The Flash #50

Flash War Finale

Joshua Williamson Writer
Howard Porter Artist
Hi-Fi Colorist
Steve Wands Letterer
Porter & Hi-Fi 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.

Our main cover shows Wally and Barry battling Hunter Zolomon, who is now calling himself the Flash after somehow harnessing the power of the Sage Force and the Strength Force. Despite the tagline at the end of last issue, this isn't really Flash vs. Flash vs. Flash — it's Flash and Flash vs. Flash. Wally and Barry's fight ended a while ago. In fact, it never really was much of a fight to begin with. Anyway, I think this is a fairly decent cover. Although, Hunter's stone hands to symbolize strength is a pretty stupid trope.

Mattina's final variant in this story once features Hunter, Barry and Wally all tangled up in a grotesque monstrosity. I don't like it. Mattina is always provocative, but only in the good way about half the time. This is a horrifying, confusing mess that does not serve this story well.

Our story picks up with Barry and Wally fighting Hunter, who utilizes his connection to the Strength Force by having rocks form around his hands. He also claims that the Sage Force makes him smarter, but all we see of that is the occasional psychic attack. He knocks down the two Flashes and takes off, saying he's going to do what they couldn't — fix the past, present and future.

As Barry and Wally chase after Hunter, we find out that Wallace and Iris didn't die. One of the Renegades, Commander Cold, managed to teleport them away before the "time wave" obliterated them from existence. Unfortunately, Cold wasn't able to send them anywhere specific, so they're just floating in a vast, purple void that he dubs "nowhen." At Iris' encouragement, Wallace starts running the three of them back to the time stream.

Hunter continues his trek through time, racing past significant moments in Flash history, saying he still needs to access one more Force before he can fix everything. Barry believes he's referencing the Still Force, a dark entity he's recently encountered. Wally struggles with the images of his family, and he desperately wants to reach out and talk to his children. Barry keeps him focused and observes that Wally's "temporal seizures" are hurting Hunter. So Barry urges Wally to embrace the memories of his past life and weaponize this temporal energy against Hunter. As Wally battles Hunter, he's supported by the images of Jai and Irey. And a mysterious voice says, "Keep going ..."

Wally unleashes all this energy, which takes the form of Max, Bart, Jesse and Jay. The "energy speedsters" blast through Hunter, who cries out in anguish. As his cries fade away, Barry finds himself back in Central City, just seconds after he left. The Justice League is still lying unconscious in the street, and the whole place is a wreck. A portal opens above him, and out pops Wallace, Iris and Commander Cold. Iris is happy to see Barry again, but Wallace and Cold are furious at Barry for causing this whole mess. Cold even says that, according to his computer, there's no more temporal energy in the Speed Force, meaning that time travel is now impossible for all speedsters — even with a Cosmic Treadmill.

Cold isn't happy about the idea of being stuck in this time, but he does help Barry find Wally, who somehow ended up in the snow in Mt. Hood, Oregon. Wally realizes that if the both of them got out, then Zoom must have, as well, and he immediately wants to take off to search for Hunter — and all the people who were lost. But Barry wants to stop running and just talk. Even though they've been talking nonstop this whole story, Wally does indulge him for a few pages before vowing to never stop running and racing away from his mentor.

Barry then begins cleaning things up by telling the Justice League everything that happened and working with Commander Cold to study the changes made to the Speed Force. Wallace starts spending more time with Damian Wayne and the Teen Titans, and Iris continues to keep an eye out for Wally, hoping he'll one day reach out to Linda Park. But nobody seems to notice the short boy with big hair and a red-and-white outfit racing through the streets, shouting, "Waa-hoo!"

Impulse says, "Not sure if you heard me or not, Wally, but who cares? Force Barrier's down and now the one and only Bart Allen is back!"

Yes.

He's back.

For reals this time. But we're not done yet. In an epilogue in the 25th century, the remaining members of the Renegades rush over to Iron Heights Penitentiary to check on the status of the facility's only prisoner. The shadowy figure has broken free, and seems to cause the deaths of the Renegades. The prisoner's cell identifies him as Inmate: Crisis, and he vows revenge on the Flashes, promising that worlds will live and worlds will die.




It's been a year and a half since this issue came out, and as far as I know, we still haven't learned exactly who this mysterious prisoner is. All clues point to Superboy-Prime, but we don't know for sure. Anyway, if it weren't for the return of You-Know-Who, I'd say this whole Flash War was quite a dud. Everybody yelling at Barry for being terrible at everything in general? Been there; done that. The Sage Force and the Strength Force? Yawn. Time travel being impossible? Yeah, right. This whole thing lacked any of the promised stakes. Also, notably absent, were all the side characters introduced by Williamson that usually bog everything down — Avery, Meena and August. You'd think some of these other speedsters would have had something to say during that big race that attracted the attention of the Justice League and everyone else in between.

But how can I complain about that when I finally — FINALLY! — have Impulse back! The real Bart Allen had been missing from comics for a solid seven years. And it had been 15 years since he was Impulse! It's glorious. After being Kid Flash, the Flash, Kid Flash again and stranded in the Speed Force for far too long, Bart's finally back to where he started. Granted, we still had to wait half a year before we saw him actually do anything ... but, like I keep saying, beggars can't be choosers. Bart's back, so let's be glad about it.

Metropolis is under siege! Can Clark Kent save his city when Superman can't? Action Comics.

A graphic novel collection of the best selling crossover series. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II.

The DC Nation page is an interview with Ivan Reis, artist on Superman.

Tragically, this is the last story we have of 2018. So next time will be another Year in Review before beginning a very exciting 2019.