DC Universe: Rebirth #1

The Clock is Ticking Across the DC Universe!

Geoff Johns Writer

Chapter 1 – Lost
Gary Frank and Ethan Van Sciver Artists
Brad Anderson and Jason Wright Colorists

Chapter 2 – Legacy
Gary Frank Artist
Brad Anderson Colorist

Chapter 3 – Love
Ivan Reis Penciller
Joe Prado and Reis Inkers
Hi-Fi Colorist

Chapter 4 – Life
Phil Jimenez and Gary Frank Pencillers
Matt Santorelli and Frank Inkers
Gabe Eltaeb and Brad Anderson Colorists

Epilogue
Gary Frank and Ivan Reis Pencillers
Frank and Joe Prado Inkers
Brad Anderson and Hi-Fi Colorists
Special thanks to Mike Cotton, Brian Cunningham and Amedeo Turturro

Nick J. Napolitano Letterer
Cover Frank and Anderson
Variant Cover Reis, Prado and Alex Sinclair
Assistant Editor Andrew Marino
Group Editor Eddie Berganza
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.

Whew! That's a lot of credits! This is definitely a comic by committee, but this is one of the few times that works. Anyway, our main cover (if you scroll up to it) is an enchanting wraparound, showing all of DC's heavy-hitters reaching out to a mysterious hand. Of course, all these heavy-hitters were characters who would go on to be featured prominently in the post-Rebirth world (Shazam had to wait a while, but he finally did get his own series). And the mysterious hand was a source of some nice debate, thanks to the expertly ambiguous coloring of Brad Anderson. On top of it all, I love Gary Frank's style. So this is a fantastic cover.

The variant cover is a little less straightforward for me. I guess it's saying that the Golden and Silver Age stories are set and confined, but the Modern Age is able to break free from the usual constraints of continuity. Because that's what this story did. It didn't destroy the New 52 continuity, but it did open the door to let the pre-New 52 continuity mix in with the current stories. Mostly, this was fun and exciting, but sometimes confusing and frustrating. But that's a debate for another day.

The digital copy of this comic offers the black-and-white for the variant, but not the main. That might be because a black-and-white rendering of that would reveal the mysterious hand. This is still good, though. Ivan Reis is also a great artist, and he fortunately chose to highlight some other characters that got big play after Rebirth — Jon Kent, Damian Wayne and Wallace West.

Wallace is probably the greatest mistake of the New 52. Initially, DC only had Barry and the fake Bart, with no mention of any other speedster. When cries for Wally West grew too loud, DC short-sightedly decided to bring in Wally as an African-American teenager, who was completely different from the original Wally in almost every way imaginable. So the cries continued, and DC was finally forced to acknowledge that this black Wally was a different character. But they couldn't get rid of him because, you know, killing off a diverse character you just brought in is in poor taste. Anyway, DC finally decided to bring back the original, real Wally West, for better and worse, in this exciting, reality-warping event.

Our story reveals that Wally has been trapped in Speed Force limbo since Flashpoint, just like the original Bart Allen. But unlike Bart, Wally has now found a way to contact the real world — albeit sloppily and randomly. He spends the whole issue reaching out to people who don't remember him or have any idea what's going on. This gives the readers a chance to review the current state of the DC Universe moving forward, while also providing the heart-breaking moment of Wally's wife, Linda, having absolutely no memory of her husband. Not only has reality been altered, but 10 years of time has been stolen. Wally isn't the Flash anymore — he's Kid Flash again. And he's the only one who remembers the old continuity that Flashpoint had supposedly erased.

Eventually, Barry does remember Wally and pulls him out of the Speed Force before he completely fades away. This creates an awkward situation with Barry as the Flash and Wallace as Kid Flash, and Wally caught in the middle. He's not quite the Flash, but not Kid Flash anymore. I don't know, I guess it worked for the most part. But the biggest takeaway from this issue was the heavy implication that Doctor Manhattan from the Watchmen comic was responsible for DC's shifting continuity.




I'm not going into deep detail here, since Bart only showed up in one panel (unfortunately drawn by Ethan Van Sciver), but this was a huge, fantastic step for DC to take. The New 52 was an initial success, but fundamentally flawed, leading to the DCYou and now Rebirth. There were some good stories there, but in our corner, the Teen Titans/Bart Allen world, everything was a complete mess. Rebirth opened the door for the return of the classic Flash family of old — Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Max Mercury and of course, our lovable Bart. Granted, it still took a few years for DC to actually take advantage of this, but at least that door has been opened. The New 52 was meant to be a springboard of creativity by wiping the slate clean. But it ended up being too confining and confusing (mainly because the slate wasn't entirely wiped clean and all the creators couldn't get on the same page). Rebirth offered more freedom, which is also a double-edged sword. But good, for the most part. I think.

Much like the New 52, Rebirth also reset the numbering on all its titles, with the exception of Detective Comics and Action Comics, which returned to their legacy numbering to make a push for issue #1000. Rebirth also boasted a slew of titles that shipped twice a month for the low price of $2.99 each. Naturally, these big changes demanded a bunch of ads to show off all the new stuff.

Wally West uncovers a secret that will destroy his friends! Titans #1.

Hunted by the fastest men alive! The Flash #1.

Batman vs. Gotham. Batman #1.

Now they're Damian Wayne's ... Teen Titans #1.

The biggest threat facing Earth's new Green Lanterns is each other! Green Lanterns #1.

