Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #3

Kid Flash Lost Part Three

Sterling Gates Writer
Oliver Nome Penciller
Scott Kolins Art pgs. 10, 11, 16, 17, 19
Trevor Scott Inker
Brian Buccellato Colorist
Dezi Sienty Letterer
JJ Kirby Special Thanks
Kate Stewart Assistant Editor
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Cover by Francis Manapul
Cover Color by Brian Buccellato

Our third and final cover of this miniseries shows the near completion of Bart's fall onto a futuristic city below him. As always, it looks neat enough, but it still has absolutely nothing to do with our story. And it's really frustrating, you know? This is the last, grand hurrah of this version of Bart Allen, and an incredible artist was chosen to draw these covers, and all we got was three different angles of Bart falling on some random futuristic city that isn't even in the story! Bart deserved better than this.

Our story begins at Fort Mockingbird, Texas, in 1889. In the midst of a lightning storm, a couple of soldiers are nervously preparing for an upcoming battle. But their spirits are lifted by the arrival of Maxwell Crandall, the Windrunner. As Max speaks with the captain about how he can help keep peace in this part of the world, a soldier cries out in fear at the sight of something big and bright in the west. So Max rushes off to check out it, fearlessly running toward a bright, yellow ball of energy surrounded by lightning.

To Max's astonishment, an injured Bart Allen emerges from the lightning, wearing a black costume. Bart instantly recognizes his former mentor, but warns him to stay away. But this Max is a young man with long, flowing hair, and he hasn't met Bart yet, so he's naturally curious about this whole situation. Bart again warns Max to stay back, and explains that the Speed Force brought him to Max in his early days, before he was thrown through time. Bart ominously says the Black Flash, the embodiment of death for speedsters, is somehow inside him. As he begins talking about his need to find Barry, Max grabs hold of the rambling teen's wrist, warning him that a battle is less than two hours away. As soon as Max touches Bart, he screams out in pain and is electrocuted until he's reduced to a smoking skeleton. And Bart is ripped back into the Speed Force, feeling like a murderer that's falling through time and dying, himself.

As Bart hurtles through time, he sees images of Barry regaining his powers in the Flashpoint world and working with that version of Batman. But then images from Bart's own world start to leak through. He sees himself growing up in his virtual reality, then his first meeting with Wally West, where Bart greeted him with a bunch of punches to the face. This reminds him of the time he died and saw his life flash before his eyes. But then Bart sees strange images of bizarre worlds he doesn't think ever existed, where Superman and Batman have two heads each. Just as he begins to wonder if this is real life, Bart stops falling through the Speed Force and lands in a darkened laboratory.

Bart theorizes that the Speed Force has sent him to someone else it's touched, in order to prepare for something. Sure enough, he immediately stumbles upon a young Jay Garrick, lying unconscious on the ground amid some spilled chemicals emitting noxious fumes. Against his better judgment, Bart tries to help Jay up, but as soon as he touches him, he feels Speed Force energy flow from Jay to him. As he's ripped into the Speed Force once again, Bart compares it to a vampire, using him to drain energy from each person it touched.

Our hero is once again subjected to images of his past life — forming Young Justice with Superboy and Robin, hanging out with the Legion of Super-Heroes and his cousin Jenni, kissing his first girlfriend, Carol, and giving his mom a hug. But the images once again become confused, as he sees the normal Captain Marvel transformed into his Flashpoint counterpart. Suddenly, he's dropped out of the Speed Force and into a cemetery.

Bart's grandmother, Iris, and a man named John are visiting the grave of Wallace Rudolph West. Bart screams out in anguish when he realizes it's Wally's grave, and weakly moans that this is too much. John tries to pull Iris away from the strange teenager that fell out of the sky, but Iris insists on staying to find out what this is. Without offering any explanation, Bart demands to know what happened to Wally in this world, admitting aloud that Wally was a huge part of his life. Iris is bewildered by all this, but she does manage to tell Bart that Wally died while trying to protect people from Citizen Cold. Bart says this is all wrong and he shouts at Iris and John to get away from here.

Once the others are gone, Bart can feel the Speed Force start to pull him away, but this time, he's ready. He says he's done being the Speed Force's "garbage boy," and begins his attempt to outrace the Speed Force to Barry Allen. Which is exactly what he tried to do after his adventure with Patty Spivot, but then he started to get bounced around through time. But as he runs this time, he sheds the Black Flash costume and thinks he's beginning to understand the purpose behind all this.

Before long, Bart catches up to his grandpa, who is currently running back in time to try to undo the horrors of the Flashpoint world. As Bart closes in on Barry, images of Barry's life passes by him — from Barry's birth, to him acquiring his powers, joining the Justice League, fighting the Reverse-Flash, sacrificing himself against the Anti-Monitor and coming back to life during Final Crisis. Bart finally manages to touch Barry, but when he does, he falls into one of the flashbacks — Barry and Iris lying in bed, discussing Barry's strained relationship with Bart.

Suddenly, Barry pulls Bart out of that memory, telling his grandson that he does care about him. He asks Bart how he's here, but Bart says he doesn't have time to explain, beyond the fact that he finally realizes what he was meant to do. He tells his grandpa that he doesn't have enough speed to undo this weird reality, so the Speed Force sent Bart around to collect more energy to give it all to Barry. Bart realizes that the Speed Force encased him in Black Flash armor to protect him on that journey, but now that he's ready to transfer that energy, Bart becomes the living embodiment of the energy of the Speed Force — the very rare White Flash.

But Bart only gets to enjoy his fancy new white uniform for half a second before he withers away just like his grandpa did in Crisis on Infinite Earths. But even though Bart's body is gone, he's still able to communicate with Barry, telling him he now has the energy he needs to save the world. Barry runs off, leaving behind Bart's white costume, floating in the Speed Force. We get a closeup of Bart's ring and can see Bart's smiling face inside the lightning bolt. Even though he's now part of the Speed Force, Bart has no regrets. He reasons that because he "lost" this race to the Flash, an entire universe will now live. And with our final image of this continuity, we see Barry continue to boldly run forward, boosted by the energy of Jenni, Jay, Irey, Jesse, Wally, Max, and, of course, Bart.




