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.

Justice League of America #41

This issue has two separate covers by Mark Bagley that connect into one larger image showing the new lineup of the Justice League of America. It's a rather random assortment of heroes, and I'm not sure how well they all work together. Notably, three of Bart's former Titans teammates have been promoted to the big leagues — Cyborg, Donna Troy and Starfire. And in case there's any confusion, that Batman isn't Bruce Wayne, but actually Dick Grayson, formerly Nightwing, formerly Robin.

Blackest Night went on for eight months, which is an incredibly long time to ask all these other titles to put their stories on hold. So this issue is our first glimpse of a post-Blackest Night world before that event has officially concluded. Sadly, that means we now know that Green Arrow and Donna Troy will recover from being turned into Black Lanterns. And that nothing bad will happen to Green Lantern, the Atom or any of these other characters on the cover. It also means that James Robinson is forced to address the Blackest Night event without actually being to talk about it. And he pulled that off by beginning the issue with a splash page of previously resurrected heroes becoming Black Lanterns and a caption box simply saying, "We survived."

Our story properly begins with an injured Vixen overlooking a completely destroyed Red Tornado with Dr. Light, telling her she's going to leave the team. Vixen explains that she didn't have time to think during the Blackest Night event, but now that it's over, she blames herself for the team's failure against a villain named Prometheus, who cut off Arsenal's right arm.

After Blackest Night, Donna Troy decided to give up on being a hero (even though she kept wearing her uniform) and flew to a children's hospital to find her son's body and bury it. However, a group of terrorists are holding the children as hostages. So Donna reluctantly, but easily defeats the terrorists. Wonder Woman shows up once the fighting's all over and convinces Donna to join the Justice League of America.

Donna not only immediately changes her mind on the spot, but she actively begins recruiting her former teammates — Vic, Kory and Dick. Dr. Light and Guardian offer Mon-El a spot on the team, and Green Lantern and Batman ask Green Arrow to join them. And that's all we really care about.




This issue had lackluster art and suffered from playing into the cliché of having a reluctant hero suddenly change their mind because of a 30-second pep talk. Add in the difficulties of moving on past a major event before it's finished, and you end up with a rather rough comic book.

Next time, we'll move on to the publication month of April 2010, where we will finally — finally! — conclude The Flash: Rebirth.

Blackest Night: The Flash #2

Chapter Two

Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: Scott Kolins
Color: Michael Atiyeh
Cover: Kolins & Atiyeh
Variant Cover: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato
Letters: Travis Lanham
Editor: Adam Schlagman

Our main cover shows Captain Cold being chased by the Black Lantern versions of the deceased, original Rogues. The Rogues are essentially a family, and it's a bit sad to see how many of them have died over the years. Which means, of course, that Leonard Snart has lots of zombified friends and family who want to pay him a visit. I'm not a fan of Kolins, so I don't care too much about this cover, but I am happy it shows a direct scene from the story inside.

I happen to own the variant cover, which takes a more symbolic interpretation of the other story in this issue — Barry and Wally fighting for Bart's soul. Our speedsters are placed in a skull being eaten by maggots, which is grotesque and horrifying. But I applaud Manapul for finding a new way to convey the death and destruction of Blackest Night without resorting to the usual black-and-white images that have dominated the covers of this series.

Our story picks up with the Rogues breaking into Iron Heights to take the fight directly to the Black Lanterns. However, the prison is ominously deserted. They eventually come across a guard, bloodied and screaming that "some of them are still alive." Captain Cold freezes the guard and cautiously leads his team into the trap. After some glimpses of the original Mirror Master, the living Rogues soon come face to face with the zombie Captain Boomerang, followed by the Black Lantern versions of the Golden Glider, the Trickster, the Top and Rainbow Raider.

We then cut to the ending of Blackest Night #6 with Barry Allen being deputized as a Blue Lantern. As the ring tells Barry of the great hope he has demonstrated, we're treated to a quick flashback of Barry leading Wally and Bart in an attempt to free the Guardians of the Universe and Bart unfortunately turning into a Black Lantern. Barry gladly accepts the call to the Blue Lantern Corps, saying he's spent the last 48 hours trying to bury his emotions. That tactic protected him from the Black Lanterns, but didn't help him make any progress otherwise. Now he can finally embrace the hope in his heart.

The resident Blue Lantern, Saint Walker, teaches Barry how to use his new powers, explaining that he will be able to sense where he's needed if he relies on his spirit instead of his eyes. So Barry closes his eyes and immediately sees Bart is dying, but there's still hope. So Barry starts heading toward Bart, but is attacked by the Zombie Firestorm. Barry and Saint Walker try to pull the living Jason out of Ronnie's dead body, but before they can succeed, Black Lantern Bart pushes the Blue Lanterns back with a whirlwind.

Bart grabs Barry's hand, saying he should be wearing a black ring. Barry pushes Bart off him with a blast of blue energy and his new catchphrase: "All will be well." Barry then shoves Bart up against a tree, saying he knows Bart is still alive in there. But Bart kicks his grandpa away, insisting that he wasn't supposed to return. Barry's ring almost seems to act on its own, as it creates two blue images from Bart's past — Impulse and Kid Flash (but not the Flash, because DC is doing everything it can to ignore that period). Bart tries to run away from these projections, all while chiding Barry for delaying the inevitability of death.

