As we’ve seen, there will be a four-issue Flash-Batman crossover in late April and early May, taking place over Flash and Batman #21-22. Now DC has released the cover for Flash #21, which features the apparent return of Professor Zoom, who may be the “unwelcome third party” from the issue solicitation. The time aspect of the mystery does suggest he’d get involved at some point, but it’s interesting to see what appears to be a pre-Flashpoint version of him. At the very least, he’s not wearing his New 52-era costume.
“The Button”: Two greatest detectives in the DC Universe unite to unravel the mystery behind a certain blood stained smiley face button stuck in the Batcave wall. However, what begins as a simple investigation soon turns deadly when the secrets of the button prove irresistible to an unwelcome third party — and it’s not who anyone suspects! This is a mystery woven throughout time, and the countdown starts here!
There’s another similar image of Professor Zoom as well, which I presume is part of a lenticular cover. Either way, it suggests that something sinister is going on, and that Thawne may regret getting into it. Hopefully there will be more details about the crossover soon, including confirmation or denial that the Reverse Flash will be part of the story.
Honestly, the new 52 Thawne isn’t far off from the original. It’s the pre-52 Zolomon that we really need.
New 52 Thawne had Zolomon’s powers, so he was pretty different. And unless they give Rebirth Thawne his own powerset back, there won’t really be room for Zolomon because his schtick was taken by Thawne.
http://i.imgur.com/2DfcVUz.jpg
Ah, OK. I flipped through those issues, and I don’t think I picked that up. I read the part where they repeated the Flash: Rebirth storyline with Barry’s mother as if it was a big reveal, though it skewed closer to the television version.
Some of the story was a bit of a mess. I actually liked the overall plot and some of the details, but things like Thawne randomly having Zolomon’s powers was weird and annoying. I hope it does get fixed in the upcoming storyline(s). Barry now has fragmented memories of his past with Thawne, which indicates that some pre-Crisis history is or was still intact, so hopefully Eobard’s powers will indeed be fixed.
If you look closely you can see that this is a reversed version of the current Flash costume, with the “Jim Lee lines”, a red circle around the emblem and the cut of the mask around the cheeks (no sign of the chin strap though).
I expect that this will tie back to Flashpoint somehow, but given his fate there, I can’t guess how.
I’ll be very happy if they write out the Eobard Thawne who appeared in the New 52 run. It was a very poor foundation for such a major character and too big of a departure from previous versions. Maybe he was from an alternate timeline? It makes me wonder if this crossover will touch upon the mystery of the three Jokers.
Yeah, it’s a bit of an unusual design for Eobard, but not too bad-looking. And I agree that it’d be best to revert him back to his original powerset, as it was just bizarre to merge him with Hunter Zolomon; I kind of wonder whether DC understands that some of these characters are classic for a reason. But much of the New 52 era of the Flash book seemed dedicated to revamping characters for the sake of it, and presumably Venditti and Jensen were just continuing in that vein and saw nothing wrong with their version.