I wish this whole series could have been like this — a loving tribute to Bart Allen and the Flash family. Instead of wasting all that time with Patty Spivot, we could have been visiting all the different speedsters and exploring critical moments of their lives. What we did get in this issue was sweet and touching — if a bit inconsistent. I don't understand why Bart had to kill Max, but not Jay or Wally. The Wally visit actually was the most confusing, since Wally didn't have super speed in the Flashpoint world and was already dead by the time Bart got to him. And I got quite tired of Gates portraying Bart's greatest anxiety as his relationship with his grandfather. Seriously, Bart and Barry are fine, even if they're not best buds. We didn't need one last "touching" reminder that Bart does matter to Barry.

But it was great to see Max in his prime, even if it was just for a couple of pages. And even more importantly, we got to see Bart selflessly sacrifice himself again to save the universe. That's what he did when he shoved Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force. That's what he (sort of) did when he took on Inertia and the Rogues. And that's what he did here. We won't worry about how well this story connects with the main Flashpoint series (it doesn't), and will instead celebrate the fact that Bart got to go out a hero. Most DC characters simply vanished away without a trace with Flashpoint, while others were written off in rather lame miniseries (like poor Wally). But Bart was allowed to perform something meaningful and be granted a way to come back. Just like how his "essence" was protected inside Brainiac 5's lightning rod, Bart is still alive — in a manner of speaking — inside his ring. And he will come back ... about seven years later. Which means this blog is now going to spend a considerable amount of time following the adventures of alternate versions of Bart.

Next time, we will begin the New 52 with Teen Titans #1.

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #2

Kid Flash Lost Part Two

Sterling Gates Writer
Oliver Nome Penciller
Trevor Scott Inker
Brian Buccellato Colorist
Dezi Sienty Letterer
Kate Stewart Assistant Editor
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Cover by Francis Manapul
Cover Color by Brian Buccellato

Our cover shows Bart still falling onto a city far below him, this time reflected on Hot Pursuit's visor. This still has nothing to do with our story inside, but it is really neat-looking. I mean, it's a Manapul cover, can you expect anything less?

Our story picks up in the year 3011, with Bart and Patty plotting their daring escape from Brainiac. Well, first, Bart has some questions about how Patty acquired Hot Pursuit's suit and Cosmic Motorcycle after he died. Patty explains that she went to Central City to see a friend, but then suddenly found herself back in the lab and the job she tried to leave behind. She was still helping out in the lab when some policemen gathered Hot Pursuit's effects to turn over to the Justice League. But instead of waiting for the Justice League to show up, Patty impulsively stole the gear and decided to become a superhero. She taught herself how to ride the motorcycle, thanks to the guiding influence of the helmet's AI, but on the third day, the bike "freaked out" and brought her here.

Bart reiterates that this is the wrong future and something must have happened to the timestream. He borrows Hot Pursuit's helmet and asks it to tell him what happened. Bart then cries out in pain as his brain is overwhelmed with dozens of contradictory images, showing the timeline he left behind, the new Flashpoint world Barry inadvertently created, and the post-Flashpoint world of the New 52.

Patty pulls the helmet off Bart, but he has collapsed and is slow to get up. And our heroes find out the hard way that they've been dawdling in one spot for too long, as a handful of floating robotic orbs have caught up with them. The robots begin to carry Bart away, who finally wakes up and demands that "Dr. Ball" put him down. Patty fires up the Cosmic Motorcycle and uses it to smash the robot and save Bart. But one of the other robots shoots Patty in the shoulder with a laser, so Bart insists on driving the cycle.

Bart drives right through the giant glass eye of Brainiac's skull-shaped base, which is unfortunately perched atop the old LexCorp tower. He assures Patty that he's driven a batplane before, but Patty, in a full-blown panic now, swears and tells Bart this isn't a plane. She manages to hit a switch on the bike that lets it drive on walls, preventing an imminent crash. Eventually our heroes are able to outrun the floating robots and find a safe spot atop a nearby building to regroup.

Patty berates Bart for pulling that stunt that almost killed them, and says she might as well just crawl back into that hibernation chamber and dream her worst memories again. She angrily asks how the Flash stands working with him, and Bart sadly says that the Flash doesn't work with him, at least not lately. Patty realizes she went too far, so she starts to apologize, but Bart interrupts her, asking what she dreamed about in the chamber. Patty says she drowned at a pool as a kid and it took the lifeguard a few minutes to resuscitate her. And she kept reliving that moment on a loop while she was in the chamber. She asks Bart what he dreamed, but he doesn't tell her (probably because he knows dreaming about a slightly rude Flash is no comparison to the torturous repetition of a near-death experience).

Bart gets down to business and starts piecing together the information Hot Pursuit's helmet gave him. He notes that something happened to the Flash (Bart's careful not to use Barry's name in front of Patty), and he laments not being able to see any trace of Max, Wally or even Jenni in this new timeline. Continuing to think aloud, Bart speculates that his grandfather is dead and there's nothing he can do about it. Patty tries to cheer him, saying they just need to find the Cosmic Motorcycle's fuel tank so they can use the Speed Force energy to go back in time and fix everything. Bart sadly says he doesn't think he's going to make it, and he shows Patty both his hands and now half his face have begun to fade away.

Patty sits in silence next to Bart for a moment, before turning the conversation back to how they need to save the future. She reminds Bart how Brainiac's studying the Speed Force to unlock the secrets of time travel, and she worries he may have already done so and has changed the past. In any case, the fate of the world depends on them to stop Brainiac. She asks Bart what the Flash would do, and this snaps Bart out of his depression.

We then check in on Brainiac, who is working in sub-level 7 of his laboratory. Bart suddenly shows up on his security monitors, calling the villain "Nerd-iiiac" and claiming that he'll never catch him, since he's the fastest time anomaly alive. Bart furthers the insults, by saying that Brainiac 5 told him Brainiac is dumber than a bag of Coluan rocks. This actually gets under Brainiac's skin, who responds that he vaporized the planet Colu when he was 7 years old, so there are no Coluan rocks left, and there is no such thing as a Brainiac 5. Bart is promptly captured by two large robots and forced back into the sleep chamber so Brainiac can continue studying the Speed Force. Of course, this is exactly what Bart wanted.

Bart wakes up in the same VR as before, with Barry ranting and raving about how Wally was a better Kid Flash than Bart ever will be. But Bart ignores his fake grandpa and begins to run. He doesn't have access to the Speed Force in the real world, but he does have super-speed in the virtual reality. And now he's using it to outthink the greatest criminal mastermind the universe has ever seen. Bart's plan works, and he's somehow able to rewrite Brainiac's programs from the inside. Brainiac noticed something was happening, but he wasn't able to disconnect Bart quick enough. Bart boasts of how the scientists had to constantly adapt the VR he was raised in, and he calls Brainiac a "noob" that has been "haxxor'd and pwned."

