Lightning in a Bottle Part Three: Night of the Griffin
Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo Writers
Karl Kerschl Guest Penciller
Serge LaPointe Guest Inker
Pat Brosseau Letterer
Stephanie Peru & The Hories Guest Colorist
Rachel Gluckstern Asst. Editor
Joan Hilty Editor
Our cover by Ken Lashley shows Bart with a very pained and distressed look on his face as he chases his roommate, Griffin, who has now become a superhero himself. It's another messy, chaotic cover with a vague explosion in the background for no discernible reason. The facial expressions are unnatural, the figures themselves are lackluster, and I don't feel guilty at all about being happy that Lashley did not draw the inside pages of this issue.
Our story picks right up where last issue left off. It's 6:32 a.m., and Bart has instinctively thrown on the replica of Barry's suit to race over to S.T.A.R. Labs to save Valerie Perez from a bomb that has just begun to explode. As Bart runs over there, he admits to himself he's terrified, but he feels like the suit is preventing the Speed Force from blowing him apart. When he runs into Val's office, instead of merely vibrating through the wall, he accidentally moves too fast and stretches the wall's molecules like taffy. But he's able to quickly free himself and pull Valerie to safety before the explosion reaches her.
As soon as Bart is sure Val is safe, he goes back to the explosion to put out the fire by creating a vacuum around it. He worries about moving too fast again and collapsing the structure, but he manages to keep it under control and saves the day. He returns to Val, saying that little stunt felt like hanging on to a comet, but he's still in one piece. Val is excited to see his suit works, but Bart defensively says this doesn't mean he wants to be the Flash. When Val presses the issue, Bart insists that Jay Garrick is the only Flash the city needs and he runs away.
Even though Bart was literally begging Valerie one minute ago to help him get rid of the Speed Force, the explosion and ensuing awkward conversation seems to have put him out of the mood. So he goes to hang out with Griffin and a couple of scantily clad girls at the gym. Bart sets a personal best on the bench press — 250 pounds — but Griffin boasts that he can lift twice that much. As Griff loads up 500 pounds on the dumbbell, Bart blames Griff's new powers as the source of his inflated ego, apparently forgetting the kind of person Griffin was before the accident. To everyone's surprise, Griffin easily flings the 500-pound weight up through the roof of the gym. The dumbbell lands on somebody's car parked on the side of the road, but our heroes don't seem to face any repercussions from this.
Later, Bart catches Griff listening to the police scanner in their apartment. When Bart questions him on this, Griff points out that there is a serial bomber on the loose and he wants to do some good. Bart says he should just let the police and Flash handle this, but Griff mocks Jay for being "old school." As Griff talks about his powers being a gift, Bart starts to say, "With great power comes —" But Griff interrupts him and says, "Great reward!"
We cut to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Dr. McGee is telling Valerie that the bombing has prompted them to conduct deeper background checks on all their employees. And this background check has revealed that Valerie's father is a former super villain, who has battled Jay, Barry and Wally. Valerie admits she lied on the application form because she was afraid she wouldn't be hired if they knew she was related to Manfred Mota.
We then get a quick rundown of Mota, who originally was a physicist who stole equipment from Jay Garrick's lab to build an atomic-powered battle suit and become the villain Atom Smasher. Jay defeated him, and after spending 20 years in prison, Manfred was released and built a new suit to become Professor Fallout. Barry Allen defeated him this time and sent him back to jail for 15 more years. As soon as Mota was freed, he created a third suit and became Fusionn. This time, Wally West battled him, and the fight ended with Mota's suit exploding. It was believed Mota died in the explosion, but that has never been confirmed.
Valerie begs Dr. McGee to let her keep her internship. She said she took her mother's name Perez instead of Mota because she hates her dad so much. Valerie does, however, tell another lie by claiming she hasn't had any contact with her father in years. Dr. McGee tells Valerie that she has done good work, and she'll keep her on staff for now, but she does warn her that the S.T.A.R. Labs board might feel differently.
The next day, Bart changes his mind once again and does decide to meet with Valerie after all. She puts him in front of an old machine that should give them some kind of reading of the Speed Force. But as soon as she turns it on, Bart becomes engulfed in painful lightning. As soon as the machine is turned off, Bart angrily snaps at Val, telling her he is not all right and demanding to know why she's so interested in him. So Valerie tells him there was once a race riot at her high school and a group of skinheads had started a fire and locked the doors. Then Kid Flash showed up and saved the day, personally carrying Valerie to safety. She says she's been a fan of Bart's ever since. And then, for no apparent reason, Bart kisses Val.
Later that night, Bart is wondering whether he should call Val when he overhears a tense hostage situation on Griff's police scanner. Bart briefly considers running over there to save the day, but decides to call Jay instead. But before he calls Jay, Bart chooses to chastise Griff for listening to the scanner, and he sees his roommate wearing the outfit he had on the cover. Bart gives Griff some hypocritical, sanctimonious lines about how he shouldn't put on a costume and play vigilante, but Griff brushes him off. He says the real Flash has been gone for over a year, and now it's time for someone else to step up.