Saint Walker admits that everyone will eventually die, but points out that no one should forfeit their life before their time. He then encourages Barry to stop struggling and hold onto his hope. The blue Impulse and Kid Flash eventually catch up to Bart and try to take off his black ring. But Bart chooses to mock Barry for becoming a light that the Black Lanterns can see from across the world.

The Black Lantern Eobard Thawne finally catches back up with Barry, boasting of his lifelong mission to rip Barry's hope away. He attacks Saint Walker, and Barry moves quickly to protect his new mentor, but this causes his Impulse and Kid Flash projections to fade away. Bart urges Thawne to go after the "old man," and Thawne obediently moves in on Barry, saying he now wants his greatest rival to hope.

Wally arrives in the nick of time and shoves a vibrating fist through Thawne's chest, causing the zombie to explode in a hundred pieces. Saint Walker places blue energy bubbles around these different pieces of Thawne to prevent him from reforming, and Wally places Bart in a headlock, while Barry explains the time-traveling nature the dead and alive Thawnes. When Wally asks about Barry's blue uniform, Bart calls it a beacon, saying the Reverse-Flash wasn't the only one to follow Barry's footsteps here. Right on cue, the Black Lantern Solovar shows up.

Solovar hits Barry, Wally and Saint Walker with a powerful psychic attack that causes Walker to lose control of his blue bubbles. Eobard quickly reforms and joins Solovar and Bart in looming over our three heroes. But while Solovar's body acts on its own, the real Solovar inside continues to cry out to Barry, begging for Barry to help him like he'll help Bart.

Back in Iron Heights, Golden Glider attacks her brother, reminding him of their tragic upbringing. And for a moment, Leonard Snart allows his heart to feel a bit of love. The original Trickster is chasing Axel around, while the two Mirror Masters are locked in a bizarre Mirror World battle. Heat Wave takes on Rainbow Raider, while Weather Wizard fights the Top.

Golden Glider sees the glimmer of love in Snart's heart, and she tries to get him to feel the emotion stronger to allow her to take it. But Captain Cold quickly shuts down his emotions and regains control of the fight. He freezes his undead sister and shatters her into a thousand pieces before turning to help his teammates. Surprisingly, the Top has defeated Weather Wizard, and Captain Boomerang is preparing to extract Mark Mardon's heart. But before Snart can attack Digger Harkness, Owen Mercer shows up, begging Captain Cold to not hurt his father. Cold explains that this walking bag of bones isn't actually Owen's dad, but Owen refuses to listen and rushes his father away from the prison, promising to bring him back.




This wasn't a bad comic, but it's still lacking the emotional impact with Bart that I'm craving. This is a Barry story, and Barry knows nothing about Bart. Plus, Flash: Rebirth isn't done yet, so we can't really get too deep into the speedsters' relationships. And, as always, we have to remember that Geoff Johns never really cared about Bart, or much about Wally, for that matter. So all the potential heart-wrenching moments we could have had between Bart and Wally — heck, even Max Mercury — completely went to waste. Black Lantern Bart didn't get to say or do anything of particular interest, and that's a shame.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Justice League of America #41.

Adventure Comics #6

Superboy: The Boy of Steel Part Five

Geoff Johns Writer
Francis Manapul Artist
Brian Buccellato Colorist
Steve Wands Letterer
Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato Covers
Sean Ryan Associate Editor
Brian Cunningham Editor
Special thanks to Richard Zajac

Our main cover shows a rather goofy, Saturday-morning-cartoon-esque image of Superboy and Krypto being chased by a Tyrannosaurus rex. It's bright, it's colorful, it's fun, it's delightful. And it actually is a scene from this comic. Amid the never-ending Blackest Night saga, it's quite refreshing to see a boy and his dog having adventures with dinosaurs.

I took this image of the variant cover from dc.fandom.com. I'll never enjoy these multi-panel covers, but this does give us a more complete picture of the story inside. It's not just a fun adventure about a boy and his dog. It's also a rather dark story about Lex Luthor.

Our story picks up with Superboy having a very unusual encounter with Luthor. Long story short, Lex has decided to cure his invalid sister just to prove he can. So he sends Superboy back in time, to Bizarro world and Atlantis to acquire the exotic ingredients needed for Lena's cure. But immediately after curing Lena, Lex administers a second shot that returns her to a drooling woman confined to a wheelchair.

Superboy is naturally furious with this, and become even more enraged with Lex's explanation for his actions: "Lex giveth — and Lex taketh away. I proved what I could do. And the secret stays with me until Superman is dead." Superboy throws Lex through the window for his evil and cruelty, but then Brainiac suddenly shows up and attacks Superboy. Krypto jumps in to help, and Brainiac and Luthor promptly teleport away.