Patty emerges from hiding right on cue to blast Brainiac from behind with her baton, demonstrating Bart's success at disabling Brainiac's security programs. They're easily able to collect the Speed Force fuel cell, with is a glowing orange orb. But as soon as Patty picks it up, Brainiac blasts his robotic hand through Patty's chest. Bart attacks Brainiac in a rage with a hunk of metal he found on the ground, demanding to know why he killed her. Brainiac logically states that both Bart and Patty are temporal anomalies, and he only needs one of them alive to study. As he fights off Bart, he states that he's in the process of rebooting all his systems and he'll soon regain complete control of his citadel.

As Bart continued to fight and yell at Brainiac, Patty summoned all her remaining strength to crawl back to the Speed Force fuel cell. She tells Bart that she knows he can fix all this, so she tells him to do what he does best — run. With her last breath, Patty destroys the fuel cell, unleashing a bolt of lightning that strikes Bart in the chest. Lightning appears in Bart's eyes, and he instantly zooms away at super speed, vowing to do whatever it takes to save Patty and prevent this future from happening. He races into the timestream, determined to find the Flash, even if it kills him.




This issue took a little while to get going. The first three pages mostly just recapped stuff we already knew. And Patty's "backstory" added absolutely nothing. This issue also brought up a few inconsistencies that were a little too convenient for the plot. Like the nature of the sleep chambers. If they were supposed to show your worst nightmare, then why was Bart's nightmare just a mildly rude Barry and not Bart actually being killed by Inertia and the Rogues? Of course, if it was that memory, then he wouldn't have super speed and wouldn't be able to stop Brainiac. And although I love the idea of Bart having to outthink the most brilliant villain of all time, I wish the execution would have been a bit better. I mean, what, exactly, did Bart do?

I also have one last nitpick. In the last issue, Gates established Brainiac as a living computer that obnoxiously prefaced everything he said with "statement" or "query" or "order." In this issue, Gates forgot to do that half the time and/or forgot the difference between a statement and an order. It's not a big deal, but it adds to the rather long list of annoyances with this issue. It was nice that Patty died to help Bart, but I don't care about her. I wish it could have been someone actually connected to Bart. Oh well, in any case we did get a strong ending of a dying Bart boldly racing back through time to save the universe one last time.

Next time, we'll return to Teen Titans #99.

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #1

Kid Flash Lost, Part One

Sterling Gates – Writer
Oliver Nome – Penciller
Trevor Scott – Inker
Brian Buccellato – Colorist
Dezi Sienty – Letterer
Kate Stewart – Assistant Editor
Joey Cavalieri – Editor
Cover by Francis Manapul
Cover Color by Brian Buccellato

Our cover shows Bart horrifyingly falling from a lightning bolt in the sky onto a city far below him. This really doesn't have anything to do with the following three-issue story, but it is a neat image. Manapul joyfully gives Bart long, flowing hair, and Buccellato is careful to remember that Bart's hair is brown, not red.

This is Bart's first solo series since The Fastest Man Alive, and as such, we're treated to an introduction box of sorts: "Grandson of the Flash, Bart Allen was born in the distant future and raised in a virtual reality environment. After he began aging at a hyper-accelerated rate, he was brought back to our time, where the combined efforts of this era's speedsters stabilized his metabolism. The impulsive young man has since learned to tap into the Speed Force, and has grown into the role of the fastest teen alive, Kid Flash." Got all that? Good. Because Bart's only going to be around for a few more issues.

Our story begins in Central City, with a police car chasing after Hot Pursuit. The cops follow the motorcycle into a dead end, but Hot Pursuit shocks them by driving up the side of a building to make a rooftop escape. Once Hot Pursuit comes to a stop, the Cosmic Motorcycle gives a warning: "Timestorm imminent. Activating emergency chronal-evac." The motorcycle erupts in an explosion of yellow lightning, and Hot Pursuit disappears with it. We then cut to Bart chasing Barry down the street.

Barry is being particularly rude to Bart, and isn't making much sense by saying that he's given his grandson "chance after chance" and all he's done is screw them up. Bart points out that his grandfather has mostly avoided him ever since he came back to life, so he momentarily stops the Flash with a cage of rebar to demand why Barry won't let him help. Barry easily vibrates out of the rebar and says that Wally West was a better Kid Flash than Bart will ever be because he could at least keep up.

As Barry takes off once again, Bart starts to notice some inconsistencies with his environment. Standing at the corner of Broome and Fox (named for classic Flash creators John Broome and Gardner Fox), Bart notices a signpost that should be on Waid Avenue (named for Impulse creator Mark Waid). Other buildings are the wrong color, or have the wrong style of bricks, leading Bart to believe he's in a slightly "wrong" version of Central City, perhaps a copy created by Mirror Master. Barry quickly returns to mock Bart's theory and call him crazy, but Bart ignores him, noting that he's also running way too smoothly. When Deathstroke blew out his kneecap, Bart had an artificial knee installed, which mostly does the job, but gives him a slight limp when he runs at top speeds.

When Bart makes this realization, we see that he's actually hooked up to a virtual reality program. A nearby monitor identifies him as "Time Anomaly #2" and says it's attempting to compensate for Bart's efforts to unlock the program. Back in the program, Bart tells the fake Barry that he didn't dig deep enough into his memories to learn about his fake knee. He also proclaims that his real grandpa would never be this mean to him (which I'm not so sure is entirely true), and he attacks the fake Flash.

This jolts Bart awake, and he unhooks himself from all the wires, including one gross one that went down his mouth. Bart correctly assumes he's trapped in some super villain lair, but he doesn't know who's behind this. He decides to conduct a quick search of the area, but immediately discovers he's lost his connection to the Speed Force. Bart's suddenly attacked by a couple of large robots, but he manages to instinctively dodge their assault. As he runs for cover, he jokingly asks if they'd rather play some video games. The robots don't respond, and as Bart looks for a place to hide, the robots' laser accidentally break open another pink chamber, and out of it falls Hot Pursuit's Cosmic Motorcycle, condensed to its police baton form.

Before Bart can recover the device, a very large and grotesque version of Brainiac appears. He orders his robots to not damage his "specimen," and tells Bart to return to his sleep chamber. Bart tries to escape Brainiac, but discovers he's just too slow right now. Brainiac grabs Bart by the neck and angrily says he didn't fish him out of the time stream to chase him around his planet, and that he plans to find a way to pull the chronal energy from his cells. Brainiac's suddenly interrupted by a blast of lightning from the Cosmic Motorcycle.

