We’ve seen the start of ENDLESS WINTER, and this multi-title story moves to THE FLASH with this issue. Just how does Barry fit into the story…and what does Black Adam have to do with the whole thing? You’ll get at least some answers here – and if you wanna know more, follow us after the jump!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
This story begins in the 10th Century, when the Viking Prince, Queen Hippolyta and Swamp Thing arrive to recruit none other than Black Adam to fight the same threat our heroes are facing today. They may have saved the day back then…but whether Black Adam is interested in another fight remains to be seen. He’s protecting Kandaq and all its refugees (including some familiar bad guys), but he does lend a hand to The Flash.
That’s fortunate, because Barry doesn’t do so well against the icy creatures that come out of this super storm. Even his connection to the Speed Force seems to be slowing down. Barry tells Adam, “I’m not exactly feeling connected to my usual lightning.”
And of course, Black Adam has a cure for that.
He calls down his own mystic lightning, and it restores his full speed! Barry runs off to find Iris, while Black Adam ponders their talks. Something important must have been said…and we’ll know more about that soon.
As for Iris – no worries there. She’s pulled one of Heat Wave’s guns from the Flash museum and is doing quite well on her own. She sends Barry off to fight the good fight…and that’s where we leave it for this issue.
NOTES:
- This issue has a different creative team, with Andy Lanning and Ron Marz scripting the story. Clayton Henry returns from Kevin Shinick’s first issue to handle the artwork, with Marcelo Maiolo on colors and Steve Wands back on letters. The flashback sequence that started the issue was illustrated by Marco Santucci, with colors by Arif Prianto and letters by ALW’s Troy Peteri.
- This steps outside the normal continuity for the series to tie in to ENDLESS WINTER. While this is a definite Flash-centric tale, it’s meant to fit in with the overall “event” story. This issue handles that quite well. The challenge for these types of tales is staying within the event without taking your star character out of the limelight – here the task is balanced just right.
- Even though Iris doesn’t get a lot of story time here, the way she is portrayed is what we would hope to see. Not the “damsel in distress” and not a Lois clone. Iris is a fantastic character in her own right, and I’m glad she was seen as handling herself well against such tough odds.
- The artwork is exceptional. That’s true for both the main story and the flashback to the 10th century.
SUMMARY:
This is a good overall tie-in to the ENDLESS WINTER event. I’ll give this an 8/10 – of course, that’s just my opinion. What do YOU think? Leave your comments below!