Later, Superboy meets at a campfire with his best friends — Bart, Tim and Cassie, all in costume — to tell them about this traumatizing event. Bart's first question is about Lena's daughter, Lori, who brought Superboy into this whole mess. Kon thinks Lori is going to be OK, and he thanks Tim for calling in the Wayne Foundation to care for Lena. Kon then pulls out the secret journal he's been keeping to record his thoughts on which "dad" he was most like — Superman or Lex Luthor. But now, Kon realizes that because of his heart, he'll never be like Luthor and he doesn't need a journal or lab test to tell him that anymore. He then tosses the journal into the fire, and these four long-time friends share a quiet, contemplative moment.

Geoff Johns insisted on opening up the new Adventure Comics with a five-part Superboy story. But Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds took a very long time to wrap up, which meant by the time Adventure Comics came out, Johns' massive, company-wide event, Blackest Night, had already started. And to make matters even more awkward, continuity-wise, DC shoe-horned that Superboy-Prime Blackest Night story into the middle of this Superboy story. You kind of get whiplash reading these comics in publication order.

But putting all that aside, this was a good Superboy story. I am a huge fan of Manapul and Buccellato, and it's great seeing Superboy get back into the swing of things. And the ending with Luthor was a shocking, disgusting display of true evil. Nothing as grand as trying to take over the entire Earth, but just as awful and repulsive. My only regret with this story was that Manapul didn't get to draw Bart, Tim and Cassie more.

There weren't any new ads, but I will point out there were five full pages devoted to Mass Effect 2. The DC Nation page talks about five lucky students from the Harvey Milk High School, who won a tour of the DC offices.

Next time, we'll return to the doom and gloom of Blackest Night: The Flash #2.

Blackest Night #6

Geoff Johns Writer
Ivan Reis Penciller
Eclair Albert & Joe Prado Inkers
Alex Sinclair Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer
Adam Schlagman Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor
Cover: Reis • Albert • Sinclair
Alt. Cover: Rodolfo Migliari

Our main cover features the "New Guardians" — one Lantern for each color. Frankly, a leadership body that represents all the major emotions and powers makes more sense than the monolithic body of bald blue people. And after all the darkness of Blackest Night so far, it's nice to finally have something colorful and hopeful.

The sketch variant loses that bright, colorful optimism of the finished version. But I do appreciate the detail of the Lanterns' rings that becomes a bit lost with all the wisps of color and energy.

Our alternate cover shows a bleak take on these multi-colored Lanterns, having Nekron holding all their bloodied rings. I usually like Migliari's covers, but this one falls a bit flat for me. Maybe it's because of the odd placement of his chains, which look like large, goofy ears. Maybe it's because his heart doesn't actually look like a hole in chest, but an image on a shirt he's wearing. Maybe the rings look a bit odd and fake. Or a little bit of all of the above.

Our story picks up with a pair of black rings still chasing Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. All the Lanterns are trying to help Hal, but the ring keeps avoiding him and smashing through all of Hal's shields. Things only get worse when the Black Lantern-controlled Green Arrow and Superman begin attacking Hal. The Lanterns focus on Superman, who is naturally the biggest threat, and Sinestro offers to kill the Man of Steel, but Hal forbids it, insisting that Superman isn't actually dead.

As Barry runs away from his ring, he's tripped by the Black Lantern Kid Flash, who says he knew something was wrong about Barry's return. Bart says he felt it because he's just like Barry — still dead. Bart tackles Barry, saying he was the first lifeline Nekron created, and they only came back because he wanted them to. Which means, according to Black Lantern Bart, that they belong to Nekron.

Before the Black Lantern ring can slide on Barry's finger, Wally knocks Bart off Barry. Bart complains that Wally won't stop picking on him, and Wally asks Barry what happened to Bart. Barry doesn't know, but he asks Wally to protect Bart while he tries to get rid of the rings chasing him and Hal. Barry has Hal grab onto him with some green chains, and he rushes the two of them far away from the battle. The rings keep following, and Barry keeps running faster, ultimately traveling forward two seconds into the future. This does the trick, as the rings lose their connection to Barry and Hal during the two seconds they skipped.

We then check in on the Atom and Mera, who are still deep inside Damage's Black Lantern ring. Deadman hops into the body of Zombie Jean Loring and tells our heroes that he's been hanging out inside the Black Lantern "network," trying to learn as much as he can about this threat. Since Ray and Mera are the only two living beings here, he was drawn right to them. Deadman tells them that he's learned the Black Lanterns are in the process of bringing every Black Lantern in the universe to Earth right now. Deadman helps Ray and Mera begin to escape, and out in space, we see John Stewart desperately outrunning a massive army of Black Lanterns headed toward Earth.

Even though Ray and Mera were dragged into Damage's ring, they somehow became connected to all the other Black Lantern rings through the magic of this "network." Ray spotted one ring flickering, as if it was on its last legs, so he chose to bring himself and Mera through that one. And it just so happened to be Wonder Woman's ring, which conveniently puts the Atom and Mera back in the middle of the battle.

Mera begins fighting Wonder Woman, allowing the emotion of rage to consume her. Barry and Hal return to the fight, but no one still really knows what to do. One of the Guardians, Ganthet, says they need to summon every Lantern to unite their powers to destroy the Black Lantern battery. They begin working on calling in the reinforcements, but acknowledge this will take some time. So in the meantime, Ganthet grabs Hal's ring and creates a duplicate of it. He puts it on his own finger and becomes a Green Lantern, saying they need to double their efforts until the reinforcements arrive. He takes all the other Lanterns' rings, saying they all have the hidden ability to duplicate themselves and deputize someone else for 24 hours.

