Uproxx has a preview of Reverse-Flash #1 (a.k.a. The Flash #23.2, arriving in stores next week. The book by Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato, and guest artist Scott Hepburn delves into the origin of the new Reverse Flash, whose identity was revealed in the pages of The Flash #23 last month.
Looks like there are shades of Hunter Zolomon to the new Reverse-Flash’s backstory. Nice touch.
And while the text is too small to read out, it cracks me up to see the Rogues robbing everybody stranded in the Mirror dimension before letting them go.
I love these guys so much..
Note that you’ll have to okay either javascript or cookies or something to view the slideshow. Since I’m paranoid on such things, I opted to wait. No big deal. Read the comments though.
Will say that I’m SUPER GLAD it turned out the character isn’t Wally. If Flash: Rebirth and Road to Flashpoint brought me to the edge of quitting comics in any form–*that idea* would have done it.
I’m not sure how I would have felt if Wally was Reverse Flash.
It certainly would have been compelling to see my favorite DC super hero driven to become one of my favorite villains (New 52 Reverse Flash is way too cool)… I actually dug the whole Parallax thing with GL, and if they were able to REALLY make me believe his motivation it would have been interesting at the very least.
That said, having Reverse Flash essentially being family is pretty cool and could make for some intense stories down the road, especially if Wally ever shows up as a speedster (though I don’t want him and Bart both active. 3 is a crowd)
See, there we differ. When Wally was running and Jay or Max would show up my heart would skip “Jay!” “Max!” “Yay!” I love/d the whole ‘family’ aspect be it Flash, Batman, GLs, Superman. It was heartwarming and made for some great moments. Maybe it’s because my own family isn’t anything like close, but I miss seeing that lighthearted “no matter what we still got us” stuff. NuBarry….it looked like he was gaining a Speed Force family only to have RF literally rip it apart. NuJay…I haven’t kept up with…is he even still alive? NuBart….eh, so far that Bart Allen is more a stranger to me then Smallville’s. When they cemented that he was not an Allen…I find myself no longer much caring.
Yeah I always disliked the “family” aspect of DC heroes. I never had that familial closeness either (haven’t spoken to most of my family in almost a year), but it gets me because in many ways it takes away from the main hero.
I always liked having Jay around because I like the idea of the semi-retired mentor, and I used to like having all the speedsters like Max…
But the more people we have that are essentially as fast as the Flash and have the same abilities, the less obvious it becomes as to why he should be special.
I dunno, I could deal with three of them as long as their version of speed had something unique and interesting (like they do with the current RF), as long as it’s not like the Superman family, where every character is identical (HATE a giant cast of Kryptonians).
Beccaleto has been killing it on this series, so wherever they go I’m sure I’ll love it
Reverse Flash looks cool and I look forward to this, but when will they focus on other villains besides the Rogues, Reverse Flash and Grodd?
Such as whom? Curious what characters you’re interested in seeing that haven’t been shown off yet. Who are you most looking forward to?
Obviously they want to go for the big ones first, but remember we got the first major arc about a new “villain” in Mob Rule!
On the other hand, in 24 issues of the series we’ve only seen one story focused on a new villain.
It’s not fair to compare it to the explosion of creativity in the Silver Age, when they introduced 9 major villains in the first year alone, or even to Geoff Johns’ two-year buildup to Crossfire (5 villains in Iron Heights, another 6 in starring stories if you include Wonderland).
But if we look at the last reboot, and first 24 issues of Wally West’s series, we were introduced to…
– Kilg%re
– Speed Demon
– Red & Blue Trinity
– Chunk
– An organized crime family that was only later revealed to have ties to Vandal Savage.
– An alien invasion.
Plus one issue focused on the Rogues, one on Abra Kadabra, and a major storyline dealing with Vandal Savage, who previously had been more of a JSA villain than a Flash villain.
I actually didn’t compare it to the silver age… At all.
And I haven’t read the specific storylines you discuss but (honest question) how many of those villain introductions were silver age style bad-guy-of-the-month style issues that don’t tie into a greater plot thread?
I think if we tried to throw that many new characters at an audience today it would be seen as bloated and/or rushed
I didn’t say you did. That was the lead in to my comparison with the early post-Crisis Wally stories…which, since you ask, did in fact have several ongoing plot threads (Speed McGee’s sanity, the stability of Wally’s powers, and of course Wally trying to deal with the pressures of adulthood).
IMO the idea that every story has to be 5-6 issues to fill out a trade and be “important” to a larger arc in order to “matter” is actually detrimental to the storytelling, especially when the stories suffer from the degree of editorial micromanagement, eleventh-hour changes handed down from on high, and shuffling of the creative teams that we’ve seen just about everywhere else at DC over the last two years.
Long form storytelling is only one tool in the box, and it’s one that requires follow-through that you just can’t count on these days. I’m astonished that Manapul and Buccellato haven’t been kicked off or driven off as so many writers and artists have been.
Oh ok, I guess I just read what you were saying wrong
I can agree that long form storytelling CAN definitely be a problem, and I feel that problem rearing its ugly head every time we have big cross-over events (which I usually can’t stand)
There’s certainly a good place for both long and short form, absolutely.
Kilg%re would be cool. Rainbow raider/Chroma would have been cool to see, and maybe we can get a flashback issue of him. I know Girder, Tar pit and Folded man aren’t the greatest of villains but seeing more of them would be cool, particularily them crossing paths with the Rogues. An updated Colonel Computron would be awesome. A cameo of Turtle Man would be nice. Abra Kadabra would be sweet and so would the Thinker.
I wish they’d just leave Raider alone at this point, frankly. One issue was enough.
I’m with you on a few of these. I actually really like Tar pit. He’s a good villain for the Flash and I think pretty unique just because you don’t get a whole lot of super villains with that personality.
For some reason I actually like folded man because I think conceptually his powers are interesting, and I think this team would represent them well.
I think a interesting new reboot of both Turtle Man and Abra Kadabra would be great
Didn’t they just have Girder and the flat (dimensional) guy show up somewhere? (I’m guessing Murmer because I really loathed the gruesome nature of that villain and my luck being what it is of late…)
Murmur wasn’t in the issue
Rainbow raider (now called Chroma), girder, tar pit and the folded man all appeared briefly. Girder and chroma got the most screen time but not by much