Brainiac drops Bart, and the baton flies straight into the hands of Hot Pursuit, giving us our first clear look at the hero we thought was dead. Turns out this is someone different — a woman wearing Hot Pursuit's old outfit. The female Hot Pursuit turns the baton back into a motorcycle, has Bart hop on behind her, and quickly takes off before Brainiac can get back on his feet. And Bart admits aloud that he always wanted to ride the cycle, believing it to be "so cool."

Once our heroes get some distance between them and Brainiac, Hot Pursuit surprises Bart by coming to a sudden stop. She explains that the bike's Speed Force tank is missing, which limits its long-distance travel. Bart asks what Hot Pursuit thinks Brainiac meant we said they wouldn't be able to escape the planet, then he gets his first look at the outside world and says, "... oh, grife." The entire city of Metropolis (and presumably the entire world) is covered in Brainiac's tech, with tons of pink bubbles holding naked people prisoner. Bart says it looks like a movie he once watched with Conner — a movie that neither of them liked.

Hot Pursuit says she thinks she caused this, saying something happened with the bike, so she pushed a button and then woke up in this reality. Bart grabs Hot Pursuit's arms and demands she take them back. He also finally questions who she is, noting how the original Hot Pursuit died. So she takes off her helmet, revealing herself to be Patty Spivot. Bart recognizes her as the woman the Reverse-Flash was going after, and Patty explains that she decided to stick around Central City for a bit to help clean up the mess Thawne made and then she decided to do something bigger with her life. Patty says she doesn't know how they got here, but according to Hot Pursuit's helmet, they're in the year 3011, during the fifth century of Brainiac's occupation of Earth.

Bart suddenly experiences painful cramps and collapses. As he struggles back to his feet, he says this can't be 3011, since he was born in the 31st century and knows it wasn't like this. But then he realizes that something must have changed in the timeline, and, since he's locked out of the Speed Force, nothing's protecting him in this new timeline. He speculates that the chambers they were in actually were keeping them safe while Brainiac studied them. Bart tells Patty they need to find the Cosmic Motorcycle's Speed Force tank and use it to travel back in time because he can feel that they're not supposed to be here. To illustrate his point, he pulls off his glove, revealing his hand to be almost translucent and skeletal, just like in another movie he saw with Cassie. Bart ominously says that if he doesn't get hit with some Speed Force lightning, then he's history.




So here it is, the beginning of the end for Bart Allen. I'm glad he's getting a proper, action-packed sendoff. Forced to fight his way out of a dystopian future without his powers. Doesn't get more intense than that. Of course, things are a bit random here, notably the choice of Patty Spivot. Yes, Bart definitely should have a sidekick of sorts for this adventure, but I wish it was someone with stronger connections to Bart. It could be any of the Teen Titans, any member of the Flash family, or even (and it pains me to say this) his old girlfriend Val. Patty will play a bigger role in the New 52, but as Barry's girlfriend. So it's very weird to see her running around with Bart in his last days.

Oliver Nome is not the best artist, but he's not too bad, either. I wish he drew Bart's hair longer, and I wish he'd be able to decide what shape Bart's nose is. But at least we have Brian Buccellato making sure Bart is not a freckled red-head. And really, this is a good-looking comic overall. Brainiac is big, intimidating and gross (intentionally, I believe). And Nome did do a good job of hiding Hot Pursuit's body until the big reveal later on. So all in all, I'll say this was a decent start to this series. It's a bit sad that we're watching Bart literally fade away before our eyes, but I guess that's better than simply being forgotten about.

Next time, we'll finally wrap up our Ramayana retelling with Teen Titans #97.

The Flash #12

Case Two: The Road to Flashpoint Part Four

Storytellers: Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins
Additional Art: Francis Manapul (P. 14-18)
Colors: Michael Atiyeh and Brian Buccellato
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Francis Manapul w/Brian Buccellato
Variant Cover: Francis Portela w/Javier Mena
Assistant Editor: Darren Shan
Editor: Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows Barry and Bart being consumed by an expanding void of whiteness, reminiscent of the destruction of time way back in Zero Hour. It is a very nice cover — you know how much I love Manapul's textured style — but nothing like this happens in this issue. True, Flashpoint will destroy this timeline, but in a very different way from this. So this cover almost feels a bit misleading.

Our variant cover shows Barry arriving too late — I mean, way too late — at a crime scene. Not only did he fail to prevent the death of this unknown individual, he didn't even reach the scene until after the police had drawn chalk around the body and removed the corpse. But it's still a pretty nice cover, also giving us a more symbolic representation of something that sort of happens in this issue.

Our story picks up in Central City with Patty Spivot learning the shocking truth that the little witness boy was actually Eobard Thawne in disguise. Thawne tells Patty she's lucky to be a witness of him unlocking the true powers of the Speed Force, and he boasts that he'll soon remove the Flash from his historical equation. As he speaks, Hot Pursuit is currently electrocuting Bart Allen, while Barry stands by helplessly.

Hot Pursuit actually does apologize for his actions, saying he believes this is the only way to save the timeline. Barry grabs Hot Pursuit's baton, but his doppelgänger says his suit will be able to absorb as much speed as Barry can generate. He explains that the spontaneous deaths around the city are a sign he's seen before of the past, present and future colliding. Barry blasts Hot Pursuit for assaulting a minor, and he finally decides to simply punch the visitor from a parallel world.

Eobard continues to explain his powers to Patty, which leads her to realize that he was the one who aged those people. Eobard readily admits this, saying it was for the "betterment of mankind." As they talk, Hot Pursuit's baton begins to glow and somehow indicates to him that he was wrong about Bart. Hot Pursuit barely apologizes for almost killing an innocent boy, then hops on hi Cosmic Motorcycle, telling Barry they need to hurry.

So Barry and Bart follow Hot Pursuit right to the Reverse-Flash, who was just about to drain Patty's life, hoping to learn something from her relationship with Barry. Barry immediately takes Patty to safety downstairs, and she manages to clearly explain the whole situation to him. Bart, meanwhile, starts beating up Eobard, saying he didn't need a "magic nightstick" to know Eobard was the "rock in our timeline's shoe." Eobard credits Bart with pioneering the aging process and "paradox existence protocol," but says he accomplished these feats unknowingly.

