The Flash #762

Finish Line

Story by Joshua Williamson & Howard Porter

Hi-Fi Colors

Steve Wands Letters

Howard Porter & Hi-Fi Cover

InHyuk Lee Variant Cover

Marquis Draper Assistant Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Alex R. Carr Group Editor

Our cover is a haunting image of Barry dragging a bloody, battered Eobard across a blank background. This is an evocative — and dare I say, even terrifying — cover that once again has absolutely nothing in common with the story inside. It continues to baffle me how Porter consistently draws covers that are almost the polar opposites of the comics they accompany.

This issue does tell the story of how Barry finally defeats Eobard. But it’s not a violent confrontation. Instead, Barry chooses to forgive his greatest enemy. And then he does something odd and vague with his powers. Barry vibrates in a way that imparts some of his Speed Force to Eobard. This basically resets him, just as Bart reset his father, sending him back to his own time without any memory of what happened. Barry even sneaks into the 25th century to make sure his plan worked, and, sure enough, Eobard Thawne is now a friendly tour guide at the Flash Museum, with the true identity of the Reverse-Flash lost to time.

Barry returns home to host a massive barbecue in his backyard with just about everyone. Everyone, except for Wally West.

Barry vows to find Wally one day, then skips the party early to join the Justice League on some unspecified mission. And all Bart got to do in this issue was sip on a soda next to Wallace, Jai and Irey.

This is the end of Joshua Williamson’s run on The Flash. It lasted four years, which feels like an eternity these days. There may have been some good moments during it, but overall I think it was mostly hampered by forces outside of his control, especially when it came to Wally and Bart. Granted, a couple of dropped lines at this party regarding Bart’s housing situation would have gone a long way. And I don’t think there was anything preventing Williamson from explaining some of those basic details. He just didn’t want to.

Ultimately, Williamson’s legacy will always be marred in my mind for his disastrous decision to blame Eobard for every little bad thing any speedster ever did. And Williamson didn’t just hurt the legacy of his own stories, but also stories written by others. And that’s not fair. I’d like to praise Williamson for the rather innovative, nonviolent solution to defeating the Reverse-Flash, but I can’t stop thinking about how he eliminated free will from Barry, Wally, Wallace and even Bart. And that just puts a bad taste in my mouth that will never go away.

Howard Porter was probably Williamson’s best, most consistent artist during his run. Porter wasn’t always my favorite — especially when it came to his covers — but he did a fairly decent job with massive crowd scenes. And he always made sure to include as many Easter Eggs as possible every time he drew the Flash Museum. But most importantly, Porter was able to portray pure joy when the story called for it. Let’s close with the new house ads:

The story that rewrote the past, present, and future of DC! Doomsday Clock by Geoff Johns.

Can a hero from today save tomorrow? Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium by Brian Michael Bendis.

DC Nation interview with Jason Fabok, artist of Batman: Three Jokers.

Next time, we’ll take a quick peek at that long-promised Barry/Wally reunion in the obnoxiously titled Dark Nights: Death Metal Speed Metal #1.