The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13

Full Throttle: Conclusion

Marc Guggenheim – Writer
Tony Daniel – Penciller
Jonathan Glapion, Marlo Alquiza & Tony Daniel – Inkers
Pat Brosseau – Letterer
Tanya & Richard Horie – Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern – Associate Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor
Cover by Tony Daniel

The main cover shows a striking image of a dark, empty Flash suit. It is haunting and depressing. Yet I personally prefer the alternate cover, also drawn by Daniel.

I think I like this one more because it is the only issue of this series that makes it 100% clear that Bart is the Flash — not Wally or Barry. And although it might be a tad melodramatic, I do like the idea of the Black Flash mourning Bart's death. This whole scenario is so tragic that even the embodiment of death for speedsters can't help but cry. None of this was fair to Bart. He shouldn't have been forced to grow up. He shouldn't have been thrown into a terrible series initially written by two people who had never worked on a comic before. He shouldn't have been forced to try to make a name for himself a series that never had the same art team twice. And the great tragedy is that the only way to fix those awful mistakes is to kill him.

Our story begins in the year 2989, taking a rare look inside Bart's virtual reality world. On this particular VR adventure, Bart is a normal kid at school, losing miserably in a race on the track. He asks his grandpa Barry why he keeps losing, but Barry gently prods Bart into finding the answer himself. Bart says he has to slow down because his legs hurt — it's like they're just gone. Barry points out that Bart's legs are only "gone" because he lets them hurt, which he needs to stop. Bart's confused by this, so Barry slightly changes the topic by asking his grandson what he wants to be  when he grows up. Bart says he wants to be a hero, just like Barry. So Barry ends the lesson by saying "a hero is just someone who stands when their legs are gone."

We return to today in Los Angeles, with Valerie and Iris examining Inertia's machine. Val is trying to figure out a way to prevent the machine from transferring the Speed Force to Inertia and/or emit an energy discharge that destroys half the western seaboard. Unfortunately, Val is in way over her head — the machine operates on principles of quantum mechanics that are early theoretical today. Iris, however, still has hope, saying she has noticed some odd behavior in the timestream during her recent time-traveling, suggesting to her that history is in flux and they might still have a chance to save Bart. Iris hands Val a communicator and takes off, saying she's going to help her grandson buy Val the time she needs.

Bart, meanwhile, is staring down a being that only he can see — the Black Flash. The Rogues begin charging at Bart, but before they reach him, a small explosion knocks them all down. Bart sees the blast came from Iris, who is throwing a second grenade at the Rogues and firing off a few blasts of her tranquilizer gun for good measure. Bart tries to tell her to get away, but she says she and Val are here to help him. Iris pulls Bart behind a wall and tells him all about Inertia's machine.

Bart says he'll stall the Rogues by himself, telling Iris to stay behind the wall. Seeing she can't stop him, Iris abruptly changes her plan and tries to teleport Bart away, but he stops her by placing her in a chokehold he learned at the police academy. With his grandmother unconscious, Bart takes her communicator and begins talking to Val. Despite being overwhelmed (and having absolutely no business being able to understand this machine), Val claims she'll be able to deactivate it in 10 minutes. Val does, however, warn Bart that she has no idea how to give the Speed Force back to him. Bart's quite serene about this, though, saying all he cares about is making sure the west coast doesn't blow up.

All this time, Inertia has been standing idly by, watching the Rogues slowly pick themselves back up after Iris' grenades. Thad is a little too relaxed, though, as he doesn't notice the Pied Piper sneaking up behind him. Piper knocks Inertia out for betraying them, but he also admits that Inertia isn't the only guy here with a secret agenda. Bart, meanwhile, has made his move against the Rogues, leading them in a chase away from his grandma. Armed only with Iris' two remaining tranquilizer darts, Bart decides to use them on who he considers the two most dangerous Rogues — Weather Wizard and Mirror Master. The darts were designed for speedsters, though, so they only put the Rogues down for a couple of seconds.

Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Abra Kadabra and the Trickster are soon on top of Bart. For some reason, the Rogues abstain from using their weapons, making this a pure fist fight. Using his police training, the few tricks he's picked up from Robin, and his knowledge of anatomy from the San Francisco library, Bart manages to get in a few good hits. But at the end of the day, he's outnumbered and overwhelmed, and ends up locked in hold by Captain Cold. Piper drags Inertia over to the group and tells them if they want payback, they should get it on the guy who played them.

With Bart and Thad side by side on their knees, Abra Kadabra realizes that even though the Flash is a few years older, he is otherwise identical to Inertia — a detail that Kadabra is embarrassed to admit had eluded him. Pied Piper also has figured out that Inertia has lost his speed, and his machine was designed to give his speed back. Kadabra pulls out his wand and removes the needles from Inertia's wrist compartment, fully exposing the ruse.

Inertia begins shouting at the Rogues, telling them not to idiotically waste this chance they've waited for all their lives. He admits he lied about the machine, but says he delivered on his promise to give them the Flash and they should kill him now. Kadabra insists that Bart is a mere child — not the Flash. At this prodding, Bart manages to find an extra burst of energy and breaks free of Captain Cold, shouting, "I AM THE FLASH!!!"

Bart surprises the Rogues and even himself with this newfound fury. And it isn't directed at the Rogues — it's all aimed at Inertia. Bart begins pummeling Thad, consumed by an animal instinct, enraged at the thought of his own twisted reflection causing all this trouble. Inertia is too shocked to fight back, as are the Rogues, who watch the fight with awe and amusement. Bart spots the Black Flash out of the corner of his eye again, and for a moment, he believes the Black Flash could be here for the death of a different speedster — Inertia.

As Bart beats Inertia, we get a flashback of Iris telling Bart how he dies. Even though Bart had initially asked his grandma to tell him what happens so he can avoid it, he actually ended the conversation by saying he's OK with the idea of dying. As Bart remembers what he said, he instantly loses all hope. Inertia manages to land a decent kick on Bart's chin, and the Pied Piper notices a door has opened on the machine, emitting a spark of blue lightning. Thad and Bart immediately begin racing toward the door, while the Rogues slowly piece together that the machine could give the Flash his speed back.

Iris finally wakes up, but is unable to fully get up to her feet. From her hands and knees, she watches with horror as Bart does manage to tackle Inertia, but is hit in the back with blasts of fire, ice and lightning. Captain Cold loudly proclaims he's not going back to jail, and Pied Piper seems to be the only one upset with the idea of killing a defenseless young man.

The Rogues oddly give Bart some space to die in peace, and as he takes his final glance at the world, Bart sees swirling blue lightning shooting out of the machine. But it seems to be releasing the energy in a safe manner, indicating that Val was successfully able to prevent the explosion. Satisfied that thousands of lives have been saved, Bart allows himself to fall to the ground. Val is quickly by Bart's side, urging him to tap into the Speed Force to heal himself. Bart says he's tried, but it's not working. As Iris joins them, Bart begins says, "Wally. Wally, I'm so ... I'm sorry I was a jerk." It's not entirely clear which words he meant for Wally and which for Val, but she seems to think he's talking to her and tells him he wasn't a jerk. Bart says, "I think we would've worked out, y'know?" Val says they would, and Bart wipes a tear off Val's cheek, saying, "Don't know what it feels like, but ... I think I love ..."

