Annoyingly, some bright spark put some of the alternate cover of Rogues Revenge on the Legion pile this week, so me being in a hurry never noticed I’d accidentaly picked up both covers of Rogues Revenge #3 rather than one issue, and a copy of Legion of Two Worlds. Ah well.

The Rogues Revenge mini came to an end this month, with the Rogues finally managing to track down Inertia to get their revenge for the way he manipulated them into killing Bart.

However, Inertia’s been under the training of Zoom so the Rogues may get more than they bargained for, especially once Libra enters the fray.

I’ve enjoyed this mini series. Again it largely stands apart from Final Crisis (aside from Libra’s involvement) however the Flash’s Rogues have always made for good reading under the pen of Geoff Johns.

To a large extent at the end of this issue feeling like I’d been reading a clearing of the board for Flash Rebirth. Inertia is killed by the Rogues in an attempt to square matters over Bart’s death (drawing a line under that plotline) and the Rogues are warned about Barry’s return by Libra, prompting them to shelve any plans for retirement, as they know Barry will be coming after them (indeed the difference in approach towards the Rogues by Barry and Wally could be something interesting to be followed up from the Flash’s perspectives. Does Wally play the game with the Rogues? If so how will Barry react to it?).

A big event in this book though, was Inertia (then calling himself Kid Zoom) de-powering Zoom. Zoom’s been one of the best new villains (from any DC franchise) for years (well, in my opinion anyway), and to see him removed from the board is disheartening.

I tend to agree with the thoughts online that he’s been de-powered to make way for Eobard Thawne’s return. Not sure how I feel about that as the new Zoom was really a more interesting character. However, return of Barry Allen was a cracking Reverse Flash storyline (sort of), and there’s no denying how good a character Sinestro’s been since his return.

And of course, Zoom is simply de-powered. As he himself says, all he needs is the cosmic treadmill and he can be back in business. He is Geoff Johns’ character, so if Geoff feels the time is right to rest this character, then that’s his call, and I have to admit, in some other titles, Zoom was being used as a more generic evil speedster, which was a bit inconsistent with his motivation and his powers, so at least we won’t have that to worry about. The character has gone out on a high, and there’ll be a fairly vocal fan movement to have him return down the line.

Maintaining the Geoff Johns pet-project vibe, but with more of a direct tie to the Final Crisis events, this weeks brings us the second issue of Rogues Revenge.

Its a good excuse for Geoff Johns to revisit the Flash Rogues, a group of villains he’s successfully redefined through his Flash run into one of the premier sets of rogues in the DCU (second only to Batman’s I’d comfortably say), and also for him to tie up some of the dangling loose ends from Bart’s run as the Flash.

Picking up from last issue, we find the Rogues still gunning for Inertia, but aren’t pleased when they find their favourite tailor has been attacked. They quickly find out the culprits are the “New Rogues”, who are working for Libra, who needs the Rogues alive, despite them telling him to stuff off. He’s aware of the relationship Flashes share with Crises and has a plan to stop them.

This is a great issue and I’m really enjoying this series. While I may find the tie-in credentials of Legion dubious, there’s no doubt that Geoff Johns is bringing some of his best work to these Final Crisis titles. Here, we get to relish in the fact that he really gets these characters. Through his Flash run, Johns gave these Rogues a sense of family to match that of the Flashes, and that comes across well with the side scenes with Axel (who’s retaken the role of Trickster after James Jesse died in Countdown). You’re really given a feeling of the bond between this group, and when they encounter the New Rogues, who are using their stolen equipment, you can really feel the outrage at these pretenders, and you know it’ll end badly for them. And boy, does it.

If you’re a fan of the Rogues from Geoff’s Flash run, then this is a must-buy.

On a side note, reading Superman Beyond #1, I see Earth-51 is now the graveyard universe. Wonder what happened to Kamandi and all the animal-people…

This interview with Ethan Van Sciver drops a few tantalising tid-bits about the upcoming Flash Rebirth and Blackest Night.

For me, the most interesting thing was something I’ve been expecting.  He confirms he’s designing a new costume for Wally West.  I figured it had to happen.  With Green Lantern, all the GLs had their own variations on the uniform, whereas Wally’s outfit has always been kept very similar to Barry’s.  I was assuming that if Wally was going to stay an active hero (really, he’s been the Flash for so long, it’d have caused real problems if he wasn’t still a part of the book) then he’d need a new look to differentiate him from Barry, so its nice to see that confirmed.  I just hope its not a rejig of his Kid Flash outfit.  I know it was popular, but I’ve never been a big fan of it.  Besides, it’d scream “Kid Flash”, and I think its safe to say Wally’s past that.  I hope its something completely new.