Griffin leaps out the window, and rushes over to the hostage situation. Apparently an unstable man lost custody of his son in the divorce and has decided that the boy is better off in God's hands than living with his ex-wife. Griffin lands on the rooftop, announces himself as The Griffin, and tells the man to let his son go. The man drops the boy over the side of the building, but luckily Jay Garrick is there in time to catch the child before he hits the ground. A crowd of people cheer the Flash as the fastest man alive, and some reporters try to get a picture of Jay with the kid, but he doesn't stick around.
The man on the roof pulls a gun on Griffin, accusing him of making him drop his son. Griffin prepares for a fight, but the man pulls the trigger before Griffin can react. Once again, Jay is there at just the right time, catching the bullet in midair before it hits Griffin. He grabs the man by the collar, then sternly points his finger at Griffin, telling him this work is not for amateurs and he doesn't want to see him on the streets again. And this makes Griffin very angry.
The next day, Jay is at S.T.A.R. Labs, watching security footage of a red blur putting out the fire. Since he know it wasn't him, he calls up Bart to congratulate him for doing the right thing. Jay admits it was a bit underhanded of him to build the Flash suit behind Bart's back, but he is proud of him. Bart thanks him, but maintains that nothing has changed. Jay also says that the security cameras have a possible ID on the bomber — a former Keystone Motors welder named Luke Thatcher. Foolishly, Bart loudly repeats all this sensitive information in the presence of Griffin, who begins forming a plan.
That night, Detectives Chyre and Morillo set up a perimeter around Thatcher's apartment, taking a cautious approach in case there's another bomb in the building. But Griffin casts caution aside and tears open a hole in the roof. Once he drops down into Thatcher's apartment, he finds maps and charts of the river and a newspaper article about a yacht party for the Keystone Motors CEO, William Slout (ironically, this is just what Griffin had predicted). But before Griffin heads off to stop Thatcher, he first pulls out his cellphone to call Detective Morillo. Identifying himself as Thatcher, Griffin says he's ready to surrender, but only to the Flash. He tells the detective to send the Flash to Point Breeze Lookout, threatening to blow up an entire block if anyone else comes.
Jay, meanwhile, is attending the CEO's party on the yacht when the detective calls him. Jay's a bit confused by this request, but he decides to play it safe and run out there anyway. Not long after Jay leaves, Thatcher begins approaching the yacht in a small raft, preparing his makeshift torpedo. And secretly waiting for him on the yacht is the Griffin.
What kind of production problems did this series have? In the first two issues, Ken Lashley needed a team of inkers to reach deadline. And then he already needed a guest artist on the third issue. However, this was actually a good thing, since I love Karl Kerschl's art so much more than Lashley's. It's lighter, so I can actually tell what's going on. All the characters look great, especially Bart. Kerschl also did a great of making sure Bart still looked like Bart when he put on the Flash costume, and didn't look like Wally. I wish Kerschl was the regular artist on this series. It would have helped a lot, but unfortunately the story is still pretty weak.
Everything is jumping around at a confusing, blistering pace. Literally one minute before this issue began, Bart was desperately begging Val to help him get rid of the Speed Force. He saves her, then immediately heads off to lift weights with Griff? Val gets called in by Dr. McGee, who says she probably will be fired, but then lets her keep working? Bart randomly does start working with Val after all, but starts yelling at her, so she tells one little story and he immediately kisses her? Can we please let things develop naturally! How much time is passing between scenes?
And everything about Griffin is incredibly stupid. First, his name is Griffin Grey and his hero name is The Griffin. Second, he was portrayed pretty much as an evil jerk right from the first issue, so it's no surprise that he'd turn into a villain. Third, when there was a slim chance of him trying to be a hero, Jay Garrick was unduly harsh with him. I give up. This is just a dumb story.
But my biggest complaint is we are now three issues into this new series about Bart being the Flash, and he still isn't the Flash. In fact, he's only done one heroic thing so far — saving Val from the explosion. But he has failed to even try to track down Thatcher or pull Griff off this destructive path. And I'm supposed to be cheering for this apathetic, wishy-washy "hero"?
Well, enough complaining. Let's check out the new ads:
A new power launches. Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game: Power of the Duelist.
Our success comes from the sick pleasure we take in frustrating thieves. Kryptonite.
Over #1 million in cash and prizes. World Series of Video Games.
Vans Warped Tour 2006.
The best defense against acne is a good offense. Oxy.
Wonka Laffy Taffy.
The DC Nation page advertises an upcoming story in Teen Titans involving Bart's old nemesis, Inertia. Dan DiDio says this will begin in Teen Titans #42, but it actually didn't start until issue #43.
Next time, we'll take a quick look at Action Comics #842.
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