How can you fight the man when you are the man? Green Arrow #1.

If you want peace, prepare for war! Aquaman #1.

Everything she knows and trusts will be taken from her. Wonder Woman #1.

Plausibly deniable. Completely certifiable. Suicide Squad #1.

Metropolis has a new man of steel, and his name is Lex Luthor! Action Comics #957.

Man & Son of Steel. Superman #1.

And in case that wasn't enough, there's also a two-page spread of all the heroes of Rebirth and a checklist of all the Rebirth specials that served as prologues to all the various titles. It was an exciting time, and I eagerly jumped into The Flash, Superman, Action Comics and Super Sons (when it eventually came out). Sadly, Bart Allen was nowhere to be seen. For quite a while. And so, that wraps up the year 2016. Next time, we'll still do a Year in Review (for tradition's sake) before beginning a slightly more robust 2017.

The Flash: Rebirth #6

Fastest Man Alive

Geoff Johns Writer
Ethan Van Sciver Artist & Covers
Scott Hanna Additional Inks
Brian Miller of Hi-Fi & Alex Sinclair Colorists
Rob Leigh Letterer

Our main cover shows the updated Flash family that sadly won't do much of anything after this issue. Front and center is beefed-up Barry, who almost has a smile on his face. On the left, the new Impulse, who barely looks like a human; Kid Flash, who remarkably looks fine; and Jesse Quick, with a bland expression and lots of cleavage. On the right, we have Max Mercury, with the largest, most grotesque neck muscles in the world; Jay Garrick, who also looks remarkably fine; and Wally West, who is now older than Jay and Max for some reason. Yes, I am quite tired with Van Sciver's art.

Our variant cover is a nice closeup of Barry running straight toward us. But because this is a Van Sciver image, Barry looks pure evil. Because Van Sciver's idea of strength is ruthlessness. Oh, I can't wait to be done with him.

Our story picks up with Barry trying to follow Eobard Thawne to the past to prevent him from killing Iris before her first date with Barry. As he struggles to keep up, Wally finally catches up to Barry. He says the other speedsters are carrying out a secret plan Barry told them off-page. Barry fills Wally in on Eobard's plan and reveals that Eobard killed his mother. He also explains that Eobard needs Barry alive because his Negative Speed Force can't exist without Barry's Positive Speed Force. So Eobard has resorted to torturing his arch enemy.

Barry and Wally catch up to Eobard and chase him away from Iris before she even had a chance to see them. Eobard tells Barry that he's only delaying the inevitable, then turns to Wally and says one of his children will destroy his life in the future (as prophesied in The Life Story of the Flash). Barry grabs ahold of Eobard and starts shoving him back to the present, pointing out that unlike Barry and Wally, Eobard never loved anyone and never had a real lightning rod, which is why he had to use that little stick. But now Eobard has dropped the rod and can't prevent Barry from pushing him forward through time. As they run, for some reason, we're shown a glimpse of Eobard as a Black Lantern.

When Barry, Eobard and Wally return to the present, we see the other speedsters — along with several members of the JLA, JSA and even Conner and Cassie — are rebuilding the containment pod that Barry was in not too long ago when he was the Black Flash. But a few modifications have been made just for Eobard. Barry shoves him in the glass tube and Jay pulls a lever that causes a large bolt of red lightning to strike Eobard. Max says Eobard has now been cut off from the Negative Speed Force, but Barry warns the others that if Eobard starts running again, he'll "spark back up." So our speedsters quickly wrap Eobard up in chains and end the battle.

We then see the new Flash family riding on a float during Central City's second take at a Flash parade. Everyone is happy, except for Jai West, who was not allowed to ride on the float and is angrily focusing on his Game Boy amid the festivities.

Eobard, meanwhile, has been placed in a cell in Iron Heights, hanging upside down in a special restraint. For some reason, he's still wearing his Reverse-Flash uniform. And for an equally perplexing reason, his cell is next to Hunter Zolomon's cell. Hunter is still confined to a wheelchair, but he is able to speak to Eobard, plotting a way for the both of them to "be better." But none of the guards notice this, because they're too busy trying to figure out how Doctor Alchemy escaped.

In Gorilla City, a gorilla finishes painting a large mural of the Reverse-Flash, with red lightning reaching out to a dozen other smaller figures. The gorilla turns to the shrieking crowd, saying it's worse than they imagined — Eobard has done something unnatural to their jungles. And we see that Abra Kadabra survived his attack, suggesting that the mysterious attacker was Eobard. In response, Kadabra has created several Professor Zoom puppets, plotting his revenge.

Barry then returns to his job in the crime lab at the Central City Police Precinct. He's stationed in the cold case room, vowing to work on all the unsolved cases he missed during his prolonged absence. But to the shock of his coworkers, Barry closes the case of his mother's murder, simply saying he needs to move forward. The Rogues, meanwhile, are preparing for Barry's return. Captain Cold says the original Mirror Master had prepared a contingency plan for this very event — "In case the Flash returns: Break glass."

That night, Barry and Iris share a tender moment, slowly unpacking his belongings in their home, and talking about how much they love each other. And our story finally ends with Barry arriving fashionably late at the second take of his welcome back party at the Justice League of America headquarters.




