The Flash #793

The One-Minute War – Part Four: Thunder in Your Heart

Script: Jeremy Adams

Pencils: Roger Cruz

Inks: Wellington Dias

Colors: Luis Guerrero

Letters: Rob Leigh

Cover: Taurin Clarke

Variant Covers: Daniel Bayliss, Marco D’Alfonso, Scott Holins, Taurin Clarke

Editor: Chris Rosa

Group Editor: Paul Kaminski

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

For the first time in this storyline, Impulse is not on the cover. But, considering how weak these covers are, I’m not too sad by that. Jesse, Wally and Jay are examining a random hologram, and I think we’re supposed to believe Wally’s been a bit beat up. But those “holes” in his uniform look more like paint splotches — almost a hastily added effect at the last minute. The variant covers are all better than this, but once again, no Impulse.

Our story picks up with our heroes bringing Superman, Captain Atom and Gorilla Grodd into Mr. Terrific’s lab. Superman, the fastest non-speedster on the world, can almost keep up with the Flash family. But, as Impulse notes, it’s going to take him a whole day to say anything.

So they decide to leave Superman where he is and interrogate the young man Impulse and Kid Flash rescued. The boy — who’s never given a name in this issue — explains that he was an interdimensional corrections officer who was captured by the Fraction. They dubbed him an “organic conduit” and used him as an engine to propel their ship through the Speed Force. The boy explains that all the Fraction soldiers wear glowing discs on their chest that allow them to artificially process the Speed Force. He says that since the Fraction is pulling so much Speed Force into one location at a time that it saturates the planet, causing all speedsters to go from “zero to super-fast,” unable to slow down until the Fraction leaves.

Jay and Barry note that they’re still a little faster than the Fraction because they conduct the Speed Force organically. The young man warns them that he can calculate probabilities faster than anyone, and their only option is to leave the world now before the Fraction captures them and becomes even more powerful. But everybody insists on staying and fighting for their home. They speculate that the Spire may be acting as an antenna that sends the Speed Force to all the Fraction’s forces.

So they all go to what I assume was once Barry’s lab but has now been turned into Wally’s garage, where he’s been working on a car described by Bart as a “hunk of junk.” Wally plans to place a Fraction engine inside his car, which he’ll use to drive straight into the Spire like a bomb. Ace thinks this is suicide, but Wally believes he’ll be protected by the same friction barrier that protects speedsters from being killed by bugs while running. Bart says he’s accidentally swallowed a bug once while running, but Ace claims that’s impossible. Bart replies that it’s merely impossible for Ace, so he says he could swallow a bug if he really wanted to. Bart urges him to prove it, but Barry gets them back on topic.

Ace warns Barry and Wally about how heavily guarded the Spire is, and Bart mentions Miss Murder. Both Bart and Ace shudder at the name, but neither of them provide the helpful information of how to defeat her. Wally insists he’ll be fine because he’ll be the only one driving to the Spire. Barry warns him to phase out of the car before he hits or, as Bart and Ace add, he’ll go “kablooey.”

Bart and Ace help Wally and Barry set up the car, while Jay and Max scout out the wall and Jesse and Irey destroy a couple of tanks. They all meet back together to plan the assault, leaving Irey behind to guard the frozen people. Barry and Wally have a quick heart-to-heart, where Barry admits he was about to marry Iris. Ace asks Bart if he knows if this mission will succeed, since he’s from the future, but Bart says he doesn’t even pay attention to the present, much less the past.

Our heroes hide out near the wall and as soon as it opens, Bart and Ace ambush the tank that comes out. Barry destroys it with a massive laser gun that I assume he took from the Fraction, while Max, Jay, Ace and Bart prop open the wall with some girders. But our heroes are quickly met by the Fraction’s forces, and Jay is electrocuted by the Fraction admiral. Luckily, this was only a diversion, as Jesse and Linda were simultaneously holding open the other side of the wall. (I guess they both have super strength now.)

Wally drives the car toward the Spire as planned, but the admiral orders the emitter to overpower him. Wally tries to phase out of the car, but can’t, and seems to disappear in a flash of pink light. Meanwhile, Miss Murder has broken into Mr. Terrific’s lab, and Jay is down for the count, while Bart, Max and Ace are surrounded.

So that’s a nice cliffhanger to what has still been a really nice Flash family story. Yeah, the pacing is a bit rough in places, most likely due to the large number of characters involved. And I still think it’s ridiculous that we’re supposed to believe that Iris is dead when time is still essentially frozen. But I’m loving every little bit of Bart I get here. I hope Jeremy Adams doesn’t forget him after all this is over.

Before I leave, here’s a funny little thing that showed up on my app. I guess DC is experimenting with “instant” trade paperbacks that are only three issues long. Here’s the cover of their collection of The Flash #790-#792.

The image is from an inside page by Roger Cruz, which is significantly better than anything Taurin Clarke has done. I don’t know why DC didn’t wait until the entire One-Minute War was done. Maybe this will be a good antidote for the people who are loathe to buy two smaller comics each month. But that means nothing to people like me who have the Infinite app and get all the comics a month later. Oh well. I can’t complain about making more covers with Impulse on them.

To be continued …