Hot Pursuit then hits Eobard with the same attack he used on Bart earlier, and he warns Barry and Bart that when he's done, everything in a 100-foot radius will age to dust. So Barry and Bart evacuate the building, while Eobard admits he doesn't know who Hot Pursuit is, but he angrily vows to not let anyone steal his speed. He somehow fights through Hot Pursuit's electricity, grabs ahold of him, and rushes him far out of the building. Eobard knocks of Hot Pursuit's helmet and is shocked to see he's a Barry from another world. Barry and Bart try to catch up, and Bart reflexively says he's not going to stay behind from a fight with the Reverse-Flash, but Barry says he's not asking Bart to stay back this time.

Eobard explains that he's wanted to kill Barry, but couldn't because it would destroy his own timeline. But now he has the rare opportunity to murder a Barry Allen without facing any consequences to his history. Eobard completely drains the life from Hot Pursuit, reducing him completely to dust just as Barry and Barry arrive on the scene. Barry immediately starts punching Eobard, demanding to know what his plan was this time. Eobard laughs, saying this "plan" was merely an experiment — a successful experiment that will now help him make Barry's life more miserable than ever. He says Barry's mother was only the beginning, and everything else is next.

The mention of Barry's mother unnerves him enough to pull off his attack for the briefest of moments, which is more than enough time for Eobard to escape. Barry and Bart track Eobard down to a park, but quickly lose him in the crowd. Even though they know Eobard can change his age, they're unable to identify him as an old man, quietly slipping away. So they head back to the scene of Hot Pursuit's death, where Barry sadly examines his doppelgänger's empty suit and laments how he always loses to Eobard. Bart points out that they still don't really know what brought Hot Pursuit here, and he worries that he actually could be the threat to the timeline. But Barry insists that Eobard is the threat, and he finally tells his grandson that Eobard killed his mom, and he's been struggling to deal with that realization. Bart expresses his sympathy, and Barry thanks him.

Later, Barry checks in on Patty at the destroyed police lab, and she says she's all right, but was reminded why she doesn't want to live in Central City anymore. But she does hopefully ask Barry if there's any reason for her to stay here. Barry talks about how talented she is as a blood analyst, so Patty tries to be a little more clear, asking if work is the only reason for her to stay. She explains that she's been in love with Barry for a long time, but always thought she had to wait until he solved his mother's case. Then it really hurt her to see that Barry chose to open up to someone else. Patty sadly says she's happy Barry has Iris, and that she needs to go back to Blue Valley. Barry complicates things by tenderly holding Patty's cheek and telling her she'll always be his friend. He asks her to consider coming back, and as they embrace, she says she will.

Barry's wife, Iris, walks in on this hug, creating a very awkward moment between the three of them. After a hasty introduction, Barry suggests they leave, and Iris agrees. They head to a coffee shop, and Iris tells Barry he doesn't have to explain that hug because she trusts and loves him. She is, however, concerned with how Barry's been regressing. She says he's running backwards, turning back into the closed-off and distant Barry she first met. Barry acknowledges this, and begins talking again about his mother being killed by Eobard Thawne.

As Iris talks about the power of family, Brian Buccellato and his family make a cute cameo outside the coffee shop window. Barry doesn't fully accept Iris' words of encouragement, saying that tomorrow's his mom's birthday. So he asks for one more day to be alone and process her death, then he promises to start over and make things better.

The next day, Barry visits his mother's grave, as a large thunderstorm rumbles in. After placing some flowers on her headstone, Barry looks up into the sky and observes a flash of lightning. He says, "It changes." There's a flash of red lightning, heading in the opposite direction, and Barry says, "It all changes. Now." And the two bolts of lightning combine into one large blast, beginning Flashpoint.




Hey, Barry! When you're telling a girl you just want to be friends, don't hold her close and gently stroke her cheek! She might get mixed signals! Anyway, now that that's off my chest ... I can say I liked this story for the most part. The ending did seem a bit abrupt, though. Like, how was Eobard able to so easily defeat Hot Pursuit and elude Barry? Can't Barry like track him through the Speed Force or something? Shouldn't he call in Wally and Max to help locate this incredibly dangerous murderer? But that's not this story. This story is Barry's depression and his inability to move on, which will lead to him performing perhaps the most reckless action in the history of the DC Universe.

I'm glad that Bart was present during this Road to Flashpoint. I wish he had more to do than just be sad, but I guess that's better than being completely ignored like Wally. It's also mildly annoying that Bart was the one saying he's sorry to Barry. It should have gone the other way around. But then again, I kind of feel like Barry is the real villain of this story. All he did was drive a wedge between himself and his family, flirt with the idea of cheating on his wife, and completely fail to prevent his arch enemy from killing a handful of people, including his doppelgänger from a parallel world. And how does he cap off this incredible string of failures? By accidentally killing billions of people and destroying the entire timeline of the DC Universe. Oops.

Well, Flashpoint may have begun, but the rest of the DC Universe will continue on like normal until Flashpoint's conclusion. So next time, we'll take a quick look at Superman #712.

The Flash #11

Case Two: The Road to Flashpoint Part Three

Storytellers: Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Francis Manapul w/Brian Buccellato
Variant Cover: Scott Kolins w/Michael Atiyeh
Assistant Editor: Darren Shan
Editor: Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows Barry turning into a skeleton, while Bart, Jay and Wally can only run by helplessly. This is reminiscent of Barry's famous death scene in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it only marginally ties in to this issue's story. And as great as it is to see the four Flashes running together, that also doesn't happen in this issue. Although we will actually see all these characters, which is something, but I'm kind of craving having them all together in uniform.

Our variant cover is a closeup of Hot Pursuit, with Barry's angry face reflected in the helmet visor. Barry's face is slightly distorted, but I guess it should be on a reflected surface. This is a fine cover that gives us a peak at Kolins trying to draw in Manapul's style. He's not entirely successful at it, and I'm actually torn on his attempt. On one hand, I always appreciate it when a fill-in artist has a very similar style to the main artist. On the other hand, I think established artists, such as Kolins, shouldn't spend their time mimicking other artists. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of Kolins' more famous, light style ... so ... I don't know.

Our story begins the morning after the discovery of another victim of rapid aging and a young witness. Barry and Patty have returned to the Central City Police Department, seemingly having worked through the night. The boy they found is being tended to by child services, and although he seems alright, he isn't speaking to anyone. Barry and Patty check on the boy, and Patty tells Barry to try to talk to him. But the boy suddenly jumps up from his chair and throws his arms around Patty's waist. Patty does not want to get involved, but Barry says the boy can see the kindness in her eyes — like he can. So Patty decides to take the boy to the cafeteria to get him something to eat.