And then Bart dies.

At Titans Tower, Robin gets a phone call that causes him to drop the phone and fall down to the ground. At the JSA headquarters, Jesse meets Jay in a dark room, and the two embrace with tears running down their cheeks. At the Flash Museum, the flag is lowered to half-mast and a large crowd shows up for a candlelight vigil. We get some final narration boxes from Bart: "My name is Bart Allen. I'm the fastest man alive. End of the day, you only need to know two things about me. I run fast ... and I help people." And our series ends with a quote from Sir Walter Scott: "And come he slow, or come he fast, it is but death who comes at last."

The End.




OK. I'll admit it. I got a little choked up at the end. This has been a mess of a series, and the last few years have been extremely frustrating for Bart, as each element of what made him Bart was stripped away bit by bit. Mark Waid famously said that Dan DiDio called him to let him know they were going to kill Bart, to which Waid replied that Bart had already been killed long ago. And I agree with that entirely. But this issue still made me sad. It's now official. Unable to be Impulse or Kid Flash anymore, Bart was thrust into the role of the Flash, and he failed. And now he's dead.

The opening scene was a bit jarring. We never did learn much about Bart's time in the virtual reality world. We know he had weird little alien friend named Dox, but that's about it. Apparently he also spent time talking to his family members — or representations of his family members. Either way, it was a pretty nice message to keep standing even when your legs are gone.

And it is fair to say Bart died heroically. Even without his powers, he still boldly took on the Rogues and Inertia, doing everything he could to prevent a massive explosion. Of course, the cynic in me wonders if there ever really was much of a threat of an explosion. Wouldn't Inertia, who is from the future, have carefully made sure his machine wouldn't have backfired on him? And how can Val, the former intern at S.T.A.R. Labs, be so sure the machine would have exploded, much less be able to somehow prevent that explosion? It was all rather convenient. I would have preferred to have Iris visit two different futures — one where Bart dies and another where he survives, but half of California is destroyed. That would have helped clear up a lot of things.

Ironically, I actually did appreciate Bart's conflicted nature in this issue. It felt realistic seeing him range from sad and depressed to unreasonably angry and final acceptance. He was just going through some of the stages of grief, including a brief bit of bargaining to have Inertia die in his place. I thought that was good, but the Rogues' ultimate decision to kill Bart felt a little forced. In most stories with the Rogues, they're portrayed as criminals with a code. People who rarely kill — if ever. Perhaps that's why Guggenheim threw in that small subplot of Captain Cold killing a random criminal over a petty grudge. He wanted to justify this ending as much as he could.

I am perpetually perplexed by Iris' complete lack of imagination. She can transport to any place on Earth at any time (presumably), yet is unable to come up with a halfway decent plan to save her grandson. I'm also quite perturbed with Val's presence in this story. I thought breaking up with her was the best thing Bart did. And besides all the vague "science" Val did to save the day, I think the only reason she was here was so we could have someone cry over Bart's dead body. Superman needed Lois Lane to cradle his corpse, so I guess Bart needed somebody, too.

Bart's final words were quite interesting. As we'll soon find out, Wally West actually returned to this world at the same time Bart was dying. Did Bart sense Wally's presence? Or was he just lamenting on the fact that he didn't spend any time trying to free Wally and his family from the Speed Force? Or that he and Wally were never particularly close? Were all his final words directed at Wally or Val? I think it could go either way. The only thing I wish is that Bart would have also mentioned Max Mercury.

I loved the final four pages. No speech bubbles, just reactions. Tim's was particularly heart-breaking. He's lost his dad, Conner and now Bart. And I think Bart's death hurts even more because Bart was around for a whole year but refused to spend any time with his old friend. When Tim was grieving Conner's death and insanely trying to resurrect him, Bart was being an idiot with Griffin. No wonder Tim goes crazy. It was also nice to see Jesse Chambers again. She's going by Liberty Belle now and has been absent from Bart's life for a long time. But it is fitting that she would mourn his death, as well.

So there we have it. The death of Bart. Did DC overreact to the rapid slide in sales of the first six issues? Possibly. But then again, it was kind of a mistake to make Bart the Flash in the first place. So we should really be looking at this as a chance for DC to push the reset button and undo that initial mistake. And, because this is an 11-year-old comic, we all know that Bart does come back to us — albeit in a strange, convoluted way — but he will be back.

Let's check out the ads of our series finale:

Ghost Rider on DVD and Blu-Ray.

He is not alone. Kyle XY on ABC Family.

Green Lantern: Wanted ... Hal Jordan.

A collection of classic Godzilla movies on DVD.

Here's a Countdown ad featuring the death of Bart Allen. It might be a little cliché, but I do like that the word "Alive" has crumbled. I have seen this image used as third alternate cover for this issue, which makes a lot of sense. As an ad, though, it tells us that even though Bart won't be featured in the Countdown series, the ramifications of his death will be played out in it.

The origin of the Emerald Archer! Year One: Green Arrow.

If she's going to marry Green Arrow ... she'll be kicking and screaming! Black Canary.

DC Nation is written by Richard Bruning this time, offering advice on how aspiring artists can show their portfolios to DC editors.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer The Video Game on Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider Anniversary on PlayStation 2.

As I said, Bart will return. And next time, we'll see that the seeds of his return were planted as soon as he died in Justice League of America #10.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #12

Full Throttle: Running Out of Time

Marc  Guggenheim – Writer
Tony Daniel – Penciller
Art Thibert & Jonathan Glapion – Inkers
Pat Brosseau – Letterer
Tanya & Richard Horie – Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern – Associate Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor
Cover by Tony Daniel

Our cover is a symbolic representation of Bart's final moments. The clock is nearly at midnight, the face has shattered, and Bart continues pressing steadfastly on toward his certain death. It is a pretty nice cover. Unfortunately, the number 9 on the clock is upside down. I would say I'm surprised nobody caught this, but considering how many errors slipped by once this series gained "lame duck" status, I'm not surprised at all.

Our story picks right up where last issue left off, with Bart ending his interrogation by revealing himself as the Flash and preparing to head out to stop the Rogues at the Getty Center.

News quickly spreads of the Rogues' attack, reaching Iris West Allen and Valerie Perez, who is catching a taxi to the airport. As Bart races to the Getty, he spots a dark figure following him, but he isn't concerned. Bart sees a large yellow forcefield around the entire building and recognizes it as a trap set just for him.

The forcefield came courtesy of the original Trickster, whose presence especially irritates the Pied Piper. Mirror Master starts to get anxious about whether the Flash will show up, but Inertia reminds him that he's from the future and he knows the Flash will arrive momentarily. And at that moment, Bart is vibrating through the bedrock underneath the forcefield — having assumed he can't vibrate through it. Bart acknowledges to himself that he should take a minute to contact the Teen Titans or Justice League, but he decides to press forward solo, saying he already knows what's going to happen. He recaps how his grandma Iris told him everything, and Bart seems to look on her with pity for believing the future can be changed.