So now we have a bunch of new rings flying around Earth, looking for new hosts. The blue ring chooses Barry for his great hope. The orange ring of avarice chooses Lex Luthor. The yellow ring of fear goes to Scarecrow. The indigo ring of compassion picks the Atom. The red ring of rage goes to Mera. And the purple ring of love picks Wonder Woman. This last one is a little tricky, since Wonder Woman already has a black ring on her finger. But in the end, love wins out and destroys the black ring. The newly deputized Lanterns quickly gather together, led by Barry sporting a new blue suit, offering the hopeful message of "All will be well."




So we've come to our third major twist of this story. First the dead was brought back to life. Then the resurrected heroes became agents of the dead. And now, as the end quickly approaches, we're introduced to this new concept of random heroes and villains temporarily becoming Lanterns. It's an interesting idea, and it's kind of fun to go through all the major DC characters and try to figure out which emotion they most represent. But on the other hand, I'm getting kind of annoyed by the idea that the Lanterns are the only ones who can do anything. I mean, if that's the case, then why bother having any other heroes? Just put 20 Green Lanterns on Earth, and you're good to go.

The bit of Black Lantern Bart left me wanting for more. He didn't tell Barry anything we hadn't already heard — repeatedly — since the prologue of this story. I was kind of hoping that the possessed Bart would try to strike at Barry's emotions, like the other Black Lanterns have been doing. Have Bart say that Wally is the best Flash and the only one we need. Have him say that Max Mercury was a much better mentor and inspiration than Barry was. Tell Barry that the only worthwhile thing he ever did in his life was to die. That would have really cut deep. But probably too deep for Geoff Johns' fanboy heart.

Next time, we begin the publication month of March 2010, where we'll jump back in time to before Blackest Night to wrap up a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #6.

Green Lantern #49

Tales of the Black Lantern Corps: The Birth of Nekron

Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: Jerry Ordway
Color: Hi-Fi
Letters: Rob Leigh
Assoc. Editor: Adam Schlagman
Editor: Eddie Berganza

Our main cover by Ed Benes shows John Stewart drowning in a sea of bones and corpses. These aren't Black Lantern zombies —they're just skeletons, pure death. It's a pretty creepy, grotesque cover.

Our variant cover by Rodolfo Migliari shows a scene from this issue — John falling back on his old Army skills to battle the Black Lanterns. But while he sets up a sniper shot, a handful of zombies sneak up behind him. It's a rather interesting concept, but one we won't get into today. These covers show images from the main story, but Black Lantern Kid Flash only makes his cameo in the backup story.

Our story picks up with the Zombie Jean Loring dragging Mera and the Atom into a Black Lantern ring. Jean sees the compassion in Ray's heart, but instead of trying to rip his heart out, Jean has chosen to try to educate Ray and turn his compassion toward the Black Lanterns. As our trio continues to shrink inside the molecules of the ring, they reach a point where Jean is somehow able to show Mera and Ray visual aids to accompany her lesson.

Jean explains that darkness existed before light and life. She claims the Guardians of the Universe waged war against the universe, not for it. So in response to this threat, the darkness spent eons creating its own guardian — Nekron. Jean says Nekron isn't death, but peace. She says if she understood this truth when she was alive, she wouldn't have killed Sue Dibny, but instead would have killed Ray to grant him the gift of death. Jean adds that both Ray and Mera are special, and would have been saved by Nekron had they died, like many other heroes. She then shows Ray and Mera how the Zombie Batman spat out a bunch of Black Lantern rings that turned those heroes into Black Lanterns.

Jean says Nekron is now using those heroes to destroy the light and return the universe to its rightful tenants. As she boasts that no one is going to stop them, Deadman sneaks into the ring to save our heroes.




I really don't understand the point of this side story. It really didn't teach us anything new, and it kind of contradicted the main purpose of the Black Lanterns. Yes, these zombies do like to try to manipulate their targets a bit, but ultimately, all they want to do is spark a strong emotion in their hearts, which they then remove to convert the target into another drone in their army. So it doesn't make any sense for Jean to refuse to do that when Ray is so full of compassion right now. Basically, what this side story boils down to is a lazy excuse by Geoff Johns to get Ray and Mera from Point A to Point B, as we'll see next time in Blackest Night #6.

Blackest Night: The Flash #1

Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: Scott Kolins
Color: Michael Atiyeh
Cover: Kolins w/Atiyeh
Variant Cover: Francis Manapul w/Brian Buccellato
Letters: Travis Lanham
Editor: Adam Schlagman

Our main cover is playing off Ethan Van Sciver's exceedingly boring cover of Flash putting on his boot for The Flash: Rebirth #1 — a series that hasn't ended yet. At first glance, one might think that this is an image of Barry becoming a Black Lantern. But when you compare the two covers, you'll see this is a reverse image of Rebirth, meaning, of course, that this is the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne. Sadly, this raises some questions that would have been answered had a certain artist met his deadlines.

