Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2

Book Two

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Artist and Covers
Dave McCaig Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer

Our main cover follows the same idea of the first issue, this time giving the focus to Heat Wave. I like the idea, but I have to admit Heat Wave doesn't look quite as intimidating from the side. That bulging gas mask looks pretty goofy.

I pulled the variant cover from dc.wikia.com once again. And I actually like this one. The Rogues are tipping the balance of Libra's scales — figuratively in the story, literally on this cover. I like it so much, I wish we didn't have those big red Final Crisis labels eating up all the space.

Our story begins with a quick montage of the Rogues talking about Libra and Libra's group of villains talking about the Rogues. Captain Cold maintains his disdain for secret societies, but Mirror Master and Heat Wave seem a bit concerned about making enemies out of all the villains who have joined Libra. Most the villains on Libra's side don't think too highly of the Rogues, and Doctor Light wonders why they wouldn't want to be a part of evil's eventual victory.

For reasons I don't fully explain, the Rogues begin their quest to kill Inertia by visiting their old tailor, Gambi. As Weather Wizard explains to Trickster, they liked Gambi not because of his fashion sense, but because he knew how to construct outfits that could withstand the rigors of their work. For example, Weather Wizard's suit is made of fabric that's resistant to 500 mile per hour winds. The Rogues unfortunately see that someone has broken into Gambi's and left a message for Captain Cold by burning a mannequin dressed like his late sister, Golden Glider, and leaving a note on it asking, "Who's next, Cold?"

The Rogues find Gambi beaten and tied up in the back, but still alive. Taped to Gambi's shirt is one of Mirror Master's mirrors. When Captain Cold picks up the mirror, he's greeted by a man who introduces himself as Chill, leader of the New Rogues. He, Burn, Mirror-Man, Mr. Magic and the Weather Witch have been hired by Libra to bring in the Rogues to punish them for being disbelievers. Chill also says that the Penguin was able to acquire some of the Rogues' old weapons to give to this new group. Chill then tells Cold that they've kidnapped his father and will kill him if they don't surrender to Libra. But Captain Cold says he'll find the New Rogues and will kill them and his father himself.

We check in with Inertia, who is trying to run away from Zoom and the Kid Flash costume he wants him to wear. But Zoom catches up, and begins beating up Inertia some more. Inertia says he had heard that Zoom lost his mind when the Cosmic Treadmill blew up in his face, but he never expected that Zoom would actually be on the Flash's side. Zoom says he's only on his own side, and he performs a quick profile on Inertia. Zoom says that as Bart Allen's clone, Inertia became twisted and obsessed with finding his own identity, but he failed, and now he wants to take Bart's identity. So Zoom offers him the chance once more to take it. Thad says he doesn't want it anymore, so Zoom hits him with one of his devastating super-speed snaps. With blood running down his face, Thad asks Zoom why he wants him to put the Kid Flash costume on. But Zoom says he doesn't want Inertia to do this — Libra does.

Meanwhile, the New Rogues are debating whether they should be worried about Captain Cold's threat. Mirror Master appears on the mirror they used to communicate with, and he mockingly points out that it's quite simple for him to track the refraction back to the meat locker they're currently hiding in. Chill realizes how serious this is, and he suggests they turn out the lights to render the mirrors useless, but Mr. Magic refuses, saying he can take on the Rogues with Abra Kadabra's old wand. Suddenly, the Rogues walk right through the reflection of the freezer's door.

Burn is the first to attack, engulfing Heat Wave in a blast of flames. But Heat Wave calmly stands in place, explaining that Gambi designed his suit to withstand much high temperatures than this. He then returns fire (literally), saying that the Flash's suit is able to withstand the friction he creates when running 20 times the speed of sound, but Heat Wave's fire can melt the Flash's boots. Burn's heat suit is no match for Heat Wave's fire, and he's quickly burned alive.

Weather Witch tries to hit Weather Wizard with a bolt of lightning, but he easily absorbs the blast. He then strikes her with a much larger bolt, instantly reducing her to a pile of bones. Chill tries to hit Captain Cold, claiming that he's tougher than Cold since he grew up on the streets of Gotham. But Cold says his dad was a lot tougher than Gotham. Mirror Master has blinded Mirror-Man, enabling Trickster to get a large slinky around his neck, killing him. Mr. Magic turns the slinky into a cobra that attacks Trickster. Mirror Master then creates four mirror clones of himself that all gang up on Mr. Magic, saying that even though he and Axel aren't the original Mirror Master or Trickster, their predecessors aren't alive anymore.