Abra Kadabra pulls Inertia aside to present some concerns he has about the device they just built that is supposed to stop time. Kadabra says he doesn't see any of the necessary components in the device that will actually accomplish that task. Inertia tries to brush this off by saying Kadabra simply doesn't understand 30th century technology, but Kadabra reminds him that he's from the 64th century, where he was taught temporal physics in the third grade. Realizing he's been caught, Inertia tells Kadabra to talk a walk with him.

Val reaches the airport, but before she can board her plane, Iris teleports in front of her, saying she needs her help to save Bart. While Bart continues his astonishingly slow underground journey, Inertia begins beating up Kadabra. He admits that he didn't give Kadabra enough credit and reveals his plan to use the Rogues as bait to draw out the Flash. As Inertia moves in to kill Kadabra, Bart finally arrives, joking about how the Rogues don't need to fight over him.

Bart attacks Inertia first, asking him if he learned nothing from his debacle with Deathstroke. But their fight doesn't last too long before the rest of the Rogues find out what's going on and join the battle. Bart punches out Captain Cold and chastises the Pied Piper for returning to a life of crime while snapping his flute in half. The Mirror Master then pops out of the reflection on Bart's earpiece, forcing him to rip it off his cowl. Bart then picks up Captain Cold's ice gun to deflect a blast from Heat Wave, admitting he's always wanted to try that.

Iris and Val teleport inside the Trickster's forcefield and Iris explains that her temporal transport can move through time and space. She shows Val Inertia's machine and asks her to find a way to dismantle it. Val, however, is overwhelmed by the 30th century tech. Iris explains that the machine is designed to take the Speed Force away from Bart, which helps Val start to grasp what she's looking at. Unfortunately, she's unable to find an off switch, and worries that if she does anything to the machine it could blow up half the county.

As Bart takes on the Trickster, Weather Wizard and Abra Kadabra, Val realizes with horror that the machine has already been activated. And just like that, Bart loses the Speed Force. He was moving at 350 miles per hour at the time, causing him to take a nasty tumble when his speed suddenly disappeared. The Rogues gleefully gather around the depowered Flash, believing this to be a fortunate side effect of Inertia's time-freezing machine. Mirror Master plans to take over the Flash Museum, and Weather Wizard says he's headed to the FBI headquarters. But the Pied Piper notices the police helicopters above them are still moving, indicating that time hasn't stopped, and Inertia lied to them. While this realization sets in, Bart looks up and gets a good look at the dark figure that was following him earlier — the Black Flash, the omen of death for all speedsters.

Val continues studying the machine and theorizes that the Speed Force is inside it now. Iris laments that they were too late to save Bart, but Val has an even bigger concern. It appears that the Speed Force is in flux, creating more energy than the machine can handle. Val believes when the Speed Force is transferred into Inertia's body, there is going to be an enormous amount of excess energy that will be released in an explosion she believes could be the equivalent of 10 atomic bombs.




I'm having a hard time figuring out Bart's motivations. Previously, it seemed like he wanted his grandma to tell him the future so he could prevent it. But now it seems like he's accepted that future as an inevitability and has charged toward a certain death without making any attempt to alter it. I don't know if that's heroic, stupid or arrogant. You can't call it impulsive, because Bart acknowledges that he should have called in additional heroes. The more I think about it, the more I think Bart may have been just a little suicidal. At least subconsciously. A year ago he sacrificed himself to save the world. When he came back, he was suddenly thrust into an adult world of drinking and sex and jobs and car payments that he was not emotionally ready for. It took him a whole year to figure out how to use his increased speed without tearing his body apart, all while living in a crappy apartment with a crappy roommate, working at a crappy factory job. Bart made mistake after mistake after mistake — leading to the death of Griffin and Bart's breakup with Val. And now he's stuck in a boring class where he already knows everything, he has a car he doesn't need and doesn't want to use, and as the Flash, he's trapped in no man's land — too old to be a Titan, too young to be on the Justice League. As an adult, Bart doesn't fit in anywhere. And so, even though he'll never admit this, I think a small part of Bart was thrilled at the prospect of ending all this with one last heroic act.

I am disappointed Val returned. I never liked her. And I never will. She is totally a creepy stalker girl. I mean, who goes out and buys an airplane ticket to fly down to Los Angeles to show up at her ex-boyfriend's police academy? Just call Bart on the phone! I also have to laugh at how bad Iris Allen is at changing the future. After spending years of living in isolation, paralyzed by fear of altering anything, the one time she actually wants to change something, she's completely inept. I don't know where she got her "temporal transport," but she doesn't seem to be using it very wisely. Iris, honey, you do know that Val was only an intern at S.T.A.R. Labs, right?

Well, that's enough frustrations about the end of a frustrating series that was doomed from the get-go. Let's check out the new ads:

Transformers. A Michael Bay film.

Has anyone ever nearly scared you to death? Master storyteller Darren Shan will. The Demonata.

Afro Samurai action figures.

Fear them. Everyone else will. Sinestro Corps.

Hunger gets what hunger wants. Ball Park hot dogs.

An ad for Countdown, showing a closeup of Robin's new outfit, adorned with a pin that says, "I found Ray Palmer."

Batman: Ego and Other Tails.

Batman Dark Crusader statue, designed by Alex Ross.

Batman and Son action figures.

DC Nation features a farewell letter from editor Peter J. Tomasi, who is beginning a writing career.

World of Warcraft action figures.

From the people who brought you Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! ... ChaoticGame.com.

Next time, we'll take a very quick look at Inertia and the Rogues in Countdown #46.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #11

Full Throttle: Storm Front

Marc Guggenheim – Writer
Introduction Tony Daniel – Penciller
Art Thibert – Inker
Pat Brosseau – Letterer
Tanya & Richard Horie – Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern – Associate Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Variant cover by Tony Daniel

This is probably Van Sciver's best cover for this series, which isn't saying much, but I will give him that credit. Of course, I probably only say that because this cover doesn't have Bart's face on it, which Van Sciver insisted on drawing as angry and evil-looking as possible. Anyway, the idea of the Flash being flat on his back with the Rogues laughing above him is an intriguing prospect. However, as we'll soon see, Bart doesn't actually begin fighting the Rogues in this issue, much less lose to them.

I happen to own the Daniel variant, which I find to be the superior of the two. We're right in the middle of the fight, and everybody looks pretty good. I'm most pleased with the expression on Bart's face — he's resolute, focused, but not boiling over with pure rage, like he so often has been on the covers of this series.

Our story begins right where we left off. Bart has finally gained the upper hand over Zoom, only to learn that Zoom is working with his grandmother, Iris Allen, who is now pointing a gun at Bart.

