The Flash #27

Running Scared Conclusion "I Will Possess Your Heart"

Joshua Williamson Script
Paul Pelletier & Howard Porter Pencils
Andrew Hennessy & Howard Porter Inks
Hi-Fi Color
Steve Wands Letters
Carmine Di Giandomenico Cover
Howard Porter & Hi-Fi Variant Cover
Amedeo Turturro Associate Editor
Brian Cunningham Editor

Our main cover is a bit of a mess. Barry Allen has apparently defeated, maybe even killed his arch enemy, Eobard Thawne. I'm not a fan of Di Giandomenico. I gave him an honest shot. I was so happy to get rid of Brett Booth and that creative team with Rebirth, that I just jumped right into this new Flash series without a second thought. But after about 30 issues, I had to admit that even though this artwork was unique, it wasn't that good. Or, at the very least, appealing to me. Luckily, this issue was drawn by two artists I do enjoy quite a bit.

The variant cover is a little more bearable, but still not quite enjoyable. It shows Barry and Eobard in mid-fight, with Barry turned black because of the Negative Speed Force. It's a rather complicated story, and we're coming in right at the very end of it, but it has no bearing on our purposes here, so I'm not going to try to recap it.

It's been more than a year since Wally West opened the door to past continuity in Rebirth. During that year, there was not even a hint of Bart Allen ... until now. Barry's fight with Eobard has taken him and Iris West to the Flash Museum in the 25th century. And although we don't see too much of the museum, we are given a very clear and deliberate look of what is unmistakably Impulse's old uniform.

This was just an Easter egg, but it was a thrilling, soul-confirming Easter egg. It demonstrated for the first time in almost a decade that DC was seriously considering bringing back Impulse for real. Not just Bart Allen, but Bart in his original, most beloved iteration. Unfortunately, we still had to wait a long, long time for that glorious return after this tiny reference.

There's no reason to go into the rest of this issue, so let's take a look at some of the other DC books that were coming out in July 2017.

Will the Dark Multiverse destroy the DC Universe? Dark Knights: Metal.

Celebrate the anniversary of DC publisher Jim Lee's industry-changing imprint! Wildstorm: A Celebration of 25 Years.

And we end with a checklist of Dark Knights: Metal. I gave that event a shot, but gradually grew frustrated with it as the later issues kept missing their deadlines.

We didn't have any other Bart Allen sightings until December of 2017 with the crossover event called Super Sons of Tomorrow. We'll jump in on Part Two of that story in Super Sons #11.