The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2

Lightning in a Bottle Part Two: Origins

Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo Writers
Ken Lashley Penciller
Walden Wong & Jay Leisten Inkers
Phil Balsman Letterer
Carrie Strachan Colorist
Rachel Gluckstern Asst. Editor
Joan Hilty Editor

Our cover by Ken Lashley is once again an incoherent mess that makes our hero look like the villain. Seriously, what's with that sneer? Is this Bart Allen or the Reverse-Flash? Peeking out at Bart from behind the vague exploding rainbow are Griffin Grey, Jay Garrick and Valerie Perez. This cover ... just doesn't look good. There's nothing I like about it.

Our story begins where I wish issue #1 had started — with Bart recapping his life history. He was born to Don and Meloni Allen and rapidly aged due to his inherited super speed. Bart looked like a 3-year-old at age 1, at 2 he looked 10. The Earthgov scientists couldn't slow Bart's metabolism, but they did create a virtual reality for him to grow up in and stay sane.

Bart says that after his parents were killed, his grandma Iris brought him back to the 20th century, where Wally West helped Bart use the Speed Force to shock his system and return his aging to a normal rate. Wally then put Bart in the care of Max Mercury, who (according to Bart) was the first to name him Impulse. Bart says his rookie team was Young Justice, and then the Teen Titans "put him in the big leagues." Deathstroke shot Bart in the kneecap, prompting him to read an entire library and become Kid Flash.

But now Bart blames the Speed Force for taking nearly everyone he's cared about it, and he feels like it's trying to take him, too. After the explosion at the car factory, Jay took Bart's friend, Griffin, to the hospital, while Bart was apparently being electrocuted by the Speed Force. He must have blacked out, because he suddenly wakes up in his bed, lamenting the fact he wasn't fast enough to save Griffin, who is meanwhile waking up in incredible pain at the hospital. After vomiting, Griffin collapses on the floor and is engulfed in green lightning.

Later, Bart is talking to Jay and Joan Garrick, who are chastising him for lying about not being connected to the Speed Force. Bart tries to explain that he's not really able to access the Speed Force anymore, since he feels like it'll blow him apart if he moves too fast. Jay offers to help him learn to control the Speed Force again, and Joan suggests calling Dr. Tina McGee at S.T.A.R. Labs. But Bart darkly says he doesn't want to control the Speed Force anymore, but would like to have S.T.A.R. Labs remove it from him. As Bart leaves to check on Griffin, Jay tells him it's his time to be the Flash with Wally gone. But Bart insists once more that he only wants a normal life.

We see our old terrorist friend, Thatcher, reading a newspaper about S.T.A.R. Labs' plan to provide A.I. for an automated workforce at the car factory. Feeling his first explosion "cut off the arms of the beast," Thatcher now plans to go for the "brains." Meanwhile, Dr. McGee is on the phone with Jay, telling him the piece from Barry's suit arrived this morning and they've begun running tests on it. Jay asks her to reach out to Bart, but she says she can't force him to come in for an exam. Valerie overhears this and suggests Bart might respond better to someone his own age — namely her. But she suddenly gets another unwanted phone call, and this time we find out it's her father on the other line that she doesn't want to talk to.

When Bart visits Griffin at the hospital, his friend has shocked everyone by demanding to be released immediately. Bart runs down a list of Griff's injuries, saying it should take him weeks to heal. When Griff asks how Bart knows that, Bart once again says he read a lot when he was younger. Griffin's doctor is equally baffled by this situation, but he admits that even though Griffin was convulsing on the floor just a few hours ago, he is now completely healed from his injuries. As the doctor leaves, Bart quietly says to himself that he's seen strange things like this more often than he'd like.

Griffin and Bart leave the hospital and agree to meet with detectives Chyre and Morillo at the scene of the accident. A lot of reporters have gathered around the factory, marveling at how these two young men are already back on their feet just 72 hours after being caught in the explosion. The reporters ask the victims some questions as they walk past, and Bart takes the diplomatic approach of refusing to say anything. But Griffin revels in the attention and speculates that whoever was behind this explosion will next target Keystone Motors' CEO.