Iris immediately fires three shots at her grandson, and Bart is mildly comforted to see these are tranquilizer darts instead of bullets. He still dodges them, though, and even grabs one and jams it into Zoom's neck, who was once again telling Bart that he's only trying to help him. The tranquilizer immediately puts Zoom down, and Bart turns to confront his grandma.

At the same time, Captain Cold is trying to get as far away from this scene as possible. Inertia suddenly appears right in front of Snart, teasing him for once again running away from the Flash. Snart angrily calls Thad a freak and says he's fed up with all speedsters. But Inertia explains that he's not technically a speedster now — not without pharmaceutical assistance — and he offers to give Snart the names of the next 10 Super Bowl champions just for listening to his proposal.

We return to Bart and Iris, who is apologizing to her grandson, saying she thought she could catch him by surprise, but should have known he could outrun the darts. Bart starts asking if this is a mind-control thing or if Iris is a shapeshifter, but she insists she's the real Iris. She repeats Zoom's line that they're only trying to help Bart. Iris explains that the darts were designed to take away a speedster's powers for about a week because she wanted to temporarily take Bart away from super-heroing. Naturally, Bart wants to know what Iris wants to keep away from him this week.

We then cut to the Jura Canton Prison in Switzerland, where Abra Kadabra is being held. (Apparently the Swiss authorities managed to track him down.) Inertia has snuck into Kadabra's cell and is trying to convince him that his plan is different from all the previous Rogue plans to take down the Flash, mainly because they're dealing with a different Flash this time. Kadabra isn't too interested on getting revenge on someone he's never heard of before, but Inertia says he's offering him the chance to pull off the biggest trick of all time — something that won't just withstand history, but make history. This finally gets Kadabra's attention, and he asks what the trick is. Inertia comes right out and says they're going to freeze time for everybody except the Rogues.

Back in Keystone, Iris explains to Bart that her knowledge of the future isn't always accurate — for example, she was wrong about Wally's child — but for the most part, things play out the way she had read about. And when she saw Bart become the Flash, she was horrified to realize what's going to happen next. So she took it upon herself to prevent that future. Iris initially refuses to reveal any more information, but Bart presses her, saying the best way to protect him is to tell him what he needs protecting from.

On the other side of Keystone City, the Weather Wizard was trying to rob a bank when Inertia interfered. Thad asks Mark Mardon if he's tired of getting beat by speedsters, clearly demonstrating that in a fair fight, he'll always lose to a speedster. Inertia knocks Mardon down and steals his wand, calling it a crutch. He asks Mardon if he's ever wondered how his son can control the weather without a wand. Inertia says it's because Mardon's son inherited his genes and abilities, yet doesn't have the mental blocks that Mardon does, making him think he needs the wand. Thad snaps the stick in half and offers to share some 30th century psychological therapies to remove those mental blocks.

We return to Bart and Iris, who finally caved in and told Bart how he dies. We don't hear her exact words, but we do see images of Inertia uniting the Rogues and creating a large, ominous-looking device. Iris cries after telling Bart this story, and he hugs her, assuring her that now he'll be able to change this future. He then returns to Los Angeles, realizing he's late for his class at the Police Academy.

Inertia has also traveled to Los Angeles, accompanied by Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Heat Have and Abra Kadabra. Meeting in an abandoned warehouse, Inertia opens the meeting by mocking the Rogues for routinely losing every battle to the Flash. Thad contests that he's been biding his time, intentionally losing his first few fights like a poker player learning his opponents' tells and weaknesses. And he assures everyone that he is from the future and he knows how this all plays out.

With Abra Kadabra providing the visuals, Inertia launches into his plan. He first shows them a picture of the Getty Center, explaining that it sits atop a seven-story parking garage, which will serve as the perfect foundation for the device they're going to build. Using material Inertia brought from the future, Captain Cold, Heat Wave and Abra Kadabra will handle the construction, while Inertia, Mirror Master and Pied Piper will deal with crowd control. And once more, Inertia promises that this device really will freeze time and enable them to make history.

We cut back to the Police Academy, where Bart has surprisingly run into his old girlfriend, Val. She says she doesn't want him to think of her as a stalker girl (even though she totally is), and that she realized that just one fight isn't enough to end a relationship. So she wants to try it again. Bart is genuinely shocked by this, but he manages to make the mature decision and tells Val that he needs some time and it isn't right for them to get back together right now. Bart then enters his classroom, but is immediately sent to the Parker Center to talk to the robbery/homicide division.

At the Getty Center, we see the Rogues didn't waste any time launching their plan. There's a big commotion, with people being frozen or burned and a green blur everywhere. As the museum is cleared, we see that Weather Wizard has joined the Rogues, creating a large whirlwind without his wand.

Bart, meanwhile, is being interrogated for the Steppenwolf attack. Bart insists the detectives are making a mistake, but they say forensics clearly showed that Steppenwolf's primary target was Bart's locker. All Bart can say is that their forensics must be wrong. The interrogation is suddenly interrupted when the police learn of the Rogues taking over the Getty Center. Bart gets up to leave, but the detectives grab hold of him and even arrest him. So Bart vibrates his wrists through the handcuffs, pops open his Flash ring and says that Steppenwolf attacked because he's the Flash. And he doesn't plan on sticking around for any more questions.




That ending gave me chills. Bart was just barely told exactly how he's going to die, suddenly ran into his old girlfriend and was arrested while trying to protect his secret identity. But he realizes that the priority here is stopping Inertia and the Rogues before they freeze time. So he shoves Val aside, exposes his secret identity and prepares to run head-first into certain death. Bart's had a really rough go at being the Flash, but now he finally is getting a chance to prove just how heroic he can be.

Iris and Zoom working together was an interesting development. Iris apparently has a time-travel device and could theoretically go anywhere and get anyone to help her. It's understandable that she would be desperate to save the boy she initially rescued from a corrupt government not too long ago. But I wonder why she didn't approach any heroes to help prevent Bart's death. It might be because she didn't know exactly when the Rogues would set their plan into motion. Regardless, Zoom wasn't that bad of a choice. His main motivation has always been to make heroes better — albeit in a cruel, sadistic way.

It was fun watching Inertia recruit all the Rogues. Although the Abra Kadabra sequence broke with continuity. When Bart battled him in Switzerland, he tricked Kadabra into teleporting himself to a swamp in America. And then it was Kadabra who told Inertia that there was a new Flash and he had moved to Los Angeles. But that's just a minor nitpick, just like me complaining that this is our 11th different art team on our 11th issue (can you really say you're "introducing" Tony Daniel when there are only three issues left?).

Before Bart dies, let's check out the new ads:

Before you see Spider-Man 3, see the all new extended cut of Spider-Man 2.1 on DVD.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Volume 1.

Dead High. It's a killer school.

Marvel Trading Card Game on PC, PSP and Nintendo DS.

It takes brains to control the mindless. Dreamblade collectable miniatures game.

Batman Black and White statues.

As the end draws near ... the Countdown begins!

Justice League of America by Brad Meltzer in hardcover.

