Future State: The Flash #1

Death Race Part One

Brandon Vietti Writer

Dale Eaglesham Artist

Mike Atiyeh Colors

Steve Wands Lettering

Brandon Peterson Cover

Kaare Andrews Variant Cover

Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok Wonder Woman 1984 Variant Cover

Marquis Draper Assistant Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Alex R. Carr Group Editor

Our cover is a bleak, dark, grotesque image of an evil Wally West killing Barry Allen, Max Mercury, Jay Garrick and Avery Ho. It’s an unnecessarily grim reminder that DC has had no clue what to do with Wally for the past 15 years. Fortunately, Bart was spared this carnage, but we’ll soon find out why. I will say one good thing about this cover, though. I absolutely love the design for The Flash logo with the lightning bolt in the A. The Flash has never had a good letterhead logo and I’m thrilled they’re moving forward with this one.

Future State was a series of short Elseworlds stories that were apparently “shaken loose” by the Death Metal event. Sure. Whatever they want to say. In any case, this story on an alternate world begins with Barry, Max, Jay and Avery ambushing the Checkmate Headquarters in the Swiss Alps. But these speedsters have all lost their super speed and are instead relying on weapons stolen from the Rogues. Their target is the Thinker’s old thinking cap, which is currently being used by the Calculator.

Our heroes fall prey to the Calculator’s powerful psychic attack, and they probably would have all been killed had Impulse not arrived in the nick of time, utilizing the Rainbow Raider’s old tech. Bart snatches the thinking cap off the Calculator and mocks him for talking too much … while he himself launches into an unending monologue on the brilliance of Barry’s plan. Bart talks and talks, ending with “I can’t believe I’m finally holding the ticket to saving Wally.”

As you can suspect, Bart’s incessant talking — at normal speed, mind you — comes back to bite him. Hard. The Calculator pulls out a literal calculator that fires a laser at Bart’s back. Barry and Max saw this attacking coming, and Max did zap the Calculator with Weather Wizard’s old wand, but he was too slow. And thus ends the life of the Future State Bart Allen.

Barry then gets to work replicating the thinking cap in an effort to save the recently corrupted Wally West, who not only stole the speed from the rest of the Flash family, but also killed Wallace. And … that’s all I care about, since none of the rest of the story involves Bart.

Bart Allen has had his fair share of deaths. But this one, by far, is the lamest death he has ever suffered. Killed by a calculator. I guess that’s a slight upgrade to Wallace’s ambiguous off-panel death. This whole story really felt like Brandon Vietti merely trying to trim the fat off the bloated Flash family. I’m a little sad that Bart was eliminated so quickly and unceremoniously, but on the other hand, I’m glad he didn’t have to suffer any longer than necessary in this exhausting retread of Wally accidentally becoming a mass murderer again. But I am actually sad we didn’t see more of the Flash family using the Rogues’ weapons. That is actually an interesting idea. Well, let’s wrap this up with the house ads:

DC Future State: Justice League. To save the world, they must defeat … themselves!

Green Lantern. Graveyard of the Green Lanterns revealed!

Aquaman. No ocean can hold them!

DC Future State: Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman versus the King of the Underworld!

Immortal Wonder Woman. Only Wonder Woman can stop complete cosmic destruction!

Superman/Wonder Woman. Meet the new world’s finest!

DC Nation interview with John Ridley, writer on Future State: The Next Batman.

Next time, Impulse will return to The Flash in issue #768, but in a rather unusual way.