I got this image of the variant cover from dc.fandom.com. It shows Barry fighting Nekron, which does not happen in this issue. I absolutely love Manapul's take on Barry Allen, and it is nice to have a bright red cover amid all this Blackest Night stuff. I do have to say that Nekron looks quite generic and not nearly as scary as he should be.

This story takes place during Blackest Night #4, picking up with Barry running around the country, warning everyone about the Black Lanterns. We're given a quick glimpse of Avernus, the hidden graveyard of the Rogues in Central City, where we see some mild graffiti adorning the grave of the Reverse-Flash. In Keystone City, Wally hears Barry's words and promptly kisses Linda goodbye, telling her to keep the TV and computers off, since he doesn't want Irey getting involved. At the Rogues' safehouse in Central City, Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, Mirror Master and Trickster somehow hear Barry's words, as well. Captain Cold believes keeping his emotions in check won't be a problem for him.

As Barry runs, he reminisces on his own death and rebirth, accompanied by the ensuing fight with Eobard. This part gets a little awkward, since the conclusion of that fight has not yet been published. But Barry does note that Eobard's body is currently resting in a grave, while the Eobard he fought in Rebirth was from the future, saying he recently had a resurrection of his own. And now that Barry is witnessing fallen heroes and villains coming back to life, he wonders if this very event is what Eobard was mentioning.

Back in Avernus, we see Bart's half-brother, Owen, teaming up with Tar Pit to search for his father, the original Captain Boomerang. Owen actually put some thought into choosing Tar Pit as his companion. Owen knows the Black Lanterns are after people's hearts, and he knows that Tar Pit literally doesn't have a heart — he's just animated burning asphalt — so that should keep him safe. As they examine the torn-open graves of Avernus, they see one more Black Lantern ring fly down into the Reverse-Flash's grave, commanding Eobard Thawne of Earth to rise.

We then get our one and only glimpse of Bart in this issue, heading out with the Titans, asking his grandpa where they should go. Barry gives the vague answer of "wherever there's trouble," just like we saw in Blackest Night #4. But then we see some new things that happened between this moment and the end of that issue. Wally tries to tell Barry something about his old gorilla friend, Solovar, but Barry's suddenly approached by the zombie Eobard, who falsely proclaims himself the new Black Flash. Barry recognizes this isn't the real Eobard, just his animated corpse, and he manages to keep his emotions under control. Zombie Eobard lunges at Barry, but he dodges the attack at the last second, gets behind Eobard, and throws him up into the sky at super speed. Barry immediately takes off toward Gorilla City, estimating he'll be 500 miles away before Zombie Eobard hits the ground.

Barry is horrified to see ruin and destruction at Gorilla City, with dead apes lying in the streets. As he searches for the cause of this chaos, he stumbles across the odd cave paintings we saw during Rebirth. Barry recognizes this as basically a diagram of the Speed Force, and he begins to wonder how Gorilla City is connected to the Speed Force. For some reason, this thought fills Barry with hope, which then attracts the Zombie Solovar. Barry's hope is immediately replaced by rage when he sees what's become of his old friend.

The Rogues, meanwhile, learn of a bunch of Black Lanterns attacking Iron Heights Penitentiary. They document the return of the first Mirror Master, the first Trickster, the Top, Captain Boomerang and Golden Glider. Captain Cold says it's only a matter of time before those zombies start hunting them down, so he orders his team to take the fight directly to the Black Lanterns.

As Barry fights Zombie Solovar, he notices that the real Solovar is also fighting from the inside, begging Barry to help him. So Barry rips off Solovar's ring and rushes it far away from Gorilla City. But as he runs, the ring begins regenerating Solovar right there. Solovar again begs for help, but Barry sadly has to tell his friend he doesn't know how to. So Barry ditches Solovar and the ring, and heads back to the U.S., where he somehow learns that the Black Lantern power level has reached 100%. Barry finds himself in Coast City, and he calls Wally and Bart to him.




This wasn't a bad issue. I often have mixed feelings about these issues that take place in-between pages of another issue, as that potentially opens the door for a lot of continuity problems. But in this case, everything seems fine. The Flash is fast enough to have a couple of quick adventures on the side without disrupting anything else. Mostly, though, this issue was a nice way to catch up with the extended Flash family ... well, sort of. It's easy enough to show us what the Rogues are up to, but as for everyone else? Well, Geoff Johns is kind of stuck in limbo right now. Flash: Rebirth needs to end before any new stories can be told about Wally, Bart, Max and Jesse. But since Rebirth has been delayed yet again, Wally is confined to two quick panels, and Max and Jesse are not even mentioned. DC also couldn't even start a new monthly Flash series, all because of Rebirth. It's kind of amazing to see how large of an impact one man had on the entire company just because he couldn't keep his deadlines. Granted, part of the blame falls on the editors' heads. They should have demanded to bring in some additional artists to get the story out on time. Waiting for George Pérez is worth it. Waiting for Ethan Van Sciver is not.

We don't have any new ads with this issue, but we do have a new DC Nation page by Paul Levitz, talking about his upcoming run with the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Next time, we'll get one more quick cameo of Bart in Green Lantern #49.