DC Nation is a letter from Dan DiDio admitting that the original purpose of 52 was to fill in the gap between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later for all the major characters, but then the writers of 52 had too much fun with the minor characters. So DC launched the World War III event to try to address some of those missed storylines.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Countdown #51.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #10

Full Throttle Part 2: Cold Case

Marc Guggenheim – Writer
Paco Diaz – Penciller
Art Thibert – Inks
Pat Brosseau – Letterer
Lee Loughridge – Colorist
Rachel Gluckstern – Associate Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver

Once again we have a Van Sciver cover that I just can't stand. Why does he insist on drawing Bart so furiously enraged? If Bart were to be arrested (doesn't happen in this issue) you'd think he'd have a look of shock and surprise on his face — not one of seething hatred. At least Zoom does look slightly more evil than Bart. But Zoom presents his own perspective challenges to this cover. Is he supposed to be sitting in the back of the police car with Bart, or is he in the front seat leaning back? I can't tell, and honestly I'm a bit surprised by the sloppiness here.

Our story begins at the Los Angeles Police Department Police Academy, where a couple of detectives are investigating the recent Steppenwolf attack. It doesn't take them long to realize that Steppenwolf went straight to Bart Allen's locker. Bart, meanwhile, is stuck in traffic. He bought a car to help protect his secret identity, but now he wishes he hadn't. While listening to the radio, he learns of a hostage situation nearby. Seeing as how his car is barely moving, Bart decides to slip out, save the hostages, and return to his car before the car in front of him has a chance to move more than five inches.

Bart eventually does make it to the Academy, and his instructor gives the class a five-year-old cold case to work on. A man named Brad Brickley, who had a criminal record, was found dead in the street with his head completely missing. The coroner was unable to determine how the head was removed, but has theorized it was ripped off.

We then head to Rome, Italy, on August 24, A.D. 410. The city is being destroyed by an invading army, and Wally West's old nemesis, Zoom, is enjoying the carnage from underneath a hooded cloak. Another hooded figure approaches Zoom to follow up on a previously discussed proposal. Zoom still isn't sure why he was asked to do this job, so the mysterious person tells him Zoom was selected because of his "nuanced sense of right and wrong" as well as the minimal temporal issues his involvement would raise. Zoom says if he does take this job, it's only because he wants the opportunity for himself. This doesn't bother the cloaked person, who promises knowledge of where their target will be.

Back in the present, Bart heads to the scene of the crime of the cold case. He initially thinks he's the only one smart enough in his class to check out the crime scene, but then he immediately worries that he's the only one stupid enough to go there. Then Bart finally acknowledges that he's the only one who used super speed to run over there right after class. With all those worries out of the way, Bart begins examining the evidence.

There wasn't any blood splattered on the nearby wall, indicating that Brickley's head wasn't ripped off by a villain like Solomon Grundy. There also wasn't any sort of blast mark on the wall behind Brickley, suggesting this wasn't the work of heat vision, an energy blast or even Heat Wave's flamethrower. Bart eventually does find something unusual — little puddles of water on the ground where Brickley's head was supposed to be. Bart quickly checks the weather records and finds it hadn't rained in the 72 hours preceding the murder. So Bart decides to interrogate some ice-themed super villains.

He first visits Icicle in Alcatraz, who says he not only has never heard of Brickley, but he was also in prison at the time of the murder. So Bart goes to Gotham City, where Mr. Freeze is at large and understandably upset to be accused of murder. Fortunately, he is willing to talk to Bart — while trying to blast him with his ice gun. Freeze asks Bart why he hasn't interrogated Captain Cold, and Bart says Cold was reformed when Brickley was killed. But Freeze insists that the murder scene, as described by Bart, could only be the work of Captain Cold's unique tech. Unable to see the flaw in this argument, Bart angrily lets Mr. Freeze go and heads to Keystone City to visit Leonard Snart.

Bart steps into Snart's apartment and opens with a deal — if Snart confesses to the murder, Bart will make sure he's tried in Keystone and not L.A., where he would likely face the death penalty. Snart pleads ignorance, but Bart says he checked Snart's credit card receipts and found he was in Los Angeles the day of the murder. So Snart pulls out a cold gun and blasts it at Bart, who fights back the cold waves with a wall of heated up air in front of himself. Snart admits he was getting payback on Brickley, while Bart grabs and destroys the cold gun. But when Bart grabs Snart, the villain begins smiling, because right behind Bart is Zoom.

Bart is too surprised to react to Zoom's initial attack, which pulls him away from Snart. Bart quickly strikes back, but promptly runs into Zoom's hand, leaving him with painful cuts in his chest. Bart jumps back to his feet, but is unable to land a punch on Zoom, who mocks him for letting his anger make him sloppy. Zoom hits a nerve cluster on the back of Bart's neck, then starts pummeling his face.

Meanwhile, in Central City, Jay Garrick is defeating Heat Wave and putting him in an armored vehicle. After Jay takes off, Heat Wave notices that Inertia is inside the police transport with him. After exchanging some unpleasantries, Inertia tells Heat Wave he needs to start thinking bigger than the computer warehouse robbery he just failed at. Heat Wave says he's not interested in teaming up with Inertia, but Thad promises his plan will change the world and get rid of the Flash as a bonus.

We return to our main fight, where Bart has started asking Zoom why he's acting out of character with this random attack. Zoom says he's doing a favor for someone and that he's actually trying to help Bart. Bart doesn't believe this, and manages to finally gain an upper hand on Zoom when they start moving fast enough to vibrate through objects. Bart tricks Zoom by vibrating into the ground below him and popping back up to hit him with one strong punch. Bart demands to know who Zoom is working for, and Zoom meekly answers, "Her ..." Bart looks up to see his grandma, Iris Allen, pointing a gun at his head.




That ending was the first genuine shock we've had in this series. I'd almost forgotten what it feels like to be surprised. The involvement of Zoom is intriguing, as his main motivation was always to make Wally a better hero. But now Zoom seems to have devolved a bit and is spending his free time witnessing horrific acts of destruction throughout history. So ... anything and everything could be in play here. On a whole, I really enjoyed this issue. It's nice seeing Bart learn how to be a police officer and track down cold cases. And the fight with Zoom was really satisfying. It sure is a shame that this book has to end now that it's finally getting halfway decent.

This issue also gave us our 10th different art team in 10 issues. You'd think they would have accidentally had the same creators work together on at least two issues, but no such luck here. Diaz's art wasn't too bad — it was just very different from what we usually get on this series (although it is somewhat difficult to nail down a certain "style" for this book). I was annoyed with some facial expressions and Diaz's take on Inertia, but his art was otherwise very nice. Now for the new ads:

Jimmy Olsen must die! Countdown.

The real challenge is in your head. Dreamblade collectable miniatures game.

The search for Ray Palmer. Countdown.

The seduction of the innocent. Countdown.

All-Star Superman out in hardcover.

Amazons Attack! The first major comics event of 2007.

World War III.

DC Nation just shows some pictures from NY Comic Convention.

Villains defiant. Countdown.

Unto man shall come ... a great disaster. Countdown.