Well, it's finally over. DC broke down and brought in another inker to help Van Sciver finish, but this issue still missed its deadline. Missed deadlines aside, I am thankful to be done with Van Sciver for a while. There's no joy in his art. And most of the figures he draws are extraordinarily stiff and hampered by anatomy mistakes. I'll admit I thought the art in this series was great when I first read it years ago. But today, it simply does not hold up.

The ending of this story is rather depressing for me. And that's because I know what happens next. Most of the seeds Johns planted in this story did not grow to fruition. Wally and his family were essentially shoved under the rug until literally wiped from existence in Flashpoint. Max Mercury essentially vanished. And Bart returned to being a minor character in Teen Titans. In hindsight, it's clear that Johns never wanted the Flash family that Mark Waid excelled with. Johns just wanted things to go back to the way they were when he was a boy. Barry as the Flash, fighting the classic Rogues, and mostly keeping Kid Flash at arm's length. So Bart was brought back to fill that Kid Flash role with the Teen Titans, and Barry and Iris have been brought back to the prime of their lives. And where does that leave Wally? Out in the cold.

To be fair, it does seem like Johns did take a stab at the concept of a larger Flash family. He did reference the prophecy of Wally's kid turning against him. But then he never got around to telling that story. And at this point in Johns' career, I can't imagine DC refusing to let Johns tell any story he wanted. Just one year after this, Johns and Jim Lee would be the chief architects of the largest reboot in DC history, the New 52. So I'd imagine that if Johns really wanted to explore that story of Jai and Irey, then he would have been able to. But he didn't, and I find that telling.

So that brings me to the big impact of this story. Unlike Green Lantern: Rebirth, which set the stage for an explosion of stories in the Green Lantern universe, Flash: Rebirth actually shrank the Flash universe. Instead of expanding upon the existing characters in this world, Johns buried them all beneath Barry Allen, giving him the most tragic backstory and the strongest powers. Johns didn't just make Barry the fastest Flash, he made him the literal source of the Speed Force itself. And Barry's story was the only one that continued after this event. And seeing the once thriving Flash title reduced so much like this, leads me to proclaim Flash: Rebirth a failure.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Titans #22, which, for some reason, also takes place before Blackest Night.

The Flash: Rebirth #5

Mother, May I

Geoff Johns, Writer
Ethan Van Sciver, Artist
Rob Leigh, Letterer
Brian Miller of Hi-Fi, Colorist
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Colored by Brian Miller of Hi-Fi
Chris Conroy, Assistant Editor
Joey Cavalieri, Editor

Our main cover is a rather dark take on the famous cover of The Flash #123 by Carmine Infantino. But this time, the Reverse-Flash has knocked down Jay Garrick and is attacking Barry Allen, causing the girder to fall on and kill that random construction worker. Part of me wants to laugh, but part of me is pretty disgusted. Geoff Johns sometimes gets a bit too macabre for me, and between this and Blackest Night, I'm getting a little tired of it.

Our variant proudly features Bart Allen and Max Mercury. I wish I could love this cover. But those little flaws in Van Sciver's work keep me back. Their limbs look either too long or too short. And they both look incredibly stiff and rather sinister. Why is there no joy on their faces? Bart and Max love each other and they've finally been reunited after spending years apart — it's OK to smile!

Our story picks up with Barry, Wally, Jay, Bart and Max confronting Eobard in Central City. Wally and Bart grab Eobard's arms, and Wally asks Barry if he remembers the Number One rule he taught him. Bart jokes that the rule is to never run in shoes with laces — something he learned the hard way. Barry continues the joke, saying that's actually the Number Four rule, which he learned from Jay. Jay then says the Number One rule is when you fight, you need to do more than run. He then throws his helmet at Eobard and strikes it at super speed, creating a sonic boom. Bart and Wally quickly let go and outrun the sound waves, which send Eobard flying through a Welcome to Central City sign.

As Bart and Max race toward Eobard, they begin to catch up a little. Bart tells Max that he read the entire San Francisco Library in five minutes, and unlike other speedsters, he actually remembers it all. Max asks Bart what his favorite book was, but Bart says, "Well, none was my favorite." Unfortunately, Eobard is able to get back on his feet before Bart and Max reach him, and he prepares to snap his fingers, saying he learned this trick from a friend of Wally's. Bart realizes this is Zolomon's signature move, but he doesn't have time to explain that to Max before Eobard hits them with his super-speed snap.

Meanwhile, in Wally's house, Jai and Irey are struggling with the aftermaths of Eobard's meddling. Both are suffering from painful lightning, but Jai seems to be affected by it more, stuck stuttering at super speed. Irey is able to think clearly, though, and she realizes the two of them have been fighting over the same connection to the Speed Force since birth, and that if they keep fighting, it'll only keep hurting them. So Irey grabs hold of Jai and somehow manages to draw all the lightning off him and onto herself. However, Irey screams out in pain and promptly collapses. Jai and Linda are both in tears, wondering what happened, when Jesse Quick suddenly shows up. Jesse says she felt her father's presence and his voice, explaining that Irey is now a full-fledged speedster. Jesse repeats her father's speed formula and shoots out a tiny spark from her finger to revive Irey.

We return to our fight, where Eobard has regained the upper hand, mainly by threatening innocent bystanders. He creates wind vortexes to toss moving cars at Bart, telling him to play catch. Max advises Bart to pull the people out of the cars, and Bart says he's already ahead of Max. Jay tries to throw his helmet at Eobard again, but he catches it this time, saying both the helmet and Jay belong in a museum.