As Bart and Griffin talk to the detectives, Griffin seems to have a traumatic flashback and is once again engulfed in green lightning. He begins running and crashes into an elevated platform holding a cameraman. Seeing that the cameraman is hanging on for dear life, Bart begins to tap into the Speed Force. But before he can move, Griffin regains his senses and leaps into the air and catches the falling cameraman right in front of all the reporters. They ask him what those sparks were and how he saved that man. Griffin boldly says he's acquired some "new skills" and vows to do some good in Keystone. All Bart can say is, "Oh, man ..."

Perhaps prompted by Griffin's acquisition of superpowers, Bart decides to finally return to S.T.A.R. Labs. He first meets with Valerie and says he hopes he'll be working with her, but she says that's up to Dr. McGee. Bart is then presented with an exact replica of his grandpa Barry's suit. Since the original suit was left in tatters after Infinite Crisis, the lab decided to make a new one for Bart. Dr. McGee says they're willing to help him harness the "new incarnation of the Speed Force," if he's willing. Bart says he's not willing, which Dr. McGee respects. She does say Bart can have the suit if he wants, or they can just keep it in the vault. Bart still doesn't want to wear the suit, but he can't bear leaving it behind, so he sucks it up into a ring.

We then get another odd "Speed Force message" to Bart, this time from Wally. After spending two pages recapping his history as Kid Flash and the Flash, Wally recounts how he and Bart drove Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force. Wally says Bart was the only one who could have returned, and tells him he's right to be afraid because the Speed Force wants to reclaim him. Wally also says that Bart is faster than all of them put together and that he's a lightning rod.

Bart wakes up drenched in sweat at 6:30 in the morning and immediately calls Valerie, begging to come in as soon as possible. Valerie just so happened to be at work at this early hour — even though she's only an intern — and she agrees to meet with Bart. As Bart tells her over the phone how he wants her to take the Speed Force away from him, Thatcher plants a bomb in front of S.T.A.R. Labs. Bart hears the explosion over the phone and instinctively pulls out the Flash suit from his ring and begins running.




Well, nothing's really improved since the first issue, but at least a few questions have been answered. Let's review the changes to Bart's backstory. Initially, I had always believed that Bart's dad was killed before he was born, but now he apparently was around for Bart's birth and much of his hyper-accelerated aging. And now it seems like both Don and Meloni were killed before Bart was brought to the past. So even though Bart did spend time growing up with Max Mercury, I'm wondering if all his adventures with his mom have been wiped out.

Next, this issue alleges that it was Max who named Bart Impulse. Originally, Bart essentially named himself after Wally kept calling him impulsive. And then Bart suddenly started telling everyone that Batman named him Impulse, which never made any sense. Having Max come up with the name is much better than Batman.

Other changes were minor, such as looking like a 10-year-old at 2, instead of a 12-year-old. And omitting Bart's tenure with the New Titans is no big loss. And as fun as it was to quickly relive Bart's past, we had to unfortunately take this journey with Lashley's lackluster art. One pet peeve of mine he committed was drawing Bart wearing a cast over his jeans. First of all, casts over clothing is stupid. Secondly, Bart's knee had fully healed before he started reading the library. But those are minor complaints. I mostly want to know about Bart's trip to the Speed Force. Did he actually spend four years living in some other dimension with Wally and his family? Or did Bart suddenly age four years on his trip home? And what's going on with this "Speed Force visions"?

The story itself is pretty mediocre. I still don't care about Griffin. Valerie is still creeping me out with her obsessiveness of Bart. Thatcher is not a compelling villain. And Bart's motivations for not wanting to be a hero, then suddenly wanting to be a hero again were not properly established. Maybe our writers could have spent more time showing what Bart lost in Infinite Crisis and how it's too awkward for him to return to his friends in Manchester because he's an adult now. Maybe they could have done a better job of showing how painful using the Speed Force is for Bart. And how come Bart was so eager to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs but didn't even suggest that Griffin go there, too? As for the art, I was happy to see we only had two inkers this time, but the art is still letting me down. Now let's check out the new ads:

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The DC Nation page features a letter from Dan DiDio giving very specific instructions on how to meet creators at San Diego's Comicon, including to not form a line before the creator arrives at the booth and to only ask for three things to be autographed.