We then cut to a children's playground, where a little girl has also fallen victim to the rapid aging attacks. Hot Pursuit is crouching over her body, complaining about his fuel running low and how he still needs to find the time anomaly. A couple of police cars arrive on the scene, and Hot Pursuit quickly takes off, telling the officers that they couldn't comprehend his mission.

Back in the lab, Barry tells Forrest the tire tracks they saw at last night's crime scene belong to the same biker that drove across the lab and blew out the windows. Barry's not ready to say if the biker is actually connected to the murders, beyond merely being at the crime scene. Forrest asks who the biker is, and before Barry can answer, he gets an urgent text from Iris, telling him to come home immediately. So Barry immediately sprints home, not even bothering to put on his Flash uniform. But when he walks through the front door, he finds Iris, Jay, Wally and Bart sitting in a semicircle. And Iris announces that this is an intervention.

Iris makes Barry sit down, and he initially thinks this is a joke, but Iris takes his hand and begins talking about how much they all love him. She says Bart told them what happened, and Barry thinks she's referring to Hot Pursuit. Iris says they aren't worried about time-traveling doppelgängers and rogues. What they are worried about is how Barry didn't attend the family picnic because of Bart. Barry says that's not why he wasn't there, so Iris urges him to explain himself to Bart. But Barry resists, saying he doesn't want to do this right now and would rather work on the case of the culprit stealing decades of life from people.

Jay jumps on Barry's word choice, saying he's now stealing life from himself. He talks about the isolation all speedsters often feel, and how happy he was when Barry found someone to run home to — Iris. Iris urges Wally to speak up, and he talks about how before he new the Flash's secret identity, he didn't hope Barry Allen was the Flash, he hoped the Flash was Barry Allen. Wally says Barry taught him how precious every second was, and now it saddens him to see how Barry's somehow forgotten that.

Iris asks Bart if he has anything to say, and after a long silence, Bart sullenly says, "No." So Iris again urges Barry to talk to him. Barry tries, but once again he falls back to his lame, vague excuses, saying he's "struggling with some stuff." Bart immediately sees through this pathetic attempt and tells Barry to not waste his time now, since he hasn't wasted any time with him yet. Barry tries to apologize, but Bart stands up, telling his grandpa that he's supposed to be the person he learns from and looks up to. He asks why Barry can't just be that, and he hastily runs out the front door. Wally offers to go after Bart, but Barry says he needs to do it.

Bart has thrown on his Kid Flash uniform as he angrily roams the streets. Suddenly, he's ambushed from behind by Hot Pursuit, who apologizes for what he's about to do. He drags Bart by his wrist and throws him against a wall and condenses his Cosmic Motorcycle into a baton and promises to make this quick — even for Bart. But before Hot Pursuit can strike, Barry steps in front of him, sternly telling his doppelgänger to stop.

Meanwhile, Patty has decided to start analyzing the victims' blood while the boy witness takes a nap. She discovers an odd trace of electrical energy that appears to be the same found in the tire tracks left at the second crime scene. But she tells herself to stop, saying she left Central City for a reason, and that reason is married.

We cut back to our speedster heroes, and Barry is now literally holding Hot Pursuit back. Hot Pursuit claims Bart is the time anomaly he's been tracking, but Barry refuses to believe this. Somehow, Hot Pursuit manages to get his hand free and hit Bart with a blast from his baton, saying Bart needs to go back to the future for the safety of the timeline.

As Bart writhes in pain, Patty is surprised to see the witness boy is already up from his nap. She kneels down and tries to talk to him, and the boy finally speaks, saying, "Shut up." His eyes flicker with red lightning, and he says it was trickier than he thought to steal years from other and unlock additional powers in the Negative Speed Force. He says it's time to grow up, and as the red lightning surrounds his body, he transforms into the Reverse-Flash. Once he's back to his proper age, Eobard Thawne announces he has some history to unwind.




This is a pretty cool, terrifying power of Eobard's. I'm just sad that we only have one more issue to explore this idea before Flashpoint hits. This has been a fun story. Hot Pursuit turned out to be a red herring, but still dangerous, nonetheless. Of course, it's hard to blame him for believing that sending Bart back to the future will fix the timeline. I was also happy to see the Flash family starting to get serious with Barry. Sadly, but realistically, none of them really understand what Barry's problem is, and Barry, himself, is unable to adequately explain himself. Sometimes, that's just how depression works. Sometimes, a group intervention ends up just being a lot of empty, flowery words before somebody finally storms off. I don't know if Johns actually intended the intervention to be so hollow, but that's how it ended up. Some progress was made, yes, but the root of Barry's problem remains untouched. As well as the full extent of his actions. None of our heroes realize how close Barry is to cheating on his wife with Patty, which is a truly troubling prospect.

I do wish Max would have been at the intervention, too. Even though he's not particularly close to Barry, he is very close to Bart. And Bart's distress was the main catalyst of this intervention, and no one has more experience at consoling Bart than Max Mercury. This is another example of Johns' inability to work with the Flash family. He went through all that work to bring everybody back in Rebirth, but here we are, on the eve of Flashpoint, and this crucial moment has Max and Jesse as no-shows, and Jay and Wally impotently reduced to sitting around telling vapid stories. At least Bart is doing something. And I do appreciate him for not sugar-coating his feelings. Yeah, he's a bit clumsy at this, but he's coming closer to snapping Barry out of this funk than anyone else.

I also need to complain about the art once again. Or, more specifically, the fashion choices. At the big family picnic, Manapul put Bart in a rather sharp-looking colored shirt. As strange as it is to say, I was happy to see him wearing some nice clothes for once — we rarely see him out of his Kid Flash uniform anymore. But in this issue, Kolins put Bart back in his awful baggy hockey jersey he was last wearing in 2003. It's now 2011, and baggy isn't the style anymore. Poor Bart.

Next time, we'll take a very quick look at Bart's cousin, Jenni Ognats, in Adventure Comics #526.

The Flash #10

Case Two: The Road to Flashpoint Part Two

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Francis Manapul
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Manapul and Buccellato
Variant Cover: Ed Benes and Rob Hunter w/Buccellato
Assistant Editor: Darren Shan
Editor: Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows Barry, Bart and even Wally chasing after the futuristic biker who has claimed to be Barry Allen. It is a nice cover — you know how much I love Manapul — but I do have one complaint: the inclusion of Wally West. He doesn't even appear in this issue, let alone do anything of significance in the story as a whole. Because, you know, Johns could never figure out what to do with Wally once he brought Barry back. Equally frustrating is that this cover was used as the cover of the Road to Flashpoint trade paperback, falsely giving the implication that Wally would actually be involved.

