Full Throttle Part 2: Cold Case
Marc Guggenheim – Writer
Paco Diaz – Penciller
Art Thibert – Inks
Pat Brosseau – Letterer
Lee Loughridge – Colorist
Rachel Gluckstern – Associate Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Once again we have a Van Sciver cover that I just can't stand. Why does he insist on drawing Bart so furiously enraged? If Bart were to be arrested (doesn't happen in this issue) you'd think he'd have a look of shock and surprise on his face — not one of seething hatred. At least Zoom does look slightly more evil than Bart. But Zoom presents his own perspective challenges to this cover. Is he supposed to be sitting in the back of the police car with Bart, or is he in the front seat leaning back? I can't tell, and honestly I'm a bit surprised by the sloppiness here.
Our story begins at the Los Angeles Police Department Police Academy, where a couple of detectives are investigating the recent Steppenwolf attack. It doesn't take them long to realize that Steppenwolf went straight to Bart Allen's locker. Bart, meanwhile, is stuck in traffic. He bought a car to help protect his secret identity, but now he wishes he hadn't. While listening to the radio, he learns of a hostage situation nearby. Seeing as how his car is barely moving, Bart decides to slip out, save the hostages, and return to his car before the car in front of him has a chance to move more than five inches.
Bart eventually does make it to the Academy, and his instructor gives the class a five-year-old cold case to work on. A man named Brad Brickley, who had a criminal record, was found dead in the street with his head completely missing. The coroner was unable to determine how the head was removed, but has theorized it was ripped off.
We then head to Rome, Italy, on August 24, A.D. 410. The city is being destroyed by an invading army, and Wally West's old nemesis, Zoom, is enjoying the carnage from underneath a hooded cloak. Another hooded figure approaches Zoom to follow up on a previously discussed proposal. Zoom still isn't sure why he was asked to do this job, so the mysterious person tells him Zoom was selected because of his "nuanced sense of right and wrong" as well as the minimal temporal issues his involvement would raise. Zoom says if he does take this job, it's only because he wants the opportunity for himself. This doesn't bother the cloaked person, who promises knowledge of where their target will be.
Back in the present, Bart heads to the scene of the crime of the cold case. He initially thinks he's the only one smart enough in his class to check out the crime scene, but then he immediately worries that he's the only one stupid enough to go there. Then Bart finally acknowledges that he's the only one who used super speed to run over there right after class. With all those worries out of the way, Bart begins examining the evidence.
There wasn't any blood splattered on the nearby wall, indicating that Brickley's head wasn't ripped off by a villain like Solomon Grundy. There also wasn't any sort of blast mark on the wall behind Brickley, suggesting this wasn't the work of heat vision, an energy blast or even Heat Wave's flamethrower. Bart eventually does find something unusual — little puddles of water on the ground where Brickley's head was supposed to be. Bart quickly checks the weather records and finds it hadn't rained in the 72 hours preceding the murder. So Bart decides to interrogate some ice-themed super villains.
He first visits Icicle in Alcatraz, who says he not only has never heard of Brickley, but he was also in prison at the time of the murder. So Bart goes to Gotham City, where Mr. Freeze is at large and understandably upset to be accused of murder. Fortunately, he is willing to talk to Bart — while trying to blast him with his ice gun. Freeze asks Bart why he hasn't interrogated Captain Cold, and Bart says Cold was reformed when Brickley was killed. But Freeze insists that the murder scene, as described by Bart, could only be the work of Captain Cold's unique tech. Unable to see the flaw in this argument, Bart angrily lets Mr. Freeze go and heads to Keystone City to visit Leonard Snart.
Bart steps into Snart's apartment and opens with a deal — if Snart confesses to the murder, Bart will make sure he's tried in Keystone and not L.A., where he would likely face the death penalty. Snart pleads ignorance, but Bart says he checked Snart's credit card receipts and found he was in Los Angeles the day of the murder. So Snart pulls out a cold gun and blasts it at Bart, who fights back the cold waves with a wall of heated up air in front of himself. Snart admits he was getting payback on Brickley, while Bart grabs and destroys the cold gun. But when Bart grabs Snart, the villain begins smiling, because right behind Bart is Zoom.
Bart is too surprised to react to Zoom's initial attack, which pulls him away from Snart. Bart quickly strikes back, but promptly runs into Zoom's hand, leaving him with painful cuts in his chest. Bart jumps back to his feet, but is unable to land a punch on Zoom, who mocks him for letting his anger make him sloppy. Zoom hits a nerve cluster on the back of Bart's neck, then starts pummeling his face.
Meanwhile, in Central City, Jay Garrick is defeating Heat Wave and putting him in an armored vehicle. After Jay takes off, Heat Wave notices that Inertia is inside the police transport with him. After exchanging some unpleasantries, Inertia tells Heat Wave he needs to start thinking bigger than the computer warehouse robbery he just failed at. Heat Wave says he's not interested in teaming up with Inertia, but Thad promises his plan will change the world and get rid of the Flash as a bonus.
We return to our main fight, where Bart has started asking Zoom why he's acting out of character with this random attack. Zoom says he's doing a favor for someone and that he's actually trying to help Bart. Bart doesn't believe this, and manages to finally gain an upper hand on Zoom when they start moving fast enough to vibrate through objects. Bart tricks Zoom by vibrating into the ground below him and popping back up to hit him with one strong punch. Bart demands to know who Zoom is working for, and Zoom meekly answers, "Her ..." Bart looks up to see his grandma, Iris Allen, pointing a gun at his head.
That ending was the first genuine shock we've had in this series. I'd almost forgotten what it feels like to be surprised. The involvement of Zoom is intriguing, as his main motivation was always to make Wally a better hero. But now Zoom seems to have devolved a bit and is spending his free time witnessing horrific acts of destruction throughout history. So ... anything and everything could be in play here. On a whole, I really enjoyed this issue. It's nice seeing Bart learn how to be a police officer and track down cold cases. And the fight with Zoom was really satisfying. It sure is a shame that this book has to end now that it's finally getting halfway decent.
This issue also gave us our 10th different art team in 10 issues. You'd think they would have accidentally had the same creators work together on at least two issues, but no such luck here. Diaz's art wasn't too bad — it was just very different from what we usually get on this series (although it is somewhat difficult to nail down a certain "style" for this book). I was annoyed with some facial expressions and Diaz's take on Inertia, but his art was otherwise very nice. Now for the new ads:
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Next time, we'll conclude Bart's involvement with 52.
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