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Next issue: Night of the Griffin!

52 Week Eleven

History of the DCU Part 10

Dan Jurgens – Writer/Layouts
Andy Lanning – Finishes
Nick J. Napolitano: Letters
Jeromy Cox & Guy Major: Colors
Berganza, Cohen and Schaefer: Editors

Our cover by JG Jones shows the new Batwoman battling some ... well, actual monsters. As usual, this is a striking cover, which sadly has nothing to do with our blog. Neither does most of the main story, although I will note that one intriguing scene (drawn by Todd Nauck) shows Cassie Sandsmark as the leader of the "Cult of Conner," which is apparently trying to resurrect Sue Dibny, the late wife of the Elongated Man. Interesting story, but beyond the parameters of this blog.

Our backup story shows Donna Troy reviewing the events of Infinite Crisis, beginning with the attack of the OMACs and the feud between Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman, which prompted the old Superman and Superboy-Prime to smash through the wall of their reality. The Harbinger orb explains to Donna how the whole thing was set up by Alexander Luthor so he could restore the multiverse. Batman eventually shut down Brother Eye; Superboy destroyed Alexander's tower, but died in the process; and the old Superman also gave his life in helping contain Superboy-Prime. And Bart Allen apparently lost his connection to Speed Force after he returned to warn the world that Prime had escaped.

Now that she's caught up to the present, Donna asks the orb what's next, but the orb is currently unable to see the future for some unknown reason. However, a strange man suddenly appears before Donna, announcing himself as one of the Monitors.

Well, that's the end of that useful recap of DC's history. Next time, we'll take on The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2.

52 Week Ten

History of the DCU Part 9

Dan Jurgens – Writer/Layouts
Andy Lanning – Finishes
Nick J. Napolitano: Letters
Jeromy Cox & Guy Major: Colors
Berganza, Cohen and Schaefer: Editors

Our cover by JG Jones shows Clark Kent falling out a window, about to be saved by the mysterious Supernova. Remember, at this point, Clark's superpowers still haven't returned. It's a pretty nice cover — I especially like the line at the bottom, "You'll believe a man can fall," playing off the tagline of the first Superman movie, "You'll believe a man can fly." But none of this or any of the main story has anything to do with Bart Allen, so we'll skip ahead to the backup story.

Donna Troy is still reviewing the history of the DC Universe with Harbinger's orb, and she has now reached the aftermath of Identity Crisis. She watches the formation of the society of villains, Flash's Rogue War, Mia Dearden becoming Speedy and joining the Teen Titans, Hal Jordan being brought back to life, which had the side effect of letting a wild Spectre loose, who subsequently declared war on all magic. Donna watched the old Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, get shot by Maxwell Lord, and Batman's satellite, Brother Eye, turn against all metahumans and unleash an army of OMACs. Wonder Woman killed Lord, Batman discovered Jason Todd was alive, and some of the Titans and Outsiders discovered that Donna was alive.

And that's it for this time. All this history is fairly recent and still fresh in our memories, but it is nice to periodically review it in a concise manner and put everything in the right order. Next time, we'll conclude Donna's history lesson in 52 Week Eleven.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1

Lightning in a Bottle Part One: Flashback

Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo Writers
Ken Lashley Penciller
KWL Studio, Norm Rapmund, Marlo Alquiza, Jay Leisten Inkers
Pat Brosseau Letterer
Carrie Strachan Colorist
Rachel Gluckstern Asst. Editor
Joan Hilty Editor

So here it is: Bart's second solo series, this time with him as the Flash. After about eight years of being Impulse, and just three as Kid Flash, Bart has already claimed the top speedster title. Instead of taking over the main title at The Flash #231, or simply renumbering it to another The Flash #1, Bart gets his own unique (and obnoxious) title of The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. But perhaps the most concerning thing for me with this new series is the credit list. Not a lot of big names here. Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo (who passed away earlier this year at age 64) only had one other DC-related credit prior to this — writing episodes of the 1990 Flash TV show. So let's how they do with a comic book suddenly thrust into their laps 16 years later.