The variant cover wasn't included with the digital version of this comic on DC Universe, but it was thrown in the back pages of my trade paperback. It's kind of remarkable — I've never seen a variant cover that was this similar to the main cover. All Benes did was take away Bart and Wally, but otherwise left us with the exact same pose. It's fine, I guess, but I would have preferred something different — even if wasn't necessarily related to the main story. Variant covers are the place to experiment and explore.

Our story picks up right where we left off last issue, with Barry confronting "Biker Barry" on a pier. The doppelgänger reiterates that he is Barry Allen, saying he goes by the hero name Hot Pursuit, the fastest man alive. As he speaks, he pushes a button on his motorcycle, which condenses it into essentially a policeman's baton. He explains that his nephew, Wally, helped him build his Cosmic Motorcycle, which channels the Speed Force. Hot Pursuit seems a little envious that Barry doesn't need a vehicle or special uniform to move at super-speed, and he uses his Cosmic Motorcycle to somehow confirm that Barry is indeed the generator of the Speed Force.

Hot Pursuit says he isn't from the future, but a parallel Earth — one of 52 worlds that comprise the multiverse. But Barry's Earth, the Earth we know and love, is the keystone to all other worlds, and if something happens to it, the other 51 worlds would all be affected. Hot Pursuit repeats his mission: to prevent the single greatest time anomaly to threaten reality. Suddenly, Bart Allen shows up, grabs the baton from Hot Pursuit, and says he hopes his grandpa isn't naive enough to actually believe Hot Pursuit's story.

Barry seems a bit annoyed by his grandson's uninvited presence, so Bart tells him how worried Iris was when he didn't show up at the picnic. Barry gives Bart the same lame excuse he gave Iris — that he was working on a murder case. Bart asks if this guy pretending to be Barry is the prime suspect. Hot Pursuit asks Bart who he is, which Bart takes as confirmation of his theory. He says the real Barry Allen would be able to recognize Kid Flash. Hot Pursuit says Bart is too young to be Wally West, so he somehow takes control of his Cosmic Motorcycle (even though Bart is balancing it on his finger) and it identifies Bartholomew Allen from the 31st century, providing a brief glimpse of his time growing up in virtual reality.

Hot Pursuit seems disturbed by the fact that Bart is a time traveler, so Barry clarifies, saying Bart's his descendant from the future, genetically linked to the Speed Force, and he came back to this era to learn how to use his powers. Bart corrects Barry, saying he came back here because the future is lame (and he's basically right — he doesn't really need help controlling his powers anymore). Hot Pursuit warns Bart, though, that since he's from the future, he'll be more vulnerable to the impending "timestorm" and could vanish from reality when history unravels.

Barry asks how this is going to happen, and Hot Pursuit isn't quite able to give a satisfactory answer. What he knows is that his Cosmic Motorcycle can sense temporal disruptions, and this upcoming one actually blew his bike's circuits. When he fixed the bike, Hot Pursuit was able to learn the impending chronal catastrophe is either coming directly from the Speed Force or someone manipulating the Speed Force. Barry asks how he can help, and Bart interjects, asking how they can help. Hot Pursuit coldly says, "By staying out of my way." He turns his baton back into a motorcycle and zooms off, leaving an angry Barry and Bart behind. And before Bart can even finish his question, Barry leaves him in the dust, too.

(I love Manapul's use of Bart's hair in that sequence.) Anyway, Barry catches up to Hot Pursuit and chastises him for being rude. Hot Pursuit explains that he was merely informing Barry of his presence as a courtesy, and there's no need for him to get involved. Barry points out that Hot Pursuit wasn't being very courteous when he blew up the windows of his lab, and Hot Pursuit says that some sacrifices have to be made and that getting fuel for his cycle comes with a price. He then pushes a button, which creates an electrical field around himself, knocking Barry down. Hot Pursuit vows to find whoever's threatening history and eliminate them, as he takes off once more.

Bart finally catches up to Barry, who says that Hot Pursuit's motorcycle actually pulled some of the Speed Force out of him. Bart says a "friend" wouldn't do that, let alone cause all the damage in the streets that Hot Pursuit is leaving behind. He says they need to do something, but Barry says he needs to take care of this alone, telling Bart to go home. Bart protests, telling his grandpa that he needs a reality check if he's so ready to believe Hot Pursuit's story. So Barry shows off a hair follicle that he snatched from Hot Pursuit, explaining he'll run a DNA test on it to see if at least the doppelgänger part of the story is true.

Kid Flash offers to come along for the DNA test, but Flash again refuses. When Bart asks what he can do to help, Barry bluntly says, "Nothing. I can handle this." Bart begins to become angry, saying they probably don't need a DNA test, since Barry is sounding exactly like Hot Pursuit. He then becomes saddened by a sudden realization, asking if Barry ditched the picnic because of him. Barry says that's not true, lamely using work as an excuse. Bart points out that he's always working whenever he's around. Barry insists this isn't about Bart, so Bart asks him point blank: "Why won't you spend time with us?" When Barry fails to answer him, Bart says, "I bet you wish I never came back here!" Barry continues with the weak, half-hearted excuses, until Bart finally runs away in anger. Barry chooses not to follow his grandson, pausing for a moment in the middle of the road to realize he's messed up.

Barry sadly returns to the crime lab that night, where his computer confirms a 100% match between Hot Pursuit's hair and his own DNA. Suddenly, his old friend Patty Spivot arrives. She explains that she happened to be visiting her mother in Keystone City when she got his message, and since she (and the rest of the world) believed Barry was in witness protection for the past few years, she decided to stop by and say hello. Of course, this "hello" is a tearful hug that seems to last just a bit on the long side for a married man like Barry (in my opinion).

After the hug, Barry gets down to business, telling her all about the Elongated Kid's death. But Patty refuses to help him, saying she moved to Blue Valley, Nebraska, to get away from murders. As Barry pleads with her, Director Singh calls him with another case. Patty can't refuse Barry's puppy-dog eyes forever, so she agrees to visit the scene with him, give her opinion, then leave.