Suddenly, Jesse and Irey join the fight, saying the Speed Force needs more girl power. Irey gives Jay his helmet back and ignores her dad to run right up to Bart, who can only awkwardly say, "Uh ... hey?" Bart then promptly turns to Max, asking if there's any way to slow Eobard down. Max says that Eobard is creating a Negative Speed Force with each step he takes, so they need to somehow cut him off from that. Eobard overhears this, and tells Max that he can't risk running too fast because he doesn't have a lightning rod to ground him. Wally then gathers everyone together, and since half our heroes' suits are pretty torn and beat up now, Wally uses the Speed Force to give everyone a new suit of their own choosing.

But the only people who chose a new suit were Jesse (finally ditching her Liberty Belle costume), Wally (now no longer an identical clone of Barry) and Irey (who is following the footsteps of her hero, Bart). Irey introduces herself as Impulse, which causes both Bart and Wally to raise an eyebrow, so she quickly qualifies herself as the new Impulse.

The fight continues, but this time, Eobard starts dropping some valuable information. He points out that Jay and his wife, Joan, are both nearly 100 years old, but almost look 50 years younger than they should. He says Bart has been aged up and down so many times, he shouldn't have survived the process. Eobard mentions Wally's twins' rapid aging, and the mysterious fact that Barry's wife, Iris, somehow looks the same age she did back when Barry left her all those years ago. Eobard explains that one of the great secrets of the Speed Force is youth.

Eobard then pulls Barry aside and explains that he's been going back in time and messing with Barry as a child. Breaking his arm, killing his dog, burning down his house. And then the big one — killing his mom and framing his dad. Eobard now says he's going to go back in time and kill Iris right before she went on her first date with Barry.




This was a fairly significant issue. It could have been monumental, but DC chose to largely ignore the idea of this expanded Flash family. As fun as it was to see Bart interact with a "little sister" who's obsessed with him, we really won't see Irey do anything as Impulse after this. Nor will Max make much of an impact before being erased in 2011's Flashpoint. But the main takeaway here is the idea that Eobard killed Barry's mom. It's truly a frightening concept to know that a future villain of yours is responsible for the greatest tragedies of your life. And 10 years later, that is really the only lasting element from this story.

Like I said, I was really looking forward to the Bart-Irey relationship. He's never really interacted with anyone younger than him, so this would have been a fun, new environment for him — making him be annoyed by an impulsive little kid for once. It's also worth noting that Irey is the second girl to  become a superhero because of her obsession with Bart. The first was the tragic Trajectory, killed by Lex Luthor during 52. Anyway, I also liked seeing Bart interact with Max again, essentially showing off how he's finally internalized all the lessons Max tried to teach him way back when. I do think it's odd that Bart had to tell Max about him reading the library, though. Didn't Bart tell that to Max when they were trapped in the Speed Force together, imprisoning Superboy-Prime? This just goes back to one of my biggest complaints of this Geoff Johns era: We never got a clear idea of what Bart, Wally and family actually did in the Speed Force during Infinite Crisis.

Next time, we'll return to Blackest Night #5.

The Flash: Rebirth #4

Flash Facts

Geoff Johns Writer
Ethan Van Sciver Artist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Brian Miller of Hi-Fi Colorist
Ethan Van Sciver Cover
Brian Miller Cover Color
Chris Conroy Assistant Editor
Joey Cavalieri Editor

Our main cover is another fun display of multiple levels of storytelling. Against a backdrop of the Reverse-Flash's colors, we have Barry being struck by lightning and splashed by chemicals. But inside the bolt of red lightning, Barry is in his Flash outfit. This is some of Van Sciver's better work.

Our variant cover is not quite as good. In place of innovation and creativity, we have stiffness and laziness. Eobard Thawne is standing menacingly behind the shattered bones of Johnny Quick, surrounded by copious amounts of red lightning. The skull of Max Mercury behind him is rather misleading, as we'll see inside. Anyway, these two covers neatly show the contrast of Van Sciver's work. When he wants to, he can be creative and brilliant. But all too often, he lets himself slide to the easy, cheap tactic of giving us a bland mess of stiff, over-muscled figures.

Our story picks up with Eobard confronting Barry and Max in the Speed Force. Eobard is mad that Barry has arrived early, saying he thought Barry wouldn't retreat into the Speed Force until he killed Wally, Jay or Bart. Barry is surprised to see that Eobard is alive, and he explains that he has his own resurrection coming up, thanks to a friend of Barry's.

Barry lashes out at Eobard for killing Johnny, but he's unable to land a blow. Eobard explains that his negative Speed Force is taking over Barry's positive Speed Force. Max likens it to a cancer, and Eobard praises him for attempting to study the Speed Force, unlike Barry. Eobard elaborates, saying he generates the Negative energy with each step he runs, and it's his lightning that is poisoning the speedsters through Barry. He says when he was resurrected (in the future), he was disappointed to learn that Barry had already sacrificed himself to stop the Anti-Monitor. So he began studying for a way to bring Barry back to exact his revenge.

When Bart was struggling to take Superboy-Prime to the Speed Force by himself, Barry "opened the door" to help pull Prime in. And Eobard noticed that Barry "left the door open." So he sent Barry a subliminal message to lure him out of the Speed Force during Final Crisis. Eobard then transformed himself into a new kind of speedster by recreating Barry's initial accident (which we saw at the beginning of this story). Eobard's efforts granted him the ability to generate negative energy, which he used to contaminate Barry and turn him into the Black Flash. But now that Barry has thwarted Eobard's plan by burning off that corrupting lightning, Eobard has decided to go kill Barry's family himself.