Our cover by Lashley shows the Flash possibly running out of the Speed Force, chasing a Flash ring for whatever reason. This could easily be Wally or Barry, and I believe that was intentional, as this cover likely could have been solicited before DC revealed Bart was the new Flash. Frankly, I find this cover to be an ugly, confusing mess. It's too vague, too busy, and Bart's face is so obscured in shadows he looks sinister.

We have an alternate cover by Andy Kubert, which I grabbed from dc.wikia.com (this cover is pretty tough to find and I'm not willing to spend too much on it). I love this variant so much more than the original. It's a clean, simple image that is heroic and classic, yet unique. And even though Bart's face is also obscured here, he doesn't look like a villain. This image was reused as the cover of the 2015 collection called The Flash: A Celebration of 75 Years.

Like most of the DC comics at this time, this series begins one year after Infinite Crisis. We begin on a stormy night in Keystone City, with a couple of armored vehicles transporting some hazardous material. A semi truck suddenly slams into the two vehicles, causing an explosion. A mysterious figure declares the armed guards the first casualties of his war.

Jay Garrick quickly arrives on the scene, lamenting the fact that he no longer has the Speed Force to tap into, although his natural metahuman abilities still do make him the fastest man alive. Jay rushes past the burning wreckage and goes after the semi, which is making a speedy getaway. When Jay catches up to the truck, he rips the door off to discover it didn't have a driver inside — merely a metal rod holding the gas pedal down. This momentary confusion allowed the masked man to escape with one of the damaged armored vehicles. He says it's time for blood and fire — time to build the bomb.

As Jay heads home, he takes an odd trip down memory lane. Half reminiscing with himself, half having a conversation with Bart he wishes he could have. Jay remembers how he first became the Flash and met his wife, Joan. He remembers Wally dropping Bart off at his house, and Jay compliments Bart for jumping into the family business with both feet. Jay remembers how Bart became Kid Flash, and their emotional departure at the Speed Force. The way Jay remembers it, he was holding tight to Bart's hand, sadly telling him he can't keep up. Bart protested, "You said you'd never leave!" then cried out Jay's name as he fell away.

We then cut to 20-year-old Bart Allen waking up from a nightmare. His roommate, a young man with blond hair named Griffin, wakes Bart up and tells him it's time to go to work. He notes Bart's intense nightmare and asks him what he's running from. Bart and Griffin throw on identical white jumpsuits and join a crowd walking to work at Keystone Motors. Many of the older employees are on strike, and Bart and Griffin have to walk past their picket lines to get to work. Griffin is critical of the striking employees, but Bart seems a little more sympathetic, citing some useless statistics about the state of the auto industry.

A striker named Thatcher overhears Griffin's negative comments and the two of them nearly get into a confrontation before Bart pulls Griffin away and Thatcher's friend pulls him away. Bart tells Griffin that Thatcher lost his house and family when he got laid off, and Griffin admits he lost his temper. But he insists that he has no use for old people. He was raised by his grandparents and left them as soon as high school ended. Bart doesn't relate to that sentiment. He says he was raised by a couple old enough to be his grandparents and they helped him through some difficult times and they're still close today. Griffin insists that Bart is just confused and he promises to get him drunk after work tonight.

We then head over to S.T.A.R. Labs, where intern Valerie Perez is asking Dr. McGee why there aren't any current test results for Bart Allen. McGee says Bart has stopped returning their calls and even blocked their email. Looking at pictures of Bart as Impulse, Kid Flash and now as an adult, she asks why Bart doesn't want to find out how he went from 16 to 20 overnight. McGee says it seems like Bart doesn't care anymore. In any case, Bart's rapid aging isn't the real issue — the Speed Force is. Is it gone forever? Or has it mutated into something more dangerous. So McGee lauds Valerie for her energy, but advises her to redirect it, noting that Bart lost his powers and his best friend, Wally West, so the best they can do right now is give him the space he needs and keep studying the Speed Force. But Valerie ignores all this and plans to confront Bart herself.

