The Flash #48

Flash War Part 2

Joshua Williamson Writer
Howard Porter Artist
Hi-Fi Artist
Steve Wands Letterer
Porter & Hi-Fi Cover
Francesco Mattina Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor

Our main cover shows Barry and Wally in chains, being judged by the Renegades in the Temporal Courts. This is a rather misleading cover, as neither of these characters are facing any legal action — only Iris is. Also, this story is supposed to be about Wally vs. Barry, so putting them both against the same enemies kind of negates that idea.

Our variant shows an angry Barry racing forward. It's pretty basic, but still evocative. Mattina seems to do better when he can focus on one character. Last issue's was a mess, but this one is pretty nice and clean. The funny thing, though, is all the dead space above Barry. It's like Mattina was expecting the traditional title and issue number and everything up there, then got surprised by the minimalist line at the bottom. And that's a shame, because he could have taken advantage of that extra space and drawn Barry even bigger.

Our story begins with a heartwarming memory of Wally taking Jai and Irey out to a track to learn about their powers. But this memory soon makes way for the cold reality of Wally standing in front of the empty costumes of his lost children.

Zoom tells Wally that his kids are still lost in the Speed Force, and when Wally takes a swing at him, he suddenly remembers his old foe. Believing Zoom is responsible for this, Wally naturally wants to fight, but he's shocked to see that Zoom is unwilling and apparently unable to fight back. Hunter says he's lost his powers (although he still chooses to dress in his old Zoom uniform).

Thanks to the Flash Museum's video screens, Hunter is able to show Wally how Barry nearly destroyed the world by creating the Flashpoint, and how when he tried to make things right, not everything came back. Hunter tells Wally that there are still other people trapped in the Speed Force like he was, but he has the power to run into it, destroy the Speed Force and rescue his lost children.

Wally has a hard time believing this, until Wally, Iris and Wallace show up. Barry tells Wally that he can't trust Zoom. But when Iris also remembers Wally's kids, he becomes convinced that he needs to save them. Barry doesn't want to risk losing Wally to the Speed Force again, but Wally's willing to take that chance. He runs away from Barry and travels back in time. (I'm not sure why he didn't try to go straight to the Speed Force from the 25th century, but there you go.)

Barry follows Wally back in time, and Hunter runs away from the others with a strange blast from his massive judge's gavel. A big bright white light begins to consume everything, as the Renegades explain that history has been changed and their reality is disappearing. Wallace holds Iris tight, and they are consumed by the light together.

Back in the present, we repeat the opening scene of this story, with Wally vowing to stop Barry if he gets in his way. But instead of actually fighting, Wally just starts running away, with Barry following close behind.




This is a good story, but it has taken us so long to get here. And it's still ridiculously slow paced. Page after page of repetitive, useless dialogue. Look, we all know where this is headed, why don't we just get there? However, the art is decent, and the continued glimpses of Impulse and Max are helping me continue through this journey. Let's close out with the ads:

A game of copycat and mouse! Catwoman.

The icy hands of justice. Batman.

The DC Nation interview is with Bryan Hitch, artist on Hawkman.

Next: The race is on!