Mirror Master forces Abra Kadabra's wand out of Mr. Magic's hand, which Weather Wizard snaps in two by stomping on it. He tells Axel that if he wants to be a Rogue, then he needs to learn that the weapon doesn't make the Rogue. He then creates a tornado inside Mr. Magic's stomach, causing him to grotesquely explode from the inside out. Captain Cold, meanwhile aims his gun at Chill and pulls the trigger. When nothing seems to happen, Chill mocks him for having a weapon as old as he is. Chill then tries to punch Cold, but his fist somehow becomes stuck in midair. Cold explains that he first a wide beam to create a cold field — an invisible wall of absolute zero. He says he uses this field to slow down the Flash enough to see him, but on ordinary people, it's a lot less pleasant. Cold snaps off Chill's hand, which shatters like brittle ice. Captain Cold puts his gun to Chill's head, saying he wasn't the first to pick up his gun and try crap like this, and he won't be the last, but he is today.

With all the New Rogues now dead, Captain Cold apologizes to the visibly shocked Trickster, explaining that they needed to send a message to Libra and his followers: "Don't mess with us. Don't mess with our families." Trickster says families don't matter to him, but Weather Wizard insists they do, explaining you either love or hate your family — there's no in between. Mirror Master helps Captain Cold find his father, and Len Snart stoically marches into the room, telling the others not to worry, as this confrontation will be quick.

We then see the Pied Piper is also tracking down Inertia. By the time he finds him, Thad has finally given in to Zoom's and Libra's request and has put on the Kid Flash costume. Zoom begins training Thad, telling him that he's not tapped into the Speed Force anymore, and is actually drawing power directly from Zoom. Meanwhile, Iris Allen and the Garricks have visited the West household. Iris tells Joan that she felt Barry reach out to her, explaining that whenever Barry ran, it felt more electric than Jay or Wally running. While they talk, Jay checks in on Jai, who's complaining about feeling weird and tired, in addition to missing his dad.

We return to Captain Cold confronting his father. Len tells his dad that his sister is dead, and his dad immediately blames Len for Lisa's death. Len points his cold gun at his dad, who tells his son he's as weak as his mom. Len punches his dad, then turns and walks away from him, asking Heat Wave to kill his dad for him. Weather Wizard asks Captain Cold if he feels better, and Snart admits he doesn't, but he felt it was worth a shot. Cold then asks Wizard if he'd be willing to let them return to their old observatory hideout to set up base and find Inertia. Wizard reluctantly agrees, and Cold has Heat Wave burn the entire building down as they leave through Mirror Master's mirror. Trickster is still a bit disturbed by Cold leading this slaughter after all his talk about rules, and Mirror Master insists it was necessary after what Libra did. Mirror Master then tells Trickster that if he wants to stay on the Rogues, he needs to tell Cold why he needs — not wants — to be on the team.

Gorilla Grodd is watching the Rogues walk away from a monitor room with Libra. Grodd offers to rip the Rogues apart, but Libra says he wants the Rogues because the Flashes could be a problem and he needs people with experience fighting the speedsters to be on his side. Libra explains that the speedsters are the keys to this crisis as they have been to all others, and that they can unlock the door that their great evil has shut. Grodd asks Libra why he had Zoom recruit and train Inertia, and Libra says it's because he wants the Rogues to kill Kid Flash again to prepare them for the upcoming war against the speedsters. Grodd still believes the Rogues will refuse to help him, but Libra is convinced otherwise. He says the Penguin's goons miscalculated with Captain Cold, but he has a plan to control an even smarter, more powerful Rogue — Weather Wizard. Libra then shows Grodd that he has kidnapped Mark Mardon's toddler son.

This was another solid installment in this miniseries. It was nice to have it clearly laid out just how powerful the Rogues are. There's a reason the Rogues have been able to hold their own against the Flash for so long — and Johns showed us that reason. As for Inertia, we didn't get a whole lot this issue — mainly just setup for the climatic finale. I still think it's a little weird that Zoom would work under another villain, but it is actually consistent with him working with the Secret Society of Super-Villains in Infinity Crisis. So I guess you could call it an consistent inconsistency. The art was pretty good once again, except for a few more coloring mistakes and one weird panel where it looked like Mr. Magic had eight fingers on one hand. I am, however, getting tired of seeing Kolins draw characters in the rain. Instead of the characters looking wet, they come across as oddly shaggy. 

Next time, before we can finish this Final Crisis miniseries, we have to begin another one: Legion of 3 Worlds.