The Flash #46

Road to Flash War

Joshua Williamson Writer
Scott Kolins Artist
Luis Guerrero Colorist
Steve Wands Letterer
Dan Panosian Cover
Francesco Mattina Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

One of the problems of a comic that comes out twice a month is it requires a host of interchanging artists. So, our third straight Flash issue comes with our third different art team and our third different cover artist. Anyway, this cover is a little weird with the Las Vegas-style lights everywhere and Wally's oddly drawn head. But it is really fun to see the images of Wally's past — the Teen Titans, his wedding, Savitar, gaining powers, Zoom and goofy little Impulse.

Our variant cover is an extreme closeup of Zoom. It's realistic. It's creepy. It's mesmerizing. I like that his teeth aren't perfectly straight — too many artists cheap out on teeth. And I like the detail on his eyes. I was always a little confused by his black and red eyes, but this cover makes it clear he has red eyes shining through black lenses.

I don't know why we got a Prelude to Flash War and a Road to Flash War, but Flash War hasn't begun yet. But that's how Williamson wanted it, I guess. Anyway, after Wally's meltdown last issue, Barry was worried enough about his old friend to take him to every expert he can think of — Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Cyborg. But none of them are able to help. Wally is still being haunted by memories of the past continuity, and these memories are confusing this reality. While talking to Cyborg, Wally briefly sees him as the solid gold version he was in the late '90s.

Tired of being poked and prodded, Wally runs off to one place that always helps him feel safe and clear his head — the Flash Museum. He takes in a statue of himself and Impulse before reliving the defeat of Kobra. Eventually, Barry joins Wally by his side.

But to Wally's dismay, Barry tells him there is no Flash Museum, and there won't be for a long time. Wally realizes they're actually standing in an empty plot, and he was seeing a past, conflicting memory again. Barry takes Wally for a run to try to cheer him up, neither of them aware of Zoom plotting against them from the future.




The baby steps are continuing ... at a dreadfully slow pace. It was time for the Flash War to begin. But instead we got more setup that didn't really add much beyond what we saw in the annual. We already knew Zoom was up to no good in the future. And we really did not need the umpteenth pep talk from Barry. Williamson is addicted to those schmaltzy, "heart-felt" speeches, and it gets quite tedious.

It was interesting to see Scott Kolins drawing Zoom again, exactly like he drew him a decade ago. Interesting. Not particularly good or bad. Just another callback in an issue of callbacks. And Bart is coming back ... eventually ... so I guess I'm still engaged with the story ... to an extent. Let's close out with the new ads:

DC's greatest super heroes. Hanna-Barbera's greatest characters. Four different specials, including The Flash/Speed Buggy, which we will soon be covering.

The Wildstorm Volume 2. The new graphic novel collection of the acclaimed series.

The DC All Access page has turned into the DC Nation page, presenting a mock interview with Brainiac about the No Justice miniseries.

Next: Flash War begins!