That night, Griffin takes Bart to a bar, as promised, and explains to him that the two girls making out in the corner aren't actually gay, but are just trying to turn the boys on. Bart nervously downs a shot and watches Griffin pick up one of the girls. Griffin tells Bart to give them three hours before returning to the apartment. Bart asks what he's supposed to do for three hours, and Griffin simply tells him to keep drinking and score.

The strikers outside Keystone Motors learn some good news — the union and management have agreed to return to the negotiating tables. But Thatcher insists talk is cheap and he walks to his car to prepare the bomb he's built with the stolen materials. Bart, meanwhile, is feeling lost and confused in the bar by himself. He laments the fact that he has the entire San Francisco Library in his head, yet he can't figure out how to get with girls, so he decides to find a movie to watch.

We then get another weird reminiscing/talking to Bart scene. This time Barry Allen is talking to him about what it means to be the Flash, remembering all his battles with the Rogues and the apparent death of his wife, Iris. But Barry rejoices in the second chance he received in the future, and even says he was present at Bart's birth, calling him his pride and joy. When infinite worlds were about to be destroyed, Barry did what he had to do and sacrificed himself. He says he went back into the light, and he asks Bart if he will ever outrun the shadow.

The next morning, Valerie makes her way to Bart's apartment, but first tells someone on the phone to stop calling her. Griffin answers the door and excitedly wakes Bart up, believing that he had hooked up with Valerie the previous night. He sees Bart's room is trashed, and assumes the mess is a result of the wild night Bart had with Valerie and begs for a video of it. Griffin then leaves the room and Valerie introduces herself from S.T.A.R. Labs. Bart notes that she must be new and tells her he's out of that business.

Valerie asks if Bart had a bad nightmare, but he unconvincingly lies that he had a party. Valerie asks why he hasn't been at S.T.A.R. Labs in months, and Bart says nothing is wrong with him. He's not Kid Flash anymore, and he's good. But Valerie still wants to know why he's avoiding them. She says she may only be an intern, but she made a vow to understand what happened to Bart Allen — not Kid Flash. She says he must need someone to talk to after growing up so fast. But Bart pushes her away, saying Wally's gone, the Speed Force is gone, and it's all over. Jay is the Flash now, and Bart just wants to have a life like everyone else.

At work that day, Griffin is teasing Bart about Valerie, despite Bart insisting he hasn't slept with her. The two of them are so caught up in their conversation, they don't even notice the masked man planting a bomb, saying it's "time to destroy the beast that's destroying us ... blood and fire." Bart and Griffin are caught in the ensuing explosion, with Griff becoming buried in equipment and doused in chemicals. As he cries for help, Bart decides it's time to risk tapping into the Speed Force to help his friend. But when he tries, Bart becomes engulfed in painful lightning and can't control his movements.

Griffin is then electrocuted by the equipment on top of him. Jay Garrick arrives and tries to talk to Bart about the Speed Force, but Bart tells him to get his friend to the hospital first. As Jay leaves, the agonizing Bart vows to never tap into the Speed Force again — to never let it kill him.

This is an ugly comic. Both story-wise and art-wise. I wonder why Ken Lashley needed three inkers in addition to an entire studio, but the results weren't pretty. The art was messy, clumsy, dark, and almost incoherent at times. It took me way to long to try to figure out what was going on in the action scenes. In fact, I'm still not sure I fully understand what happened.

Now for the story. Ugh.