Next time, we'll conclude Bart's involvement with 52.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #9

Full Throttle Prologue: Split Decision

Introducing Marc Guggenheim – Writer
Andy Kuhn – Layouts
Ron Adrian – Finishes
Art Thibert – Inks
Pat Brosseau – Letterer
Richard & Tanya Horie – Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern – Associate Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Special thanks to Brad Meltzer

I loved Van Sciver's work on Impulse. It was fresh, dynamic, intricate and joyful. So you'd think I'd be overjoyed to see him draw Bart again. But there is no joy on this cover. Just pure, unbridled rage. That is just about the angriest I've ever seen Bart, and I don't know why. He doesn't look cool or focused or determined or anything like. He's practically frothing at the mouth with uncontrollable anger. Throw in the fact that Kid Flash looks like he's 20 years old and Flash looks 35, and you end up with a very frustrating cover. This should have been a slam dunk for Van Sciver.

Before we begin our story, let's pull the curtain back a little bit. Sometime during the Danny Bilson-Paul DeMeo run, DC figured out things weren't working. Bart's story was slow, clumsy and boring. And fans flat-out rejected the concept of Bart being the Flash. Some still missed the days of Impulse, others liked Kid Flash, but barely got a chance to get to know him. And many more fans deeply missed Wally West. So DC decided to pull the plug. Marc Guggenheim said in interviews that he was hired with the sole purpose of killing Bart off in five issues, while also coordinating with Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns on JLA and JSA. So keep that in mind with this issue and each ensuing one until the end at #13. Everything Guggenheim is doing is to prepare for that grisly end.

We open in Los Angeles, California, where Bart has received a phone call from an old friend — Tim Drake, aka Robin. After some awkward small talk, Tim asks Bart to return to the Teen Titans. Not only do the Titans miss Bart, but Tim feels Bart should be helping them battle Inertia. Unfortunately, Bart's a little too busy to be having this conversation, as he's currently locked in a battle with a super villain named Impulse.

While complaining about copyright violation, Bart gets hit in the back by one of Impulse's energy blasts. But he quickly recovers, gets behind Impulse, knocks him out, deactivates his power distributor and places him in the back of a police car. The policeman identifies Impulse as one of the few holdovers from Lex Luthor's Everyman program. Bart immediately recognizes the officer as one of his instructors at the police academy, and instead of quickly leaving, he lingers around long enough for the officer to realize there's something very familiar about the Flash.

Luckily, Bart ends the awkward conversation by noticing a green glow coming from a hole in the street created by Impulse. The source of the glow is a strange device that looks pretty high-tech. The officer asks if Impulse planted it there, but Bart notes it doesn't match the rest of Impulse's gear. He then takes off with the device, despite the cop telling him it should be logged in as evidence of this crime scene.

Bart takes the device to an empty lab at the police academy and has Val come over to help him look at it. Val complains that they're supposed to meet with her friends for a double date in Keystone in 15 minutes, but Bart says that's plenty of time for them to investigate the device and even pick up a bottle of win in Paris if they want. So Val takes a look at the green glowing "doohickey" as she calls it, and can only speculate that it comes from Apokolips. However, the only equipment they have available to them in this lab is a microscope, which won't help them at all. Bart laments the fact that Val still hasn't gotten her job back with S.T.A.R. Labs and decides to put the device in his locker and continue investigating it after their date.

At Anastasia's Cafe in Keystone City, Bart begins telling the group about his defensive driving course at the police academy, when Val's friend, Brenda, comments on how she's heard Bart likes to go fast. Worried, Bart asks Brenda exactly what Val told her. Val hastily tries to brush it off as a joke, but Brenda continues, saying she's heard Bart likes to go running. She then asks Bart if he's met any celebrities in L.A. since there aren't any superheroes there — except the Flash.

After the dinner, Bart and Val get into a big argument in the parking lot. Val accuses Bart of being paranoid, but he says Brenda was being as subtle as a root canal. Val says Bart has no idea what it's like to date a 16-year-old in the body of a 20-year-old with superpowers (I wonder if she knows Bart's really only 4 or 5 years old). Val continues to deny that she told Brenda about Bart's secret identity, but she does angrily say she needs somebody to talk to about their crazy relationship. Bart counters with the danger of exposing his secret identity. He tells her how Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man, was raped and killed because Ralph's identity was public.

But this only makes Val angrier. She swears at Bart, reminding him that her own father is a super villain who kidnapped and tried to kill her. Bart tries to apologize, but Val refuses it, saying their month-long relationship isn't working anymore. Bart offers to at least walk Val home, but she turns him down, coldly saying she knows how much he hates to walk.

The next day, Bart has a hard time concentrating in his class, but luckily his residual knowledge from the San Francisco Public Library saves him from facing the full wrath of his teacher. Suddenly, the class is evacuated due to a metahuman tearing up the science lab. Bart realizes he was an idiot for stashing the Apokolips gadget in his locker, and he quickly throws on his Flash uniform to deal with the situation.

To Bart's horror, the "metahuman" in the science lab is actually the uncle of Darkseid, Steppenwolf (although Steppenwolf doesn't look too intimidating in his orange jumpsuit — I guess that's one thing the Justice League movie did better on). Bart plans to take out Steppenwolf with a bunch of super-speed punches and then call in the Justice League to take him away, but those punches don't seem to bother the god at all. Steppenwolf then manages to land a couple of hits on Bart with his electric axe, including one shot that sends Bart flying through a couple of walls and breaks a couple of his ribs.

Fighting through the pain, and remembering the sacrifice of his grandpa Barry, Bart charges again at Steppenwolf, prepared to fight to the death. Bart takes another beating, but eventually figures out that Steppenwolf's axe is generating an electric field, which he can harness and turn against Steppenwolf. Running around the villain at super speed, Bart creates a large electrical explosion, which finally manages to hurt Steppenwolf. However, the god is still on his feet after that blast.

Suddenly, an arrow pierces the handle of Steppenwolf's axe and a large fist of green energy slugs him in the jaw. Bart turns to see Red Arrow, Green Lantern and Black Canary flying in to save the day. Black Canary tends to Bart, while Red Arrow manages to get a rope around Steppenwolf and Green Lantern encases him in a green bubble. Black Canary praises Bart for his efforts in the battle, and Green Lantern offers to get Bart some medical attention, but he turns him down, explaining that his metabolism will have him healed in no time. So the three members of the Justice League of America take off with Steppenwolf in tow, leaving a star-struck Flash behind.

That night, Bart finally calls Tim back, who can immediately tell that his old friend is going to turn down his offer. Bart doesn't exactly tell Tim what's on his mind, merely stating that he's going to hold off on joining a team until he's ready. But as he said that, Bart was looking at an old photograph of the JLA.




This was such a relief! This is the difference between having a writer who knows what he's doing versus a couple of writers who were clearly in over their heads. Perhaps the best thing about this issue was Bart actually got to be a superhero. He fought two villains in this issue, came up with some creative solutions, made some mistakes but quickly admitted to them, met some other superheroes, and struggled to balance his civilian life with his secret identity. In short, all the typical stuff I craved, but didn't really get in the past eight issues of this series.

