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.