Comments on: Full Review: Flash: Rebirth #3 — “Rearview Mirrors”

By: salleh

salleh — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 06:26:02 +0000

what a nice thing happen with flash…..
the i need to know…
where should i get those comic of flash…

By: Jesse

Jesse — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:26:28 +0000

I’m doubt Reverse Flash is the MAIN/FINAL/ONLY villain … remember one of the coolest scenes in Green Lantern in recent memory was when Sinestro, Cyborg, Superboy Prime were all revealed … and then the freakin’ Anti-Monitor?

By: Craig MD

Craig MD — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:45:58 +0000

I actually liked this issue, which was a surprise to me as the first two issues not impressive at all. This one actually seemed to have a bit of direction, and it was finally nice to see Barry meet Bart. Last page was neat, but I agree that the “wand” is silly.

Having Reverse-Flash back isn’t a big deal to me as I figured he would be the main villain before the series even began (Hal has Sinestro, Batman has Joker, Superman has Luthor, etc.). Nice to see Max again.

And yes, I’m sick of the bow tie, which was the low point of this issue for me. I would still rather see Wally as the star of the book as I just don’t care that much about Barry, but at least the story is stepping up the pace.

By: Aleclom

Aleclom — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:16:46 +0000

Yeah, I suppose that’s true. I just would’ve preferred anything else to this. I mean, Barry’s back, now Zoom’s back; it just seems to sort of invalidate the past 23 years of Flash comics by bringing these two back, essentially resetting the universe to right before the trial. I mean hell, Wally already defeated Zoom by surpassing Barry and becoming stronger/faster than either of them, so this just seems to be a step back.

By: papa zero

papa zero — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:34:28 +0000

I did ponder the idea of Abra Kadabra actually being the victor but having heavy inclinations as to who the mystery villain was – I just didn’t see him winning that fight. Besides the “offscreen” action another story element that shouldn’t be lost in the mix here is that Barry’s effigy turned black – likely another reference to him becoming Black Flash. But you have to wonder… why is this useful to the story now that we’ve already seen Barry transform?

Speaking of lost in the mix – Johnny Quick said that Barry was the answer to the speed formula. This is obviously reminiscent of his encounter with Savitar but how is it Johnny or Savvy know this? It can’t be knowledge rendered by embracing the speedforce since Barry doesn’t know… Answer the question Mr. Quick! How much did you know and when did you know it???

By: papa zero

papa zero — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:18:46 +0000

I was being silly about the bow tie of course – I’m a succer for the references like that as well as anyone. As a literary device I’m not sure it could function the same way Clark’s glasses do since those are intended to signify that the Clark identity is the mask. Iris wouldn’t serve the story well to give him a mask as this would disenfranchise her from the family/legacy theme in Flash. On the other hand it might be an attempt to remind him of those very ideas when he is in his Barry persona. I don’t like that idea as it necessitates them trying to accentuate those conservative, hard cop, rogue hero characteristics in Barry’s personality. Which then wouldn’t make sense because he hasn’t shown any duality in the identities in Rebirth thus far.

By: CM22

CM22 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:52:12 +0000

I think this is where the bowtie works. Before it was just a silly out of place story in issue 2, that didn’t really do anything but explain it’s own existence. But now it has symbolic meaning, it isn’t just because he needed a bowtie for a court case, it was a gift from Iris on their first date, and essentially a symbol of their love. I mean check the dialog there, he thinks it’s a ridiculous gift, but when he realizes what it really means he graciously accepts it from her. Not to mention, it isn’t a Flash ring or anything like that, it’s tied to BARRY and his personal identity, the big thing he’s grappling with as he enters the Speed force. For that alone I thought it was great.

I agree the art is amazing, and as I said in a review I wrote elsewhere, the scenes where Barry is running back into the speed force are probably my favorite of that same idea ever drawn. Short of when he drew it in Impulse.

I’m not sold or convinced on the Barry/Iris relationship being super strong or important yet, I understand it’s supposed to be, but come on. We read 100+ issues of Wally using Linda as his beacon time and again, and for a while they were all truly epic. Heck, we even saw the “remember her, remember her remember her…. I CAN’T REMEMBER HER NAME” thing in Race Against Time. I probably honestly would have enjoyed it here too, if this book weren’t supposed to be convincing me that Barry Allen is the only person these stories could be about… since they already did parts of this story with other people.

Superman race, cool. If nothing else I will always love Geoff for just having Wally and Barry BOTH blow Superman away when they decided it was time to get serious. But “I’m faster than heat vision” is still cooler than “Those were for charity Clark”

As for zoom? well… at least it’s not an energy manifestation speed parasite or something.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:58:22 +0000

I don’t think they could introduce a completely new Flash at this point. Maybe during Infinite Crisis it could have worked, but after the last three years of “Bye Wally, let’s bring in Bart! No, wait, let’s get rid of Bart and bring Wally Back! No, let’s cancel Wally!” there were only two approaches that would give readers confidence:

1. Assess what is and isn’t working with the current series, focus on what works, commit a high-profile creative team to a new direction and stick with it (rather than changing direction every 6 months).
2. Relaunch again and bet everything on the Hail Mary pass by bringing back Barry Allen.

I would have preferred #1, but they went with #2. Actually, I would have preferred that they not screw up the series to start with.

But that’s all, as they say, water under the drawbridge. I can’t exactly hop on a cosmic treadmill and go back in time to tell DC not to relaunch after Geoff Johns left the book in 2005, or to handle the relaunch differently.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:43:11 +0000

Absolutely: Barry Allen in Final Crisis was much more recognizable as Barry Allen. I get the impression that Barry’s personality is as much a story point as Bart’s personality was in “Lightning in a Bottle” — something that’s a starting point such that the story will move him to a more recognizable place — but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating to read serialized. It almost makes me wish I’d waited for the hardcover, but that would have made it difficult to keep this site current.

As for the bow tie, I think Geoff Johns is picking it out as a symbol of Barry Allen’s civilian ID in the same way that Clark Kent’s glasses are a symbol of his civilian guise. For whatever that’s worth.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:33:42 +0000

There’s definitely that, but I’m thinking of some other story in which two people had a confrontation off-panel, or off-camera, and the audience was led to believe one of them won, only to have it be revealed that it was actually the “loser” impersonating the “winner.”

I’m sure it’s been done a bunch of times, but I just can’t think of any examples right now.