Tag Archives: Irey West

Review: Flash: Rebirth #5 — “Mother, May I”

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Flash: Rebirth #5

Flash: Rebirth is closing in on its conclusion. Mysteries are revealed, heroes battle villains — well, a villain anyway — and change is in the wind for more than one speedster. The sense of urgency that started building in issue #4 is present in full force here, as Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver build the story to one last cliffhanger before the end.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Wally West’s new costume debuts in this issue. If you’ve read it already, or don’t mind being spoiled — or want to be spoiled — you can read my comments and see a scan in my previous post. The change itself is a little forced, but works well enough — and, interestingly enough, isn’t played up at all by the characters themselves.

So: Barry Allen solves his cold case, Jay Garrick demonstrates that super-speed is more than just running, the West Twins reach a turning point, Liberty Belle makes an impression, and Professor Zoom proves himself petty and vindictive as well as vicious.

Purpose

A lot happens in this issue, but I can’t help but feel that it ultimately doesn’t matter. The plot of Flash: Rebirth is secondary to the book’s real purpose:

  1. Rearranging characters to put them in the roles that DC wants for 2010.
  2. Restructuring the Flash mythology.

Along the way, it does a lot of what one of my friends in Star Wars fandom calls “spackling:” patching over rough spots or outright holes in continuity. Last issue we got an explanation of why Barry never learned about the Speed Force in the form of a completely new interpretation of how it works. This issue we get an explanation for why Barry’s flashback has his parents in Central City instead of Fallville. We get yet another layer on why Jay and Joan Garrick look 50 instead of 90, and a new explanation for why Jai and Iris/Irey West don’t have super-speed. We even get an explanation for “hot Iris.”

In that way, Flash: Rebirth is a lot like World War III, which existed solely to explain what had changed between Infinite Crisis and the “One Year Later” books. That this miniseries is the best Flash story since 2005 has less to do with it being a good story than it does with the fact that the comics from 2006 through 2008 were incredibly haphazard.

Well, I’ve reached the point where I can’t say anything more without giving anything away, so if you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading now! Continue reading →

Review: Flash #243, “Everything, Always”

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Flash #243 marks the last issue of the Tom Peyer/Freddie Williams II run on the series, and the final issue of the “Fast Money” storyline. It resolves a number of plotlines from the past year, leaving other possibilities open.

Artist Freddie Williams II has really hit his stride on this book, which makes it a shame that he’s leaving. It took a while to get used to it, but a few issues ago I started to like it. It seemed to have more life, more energy, than it did at first — and in a book that’s all about speed, that’s critical. (Interestingly, when I spoke with him at Comic-Con, he mentioned that the editor had initially insisted on a slightly different style than his usual, and he’d been allowed to go back to his regular style around the same point that I started liking the art. He also had a page of original art from Flash #241 that I would have been seriously tempted by if I’d had a spare $250…)

Story-wise, I’ve really enjoyed the last three issues (parts 3-5), but I felt that the final chapter fell short. In part, there were three major plot threads to resolve, and only one really got any focus. Additionally, that resolution seemed to hinge on a piece of knowledge which they should already have had.

At this point I’ll have to break into spoilers. You have been warned. Continue reading →

Iris Sketch by Freddie Williams II

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I stumbled on Freddie Williams II’s Artist’s Alley table at Comic-Con today, and commissioned a sketch of Iris West II in her Flash phase.

I had time, so I waited around while he did the sketch, looked through his portfolio, and talked about the book. Several other people came by to talk, or to look at his art, or to commission sketches of their own. When he was almost done, Dan Didio dropped by to say hello. (To the artist, of course!)

He had original art for sale, including a few pages from the last few issues of The Flash. I was seriously tempted by the page that showed Wally, Iris and Jai running into battle from #241, but I just don’t have the spare $250 lying around…

I mentioned that I’d really liked his run with Tom Peyer, especially the last few issues, and he mentioned that the editor had previously asked him to go with a more open, flat, happy style to his art, and he actually felt better about the art the last few issues. We talked about the harshness of internet fandom — when people like something, they don’t always go out of their way to post about it, but when they dislike it, and when they can hide behind anonymity, it’s almost a compulsion to say so, loudly, as brutally as possible.