little while since Flash: Rebirth #3 hit the stands. Ending with the reveal of Professor Zoom being behind all Barry’s recent troubles, it was obvious that the series had hit a turning point.

There’s very obvious parallels with Green Lantern: Rebirth here.  In that series, Sinestro was revealed as the villain at the end of issue 3, who then spent issue 4 explaining the plot.  Much the same happens here, and like issue 4 of GL: Rebirth ended with Hal’s restoration, this issue similarly ends with Barry back and with a renewed sense of who he is.

Also like issue 4 of Rebirth, there’s retcons aplenty here.  The “giant yellow space bug” came under a lot of flack when Parallax’s true nature was revealed in Green Lantern, and while that change has since been accepted and become a major part of how the GL universe is shaped (with the emotional spectrum and its avatars) I must admit, I’m finding the revelations in this issue a little harder to swallow.  Barry as the source of the Speed Force just seems to open up questions and problems that previously didn’t exist.  If Barry powers the Speed Force, what powers Barry?  And what was powering it while he was dead?  If Barry’s accident created the Speed Force, and Zoom’s recreation of that accident created his, why doesn’t Wally have his own?  Unless that’s something that’ll be revealed in Flash #25…

The existance of the Negative Speed Force (surely that should be the Reverse Speed Force to keep the theme?) is something I’m torn on.  I could see it as a counterpoint to the Speed Force we’re familiar with.  A hell for Speedsters versus the heaven we’ve previously seen.   That could at least tie into Savitar being incredibly glad to be out of the Speed Force in issue 1.  However I can’t help but think that Zoom having his own evil speed force makes him a bit too much like Sinestro.  I’m also not keen on the changes to Barry’s return in Final Crisis or Barry’s turning into the Black Flash being a sign of the negative speed force’s infection.  Heck, if this was always the plan for Barry’s return, couldn’t the reasons for him coming back just have been left a mystery in Final Crisis?  It seems a bit strange that they’re already retconning a series less than a year later.

However, while I’m unsure about the retcons in this issue, I can still say I really enjoyed it.  There’s a load of great “Flash Family” moments here, and Professor Zoom is reestablished as a real threat, and a chilling villain.  The scene where he turns up at Wally’s house and threatens Linda and the kids was genuinely scary.  Which only made the appearance of Jay and Bart a real punch-the-air moment.

This is one area where Ethan’s art really excells in this issue.  Here he gets the chance to do some brilliant splash pages.  Be it Bart and Jay turning up to take on Zoom or Wally running into the Speed Force, determined to bring everyone back out of it, Ethan renders these moments beautifully.

And the return of Max.  What can I say?  A moment that had been well telegraphed from the first issue of this series, and a loose plot thread that had fans crying out for resolution.  Max has always been a really popular character.   I loved his use in Waid’s Flash run as the Zen Master of Speed, and this popularity was only reinforced when he became Bart’s mentor in the Impulse series.   The splash page when he returns to Earth, having been persuaded by Barry that he’s the closest thing Bart has to a father (especially powerful when you consider Barry is Bart’s actual grandfather) brought a huge grin to my face.

This issue was definitely a big improvement over the first three.  Although improvement is probably being a bit unfair in that I think the whole thing (like Final Crisis) will read better all together in trade form.  But as a standalone issue in a monthly series there was definitely a more satisfying read than the previous issues.  The series is probably still not up there with Green Lantern Rebirth for me, but its definitely starting to tick the right boxes, especially with the way the whole Flash family was showcased here.

DCU Blog had a treat for us today, with the first look at the new Superboy-starring Adventure Comics.

It looks like a great start to the series, with Kon in much the same place as he was at the beginning of Geoff’s Titans run.  In Smallville, trying to live the life Clark had growing up.  Although I suspect that Geoff intends to spin things on their head, with Kon now relishing this life, rather than fighting against it.

One thing I really liked about this preview, was the appearance of Bart.  Its nice to see him and Kon back together again, and them trashing their statues at Titans Tower seems very appropriate   What I really loved though was Bart’s attitude.  He comes across much more Impulse-like in his dialogue, which is something I felt had been really missing from the character since Teen Titans.   Its nice to see him enjoying himself again.

I very much like the look of Francis Manapul’s art, and the colouring along with it.   There’s something almost painted looking about it that looks different to most of the other books I’m getting.

All in all, I’m really looking forward to this one

Ok, its no surprise, but Geoff Johns has confirmed this isn’t the final cover for Rebirth #6 (fairly safe money that the gradient will be replaced by a group shot of the Flash family, including Wally in his new suit?), but still, the solicit is worth a mention.

The one thing that’s been leaping out from Rebirth so far has been that its been a struggle to care about Barry being back, however I did also say that I hoped issue 3 would be a big turning point.  From the solicit for issue 6, I’m now feeling a lot happier that it will be.

The solicit hints at big changes in store for the Flash family.  Obviously we know that Wally is due a new Ethan Van Sciver-designed costume, but what’ll happen to his family, and will he be making a bigger change to his life to accomodate them other than a change of outfit?  The stuff about Kid Flash’s destiny is also interesting.  I wonder what exactly that means.  What choice will he be facing?