Singh and Forrest are both happy to see their old coworker again, and Forrest comments on how suspicious it is for Barry to have been alone with Patty in the lab this late at night. Barry angrily tells Forrest to keep quiet, and they examine the body. It appears to be a 100-year-old man, but according to the ID in his wallet, he's actually a 31-year-old Air Force pilot. Barry says this confirms they're dealing with someone capable of stealing time, and he asks if there are any tire marks on the scene. Patty's the one who finds the marks, although there's only one wheel, indicating a motorcycle had been here. The police hear a noise and quickly discover a frightened boy, about 8 years old, hiding among some crates. And Barry realizes that this boy is a witness.




Finally! At long last, Bart was able to contribute to a Flash story in a meaningful way! And I'm so glad that he was here, telling Barry to his face, what a big jerk he's being. Yeah, Bart's abrupt departure was a little immature, but in his defense, he wasn't getting anywhere with Barry anyway. Just a long string of B.S. excuses. However, Bart was only half-right: Barry's not just avoiding Bart, he's avoiding his whole family. And as Forrest observed, something is definitely going on between Barry and Patty. As for the rest of the story? We got a bit more standing around and talking than I would have liked, but otherwise it's still pretty good. If nothing else, we were treated to another comic of beautiful art providing lots of great shots of Bart, which makes it a winner in my book.

Next time, we'll return to Teen Titans #94.

The Flash #9

Case Two: The Road to Flashpoint Part One

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Francis Manapul
Colorist: Brian Buccellatto
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Manapul and Buccellato
Variant Cover: Tyler Kirkham, Batt, and Nei Ruffino
Editors: Adam Schlagman & Eddie Berganza

It may be a month late, but The Flash also joined in on the white background, big logo cover gimmick. And I don't mean to use the word gimmick in a derogatory sense, I've liked all the covers in this style we've reviewed here. And this one is another winner — partly because I'm such a huge fan of Manapul and Buccellato. In fact, it's fair to say that it was their artwork that got me interested in the Flash in the first place, which in turn got me interested in Impulse.

Sadly, I can't say the same for our variant cover. It's not terribly bad by any means, and I do appreciate the attempt at finding something new by having the Flash run along the side of a building like that. But ultimately Barry looks like an out-of-control maniac, which is not a good look for him.

Our story begins in the middle of the night in Central City. A blue lightning bolt suddenly appears in midair, opening up a portal for a masked man riding a futuristic motorcycle. After causing a bit of property damage with his dramatic entrance, the man speeds down the road, saying he needs to find Barry Allen. We cut ahead to the next morning, where Barry is called into work even though it's a Saturday. Iris is upset Barry has to work, and reminds him to not be late to their picnic at 1 o'clock.

However, Barry's already running late today, having stopped off at the zoo to battle a gorilla wearing some sort of helmet (possibly Grodd, but not necessarily). Barry, of course, chooses to tell his boss, Director Singh, that he just missed the bus. Singh isn't too interested in Barry's excuses and he leads him out to their case, the scene of a dead old man wearing a purple superhero outfit. Barry isn't able to find any signs of struggle on the corpse, and his colleague, James Forrest, suggests that the victim simply died of old age, seeing as how he appears to be 90 years old. Barry can't find any ID on the victim, so he takes his fingerprints.

Apparently, this case kept Barry working right up to the time of the picnic, which is the first gathering of the Flash family since the parade at the end of Rebirth. Max Mercury is working the grill, while Jay Garrick is helping Irey fly a kite, and Wally and Bart are tossing a football around. Linda asks Jai to help set the table, but he complains that he's busy with his video game and that Irey should do it since she's faster. Bart asks Iris if Barry is coming, and Wally points out how Barry never used to miss a family picnic. Iris reminds him that Barry never was on time, either, but as they talk, Barry calls Iris with bad news.

Barry tells Iris that he suspects foul play in this new case and that he's going to put in overtime at the lab this weekend. Iris points out that Barry could have run over to the picnic to tell her this in person, and she asks why he's avoiding his family. Barry admits he's still pretty rattled by the mirror the Rogues shattered last week that showed his mom still alive in the present day — a glimpse at the life he should have, had the Reverse-Flash not killed her and framed Barry's dad, who apparently died in his prison cell. Barry says his parents should be there at the picnic, and Iris agrees, but she also says that Barry should be there, too. Iris reminds Barry of what it was like when they all thought he was dead, but they still had picnics with the family they had. She tells Barry he's not responsible for his mom's death, but Barry refuses to accept that, pointing out that Thawne only killed her because of what Barry grew up to be.

This awkward conversation is interrupted by Forrest finding a match of the victim's fingerprints — a 16-year-old boy named Ethan Kramer, who had just begun a career as the Elongated Kid. Barry is naturally shocked by this revelation, but he confirms that the victim's corpse still is rather rubbery and stretchy. He hypothesizes that young Ethan could have sought his superpowers the same way the original Elongated Man, Ralph Dibny, did, by drinking gingold. The substance is poisonous for most people, but it grants stretching powers to a select few. Barry speculates that the gingold may have triggered some kind of rapid aging in Ethan's body, and he wishes he had his old blood analyst, Patty Spivot, to work on this case.

A Detective Grubbs then chews out Barry for reopening one of his old cases and forcing him to do a lot more paperwork. Barry boldly points out that he proved that Grubbs and his partner had forced a confession out of an innocent young man, but this only makes Grubbs angrier, who ominously implies that Barry is making a lot of enemies on the police force. When Barry gets back to the office, he leaves a phone message to Patty Spivot, asking her to come help him on this case. Suddenly, our futuristic biker drives across Barry's office window, shattering the glass, before taking off down the street.

Barry turns into the Flash and chases the biker down, finally getting him to stop at the edge of a pier. The biker identifies himself as a cop, but Barry recently had a bad experience with cops from the 25th century, so he's not too keen to trust this one. So the biker removes his helmet, revealing a face that looks just like Barry's. He says his name is also Barry Allen, and he's here to save history from the single greatest time anomaly to ever threaten reality.




This is actually a fun series. Even though it pains me that Geoff Johns shoved Wally, Bart and the rest of the Flash family aside to start fresh with Barry. But I absolutely love the art, and the story is actually kind of intriguing. Sadly, Bart only made a token appearance along with the others. Yes, we know Max is alive and well, but we don't know if Bart is living with him or Jay or is completely full-time at Titans Tower. But, frankly, none of that matters because Flashpoint is right around the corner. Despite that one heartwarming story of the speedsters comforting Barry in the middle of the night, he has fallen back into depression and guilt, which is quite understandable. As much as we want our heroes to constantly rise above such emotions, sometimes they can't. And things will only get worse before it gets better.

Next time, we'll take the smallest of looks at Blackest Night's followup in Brightest Day #21.