The Flash #795

The One-Minute War – Part Six: Give Me Liberty

Script: Jeremy Adams

Pencils: Roger Cruz, George Kambadais, & Fernando Pasarin

Inks: Wellington Dias, George Kambadais, & Oclair Albert

Colors: Luis Guerrero & Matt Herms

Letters: Rob Leigh

Cover: Taurin Clarke

Variant Covers: Taurin Clarke, Marco D’Alfonso, George Kambadais, Eleonora Carlini

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Variant Cover by Jerry Ordway & Alex Sinclair

Editor: Chris Rosa

Group Editor: Paul Kaminski

Our cover shows a rather thick Barry mournfully holding Iris’ wedding ring, while Wally and Linda weep from a distance. Even though, you know, we’re supposed to believe that Wally’s dead right now. This cover actually isn’t too bad, by Clarke’s standards. But the word casualties does make me wish there were some actual casualties in this war. I mean, can you even call it a war if nobody dies? Last issue already revealed the plan to undo this whole thing with time travel, so there’s not a lot of suspense anymore.

Our story begins with Jesse Quick randomly deciding to stop honoring her father, Johnny Quick, and instead put on a new costume based on her mother, Liberty Belle. I guess Adams decided it’s time for some more unique costumes on this team of 10 (yes, TEN!) speedsters. Irey is also wearing the new costume we saw on last cover, and Linda has the costume we saw on this cover. And depending on who the artist is, this costume does an excellent job of concealing her pregnancy bump. Anyway, I know I said 10 speedsters, but right now we only have eight of them posing dramatically over the city, as Jay has been captured and Wally is “dead.”

Some dialogue among the Fraction tells us that 70% of Earth’s resources have been drained and many more metahumans have been kidnapped. I sure would have liked to have seen some of this happen, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers. Anyway, the Fraction quickly spots our heroes standing out in the open like that, but the Admiral advises they wait for the speedsters to make the first move.

We cut back to earlier, when Barry began presenting his plan to the team. The still nameless boy that Bart rescued continues to advise they abandon the planet, but everyone’s intent on staying and fighting, especially Irey, who yearns to “break in” her new costume. Bart loves the new look, and Ace coldly says, “You would,” possibly because he knows Bart doesn’t want two Impulses running around.

Barry explains that he believes the Speed Force is currently dissipated throughout the globe like a cloud, which is preventing them from accessing their top speed. He even reveals that he’d considered traveling back in time himself, but found he couldn’t. But Barry believes that if they stick close together, they can concentrate their Speed Force and not only boost their speed, but also their friction cushion to block anything that comes at them. Bart warns everyone that he has swallowed a bug while running, but Ace just says that only happened because Bart can never keep his mouth shut.

Bart brings up the bug again as they begin their assault on the wall. Ace bemoans Bart’s bug obsession, and it turns out it didn’t matter at all. Barry’s plan worked perfectly, and Jesse used her super strength to burst through the wall.

In another flashback, Barry explains that he doesn’t want to destroy the Spire, but supercharge it. Awestruck, Bart says, “They say I’m out there …” But the unnamed boy actually thinks this plan is genius. He starts to explain what happens when objects approach the speed of light, and Bart interjects, saying he knows those objects will go back in time. Irey is thrilled at the possibility of her dad coming back, but Linda pulls Barry aside privately to ask if that will really happen. Barry confesses that his plan will send the Fraction away, but it won’t bring back Wally. He says that speedsters can remember their universe being rebooted countless times because they’re separate from regular continuity. Linda chooses to not share this information with Irey.

Our heroes easily break into the Spire and are quickly reunited with Jay. Barry stupidly cries out, “Flash family, forward!” Bart and Ace take out a guard, hitting him high and low. And Barry takes on the Admiral himself.

Elsewhere, Wally wakes up at the feet of the random caveman, whose body he possessed way back when Adams began his run. Gold Beetle is there, too, introducing him to what once was called Timepoint but has now been rebranded as Planet Flash. And they’re not alone. Joining them is all the D-list heroes that Wally accidentally killed in Heroes in Crisis, including Kid Devil and Lagoon Boy.

Much like Roger Cruz, I’ve run out of steam on this story. He can call in backup artists, but I can’t call in backup readers. Well, I guess I could, but that’d be ridiculous. Anyway, I think Adams robbed this story of all tension by tipping his hand too early. We know everything’s going to be set right at the end, so why bother going through all these motions? Oh, I know. We still need to give Jesse her big moment. Let’s see … she can … put on a Liberty Belle costume … for reasons? And then she’ll … smash a wall, I guess? OK, good enough. Let’s move on!

It also turns out that Bart’s repeated mentions of swallowing a bug were just a boring joke he wouldn’t stop telling. I thought for sure that something was going to happen — like a stray bullet would sneak through their force field and hit … I don’t know … Ace, maybe? You know what I mean? Why bother setting something up if there’s no payoff for it? I’m also really let down by the generic Fraction forces. The only unique soldier they have is Miss Murder. And she can’t be a compelling threat anymore, because we’ve already fought and defeated her twice before. I’m just really underwhelmed by the lack of creativity here.

The One-Minute War concludes next issue!