And one of the things I'd been craving was to see Bart actually talk to Tim. That little bit with Cyborg didn't cut it. This issue mentions the (still ongoing) Titans East saga and finally gives us a reason why Bart doesn't want to be a Teen Titan anymore. He's got his sights set on the JLA, and who can blame him, right? He is the Flash, after all. Well, I can blame him! Remember the last words Bart gave to Robin, Superboy and Wonder Girl before heading into the Speed Force? He desperately wanted them to stay together to avoid becoming the nightmarish Titans of Tomorrow. So I don't quite buy Bart's aversion to hang out with his old friends anymore. I mean, he's not really that much older than them now, so I don't think it'd be too weird.

Perhaps the most consequential moment of this issue was Bart's breakup with Valerie. And I have to say I'm in favor of it. Their relationship was always incredibly rushed and forced. And since we know that Bart's going to die pretty soon, it's time to start cutting off all the loose ends. To recap: Val first met Bart when he saved her from a fire at her high school. She became infatuated with him ever since, lying on her application form to get an internship at S.T.A.R. Labs, where she proceeded to stalk Bart relentlessly, even showing up unannounced at his apartment. Eventually she wore him down, and the two of them sort of began dating ... until she was kidnapped. After Bart finally saved her, they immediately had sex. So it's no wonder that things would fall apart a month later. They don't know each other at all and dove head-first into a relationship way too quickly. (And for the record, I'm on Bart's side of the argument.)

Let's check out the new ads:

From the creators of Metal Gear Solid, Lunar Knights for Nintendo DS.

Wonder Woman featuring the New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult.

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis written by acclaimed fantasy novelist Tad Williams.

So begins the end ...

This is a teaser ad to DC's next weekly series, Countdown. It's been a while since Bart was on a house ad, but he really won't have a big role in that story. I am also compelled to complain about Tim Drake's new stupid outfit.

Justice League of America action figures.

Absolute Batman: The Long Halloween.

The DC Nation page strongly hints at Countdown without coming out and saying it.

The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Inc.

Next time, we'll take a very brief look at another backup story in 52.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #8

Speedquest Chapter 2: Double or Nothing

Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo – Writers
Ron Adrian & Art Thibert – Penciller
Art Thibert – Inker
Travis Lanham – Letterer
Richard & Tanya Horie – Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern – Associate Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor
Cover by Daniel Acuna

Our cover shows an evil red demon attacking a defenseless child in a green jumpsuit. Oh, wait. That's supposed to be Bart fighting Inertia. Then how come Bart looks like the spawn of Satan? I do like the Las Vegas lights in the background, but the characters in the foreground are awful.

Our story picks up with Bart excitedly (and stupidly) racing to Las Vegas to meet Val. Apparently Inertia had also told Bart that "Val" had rented out a penthouse and left a keycard with the concierge. And Bart doesn't find any of this suspicious. So he heads up to the massive, two-story penthouse and hears Val's voice calling him up to the hot tub on the roof garden. Surprisingly, Bart manages to keep his clothes on as he heads upstairs, only to discover that it was Inertia using his voice-changing device summoning him.

Bart almost begins fighting Inertia, but Thad convinces him to follow him out to the desert, where Val is being held hostage. Naturally, Val has a bomb strapped to her chest, and Inertia explains that he's created a "Lady or the Tiger" situation for Bart. He can push the green button on Val's bomb to defuse it, but once he does, he'll ignite a gigantic photon cannon that somehow targets the Speed Force. If Bart tries to disarm the cannon, Val's bomb will go off. And to make things interesting, Thad only gives him five seconds to decide.

Despite Val's protests, Bart decides to push the button, assuring her he can run faster than the speed of light. The cannon immediately fires, drawing all the electricity from Las Vegas to do so. Bart then leads the photon ray on a race around the world — literally. He eventually ends up back where he started, guiding the ray to crash into the back of the cannon, destroying it. Inertia teleports away before Bart can catch him.

Bart takes Val to the hotel penthouse and helps turn on backup power for hospitals and emergency services until the rest of Las Vegas' lights come back on. He immediately returns to the penthouse to find Val stepping out of the shower, suggesting they enjoy their time together while they can. Bart sadly notes a temporary tone in Val's comment, and she says it'll be harder for them to be together now that he's living in Los Angeles. But Bart says he's always only a few seconds away from her. And then Bart and Val ... um ... have sex. As soon as they're done, the lights come back on and he decides to quickly check out the city to make sure there weren't too many accidents during the blackout. But he promises to hurry back to Val.

Meanwhile, Manfred Mota has finished slowly reassembling himself after Inertia blew him up. He realizes he was betrayed, but more importantly, he realizes how wrong he was to try to kill his daughter to restore his body. Seeking to make amends, he somehow tracks Val's atomic design to Las Vegas, riding on the power lines to the city.

In that brief moment of Bart's absence, Mota appears before his daughter, who has thankfully gotten dressed in a new outfit (don't ask me where the clothes came from). Val naturally panics when she sees her dad, and she even threatens to jump off the hotel's roof. But Mota manages to keep her calm and begins to apologize to her. Bart suddenly shows up, and Mota says he's said what he needed to say and will be on his way. Bart says Mota needs to go Iron Heights, but Mota refuses to return to prison. To make sure Bart doesn't follow him, he freezes the atoms around Bart, essentially trapping him in a cage.

Bart can't vibrate through the force field, but he does break out by creating a mini whirlwind. He easily catches up to Mota, and even though he can't touch the being of pure energy, Bart does figure out how to drag Mota in his slipstream, leading him to an electromagnet in a junkyard. Sure enough, this does the trick and traps Mota. And Bart notes that Iron Heights should have no problem setting up a magnetic cell for him.

Later, Bart takes Val to finally meet the Garricks, who urge the young man to return to Keystone City. But Bart instead asks Jay to help Val get her old job back at S.T.A.R. Labs and says he's planning on staying in Los Angeles. Inspired by his grandpa Barry, Bart has decided to apply for a job on the L.A. police department's forensics team.

Elsewhere ... well, in Inertia's lab ... Thad vows that the Speed Force won't save Bart next time. Next time, Thad will have an army behind him. He orders Craydl to give him the locations for February 2007 of Abra Kadabra, Mirror Master, Heat Wave and Captain Cold.




This was the final issue of Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo. And you can tell they knew it heading in to this one. After seven issues of a sluggish, plodding pace, this one was a mad scramble to cram in all the ideas they had. After the first issue of this series came out, which sold extremely well, by the way, Bilson and DeMeo proudly announced they had a story for at least 12 issues. (In that same interview, they admitted to not having read any comics previously, which explains a lot, in my opinion.) But here's the thing: Bilson and DeMeo sucked. I don't know if their scripts were always late, but through eight issues, they never had the same art team twice. And their story itself was long, boring and frustrating. They took way too long to put Bart in the Flash costume and dragged out the Griffin storyline to an obscene length.