There’s also some tantalising hints about Blackest Night, with Ethan confirming that he’s redesigning a bunch of DCU characters as Black Lanterns.  With so many heroes returning from the grave recently, I wonder who’s turning up as a Black Lantern, and he confirms that there’s going to be least one major shock member.

Unsurprisingly, Ethan’s also designing the various new Corps.  With his stellar work designing Sinestro Corps members, I’m expecting him to produce some really great new characters.

With thanks to David for pointing this news and interview.

Its not been a huge secret. Since DCU #0 its been pretty heavily hinted at that Barry Allen was coming back. Grant Morrison made it known that his initial pitch for Final Crisis used Barry Allen from one of the other Multiverse worlds and he was then given the go ahead to make it the Barry Allen. But the question still remained. Was he back for good, or was this another time travelling visit (such as at the end of the Blitz storyline)?

And now its official. Barry Allen’s back full time. Of course, The Flash title has been struggling ever since Infinite Crisis. At the time the series was on a high. Coming off of Geoff Johns’ hugely successful run, the Flash was enjoying a new lease of life. And then the decision was taken to kill off Wally, and replace him with Bart (whether this was originally intended as permanent, or what we finally got, I don’t know).

This just seemed to put a bullet through the series. Wally fans took badly to him being removed from the stage at (arguably) the height of his popularity. Bart fans disliked the new direction for Bart, and felt he was just even more removed from what had made him popular back when he was Impulse. After 13 issues, Bart was killed off, and Wally and his family returned over in JLA.

However, by this point, it seemed the damage had been done. Not even the return of Mark Waid, one of the most successful Flash writers (up there with Geoff Johns) managed to reinvigorate the franchise. As they had done for many years, rumours of Barry Allen’s return started circling, and this time they seemed more believable. Sure it would blow possibly the last meaningful death in DC comics out of the water, but since everything else from Crisis on Infinite Earths was also being slowly undone (after 20 years, in fairness), perhaps the time was right to shake up the Flash franchise by bringing back Barry.

Following on from their phenomenal re-invention of the Green Lantern franchise, DC’s gone with the very safe move of getting in Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Skiver to produce Flash: Rebirth. Its a bit of a no-brainer for DC, and pretty much guarantees that this is going to sell bucket-loads.

I’m really intrigued to see what route they take with the franchise. I came on board during Mark Waid’s run on the title, and I loved the family atmosphere. Unlike the GL’s who’re space cops all working together, this is a group of people who are truly a family. This is something I really hope they capitalise on.

Like Green Lantern, this is one franchise that’s thrived by having multiple heroes with the same name. Unlike Superman or Batman, the Flash is one of DC’s primary legacy books, and with Wally and Jay both sharing the Flash name for many years, there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t just up the number of active Flashes to three (although admittedly Wally and Barry sharing the same costume will get confusing).

Granted, it seem obvious that Barry will become the “primary” Flash. He’ll get his seat on the JLA back, while Wally can hang out with the Titans, and Jay remains in JSA. I’m looking forward to this. If it takes a similar approach to GL: Rebirth, which I thought did a pretty good job of pleasing everyone (or at least, trying to), then this could be a very good thing for The Flash.

Of course, what happens after this mini will be interesting. With Geoff Johns writing so many of DC’s monthlies, will he return to the Flash franchise full-time?

So, with me picking up so many events, I’d resolved to try and not get suckered into buying all the tie ins. However, I cracked this week with Final Crisis and picked up Rogues Revenge and Requiem.

Rogues Revenge sees Geoff Johns return to the Flash characters, as we get a series based around the Rogues. The Rogues have had some really meaty stuff over the last year or so, since they crossed the line by killing Bart, and this first issue throws open some interesting twists. There’s a few retcons along the way, as the Rogues beating Bart to death is replaced by the Rogues more accidental killing of Bart. They were so used to Flashes being able to outrun their weapons, they hadn’t counted on Inertia stealing Bart’s speed from him, leaving him vulnerable. Of course, they could actually be in denial as to what really happened. We also find out that The Trickster and Pied Piper were actually undercover in the Rogues, working to gather information to take them down, to help rebuild trust lost during the Rogue War.

James Jesse’s death in Countdown has also paved the way for the second Trickster to reclaim the mantel, which I thought was a nice touch.