Teen Titans #78

Tortured Souls

Writer: J.T. Krul
Pencils: Joe Bennett
Inks: Jack Jadson & Ruy Jose
Colors: Rod Reis & Peter Pantazis
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Cover by Bennett, Jadson & Reis
Asst. Editor: Rex Ogle
Editor: Brian Cunningham
With special thanks to Geoff Johns

Our cover shows Ravager and her dad, Deathstroke, joining forces to take down a mostly unseen army of Black Lantern zombies. I've always felt it was weird that Rose Wilson supposedly hates her dad so much, yet continues to dress exactly like him. Anyway, this is a fine cover, but it does reveal something I can't stand about Bennett's work. He insists on giving Ravager an extremely pointy nose on her mask. It's even worse inside this issue, and it's very distracting.

Our story features a lot of fighting and a lot of complicated Wilson family drama. For our purposes, all that matters is that Jericho and Ravager have joined Deathstroke in fighting off the Black Lantern versions of their deceased friends and family. But after fighting these regenerating zombies for so long, Jericho finally decides he needs to try something new. He jumps into the body of his zombie mom, which gives him a glimpse of what the other Black Lanterns are doing at this moment — notably, Dove is fighting the zombie Hawk, the zombie Terra is tormenting Beast Boy, and Wonder Girl and Kid Flash are trying to help the recently bitten Donna Troy. In other words, everything that happened in the Blackest Night: Titans miniseries.

Joey manages to take control of his zombie mom and fight off the other zombies long enough for Rose and Slade to exit Slade's house. Once they're clear, Joey hits the self-destruct button, destroying the entire house. Of course, this still doesn't kill the zombies. They are drawn to Joey's willpower and attempt to remove his heart — even though he's in his zombie mom's body. Joey jumps out of that body at the last second, and notices that the other Black Lanterns actually destroyed his zombie mom, permanently severing her connection to the Black Lantern ring. So Joey begins hopping back and forth between the rest of the zombies, tricking them into destroying each other.




This was an OK issue. Lots of family drama I don't care about. Lots of gun shooting and sword slashing and wondering "Why isn't this working?" And I guess Jericho's solution almost makes sense, based on the Black Lantern logic we've seen so far. Powerful attacks of light and the emotion of peace can destroy them. But I guess having another Black Lantern pull out a Black Lantern's heart works. I don't know, I don't care that much. Let's check out the new ads:

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Batman and Robin by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart.

A new era begins. Outsiders by Dan DiDio and Philip Tan.

Green Lantern: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis.

The DC Nation page is just the cover of Blackest Night #6.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers for Wii.

Next time, we'll begin another miniseries, Blackest Night: The Flash.

Adventure Comics #5

He Primed Me Part Two: Flame War

Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates – Writers
Jerry Ordway – Penciller
Bob Wiacek and Jerry Ordway – Inkers
Ken Lopez – Letterer
Brian Buccellato – Colorist
Jerry Ordway, Francis Manapul, and Brian Buccellato – Covers
Sean Ayan – Editor

Our main cover is a twist on George Pérez's famous image from Crisis on Infinite Earths of Superman holding the dead Supergirl in his arms. But this time, it's Alexander Luthor holding Superboy-Prime. And Alexander is actually the dead one — not Prime. It's a pretty fun cover, and another indication of just how deep and far the Blackest Night event reaches. Even on Earth-Prime, the place without any superheroes, is affected by the resurrection of heroes and villains.

I got this variant cover from dc.fandom.com. I love Manapul's take on Superboy-Prime as a Red Lantern. And all the side images are nice, too, but I'm still not a fan of these disjointed "panel" covers.

Our story picks up with the Black Lantern Alexander Luthor leading a group of Black Lantern versions of many of the people Superboy-Prime killed. Alexander has somehow restored Prime's Anti-Monitor armor because he wants him as powerful and, more importantly, as emotional, as possible. The fight has carried over to Manhattan, as Prime has realized that even with his great strength, he can't actually kill these zombies. But he does know who can actually stop these creatures — the writers and editors at DC Comics.

So Superboy-Prime flies through the DC offices, terrorizing all the real people in charge of the company, such as Dan DiDio, Eddie Berganza and many more. But before Prime is able to actually kill any of them, Alexander teleports Prime and the rest of the Black Lanterns back to Prime's basement. Alexander points out Prime's large comic book collection, saying most people find hope and inspiration from these books, but for Prime, these books are his kryptonite, as they only fill him with rage. Alexander then brings up Prime's girlfriend, Laurie, insinuating that Prime had killed her when he lost control.

The Black Lanterns finally pin Prime down and begin removing his armor to get to his heart. Prime notices a Black Lantern ring buzzing around him, just waiting for him to die. He then concludes that since he can't beat the Black Lanterns, he might as well join them. But instead of allowing the zombies to rip out his heart, Prime shoves them all off him, grabs the ring and puts it on his finger.