Everything about this seems designed to get on my nerves. Reading this story is like fingernails on a chalkboard. And it's not so much that it's bad — it is — but it really feels like this was written by people who know nothing about my favorite character. And this is especially frustrating because we just went through a major continuity-altering event and I want to know if my character's background has changed. But this issue just complicates that problem. Look, it's good and necessary for the first issue of a new series to raise some questions. But this issue is raising the wrong kind of questions that only obfuscate things and alienate readers.

The storytelling was a bit sloppy, as well. At this point, I'm going to assume that those "messages" to Bart from Jay and Barry were Speed Force dreams/visions. It's very confusing, though, especially how the first one began directly after we saw Jay in an action scene, leading me to believe Jay immediately started talking to Bart after he failed to prevent that robbery. But as soon as this "message" ended, we cut to Bart violently waking up from a nightmare. So ... was this actually Jay talking to Bart? Even though he's not in the Speed Force, or even connected to it now? Or was this just Bart imagining Jay talking to him?

And to make matters worse, these "messages" were full of continuity problems. Ken Lashley meticulously recreated the cover of Flash Comics #1, showing Jay catching a bullet that would have hit Joan. But he didn't bother to look up the issue of Impulse where Bart actually did move in with Jay. And he drew Bart like an 8-year-old. Seriously. Jay is down on his knee and is still taller than this little boy with pudgy cheeks who looks way younger than the 12-year-old Bart Allen that first arrived in the 20th century. And then there's the scene of Bart being separated from Jay in the Speed Force. Was this supposed to be when Bart, Jay and Wally pushed Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force? Because that was nothing like what this issue gives us.

Barry's message was still rather confusing, but it did only have one glaring error — Barry being present for Bart's birth. Or maybe these aren't errors. Maybe Infinite Crisis did change Bart's history and he never lived with Max Mercury. But how am I supposed to know that? This issue keeps everything so annoyingly vague and ill-defined.

What we do know for sure is that in the year since Infinite Crisis, Bart has spent some time being poked and prodded and S.T.A.R. Labs (still unclear on how much information he gave them), then he took a job at Keystone Motors, living in a small apartment with the girl-crazy Griffin. There are so many things that bug me about this. First of all, with the accumulated knowledge of that library he read, Bart could essentially get any job he wants. Or get into any college he wants. But he instead chooses this low-paying, menial labor job. And not only that, he's actually taking work away from people who have been there 20 years and are now on strike. Bart did express a few sympathetic words for those strikers, but he still walked right past them to work a job they can't anymore.

I also have problems with Griff. He is so obnoxious and shallow, I have a hard time believing that Bart, who once was so good and pure, would choose to be friends with him. I get the pressures of Bart trying to be an adult, but did it have to be so crass? Thankfully, Bart did not have sex with anyone in this issue, but we did see some underage drinking. And that's really awkward, considering how this issue keeps hitting us over the head with the fact that Bart suddenly went from age 16 to 20 — not 21! By the way, did Bart actually suddenly age overnight, or is that just what S.T.A.R. Labs believes? I had thought that Bart spent four years in the Speed Force, or wherever, keeping Superboy-Prime at bay and watching Wally's kids grow up.

And speaking of S.T.A.R. Labs, am I supposed to like Valerie Perez? She deliberately disobeyed her boss, ignored her well-reasoned argument and invaded Bart's privacy. I get the need to have another Carol Bucklen-type character — a female confidant that knows Bart's secret identity, can help with the "sciencey" aspect of being a superhero, and has potential to become his girlfriend. But I would like a more likable character to fill that role.

In the end, the only positive I have for this comic is the concept of the Speed Force killing Bart. It's tough to find a legitimate obstacle for a speedster. That is the kind of intriguing question for a first issue to introduce. Unfortunately, I don't think that one little hook is enough to redeem this very rocky beginning from Bilson and De Meo. Well, enough sadness for one day; let's check out the ads:

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The Daily Planet never had a story this big! The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel and Superman Returns: The Visual Guide.

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The DC Nation page shows an early rejection letter Dan DiDio received from DC in 1978.

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Superman Returns: The Video Game for PlayStation and Xbox.

Next time, we'll return to the History of the DCU in 52 Week Ten.