We return to Fallville, Iowa, where Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman have returned to tell the rest what happened. Iris doesn't believe that Barry would just give up like that, but Wally understands that Barry didn't want to risk anyone else's life. However, Wally says he won't accept Barry's decision. He tells everyone to rebuild the lightning rod, while he goes into the Speed Force to bring Barry back. Jay warns him that he'll die like Savitar if he touches Barry, but Wally's encouraged by Superman's report that Barry shed the black aura. Still, Jay is worried that Wally will become lost in the Speed Force, too. Bart reminds him how Max never got out, but Wally vows to bring him and Johnny back. Insisting that he'll use Linda as his lightning rod to find his way home again, Wally takes off.

At the West family home, Irey has put on her superhero outfit in an attempt to follow Bart, who she thinks is real cool. Linda warns her daughter that it's too dangerous, but Irey says she can help them with her powers. Jai coldly says that Irey can only walk through stuff, which he bets Bart thinks is stupid. This puts Irey into a crying fit and she runs downstairs — right into the Reverse-Flash.

As Wally runs into the Speed Force, he also sees flashbacks of his life pass by him in reverse — the birth of his twins, meeting Bart for the first time, etc. Barry, meanwhile, is trying to fight through Eobard's corrupting lightning, telling Max they need to find a way out. But Max says he can't leave. Jay has Joan, Wally has Linda, Barry has Iris, but Max says he doesn't have an emotional lightning rod to ground him. Max says Johnny lost Libby, so he also couldn't escape the Speed Force. And speaking of Johnny, his daughter has once again collapsed in the JSA headquarters, constantly repeating the speed formula.

Barry tells Max that he can't run anymore since he's lost his connection to the Speed Force, but Max says Barry's powers work more like Thawne's. Max explains that all those times he tried to run into the Speed Force but only ended up jumping forward in time was because he was actually running toward Barry. He says when Barry was struck by lightning, he didn't tap into the Speed Force, he created it. And when Barry runs, he generates the kinetic wall between the present and the time barrier, creating an electrical field that exists in every dimension, universe and era. Max warns that if Barry doesn't stop Thawne, his Negative Speed Force will grow and continue to eat away at Barry's Positive Speed Force, killing all the other speedsters. Max begins to weaken under the strain of Thawne's energy, and he begs Barry to run, to generate more fuel, and to save Bart and the others.

At the West home, Linda leads Jai downstairs to apologize to his sister, but to her horror, the Reverse-Flash is down there holding onto Irey. Thawne quickly grabs Jai, saying he can feel the twins' tie to the Speed Force tangled in a knot. He begins to send some energy through the two children, saying he'll "untangle" their knots before strangling them. Linda calls out to Wally (through her ring?) and tells him Thawne is there. Somehow, Jay and Bart hear her distress call and immediately push Thawne out of the house and down the street, causing a sonic boom that shatters all the nearby windows.

As Barry tries to run, and Wally keeps searching for him, Jay and Bart interrupt the planned Flash parade with their battle with Thawne. Jay realizes that Eobard was behind all this, and Thawne boasts that he's hurt Barry in more ways than he could ever imagine. Thawne then begins pushing Jay forward at a high speed and somehow manages to take away Jay's aura that protects him from friction, which causes the elder speedster to burst into flame. Bart quickly puts out the fire on Jay, telling Thawne to leave him alone. Eobard turns on Bart, saying that even though his mother is a Thawne, his father is an Allen, which pollutes his blood. Bart jokes that on the bright side, he's only half-related to Eobard.

In the Speed Force, Barry finally manages to generate some positive energy and starts moving forward, just as he hears Wally calling out to him. Barry tells Max to come with him, but Max says he can't. So now it's Barry's turn to give Max a pep talk, reminding him of all the good he did by raising Bart. Barry says Max is family and he still has a lot of race to run. So Max takes Barry's hand, and together they reach out and find Wally. And in a blast of lightning, the three speedsters suddenly appear right in front of Thawne, preventing him from killing Bart.

Jesse finally stops repeating the Speed Formula, saying she now knows the secret of the Speed Force. And Barry leads Wally, Jay, Max and Bart into battle against Professor Zoom.




At long last, Max Mercury has returned! I know I should be more excited by this, but a couple of things are dampening my enthusiasm. One is Van Sciver's artwork, another is the fact that I know Max won't do very much in his return before being wiped from existence in the New 52. But mostly, I'm distracted by the confusing nature of the Speed Force. Actually, if you just read this story by itself, things do make enough sense. The problem arises when you begin to ponder the incident of Bart bringing Superboy-Prime to the Speed Force, and Wally taking his family to the Speed Force, and how Bart was sent back, but suddenly aged for some reason, but Superboy-Prime didn't, and how Wally and his family came back, and, and, and ... you get the point.

Geoff Johns raised a lot of questions about the nature of the Speed Force and never took the time to answer them. Instead, he opted to ignore everything that's ever been written about the Speed Force and make it all about Barry. It's not enough to make him the best Flash or the fastest Flash. He had to make Barry the source of all Flashes, the literal generator of the Speed Force. This doesn't just give Barry an overinflated sense of importance, but it has a diminishing, detrimental effect on all the other Flashes. Of course, Wally and the others have already been shoved aside to make room for Barry, but this whole Speed Force thing is essentially the nail in the coffin.