The ring commands Clark Kent of Earth-Prime to die, and momentarily turns him into a Black Lantern. But Prime resists, and sensing his great willpower, the ring actually turns into a Green Lantern ring. But then it quickly turns indigo, picking up on Prime's compassion, as he genuinely regrets what he did to Laurie. But Prime also wants everyone to love him, so the ring becomes orange for avarice. It then immediately turns yellow for fear, seeing all the heroes Prime once admired but now fears. The ring even creates yellow images of Superman, some of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Flash, and, of course, Bart Allen.

The ring then settles on the color red for Superboy-Prime's intense rage. And the ring realizes the thing Prime hates the most in the world is himself and what he's become. Prime lashes out at the Black Lanterns with his Red Lantern powers. But the ring makes one last change to purple for love, as Prime's thoughts return to his dead girlfriend. He creates an explosion of purple energy that finally destroys all the Black Lanterns once and for all (including half his stuff in the basement).

Prime collapses to the ground, as the ring tries to simultaneously return to all those different colors, but ultimately breaks apart. Prime begins to cry, wishing he could be given a happy ending. Suddenly, Laurie comes running down the basement stairs. She's not dead, although her arm is in a sling. She tells Clark that "they" heard him and are sorry, so they sent her back to make sure Clark isn't alone. As Clark embraces Laurie, we see a Black Lantern ring on Laurie's hand identifying the emotion of hope in Clark.




This was a fun, wild comic. I always feel like I enjoy Superboy-Prime stories much more than I should. And that's probably because I've dealt with far too many comic book "fans" who act too much like Prime. When you think about it, this story doesn't make much sense, but it doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, either. Besides, Prime has always kind of been the exception to the rule, so it's sort of understandable how the Black Lantern ring would react so differently to him. Prime's greatest weakness has always been that he's too emotional. Period. He's incredibly cowardly, angry and selfish. And below that, is the powerful belief that he was, is and should be a good guy. And so you get this strange mix of powerful emotions that Prime, and a power ring, can't control. So even though this story doesn't make much sense, there is a certain amount of logic behind it.

Superboy was relegated to the backup feature of this issue, and it's a little awkward since that story takes place before Blackest Night began. I know DC had a big problem with publishing stories out of order at this time, but to have this problem blatantly on display within the same issue is taking the cake. Well, let's check out the new ads:

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Heroic Holiday Gift Guide 2009. dcholidaysweeps.com.

See it first on BBC America. Doctor Who.

The DC Nation page just shows some pictures of staffers at a Halloween party.

Make your first impression their last! Dragon Ball Raging Blast on PS3 and Xbox 360.

I just dropped by to say die. Bayonetta on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Deathstroke and his messed up family in Teen Titans #78.

Blackest Night #5

Geoff Johns Writer
Ivan Reis Penciller
Oclair Albert & Joe Prado Inkers
Alex Sinclair Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer
Adam Schlagman Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor
Cover: Reis • Albert • Sinclair
Alt. Cover: Rodolfo Migliari

Our main cover shows the new villain for this story, Nekron, lording over all the major heroes who have been brought back to life: Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Ice, Kid Flash, Superboy, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow. This is an unusually bright and colorful cover for this series, and I'm kind of torn by that. On one hand, I am getting a little tired of the doom and gloom of Blackest Night. But on the other hand, that bright blue background almost feels like a betrayal of the core nature of this story. In any case, I am happy to see Bart and Kon front and center, joining some of the biggest names in DC of heroes who have cheated death.

The sketch variant, as always, is an interesting work-in-progress view. But beyond that, I don't see much value. Reis' pencils are so light, it's very difficult to distinguish the smaller heroes from the larger Nekron behind them. But I am glad this cover isn't completely filled with shading like some of the others have been.

Our alternate cover shows an actual scene from this issue — something that's been teased since the very beginning — a Black Lantern Batman. It is a cool and creepy cover. But I wonder how many readers in 2010 actually believed this was the real Batman brought back to life. I mean, the end of Final Crisis did show that Batman wasn't actually killed by Darkseid, but just sent back in time. So I guess all this stuff with "Batman" was just to throw people off? Make them wonder?

Our story begins with Hal Jordan, a representative from each different color Lantern, and the two remaining free Guardians of the Universe, exploring Space Sector 666 for the Black Lantern power source. But they're too late. The massive lantern has already been teleported to Coast City, where it's currently reviving the 7 million people who were killed there back in the '90s.

And in Coast City, Barry is currently fighting through that massive hoard of zombies to reach Black Hand and Nekron, accusing them of sacrilege. Nekron says Barry's yeah was the first, and his rebirth is the last. Black Hand adds that dying is inevitable, and that people age because they're not supposed to be here. Barry has battled Black Hand in the past, and he asks why he's so different now. Black Hand boasts that he's dead now, and he somehow manages to catch Barry's throat and slam him down on the ground, all while still cradling the skull from Bruce Wayne's grave. Barry correctly identifies that skull, but is quickly overwhelmed by all the zombies around him.

