The Flash Families Form
There is a new war between Flash and Thawne coming. After setting aside their differences, Barry and his nemesis from the future took on Paradox. The villain threatened the very timeline by removing the Flash with the help of Godspeed. Barry frees the villainous speedster and proceeds to distract the time-breaking villain as Thawne heads back and averts the accident that created Paradox in the first place. The trio of speedsters escape the realm of Paradox, and the Flash Age is saved. Just when everything seemed to be going great, Reverse-Flash kills Godspeed and swears to create a Flash Family of his own. Will Barry be prepared?
**Some Spoilers Below**
Story:
Barry is still reeling from the end of the Flash Age. As he mourns to his friend/enemy, Godspeed, he begins to mentally prep himself for the coming battle. He first tells Iris that she has to lay low for the coming battle. She finds this suspicious as Barry runs off to find the young speedsters. After telling them to run, Barry prepares for his confrontation with Thawne.
Meanwhile, Reverse-Flash travels to the past and begins recruiting Flash villains. After he recruits Grodd, The Rogues, and Turtle, he heads to the future to recruit two dangerous villains to his cause.
After the explosive ending last issue, we take it down a few notches for this one. This issue is hinting at a coming battle between Barry and Thawne, which will likely lead to Thawne’s death(again). This time around, however, we get the hype that this will be an all-out throwdown with the entire cast of the Flash series. The biggest surprise, however, comes from the villains Thawne picks up from the future. While this reviewer will be keeping it a secret, I can already tell this is going to be one hell of a game-changer.
The problem of the issue comes from the basis that it is just hyping up the next arc. There isn’t much else to it. Sure we get what both Flash and Reverse-Flash are thinking, but there isn’t a huge action set piece and is mostly just discussion. While that usually isn’t a problem, it wouldn’t have hurt to have some excitement in the issue. There is drama building that will make for nice character building in the not too distant future, but as it stands alone, it’s a bit boring.
Art:
Christian Duce provides his usual fantastic art for this in-between arcs chapter. His designs for all of The Flash’s villains are excellent, with the highlights being the surprise future villains. Along with the visuals for the powers used, Duce is able to capture the emotions of the slower scenes. You can feel the frustration with Barry radiating off the page. I don’t just mean the anger, but the sadness and regret as well. The illustrations are able to convey emotions from everyone exceptionally well. The only thing that makes it better is the fantastic vibrant colorwork of Luis Guerrero, which has characters pop off the page. A great team effort for a great looking book.
Conclusion:
Overall, this issue isn’t a terrible follow up to Flash Age, but it could have been better. Big arcs can get a pass for a slower, emotional issue, but they need to be game-changers. With the finale being subpar, it just felt like a boring follow-up. The art team did a fantastic job for the comic, all grievances aside. I hope this team returns as we enter this next arc. There is a lot of promise to be seen here, but I’d rather it now then promised later.
