The Flash learns of future allies in the making!
The Flash is finally on his Force Quest! After the several Force incidents in Central City, Barry and Iris travel across the globe to search for them. They start in the country of Badhnisia, where the duo comes across a pair of thieves named Gemini. The criminals are able to use their tech to drain Barry of his speed to get away. As the Central City couple recovers from their loss, The Flash senses a disturbance. The Speed Force points him towards Gorilla City, and the pair takes off. What will our couple find and how does Gemini play into this?
**Some Spoilers Below**
Story:
The Flash arrives in Gorilla City with Iris to find a complete massacre. While they search the city for any survivors, they come across a trio of gorilla scientists. While they aren’t sure what caused the killings, the scientists have something for Barry. A projection of King Solovar appears and explains what will happen with the Forces. Like The Flash and the Speed Force, the other three forces will find avatars. It’s up to Barry to find them all and work together. Before they can learn what they must face, Commander Cold points the pair in the direction of Corto Maltese, where the first avatar has appeared.
This issue gives us tons of promises of this grand team up that’s coming down the pipeline. The problem is that it’s just that: promises. There isn’t much to the issue other than The Flash getting the message from Solovar and then going to Corto Maltese. It’s kind of disappointing as I was hoping to see a brawl in Gorilla City. Instead, we get more talking and running in place.
The good of the issue comes, surprisingly, in the exposition. It’s interesting, especially with tying the Gorillas of Gorilla City to the Sage Force. The description of what the Force Avatars duties also gets me excited for the future Flash team in the making. It, unfortunately, isn’t enough to save the issue, but it’s welcome.
Art:
The art of this issue is also a bit of a mixed bag regarding quality. There are some fantastic illustrations from Rafa Sandoval, especially in terms of scale. When The Flash arrived to get Solovar’s message, he learns it in this amphitheater of a lab with giant projections. It was moments like that which captured the feeling of grand adventure which Force Quest is aiming towards.
Despite this, the faces on our heroes and villains bring the issue down. While it isn’t every panel, our characters have the common problem of bizarre faces. It appears to come down to the colorwork and illustrations not meshing well. Hopefully, as the arc continues, the art will find its balance.
Conclusion:
I can honestly say this issue hyped me for the next one. That’s only because this issue’s greatest strength was exposition about the Force Avatars. The Flash needs to have more action than the past two issues, which is implied to come by the ending. As it stands, however, this issue left me disappointed.
