52 Week Twenty-One

Teambuilding Exercises

Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Art breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Pencils by Joe Bennett
Inks by Jack Jadson
Colors by David Baron
Lettering by Travis Lanham
Cover by J.G. Jones & Alex Sinclair
Assistants Editors: Harvey Richards & Jeanine Schaefer
Edited by Stephen Wacker

This is one of the rare covers of 52 that I don't like. I can't tell if it's supposed to be showing a glass shattering or what. But what I do see is way too many characters crammed into one chaotic image. The people we actually care about are in the middle. They're Infinity, Inc., a new team of superheroes created by Lex Luthor. What could go wrong?

Our story begins in Luthor's office in Metropolis, with Natasha Irons (Steel's niece) begging Luthor to let her friend Eliza back on Infinity, Inc. Apparently Luthor had given Eliza super speed, but this also caused her to become addicted to a drug called Sharp. Eliza publicly blamed Luthor for this, costing her spot on the team. But now Natasha is saying Eliza feels awful for what she did and she's been off the drug for three weeks. Luthor considers this for a moment, then agrees to Natasha's request.

Natasha tells her friend the good news in her room, which is decorated with posters of all the Flashes, including the cover of The Flash #225. But mostly, she has pictures of good old Impulse. The Manchester, Alabama, native is overjoyed to hear she got a second chance. Eliza says she one day hopes to be the new Flash, but first, she plans to use Infinity, Inc. as a stepping stone to land a spot on the Teen Titans and become the next Kid Flash.

A couple of days later, Luthor is preparing Infinity, Inc. for their first mission — a televised battle against the new Blockbuster, who is reportedly stronger than the Blockbuster Impulse fought way back when. So Natasha, now going by the name of Starlight, leads her six-man team to Las Vegas to take on the rampaging villain. The fight gets off to a rough beginning — made even rougher by the cheesy dialogue provided by Luthor's writing staff. He resolves to re-record the dialogue in post, but decides to leave in the part where Eliza (Trajectory) kicks Blockbuster in the crotch.

Trajectory's cheap shot proves to be the deciding factor in the battle, however, as that allows Starlight to use her light-based powers to tie up Blockbuster. As soon as the villain is subdued, Beast Boy, Raven and four new members of the Teen Titans arrive. The two groups quickly begin bickering. Beat Boy, in particular, is upset that Natasha would agree to work for Lex Luthor. But he's willing to overlook that if she lets the Titans take Blockbuster into custody. Trajectory agrees with Beast Boy, saying the Titans know what they're doing. She then uses the opportunity to introduce herself to her favorite team.

Suddenly, Blockbuster breaks out of his restraints and tries to make an escape. Trajectory immediately takes off after him, waving off Starlight's warnings by saying she's going to become a star today. Trajectory quickly catches up to Blockbuster, jumps on his back and begins pummeling him. As she gloats that Blockbuster isn't fast enough to escape the new Kid Flash, Lex Luthor pushes a button on his control panel that deactivates Eliza's powers. Blockbuster immediately grabs and kills Eliza to the horror of the Teen Titans and Infinity, Inc. Luthor, meanwhile, is already making plans to replace Eliza on his team.

A couple of days later, Eliza Harmon's funeral is held in Manchester, Alabama. Luthor provides the eulogy, speaking of Eliza's admiration for Impulse, which inspired her to become a hero herself. Infinity, Inc. and the Teen Titans attend the funeral, and Beast Boy can sense that something fishy is going on. But as soon as the service ends, three of the new Titans immediately quit the team, derailing Beast Boy's efforts to investigate. Steel tries to talk to his niece about her powers, but she shouts at him and walks away in tears. Beast Boy, however, does tell Steel he and the remaining Titans are willing to work with him.

We also see that Ralph Dibny's quest has brought him to the literal gates of Hell, and a mechanic in Australia is attempting to rebuild the Red Tornado.




It is so refreshing to review a well-written comic book after those rough Flash: The Fastest Man Alive issues. I love how this story gives us someone who grew up in Impulse's hometown and was inspired by that goofy little superhero. I would have loved it even more if it would have been someone we knew from the pages of Impulse, like Ayana or even Preston, but Eliza's story was still sweet and tragic. Ultimately, she just fell victim to Lex Luthor's petty, ruthless ego. And that's when I think Lex is at his most compelling, most frightening. Willing to kill someone over a minor insult, then shamelessly speak at that person's funeral.

This issue doesn't explicitly mention Bart Allen, but I like to believe that he at least heard about poor Eliza. Her death did make national news, after all. So I think it's more than likely that this tragedy pushed Bart even further away from his destiny of becoming the Flash — at least for another seven months or so. Anyway, this was a great story, all in all. I just wish the art was a little crisper. The action scenes, especially, could have used some work. I'm not entirely sure if Blockbuster actually decapitated Eliza — the art is just really unclear.

Next time, we'll return to our frustrating main series with The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #4.