Next time, we'll start another massive Geoff Johns story that started before his last one finished. I'm talking about Blackest Night, which begins with a prologue in Green Lantern #43.

The Flash: Rebirth #3

Rearview Mirrors

Geoff Johns⚡Writer
Ethan Van Sciver⚡Artist
Rob Leigh⚡Letterer
Brian Miller of Hi-Fi⚡Colorist
Chris Conroy⚡Assistant Editor
Joey Cavalieri⚡Editor
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Colored by Alex Sinclair
Variant Cover colored by Brian Miller of Hi-Fi

Our main cover is an homage to the many Flash-Superman races over the years. And it's only fitting that a series that celebrates the history of Barry Allen would have one of these moments. Unfortunately, I don't think this is a very good cover. The choice to have them running sideways on a building is just odd and distracting. And both our look off here. The proportions aren't right — the chests are too large and stiff, arms and legs are too short, appendages are bending at awkward angles. And what's with Superman's shirt not covering his entire shoulder?

Our variant cover shows a gigantic Black Flash attacking Wally, Bart and Jay. This is supposed to be a more symbolic image, but it comes across as rather nonsensical. Why does the Black Flash have dinosaur legs? Well, at least Bart looks good here.

Our story begins with an unseen figure attacking Abra Kadabra in his Central City hideout. At the headquarters of the Justice Society of America, Jesse is staring fondly at statues of her parents when the stone monuments suddenly explode and Jesse sees a glimpse of her father in the Speed Force, begging Barry not to hurt Jesse.

Meanwhile, most of the other JSA members have joined many JLA members in Fallville, Iowa, to build a containment field around Barry. Well, not just a containment field, but also a device that should separate the Speed Force from Barry, as Wally and Jay believe removing Barry's super speed is the only way to prevent him from killing everything he touches. Suddenly, Bart shows up, asking about Max. Wally tells Bart it's not safe here and he should be back home with the twins, but Bart pushes him aside and tells his grandpa that he felt something was different the moment he came back. Bart thought it was Max, but it turned out to be Barry. So now he's asking Barry if Max is alive, but Barry doesn't know.

To Barry's dismay, Hal Jordan brings Iris to the scene. But Jay and Wally explain to Barry that they wanted her here because of the emotional nature of the Speed Force and how loved ones can act as lightning rods. Iris encourages her husband to calm down and think of spending more time with his family, but this only works Barry up more. Red lightning begins emanating from Barry, which soon destroys the containment tube he was in.

Hal scoops up Barry in a green container and starts flying him away with Superman and Wonder Woman at his side. A bunch of bolts of lightning start trying to hit Barry, but Wonder Woman and Superman block each strike. Once Barry is sure no one is following them, he vibrates out of Hal's container and says he's going to run back into the Speed Force. Barry quickly outraces all of them, but Superman manages to keep up for a while, begging him not to do this. As the two race up the side of the Daily Planet building for absolutely no reason, Barry tells Superman that he can't stop him even if he wanted to. Superman reminds him that he has beaten him in a couple of their races, but Barry smugly says those races were for charity, and he promptly leaves the Man of Steel in the dust.

As Barry runs into the Speed Force, he sees images of his life pass by him in reverse, ending with his own birth. He keeps telling himself that he'll be alright as long as he remembers Iris. But even though he's constantly repeating that phrase, he somehow forgets Iris' name and begins to panic, screaming out, "What's. Her. Name?" A voice reminds him that her name is Iris and his name is Barry.

Barry follows the voice to find Johnny Quick and Max Mercury entangled in some kind of red goop. Johnny cryptically tells Barry that he's the answer to his speed formula. Johnny becomes enveloped in red lightning and begs Barry to not let "it" hurt his daughter. He grabs Barry's arm and begins to die, asking Barry to tell Jesse he loves her and his wife, Libby, that he never stopped missing her.

Max grabs Barry's leg, and Barry tells him to let go, saying he'll kill him. But Max says Barry's not the one killing the speedsters. Right on cue, Eobard Thawne arrives and explains that he has shifted Barry into reverse.




I'm tired of this story. It's so angry. Everyone's yelling at each other and everything is awful. And a big part of that anger seeping through these pages in Van Sciver's art. I think I've figured out that I liked his work better when Prentis Rollins was inking it. Now that Van Sciver's inking himself, it becomes a tad less palatable for me.

The only positive takeaway from this issue was Bart's love and concern for Max. Bart shares my opinions on this latest "crisis" with Barry. Who cares about Barry? Where is Max? Is he alive? And the answer to that is a thankful yes. Max is alive and fighting valiantly to protect Barry from Professor Zoom.

Next time, we'll finally — finally! — see how Bart came home from the future in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5.

The Flash: Rebirth #2

Dead Run

Geoff Johns Writer
Ethan Van Sciver Artist & Covers
Brian Miller of Hi-Fi, Alex Sinclair Colorists
Rob Leigh Letterer

Our main cover is inspired by 1956's Showcase #4 by Carmine Infantino, which was the first appearance of Barry Allen. The key difference, though, is instead of the film strip showing Barry in the act of running, this film strip shows Wally, Jay, Jesse and Bart withered and reduced to skeletons in their costumes. And for an added layer of complexity, the back side of the film strip shows the x-ray image of Eobard Thawne. I actually do appreciate the multiple layers of storytelling on this cover. And for once, I agree that Barry shouldn't look too happy here. I mean, all his friends and family are kinda dying right now.

