The movie may be far away (if indeed it is released given the current state of affairs), but the comic is already here. This is the “Official Movie Tie-In Comic” for the upcoming FLASH film. How does it stack up? That’s what we’re here to talk about! Wanna know more? Follow us after the jump!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
NOTE: This review is just about the comic, and not the ongoing controversies surrounding the lead actor of the movie. All I’ll say here is that justice must prevail, and that matters a lot more than any movie. More on that at a later time, but for now let’s just talk about the comic.
This is a prequel that sets up at least one of the (familiar) villains of the movie, and gives us at least one version of Gotham City to view. The general plot is Barry Allen finding out just what kind of hero he can be. After an initial battle with Girder, his confidence is shaken. He gets help and training from Batfleck (the Ben Affleck version of Batman).
In this DCU, Flash gets the ring and suit from Batman, based on microcompression tech created in the Batcave instead of Barry’s lab. And during the training, we get the DCU explanation of how Barry can punch at super-speed without breaking his hands (after he managed to break his hands earlier in the story). The faster he goes, the more dense his physiology becomes, making the punch have a lot more, er, punch!
Of course Barry is going to win, but with a twist. Finding out Girder’s real motivation, Barry gets a certain Gotham City billionaire to pay for Girder’s father’s medical bills. And, Barry is finally figuring out what kind of hero he wants to be. This is “a new era” for The Flash.
NOTES:
- Movie tie-in comics are almost a genre of their own. The comic needs to build anticipation for the movie without giving too much away. That generally leaves little room for multiple story threads that the movie would have to resolve. The result is a more straight-ahead, heavy-action tale that runs between plot points almost as fast as The Flash. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s just how movie tie-ins sometimes go.
- Still, there were some interesting twists here – especially with how Barry gets his new suit and ring. And, it builds on the Justice League movie and Barry’s relationship with Bats. That tone was carried over well.
- The artwork leaned toward anime style in some panels, especially when Barry was hitting top speed. It’s an interesting take, but one that fits with what we’ve seen of the DCU Flash so far.
SUMMARY:
As noted earlier, movie tie-in comics are almost a genre to themselves. This was a generally solid prequel, one that explains a bit more about the development of this version of Barry. We get more of the DCU friendship of Flash and Bats, and an interesting twist on how Barry gets the new uni. Overall, I’ll give this a 7/10. Of course, that’s just my opinion. What do YOU think? Leave your comments below!