Finally, Zoom’s appearance and his reasons behind freeing Inertia were great. I really love the reinvented Zoom with his warped morality.

I enjoyed this title a lot, although the Final Crisis tie in aspect seems a bit lacking at this point, with it being a side plot with the Rogues turning down Libra’s offer to join the Society. Instead this seems more focused on tying up loose ends from the last couple of years in the Flash franchise (leaving a clean slate for Barry?).

Requiem was actually a title I hadn’t bothered picking up last week. Martian Manhunter’s not a big draw for me, so it seemed missable. Then I found out it was written by Peter Tomasi and it got glowing reviews online.

And true enough, this is a great companion piece to Final Crisis #1. We see the J’onn’s demise wasn’t nearly as easy as Final Crisis #1 made it appear, and Tomasi gives us a really touching funeral issue for the character.

There’s not a huge amount I can really say about this issue, but while its by no means necessary to enjoy Final Crisis, its definitely worth a read. I’m not even a big fan of J’onn, but this issue did a great job of making me care that he’d died (well, at least until he gets better - which we know will happen sooner or later).

Well, the spoilers are out, and the big news from DCU #0 is the hinted return of Barry Allen.

Granted, there’s very little conclusive in the issue itself.   But the signs certainly point to Barry Allen, and if it was anyone else, I think it’d be a bit of a nasty fake out on DC’s part.  Of course, if we assume its Barry coming back, then there’s nothing to say it will be permanent, or even as The Flash.

However, given that its being hyped like this, I would lean towards it being a permanent resurrection.   He could just turn up for the third worst day in Wally’s life, but again, I think hyping it like this would be a bit of a nasty tease to the Barry fans.

So, if we assume that its Barry coming back, and its permanent, I can’t see why it would be in any other role than that of the Flash.  To do otherwise would be to just repeat the “Hal as Spectre” mistake (ok, so I quite liked Hal as the Spectre, but generally its considered to have been a failure).

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Wally’s out of a job.  Barry could be placed in a specific role in the DCU which would allow Wally to retain the main Flash book and title, with Barry occupying a position similar to Jay.  He could be in a team book (JLA probably, with Wally in Titans) and be a supporting character in Wally’s book.   However, with the hype his return will generate, I think its unlikely he wouldn’t end up headlining the main Flash book (however, GL-style I wonder if we’d get 2 Flash books a month).

I’m kind of torn over this reveal.   Barry Allen was one of the few remaining comic book deaths that could be held up as being important, and having stuck.  By bringing Barry back, death in the DCU becomes even more meaningless.   DC’s also stuck by it for some 23-odd years, so in that regard, I’m bit dissappointed in the idea of another silver age resurrection (lord knows it’ll give the “DC Silver Age Fanboy” conspiracy theorists even more ammunition.

My other gut (if probably unfair) reaction is that it feels like a desperate move.   The Flash title has suffered badly since the decision to kill off Wally in Infinite Crisis.  The book went from a high under Geoff Johns to forgotten about pretty quickly.  Being fair to DC, they’ve tried their best to fix this (bringing back Mark Waid) but it didn’t work.

So an automatic reaction is that bringing back Barry could be seen as a desperate move to revitalise a failing book.

However.  Setting aside the slight feeling of disappointment about this, I actually think Barry being back could be very interesting.  There’s no doubt that the Flash book has been suffering badly, and in that regard Barry Allen: Rebirth will invariably be a big boost to the book.  Early rumours point to Geoff Johns co-writing the book, another good sign.  If nothing else, while obviously being a big fan of the silver age characters, Geoff Johns has proven with GL that he wouldn’t turf Wally in the bin just because Barry’s back.  And Johns has a proven track record of writing Wally well.

Plus, bigging up Barry’s forensic job could give us a mix of The Flash and CSI: Central City.  And I think that could be a pretty interesting angle for the book.

There seems to be a hint that Barry’s resurrection will be tied to the multiverse.  I find that idea interesting as well.  Given that Barry died, and converted to energy during the original Crisis, while destroying the Anti-Monitor’s big anti-Multiverse energy doohickey, perhaps Barry’s energy got tied to the multiverse in some way, and now that its back, its opened the door to his resurrection.

And talking of the Multiverse, I think its fair to say, that with the return of the Multiverse, Earth-2, Kal-L, Kara Zor-El, the Anti-Monitor etc over the last couple of years, its pretty much only fair that Barry comes back as well.  Must of the meaningful changes made by that story have now been undone to some degree or other in current continuity, so in that regard there’s not much meaning left by his death.