The variant cover isn't too bad, either. It's just a generic pose of the Flash costume popping out of Barry's ring, but sometimes those generic poses are necessary. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's an iconic pose like Superman unbuttoning his shirt, but this is the closest equivalent for the Flash. In any case, I like this a lot more than Barry putting on his boot.

Our story begins in Gorilla City, where a gorilla is painting on the wall a symbolization of what's happening in our story right now. There's a large image of Barry in the center, surrounded by Bart, Wally, Irey, Jai, Jay and Savitar. The gorilla paints black lines of lightning coming from Barry and touching all the other speedsters. And the gorilla blacks out Savitar, indicating his death.

We then cut to the Balkan Mountains, where some of Savitar's old followers have rebuilt his castle and are attempting a ritual to bring their former master back, led by Christina Alexandrova, the former Lady Flash. Their enormous lightning rod is struck by lightning, but most of the acolytes are electrocuted or buried in the collapsing castle. Christina shown a vision of Savitar's final moments on Earth before she is consumed in an explosion of bright light.

Barry, meanwhile, is examining the remains of Savitar. Hal Jordan catches up with him again, but Barry warns Hal to stay away. He explains that Savitar's metal mask wasn't affected — only his flesh, which leads Barry to believe that he disintegrated from the inside out. Barry speculates that once he reached a high enough velocity, Savitar was able to use him as a doorway to escape from his Speed Force prison. But Barry has no idea how or why Savitar disintegrated once he touched him, so he decides to go consult with Wally. Completely ignoring Hal, Barry races off, leaving the Green Lantern mid-sentence.

But instead of running straight to Wally, Barry heads home first, having an extended flashback of his life on the way. When he gets home, he finds Captain Darryl Frye speaking to Iris about Barry's return. Frye believes Barry had been in witness protection all these years, and now that he's back, he wants Barry to help him solve the case of the two lab technicians who were murdered at the start of this story. But Barry turns him down, saying he's not up to speed with today's forensics.

Once Frye is out of the house, Wally calls, asking for Barry. Wally tells his former mentor about all the speedsters suffering what he calls a "speed seizure." All our speedsters seem to be fine now, but they're being closely monitored by their friends. Dr. Mid-Nite is examining Jay in the JSA's New York headquarters, and Cyborg is working on Jai and Irey in the Titans' New York tower. Beast Boy offers the children some ice cream, but Jai turns him down. And in San Francisco, at Teen Titans Tower, Robin has Bart walking on a treadmill, forbidding him from running to Wally like he wants.

Wally has now met up with Barry and explains to him that these "speed seizures" all occurred at the same time, but varied in intensity based on each speedster's connection to the Speed Force. (Bart's seizure was apparently longer and more painful than the others'.) Barry notes that this happened at the same time he touched Savitar. As they talk, they run out to Fallville to investigate a suspicious lightning storm — suspicious because Barry was born in Fallville.

Barry and Wally discover the decomposing remains of the Black Flash, wondering if the fight against Darkseid in Final Crisis was too much for Black Flash. As they recount how Black Flash appeared before the deaths of Johnny Quick and Max Mercury, they're suddenly attacked by Christina, seeking revenge for the death of Savitar. Claiming she's fueled by the speed of Savitar's hundreds of now-deceased followers, Christina actually manages to get the jump on Wally. But Barry's still faster, catching one of her kicks before it hits Wally in the face a second time. As soon as Barry touches Christina, she disintegrates just like her former master. And to Wally's horror, Barry's suit turns black, and he proclaims his former mentor as the new Black Flash.




I really don't have much to say about this issue. The main story only crawled forward a couple of steps, while the bulk of the issue was dedicated to Barry's flashbacks. I skipped over those because, like Bart, I just don't care that much about Barry's return. I'm only here for Bart, and he really didn't have anything to do this issue. So I'm left with another confusing story about one of my least favorite elements of the Flash mythos — the Black Flash. Honestly, the less said about Black Flash, the better. But that's just me.

Next time, we'll return to the TV show Smallville for another cameo of Impulse.

The Flash: Rebirth #1

Lightning Strikes Twice

Geoff Johns Writer
Ethan Van Sciver Artist & Covers
Brian Miller of Hi-Fi, Alex Sinclair Colorists
Rob Leigh Letterer

Our main cover by Van Sciver with Moose Baumann shows Barry Allen putting on his boot. And that's it. For some reason, he's also surrounded by copious amounts of lightning. And because this is a Van Sciver piece, Barry looks like the bad guy. Frankly, I've always felt this was an overrated cover. Maybe that's because I can't stand the way Van Sciver draws boots (they always look so weird), or maybe it's the overall generic nature of all the heroes Van Sciver draws. Not only do they usually look like villains, but they all have identical body types. Compare this image to the covers Van Sciver did for Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, and you won't see any difference between his take of Barry and Bart.

Our variant cover by Van Sciver with Alex Sinclair shows Barry popping his costume out of his Flash ring. I think this is a bit more dynamic, with some nice motion to it. But I'm still unnerved by how evil and stiff Barry looks. I got this image and the next one from dc.wikia.com.