Wally West finally makes an appearance in this series, after being forced to hide off page until his new costume was revealed in Flash: Rebirth #5. Wally saves Barry, who tells him Nekron is the main bad guy here. Wally has heard of Nekron from Kyle Rayner before, who described him as an alien that could animate the dead. Both Flashes conclude that Nekron and Black Hand have received major upgrades recently. Wally then stupidly describes himself as the Nightwing to Barry's Batman, but Barry insists that Wally is the Flash to his Flash. He then asks Wally if he brought any reinforcements, and Wally proudly shows off Superman, Wonder Woman, Kid Flash and the Titans, Superboy and a few others.

In Manhattan, the Atom is trying, and failing, to prevent a Black Lantern ring from reviving Damage. He's attacked by his ex-wife, Jean, who somehow has the ability to stretch and shrink, which she uses to grab Ray and Mera and take them down into Damage's ring for some reason.

Back in Coast City, Bart addresses Barry as "Grandpa," who asks not to be called that, since it makes him feel old. Bart drops some unnatural, expositional dialogue, explaining that he's Barry's grandson from the 31st century, just in case anybody reading this didn't already know that. Bart finally gets to the point, saying he has good news and bad news. Barry wants the good news first, but Wally wants the bad news first. So Bart makes another dig at Barry's age, by saying seniority wins out.

The good news, Bart says, is that somehow all the Black Lanterns die and don't come back whenever they try to take Dove's heart. Barry thought Dove was dead, so Bart explains that this is the new Dove, a girl. Barry says they need to get her front-and-center in this fight, and Bart says the Titans are already working on that. But that brings Bart to the bad news: Donna Troy has been bitten by a Black Lantern and is getting worse. Wally says they should take her to S.T.A.R. Labs or Doctor Mid-Nite, and Bart says they've tried, but Donna insists on staying and fighting.

Barry then leads Wally and Bart through the massive zombie army and straight to the Black Lantern power source. Bart spots Nekron and asks if he's the "Black Lantern boss," but Barry tells him not to worry about Nekron and instead focus on the aliens floating in the sky. The rest of the Guardians of Oa are suspended in black goo, and Barry theorizes that if they free them, the Guardians will be able to help them shut down the Black Lanterns. But our speedsters have a hard time loosening the Guardians, and the one Guardian possessed by the black fights back, slashing at Barry's back and vomiting a bunch of black goo on Bart.

Suddenly, Hal and his Lantern friends show up and promptly destroy that possessed Guardian. Barry asks Hal if he knows anything about Nekron, but Hal really isn't able to add anything substantial to Wally's report. However, he assures Barry that the "color-coded cavalry" is here to save the day. The seven different Lanterns all combine their powers and begin blasting the Black Lantern power source. But this attack is unable to prevent the lantern from spitting out more rings, which surprise Bart with their speed. We also see that despite Donna's earlier instance on staying close to Dove, she has now unfortunately become separated from her. Wonder Woman checks on Donna, who says that she's changing, and begins crying out in pain.

Hal notices that the multi-Lantern attack isn't actually doing anything, but Black Hand corrects him, saying the Lanterns are actually making Nekron stronger. He holds up the skull from Bruce's grave, which comes in contact with a Black Lantern ring that commands "Bruce Wayne of Earth" to rise. And we finally get the long promised zombie Batman. Everybody is shocked by this and stop what they're doing to stand and stare. Nekron begins lecturing the heroes, saying many of them died and have come back, only because he allowed their resurrections. He now plans to use them to expose the Guardians' greatest secret.

As Nekron talks, the zombie Batman begins vomiting a bunch of Black Lantern rings that quickly fly onto the fingers of Wonder Woman, Superman, Superboy, Kid Flash and Green Arrow. Once the rings are in place, Nekron commands them to die, and they promptly turn into zombie versions of themselves. Nekron then says "Bruce Wayne" has served his purpose, and the zombie Batman explodes with a shriek. Two more Black Lantern rings are trying to connect to Hal and Barry. Hal slowed it down momentarily with a shield, but the ring has now broken through. And all Barry can do is keep running away, hoping it won't catch up.

So the whole Black Lantern "Batman" business was completely worthless. But beyond that, this was another strong installment in this story. We're no longer just dealing with reanimated dead heroes and villains — we now have to worry about every hero who has already previously been brought back to life. And as you can see from that final two-page spread, that list includes some pretty big heroes. And you have to feel bad for Bart. These past couple of years sure have been turbulent for him. After pushing Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force, Bart turned into a 20-year-old, was killed, was brought back to life as a 16-year-old, and now he's a Black Lantern. Poor kid just can't catch a break.

I was happy that Bart finally got around to telling Barry the critical information he gained from the Titans. But the interactions between Bart, Wally and Barry were very awkward. It's like Geoff Johns was worried readers wouldn't know who Wally and Bart were, so he forced them to spout off stilted, expositional dialogue. And beyond that, they really didn't do anything. The three fastest beings in the world all gathered together to have a conversation. And that's because this is a Green Lantern story once again. Everyone else can show up, but they can't actually do anything of any significance.

Next time, we'll move to the publication month of February 2010. This will feature a bunch of Blackest Night tie-ins, some of which actually take place before the issue we just reviewed. But I'm going through these comics in publication order, not reading order, so these strange time jumps are all DC's fault. Anyway, we kick off that month with a quick check-in on our old pal, Superboy-Prime, in Adventure Comics #5.

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.