The Flash #241

Fast Money Part Four: Flash Mob

Tom Peyer Writer
Freddie Williams II Art and Cover
Tanya & Richard Horie Colorists
Travis Lanham Letterer
Rachel Gluckstern & Eddie Berganza Editors

Our cover shows the Flash Museum engulfed in flames and an injured Flash valiantly protecting the immobilized Inertia from a group of armed individuals. Unfortunately, this isn't quite what happens in the story, although the basics are there. The Flash Museum does catch on fire, and Flash does rescue Inertia. Mark Waid's second run on The Flash has already ended, but I'm glad Peyer is following up on Waid's story in All Flash #1.

Our story opens with Wally and Jay being rescued from Gorilla Grodd by Wally's children, Iris and Jai. To Wally's great dread, however, Iris has gone through another rapid aging spurt and is now about 16 years old, while Jai is still 8. Grodd mysteriously fades away right in front of our heroes. Before they can figure out what happened, they learn that the hysterical mob of people Grodd has stirred up is currently burning down the Flash Museum. So Wally rushes over there with his two kids, telling them to take care of the crowd while he runs inside the museum to get something.

Wally immediately heads for the Bart Allen room, where Inertia is still frozen in place, forced to stare at statues of Bart as Impulse and Kid Flash. (And we see on the opposite wall behind those statues is a picture of the cover of Impulse #2.) But when Wally sees Inertia, he suddenly hesitates. He realizes that he's essentially given Inertia immortality, which doesn't seem fair, considering that his 3-month-old daughter is likely to die of old age within the week. Wally actually considers letting Inertia burn in the fire, rationalizing that he probably wouldn't feel anything anyway.

Wally acknowledges that the loss he feels right now is different from what he felt when Bart died — there's no hatred or anger, just love and grief. This makes Wally's retribution against Inertia feel so empty, while the rest of his life is slowly driving him crazy. He kind of wishes he could just have a nervous breakdown and get it over with. Wally's kind of embarrassed to be caught wallowing in self pity in front of Inertia. In fact, he spends so much time standing there, caught up in all his emotions, he allows the flames to consume the Impulse and Kid Flash statues, and even begin to flicker against Inertia's chin. But even though Wally doesn't know what to do with Inertia, he decides to rescue him for now and worry about the rest later.

When Wally gets outside, Jai proudly shows his father how he and Iris built a wall to keep the mob out. He asks his dad who Inertia is, and Wally says he'll tell him later. The more pressing concern right now, though, is Iris, who is now 30 years old.




This was a pretty good issue. We had nice art and got a great look at the confusing, contradictory, yet completely natural emotions rattling around inside Wally's head. I liked how Wally's hero instinct naturally kicked in when he heard about the fire. Before he could put out the flames, he had to make sure all the people were safely taken out, and that includes the frozen Inertia. But once Wally got inside, he was suddenly faced with a difficult, ethical dilemma. In addition to Wally's reasonings he gave here, I'd also like to add that on one hand, Inertia's frozen state is a fate worse than death, and allowing him to die might be a merciful release from that tortured existence. There's no easy answers here, and I'm glad to see that Wally struggled with it.

Next time, we'll see a new version of Impulse in a different universe in Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #15.