There’s also the talk of a new archnemesis for the Flash family.  In my Rebirth #3 post I’d speculated that the Reverse Flash may be revealed as working for someone else, and it sounds like that may be the case afterall.   I’m very glad this is the case (unless they’re just referring to Reverse Flash being redefined for the new series, but it does sound like its an original villain being introduced).

But most important is the picture of Barry on the cover.  He’s smiling at last.  Whatever happens in the second half obviously refocuses his outlook on life (specifically his own).  Of course, its not a surprise that Barry will be sorted out, character-wise.  Obviously Geoff Johns wasn’t going to leave us with a moping Barry Allen at the end of this, that people were going to struggle to like, and most importantly, it wouldn’t really jibe with Barry’s appearance in Blackest Night #0, which I really enjoyed, and has probably convinced me more about Barry’s return than issues 1-3 of Rebirth have so far.

This solicit has been perfectly pitched to me.  It raises a lot of interest in me in terms of where this series is going to go over the next 3 issues, as well as leaving me optimistic about the second half of Rebirth.   I said it in my Rebirth #3 post, but I’ll repeat it here.  I suspect this series will read better as a whole, and I imagine that by the end of the run, I’ll be excited for the direction of the Flash going forward.

This issue is largely concerned with events immediately after last issue’s big revelation.  In fact in terms of time covered, you can easily imgine this whole issue takes place in probably less than half an hour.  It rattles along at a fair old pace.

Barry has been revealed as the new Black Flash, and the JLA have been called in, quick time.  Jay’s already on the scene with Wally and explains they’re going to try and separate Barry from the Speedforce.  This way, he’ll no longer have his speed, but he’ll be alive and normal once again.

It quickly gets out of control though, Barry’s still not convinced he should be back, and breaks free.  Superman tries to catch him, but Barry easily out runs him (in a scene very reminisent of Impulse’s first appearance in Smallville).  Barry attempts to return to the speedforce, hoping to use Iris as an anchor so he’ll be able to escape again, cleared of the Black Flash possession.  However as he enters the speedforce, he is stripped of his memories until Max Mercury and Johnny Quick appear to help him, and the villain of the piece stands revealed as Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash.

As I mentioned above, the pace is quicked into high gear in this issue.  Despite a short flashback, this issue ditches the solemn introspection of the first two, and gets on with the reveals.

The main one, isn’t really a surprise.  And in some ways I’m glad Professor Zoom’s been revealed here rather than dragged out much longer.  It definitely feels a bit too much like a repeat of the Sinestro reveal in Green Lantern Rebirth though, and I think that’s a bit of a shame.  Thawne’s return had been widely predicted from the moment the words “Johns”, “Van Sciver”, “Flash” and “Rebirth” were said together, and after Hunter Zolomon was depowered in Rogue’s Revenge it was taken as a lock.   I certainly understand the desire to bring him back alongside Barry, but given the obvious Green Lantern Rebirth parallels, I can’t help but wonder if it might’ve been better left until the new Flash ongoing, allowing for more of a surprise villain in this series.  Saying that, we still don’t know how he returned to life, and the series is only halfway through, so there’s scope for a big twist or surprise mastermind yet.

Its a bit of a shame for Johnny Quick to appear just to get immediately dusted by Barry.  Max looks to be in trouble as well, but unlike Johnny we don’t actually see him die (if that’s even the right word, since they’re essentially speedforce ghosts anyway).  The heavy name-dropping of Max throughout this series does make me wonder if there’s not a bigger plan for this character.  In this issue, Jay specifically mentions how Max was the speedforce guru, so it leaves me wondering if Max isn’t yet to provide the solution to Barry’s Black Flash problems.

And regarding Barry as the Black Flash, I was very glad to see Ethan Van Sciver didn’t pull his punches here and just draw Barry in a black and red costume.  There’s various panels throughout where we see Barry taking on a more monstrous form as he fights against his transformation, and I found them very effective.  With regards the art, I’ve still got the slight peeve that Kid Flash’s boots are wrong, but Ethan has said that’s deliberate, so there’s not much to be said about it.  Other than that silly fanboy complaint, Ethan is continuing to do his usual great job on the art

So overall?  I’m glad to see things pick up pace over the slow first two issues, and I’m definitely feeling a bit more into the storyline this issue than last.  The only way I’d say this series is failing is that its still not selling me on having Barry back as a character.   When Hal’s spirit was led back to Earth by Ganthet, and he stood up from his coffin in his new outfit to take on Sinestro, it was a real punch-the-air moment.   I’ve yet to actually have anything in this series to convince me to care that Barry’s back and will be taking over from Wally.   Now that Professor Zoom has been revealed as the true threat, I’m really looking for Barry to kick things into gear, stop moping, and show us how he, and he alone is the man for the job (and yes, I’m aware I said something very similar last month).  I’ve got confidence that Geoff Johns will pull this out of the bag with the last three issues.   This issue very much strikes me as a turning point for the series, with the introspection covering Barry’s history well during the first two issues, and here almost non-existant, it occurs to me that this could well be structured as a series of two halves, with the first half interested in establishing the character of Barry, and the second dealing with the actual threat.   It’ll be interesting to see if I’m right.

Buying the Final Crisis Hardcover (which I’m very much looking forward to reading) has made me wonder something about this series as well.  Especially with its slower first two issues.  I’ll be very interested to see how this series plays out when read back-to-back in one sitting.   I suspect it’ll flow a lot better, and my complaints about pacing etc will vanish.