With the Justice League missing and presumed dead, the Rogues return to Central City…what’s left of it, anyway. Remember Grodd’s last visit there? This issue gives us another in-depth look at just what makes the Rogues tick. Let’s just hope they live long enough to demonstrate their better qualities…
LIGHT SPOILERS ONLY
The Rogues have returned to a shell of a city decimated during the Grodd Villains Month story. Captain Cold has only one goal at this point -to get to the hospital and find out what has happened to Lisa. Problem is, the Society doesn’t care about Lisa or the hospital or anything else in the city. They have orders for the Rogues that go well beyond their code – will they go along or will they risk death to fight the Secret Society?
It seems that these Forever Evil tie-ins are not a healthy place for pre-New 52 Rogues to be, and if you’ve seen the preview pages for this issue you have a clear idea of what that statement means. Still, we see a lot of what makes the Rogues the amazing group that they are in this story. This is still a blue-collar group of villains, interested in the score but not necessarily in world domination. They bicker and feud among themselves but know how to pull together when the chips are down. Their reaction to the threats in the city are true to who they are, and that makes for a very good story overall.
Brian Buccellato scripted this issue with art from Patrick Zircher and Scott Hepburn supplied the pencils and inks with colors by Nick Filardi. The art style here is much darker than the usual Flash story, which makes sense given what has happened to Central City and the fact that his is a Forever Evil tie-in. As for the story, my favorite moment is the conversation between Len and Sam in Lisa’s hospital room – can’t spoil it but that moment is very touching. This is an excellent start to the mini-series overall…just wish it were an ongoing instead of a mini-series…
No mention of the mid-issue artist switch?
I take it then that it didn’t annoy you like it did me?
Regardless, I agree. I thought this was a great start. Looks like it’s planning on being action heavy. The rogues dispatched their foes too quickly for me, but the set up for the next fight is promising. I do wish it was an ongoing; sometimes it’s fun to root for the bad guy.
Saw a mention of something in another forum that gave me pause:
Where is Pied Piper? I haven’t seen him in any Preview/Commentary lately. Did his character get fridged? 🙁
While Grodd did strike Piper in Flash 23.1, nothing I have seen seems to indicate he is dead. Since the Brian has had no problem showing Girder and Chroma as very dead, it is safe to assume Piper is just somewhere licking his wounds.
Girder’s dead?
In Rogues Rebellion #1 stand around his mangled body and assume he is dead. However, he has survived literally being ripped in half, so who knows for sure. Chroma however was shown decapitated, so I am pretty sure he is dead. However, I hold out the hope that Chroma is not actually Roy G. Bivilo, and that the real Roy will return as Rainbow Raider and avenge his father/brother/art teacher or whoever Chroma was 🙂
I liked this issue.