The Flash #199

Blitz Part 3: Into the Fast Lane

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Penciller
Doug Hazlewood Inker
Ken Lopez Letterer
James Sinclair Colorist & Separator
Joey Cavalieri Editor

Our cover is fairly simple and straightforward. Flash vs. Zoom. In front of a simple lightning bolt background. And unlike last cover, this one doesn't have too much "bleed over" from the other connecting covers. All in all, it's pretty solid. Although I do have to point out one of my pet peeves with Kolins' art, and that's the spittle he often draws in people's mouths when they yell. It's an unnecessary, annoying and ugly detail.

Our story picks up with Zoom confronting Linda on the apartment rooftop. But before he snaps his fingers, he has a bit of trouble "tempering" his speed — bouncing around too much, excessive vibration and difficulty speaking. Linda begins calling for Wally, and Zoom manages to say that Wally is his friend and that he's helping him face fear. Zoom then prepares again to snap his fingers, but Impulse suddenly arrives and attacks.

But Zoom suddenly disappears. Bart asks Linda where he went, and she urges him to find Wally and Jay. Before he can react, Bart is hit by Zoom. He proclaims himself the fastest man alive and lifts Bart up by his neck. As Zoom starts to choke Impulse, a large pink lightning bolt appears beside them, showing a vision of an older Bart dressed as Kid Flash. This seems to bother Zoom, and he throws Bart aside, knocking him out. Linda rushes to Bart's side and tries to defend him with a knife she just happened to have. But the knife disappears in a second. And in the next second, Linda disappears.

Meanwhile, Wally is helping the injured Jay, telling him they were attacked by Zoom. But Wally can tell it isn't Eobard Thawne because his shoulders are too broad, his voice is different, and he seems to have a hard time controlling his speed. Zoom suddenly appears before the Flashes, holding Linda as a hostage. Wally and Jay try to absorb Zoom's kinetic energy by racing around him, but it doesn't work. Zoom easily knocks Jay away first, then Wally.

Wally quickly gets back up and tries a more direct attack, but is unable to land a single punch. Zoom knocks Wally away again, then tells Linda that she's a target and needs to go away. He finally snaps his fingers, causing all the nearby windows to shatter and Linda to go flying through the air. Wally tries to rush to her, but Zoom holds him back for a bit, telling him to note this feeling of helplessness. He says it's only a matter of time before Linda dies, so he advises Wally to enjoy it while he can and learn from it. Zoom then takes off, and Wally sadly cradles Linda in his arms.

Wally takes Linda to Keystone City General Hospital, where he's met by Jay and Bart. Jay tells him they've taken Iris and Joan to stay at a friend's house in Denver. With tears in his eyes, Bart apologizes to Wally. He really tried to stop Zoom, but he was just too fast. And speaking of the devil, Zoom himself appears in the hospital, mocking Wally's pain. Bart and Jay instantly decide to give Wally their speed (somehow) and encourage him to take down Zoom.

Unfortunately, even with the combined speed of Jay and Bart, Wally is still too slow to even see Zoom as anything more than a blur. The fight quickly brings the two of them to a snow-covered mountain. As Zoom beats the snot out of Wally, another pink lightning bolt appears, this time showing Hunter Zolomon when he put his wheelchair on the Cosmic Treadmill. Wally asks Zoom what he wants with Hunter, and Zoom calls the pink lightning a window in time — a side effect of his powers. He then removes his mask and reveals himself to be Hunter Zolomon.

Wally begs to know why Hunter's doing this, saying that they're friends. Hunter says all this was caused by their friendship. He tells Wally that when he refused to use the Cosmic Treadmill to go back in time and fix his leg, Hunter tried to use the device himself, but it exploded and gave him these powers. He now wants to make Wally be a hero willing to take any risk needed. A hero that knows what it's like to live with loss so that he'll be willing to do anything in his power to help people.

Another time rift opens up, showing Barry Allen moments before his death. Zoom causes an avalanche, then quickly races back to the hospital to check on Linda. He returns to Wally and tells him that when all this is over, Wally will thank him and be his friend again because he'll be a better hero at the end of the day. Zoom also announces that although Linda is going to survive, her unborn twins — a boy and a girl — did not. He calls this the end of Lesson One. Now it's time for Lesson Two.



Now this was a good comic book. Zoom is a compelling villain because he has a twisted logic that actually, almost makes some sense. In his mind, Wally was holding himself back as a hero because he hasn't experienced any real tragedy. So if Zoom can provide some tragedy, then Wally will be a better hero. And I sort of understand that. Of course, Hunter is completely going about this the wrong way — it would be far more beneficial to everyone involved if he chose to be a hero himself — but he's clearly not able to think with a level head right now. Even though I wish Zoom had a different name and a different costume, I am really glad he's motivated by something other than a desire for revenge or simply being "evil."

Next issue will fully reveal the secrets behind Zoom's powers, but I think this issue did a good job of dropping some hints. First of all, Hunter got his powers when a time machine exploded, so it makes sense that things would be different for him. Then there's the "time windows" opening up around him, showing glimpses of the future and the past. (DC had already spent months by this point talking about how Bart will become Kid Flash, so that was a pretty obvious vision of the future.) I did find it odd, though, how Bart and Jay gave Wally their speed. I remember Wally being able to give them some extra speed before, but I can't recall a previous situation like this. I guess it makes sense that they could do this, but it caught me off guard with how all of them acted like this was something they do all the time.

Another significant thing about this issue is that it features the final action scene splash page of Impulse. And yes, Scott Kolins insisted on drawing that obnoxious line of spit between Bart's teeth. But it was nice to see one last fleeting moment of heroic action from Impulse before he slowly slinks away and becomes Kid Flash. I do have to say, though, this has been a tough month for Bart, physically. After the Superman robot choked him and threw him into a wall, Zoom did the exact same thing to Bart.

Next time, we'll conclude the Blitz storyline in The Flash #200.