This last cover by Van Sciver with Sinclair was made for the second printing of this issue. It also shows Barry putting on his boot, but from a different angle. All the unnecessary lightning has been removed, and Barry's expression has been downgraded from evil to creepy. This cover, unfortunately, emphasizes Van Sciver's inability to draw natural-looking boots, as well as his propensity for cramming as many muscles as possible onto his figures. I'm not going to lie — Van Sciver's artwork is going to be a major challenge for me in this miniseries.

Our story begins with Eobard Thawne brutally murdering two Central City police scientists with the sharpened end of a lightning rod. He then arranges the necessary chemicals to spill on him after he summons a bolt of lightning to recreate the accident that gave Barry Allen (and Wally West) super speed. Now fully charged, Eobard claims responsibility for Barry's return, saying it's the worst thing he could do to him.

We then get a brief glimpse of a bunch of gorillas painting the Flash on a cave wall, before quickly checking in on the Rogues reading about the upcoming celebration of the return of both Central City's Flash and Kid Flash. Mirror Master says they're going to need more Rogues. Abra Kadabra begins dusting off his old Flash puppets, and Dr. Alchemy wonders if the Flash even remembers him.

In addition to the massive celebration in Central City, several superhero teams are planning parties of their own. We start with the Justice Society of America in New York, where Jay Garrick is telling his teammates that Barry inspired him to come out of retirement. At Titans Tower in New York, Wally is trying to tell his former Teen Titan teammates about his relationship with Barry, but he's interrupted by Irey and Jai fighting over a Gorilla Grodd piñata. Wally laments how difficult it is to raise his super-powered twins, saying he never thought he'd look back and say training Bart was easy.

Bart, meanwhile, is at the Teen Titans' tower in San Francisco, complaining about everyone making a big deal of the return of his grandfather. Cassie and Tim arrive to see Bart has already decorated the tower with banners welcoming himself back. Cassie tells Bart the rest of the Teen Titans are in Central City, hoping to meet the Flash. Bart angrily responds that Wally is the Flash, and Cassie points out that Bart was the Flash, too. Bart says it wasn't fun at all, and he came back from the future so everything could go back to the way it used to be, with Wally as Flash and him as Kid Flash. Tim reminds Bart that he was Wally's biggest detractor not too long ago, but Bart says Wally earned being the Flash. He knows everyone sees Barry as some sort of messiah, but he says he barely knows his grandpa. Cassie begins to mention Barry's sacrifice, but Bart asks what Barry exactly sacrificed, since he's back now. Lightning begins to emit from Bart's eyes as he finally gets to the real issue he's upset about: "Why's Barry the only one that escaped the Speed Force?"

We then head to the home of Iris West-Allen in Central City, where we see the post-Final Crisis continuity has made her about 30 years younger. Iris is telling Joan Garrick that she's too happy with the return of Barry and Bart to ask any questions, when she gets a phone call from Captain Frye. He says he knows Barry's back and asks for his help with a murder case.

The man of honor, though, is currently hiding from all his parties at the Flash Museum. Hal Jordan tracks him down, and the two have a little fun catching up, before Hal ultimately tells Barry to relax and enjoy being back in the world of the living. But Barry refuses, saying he only came to the museum to get caught up on all the villains he missed. He asks Hal to tell everyone he's going to skip all the parties, as he throws on his Flash uniform and races out the door to get back to being a superhero.

In Fallville, Iowa, two boys come across a disintegrating skeleton wearing a Black Flash uniform. As Barry runs, he remembers how his mother was murdered when he was a boy and his father was arrested, despite protesting his innocence. Suddenly, Savitar appears right in front of Barry, proclaiming his freedom from the Speed Force. Barry recognizes Savitar from the Flash Museum, and he immediately chases after him. Savitar becomes frightened by the sight of Barry and begs him to stay away. Barry reaches out and grabs Savitar, but when he touches him, Wally, Irey and Jai become surrounded in painful lightning. And Savitar begins to rapidly age in Barry's grasp. As he dies, Savitar says Barry was the beginning and now he's the end. With Barry standing dumbfounded over the disintegrating bones of Savitar, we see that Bart, Jay and Jesse are also experiencing painful lightning attacks.




I'm not sure what to make of this issue. On one hand, it's a great celebration of all things Flash. Everyone in the Flash world is here, whether in person or in the museum. And the stage is set for a rather interesting mystery. But everyone comes off as insufferably grumpy — and that's not just because of Van Sciver's artwork. Barry refuses to allow his family and friends to celebrate his return. Wally is annoyed by his kids. And Bart is mad that everyone has already pushed Wally aside (something that DC will unceremoniously do for the New 52).

I really sympathize with Bart's frustrations, but it makes me sad that Johns chose to present this as the whining of a spoiled brat. It feels like he's telling all the Wally fans to just get over it and accept this new world where Barry is the Flash again. And even now, in 2018, Barry is still the Flash in the comics, movies and TV shows, and Wally has basically been in limbo for the past decade. Anyway, Bart's main complaint in this issue was that Max Mercury hasn't returned. But the phrasing of his question was a bit odd. Bart himself escaped the Speed Force when the other speedsters gave him all their speed so he could chase after Superboy-Prime. And Wally escaped the Speed Force many times, most recently with his whole family on the night Bart died. But, the main point remains: Barry's back. What's the big deal?

Next time, we'll return to the happy world of Tiny Titans, where Inertia is alive and well.