So colour me slightly dissappointed, but intrigued.  And I’d almost certainly be interested enough to pick up any new Flash relaunch with Barry and co.  Which I guess would be the point of the exercise.

Just a final weigh in on this, as I picked up Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 last night.

Great issue. Bart’s death was well written, and surprisingly brutal. Its always sad to see a favourite character die, but I’m glad it was well done. A big “Thank You” to the creative team. Top notch art, and excellent writing. Other books should be so lucky.

Ok, so the Flash #13 spoilers are all over the web.

My feelings are all still a bit mixed on this, but from what it looks like, after Wally got his last-second (Nightwing-style) reprive in Infinite Crisis, the plan was put in place for Bart to have a 13 issue run, ending with him dying (apparently - I’ve not read it yet myself - but I understand that JLA may have provided an “out”). Meanwhile, over in JLA Wally is brought back.

With the dust already settling, I’m reminded of comments made around the start of Bart’s run. Along the lines of “Don’t get too attached to the first Flash you see”. At the time, this was pretty much taken as meaning Jay, with Bart taking over the role after a few issues. Now it seems it was a hint to the wider plan.

I’m glad to see Wally back. He’s a major player in the DCU, and, as I mentioned previously, his “exit” was dissapointingly handled. However, I’m still a bit sad for how Bart’s been treated during this. I loved the character as Impulse. But ever since he was pushed out of that role into Kid Flash, it felt like a different character to me. The question of DC’s attitude towards “fun” heroes is perhaps part of a larger debate, but still, I was sad to lose Impulse.

When Bart then got promoted to Flash I was really dissappointed, as this just seemed to be further removing him from what had made him popular. However, both sets of writers seemed to appreciate this, and made attempts to hark back to his more impulsive nature, even going so far to include his old clone nemesis, Inertia in the book.

As I mentioned before, I’m sad in a way that Bart didn’t get more of a shot. He seems to have been put in the position of being setup just to keep the title ticking over until Wally came back, which is a shame given the hard work the creative teams put in making Bart as the new Flash work as a concept. Danny Bilson and Paul Demeo have gone on to write the incredibly good Red Menace series, and after this, I’ll definitely be keeping one eye open for anything Mark Guggenheim is writing.

Going forward. I’ve still got the issues themselves to read. The rantings in this blog are pretty much based on the spoilers at this point. I’m looking forward to reading how this run of the Flash is wound up though. We’ve then got the relaunch of the main Flash series, presumably starring Wally and written by Mark Waid. That’ll definitely be worth checking out.

As for Bart? This is comics. Dead rarely means dead in them. Even if there isn’t a specific “out” provided in JLA, I doubt he’ll be gone forever.

Ok, so there’s been some big announcements in the DC Universe this week. First, the Flash:

So, the Flash solicitations for #14 and #15 were fake, and the book is being relaunched, with the current run ending at #13. The cover seems to indicate that its curtains for Bart.

Now whether Bart actually dies remains to be seen (I hope not), but I do hope they’re not replacing him as Flash.

Don’t get me wrong. I thought the decision to replace Wally with Bart was awful. The reasoning was ludicrous: “because its a Crisis, and Flashes die in them”. It happened once. And at least Barry was given a decent write-out. Wally’s exit was poor in the extreme, and all it did was remove a character who was enjoying some serious post-Geoff Johns popularity.

Saying that, the decision was made, and the action taken. Wally vanished into the ether, and Bart was the new Flash. And for myself, I’d rather see them see the decision through, and make it work. Move forwards, not backwards, and that kind of stuff. The book may have stuttered out the starting block, but Mark Guggenheim has done really good stuff with the book lately, and its a shame to ignore the progress he’d made.

Of course, Bart may not be losing the title. I hope not. There’s been a lot of rumblings about Barry Allen lately, and I seriously hope he’s not coming back. We’ve already got Hal Jordan back as GL and the multiverse back, and Kara Zor-El back, and a more silver-agey Fortress of Solitude. And most of these things I’ve really enjoyed (let’s not mention Supergirl). But bringing back Barry Allen would be undoing another iconic death. Something that’s happened way too often in comics.

Saying all that, if anyone can sort all this out, its Mark Waid. The guy who got me reading the Flash title in the first place. So we’ll see. But I’m hoping its not curtains for Bart, and if Barry does indeed come back, then Bart remains as the Flash, with Barry acting as an advisor, which would allow Mark Waid to play up the family/legacy elements of the title he used so well in his run.