I’d love to come up with a wittier title for this review…but honestly that’s my impression of THE FLASH #7. We have Godspeed, Black Hole, young Wally…what more do you want? Oh, that? Got it, too…in another outstanding issue of THE FLASH. Want to know more? Just follow us after the jump…
SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
The battle between August/Godspeed and Barry/Flash takes a toll on both. An important note here: THIS is how you show a flaw in a seemingly unbeatable foe without jumping the shark. Godspeed can be in two places at once…but he can’t keep it going for long, and dividing up his speed force causes pain over time. Still, he’s beaten Barry pretty badly and he gets away for now.
While Barry stops to heal, Wally shows up, revealing his own powers! FINALLY, Barry sees Wally run! No uniform yet (unless you want to pick up a copy of TEEN TITANS REBIRTH #1, also out this week). But, Barry agrees to team up with Wally, and they go off together to…
Reclaim the Speed Force!
Godspeed has been forcibly taking Speed Force energy from other speedsters, killing them in the process. Barry figures out the ultimate workaround…they have to want to give up their connection to the Speed Force, and the reclaimed Speed Force energy needs to shared by two speedsters to make the transfer safe…and yes, that is a bit convoluted but it leads to Barry and Wally getting literally “up to speed” with the help of most of the new speedsters…
Except for Avery, at least at first. But, when she does agree to give up her speed, enter Godspeed once again! But, let’s back up a moment…
Black Hole agents staged an attack and demanded the release of their now-comatose leader. Normally, Barry would make short work of these folks and take them to Iron Heights. Godspeed has a different idea…kill them all! He does so in brutal fashion, showing us the flip side of the Speed Force. We see how super speed can be used for evil, merging some of the bad guys with the walls! We also see something that has to be a foreshadowing of events to come, in that August still can’t let go of who killed his brother…even though he killed the man he suspects committed that crime.
Fast forward to Godspeed attacking Avery – she’s okay, but he has a new target. Keep in mind that Godspeed thinks he really is a hero. He thinks he has a better approach than Barry…and that approach is to kill all the bad guys before they can do anything else! He’s on his way to Iron Heights to kill every prisoner in the place! Can Barry stop him? Can anything stop Godspeed? That’s something we’ll have to find out next issue. But for now…
NOTES: It bears repeating here – THIS is how you show flaws in a seemingly unbeatable foe without jumping the shark. It’s all comic book physics, but within that realm of thinking it works. There is no disturbance to the suspension of disbelief we need to enjoy the story. I cannot express enough how gratifying it is to see how well writer Joshua Williamson has handled this aspect of the tale…in fact how well Williamson is doing overall with this series. This arc keeps building without losing any steam. I’m also VERY glad to see Barry now aware of…and working with…young Wally. I’d say “It’s about time” but at the same time I like how this relationship is developing. Again, it works.
The artwork continues to impress – if anything, it’s even better (and that’s truly saying something). Carmine Di Giandomenico’s pencils/inks are outstanding, as is the color work by Ivan Plascencia.
I’ll give this one a 10/10 – what do YOU think? Leave your comments below!
I like Godspeed as a villain. He is definitely a step up from Daniel West and the new 52 Thawne. He is becoming kind of a spiritual successor to Hunter Zoloman who, in my opinion, was always the most interesting evil speedster.
However, and it bears repeating, the new Wally West is still not Kid Flash. The television character based on him will now become Kid Flash before he does. And he really backslid quite a bit when he started blaming Barry for Meena’s predicament. I think I’ve figured out the weakest part of the new Wally West: his relationship to Barry Allen. I was intrigued by his relationship with Meena in Flash, and he has gotten off to a great start in Teen Titans, but when he is put in the same space as Barry, he instantly becomes an abrasive hothead so that Barry can play the mentor. This was definitely not a problem when Wally was training with Meena.
Anyway, it’s Barry’s book, so I won’t take too many points away from it for that. I can read Titans and Teen Titans to see either Wally West at their best; I’m just disappointed that the title responsible for the new Wally’s introduction dragged it out so long and dropped the ball on several occasions. Putting on a costume and fighting bad guys should not be such a trudge in a superhero book.
Williamson didn’t take the most original route to get here (as I’ve previously pointed out the many similarities between this story and other recent Flash stories). But now that we’re here, it is pretty dang awesome! The pacing for this issue was perfect — lulling me into a false sense of security, then smashing me with big, incredible moments. The Flash is fun again!