And then we got whiplash with this issue. After spending so much time teasing and building up Mota, Flash defeats him in an astonishingly quick and anticlimactic battle. Don't get me wrong: I am not a fan of Mota at all. He was a boring and annoying villain they kept trying to hype up as some classic Flash arch enemy, which he was not. I'm just frustrated by the poor pacing of this series. And you know that Bilson and DeMeo would have spent four or five issues having Bart struggling to choose a career if they had the room.

Oh, and let me complain about the art once more. This issue was particularly lazy. As you saw from the one page I posted, Inertia's gloves routinely changed from panel to panel. All through the book. And there was one panel where Bart was supposed to be examining the bomb on Val's chest, but the artist straight up forgot to draw the bomb. I kind of get the feeling that just about everyone involved in this series had given up by this point. Sales were plummeting and DC had already put their new Flash plans into motion. Perhaps those plans were an overreaction to the struggles of this series, but that's a discussion for another day.

I will say I kind of enjoyed Inertia's interaction with Bart. Even though Bart is now older, taller and more powerful than Inertia, Thad is still much, much smarter than Bart. And it was nice to him smugly laying out his death trap that Bart blindly waltzed right into. Of course, I still crave the Inertia of Todd Dezago, who got a taste of what it's like to be in a family and struggled making sense of that with his years of being programmed as a villain. But I know I'll never get that Inertia again, so I have to make do with what little scraps of cleverness I can get.

Whew! What a tough stretch this has been! Let's check out the new ads:

Batman: Year One in a deluxe softcover edition.

Batman: Year 100 now in graphic novel format.

A two-page "comic" for the Nintendo Wii. (The art for this ad actually looks better than much of the art in this series.)

One magic word ... and a boy becomes the world's mightiest mortal! Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil.

The return of the greatest superhero team-up book ever! The Brave and the Bold by Mark Waid and George Pérez.

52 action figures.

The DC Nation page contains a clue about 52, which essentially says that the multiverse still exists after Infinite Crisis.

International Fight League.

Vinsanity by Carter. Body by milk. got milk? with Vince Carter. The 2006-07 season was actually Carter's final year as an All-Star, averaging 25.2 points per game for the New Jersey Nets.

Next time, we'll follow Inertia upholding his end of the bargain to Deathstroke in Teen Titans #43.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #7

Speediest Chapter 1: Angel City

Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo -- Writers
Ron Adrian -- Penciller, pages 1-10, 16-22
Art Thibert -- Artist, pages 11-15
Rob Lea & Alex Lei -- Inkers, pages 1-10, 16-22
Pat Brosseau -- Letterer
Richard & Tanya Horie -- Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern -- Assoc. Editor
Joan Hilty -- Editor
Cover by Daniel Acuna

Our cover shows Bart being pursued by the two new villains of the series, Mota and Inertia. I will admit to kind of liking calling them Force & Inertia. But beyond that, I do not like this cover. The bland background and the "blurred" effect don't work for me. And for some reason, Bart looks like he's 35 years old here. It's also worth noting that just seven issues in, Acuna is our third cover artist. And Thibert becomes our sixth penciller for this mess of a series.

Our story begins at the Flash Museum with a Flash Day celebration. Apparently word has gotten out that it was Griffin who caused the bridge to collapse and the Flash who stopped him, so Keystone has decided to show it's appreciation to the real hero of the day and present him with a medal. Jay and Joan Garrick are in attendance, but halfway through the parade, Bart still has yet to show up.

And that's because Bart has impulsively decided to move to Los Angeles without telling anyone or setting up a job or apartment in this new city. But Bart believes he now has his powers under control and can handle being by himself now, leaving Keystone in Jay's hands. Bart also acknowledges that Wally is still "out there" somewhere, but before beginning his search for him, Bart wants to "find himself" first. And this quest to inner peace apparently begins with a trip to the tourist destinations of Hollywood. But it turns out to be a good thing that Bart decided to take in the sights, since he stumbled across a live performance by the classic Flash villain, Abra Kadabra.

Abra Kadabra announces he'll make the condemned Hollywood Hotel disappear, but "accidentally" zaps the brand new jewelry store next door. As the building disappears, Bart throws on his Flash suit and rushes inside the store before it completely vanishes. The store reappears in the Swiss Alps, and Abra Kadabra also teleports himself there to direct his crew to empty the contents of the store and deposit them in his Swiss bank at the bottom of the hill.

Bart sees Kadabra's men heading toward building and he decides to empty the vault before they can. Instead of vibrating through the safe door, Bart types in thousands of number combinations at super speed to open the door. Once Kadabra and his men enter the building, they are shocked to find it completely empty. Bart locks Kadabra's men inside the vault, then gets right up in his face, saying the trick didn't fool him. Abra Kadabra tries to teleport Flash away, but he easily avoids the blasts from the magic wand. Bart then pulls out a small diamond he kept from the safe and uses it to cut a hole in a glass case covering a large diamond. Bart then uses that piece of glass to reflect Kadabra's teleportation blast back at him, causing the super villain to disappear. Our noble hero immediately takes off, letting the Swiss police clean up.

Bart runs back to Los Angeles, planning to find a place to live first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, Kadabra reappears in Cambodia, realizing that this Flash has gold eyes, which means Inertia was right. He now acknowledges that Inertia's plan might have some validity, and he plans to present this information to the Rogues.

We then cut to the Gila Canyon test site in Nevada, where Inertia has taken a break from prepping Mota's experiment to secretly meet with Deathstroke. Apparently Inertia has also lost his connection to the Speed Force, and he is relying on Deathstroke to provide him a drug called Velocity 9 to give him super speed. Inertia tells Deathstroke that Mota is currently analyzing his daughter's D.N.A., and he's about to head off to collect the final piece for the regeneration machine — the trigger. Deathstroke approves of Inertia's plan and reminds him to come out East to fulfill his end of their deal.

Once Deathstroke is gone, Inertia injects himself with the Velocity 9, blaming Bart for forcing him to "shoot up" like a back-alley junkie. He has Craydl reactivate the teleportal, which sends him back to his lab in the future. Craydl has developed a taste for classic rock for some reason, and Thad gives him a Rolling Stones CD with a promise to get some Pink Floyd on his next trip.

The next day, Bart is moving in to Casa La Brea Bungalow Court in Hollywood. He is trying to open the door to his apartment while balancing three boxes labeled "Bart's stuff." His neighbor, a pretty girl about his age, helps him open the door and quickly picks up on Bart's Midwest accent. She introduces herself as Roxanne Snow and says she's an aspiring actress working on her regional dialects. Bart thanks her by giving her a piece of Swiss chocolate.

Out in Nevada, Inertia finally begins the process of using Valerie Perez's genetic material to restore Manfred's Mota's body. Thad notes the coldness of Mota's willingness to sacrifice his daughter, but he admires their shared goal of seeking death for the speedsters. But when Inertia pushes the button to begin the process, the entire lab goes up in a massive blue explosion.

Meanwhile, Bart is sadly reading Val's goodbye letter for the thousandth time. He idiotically believes the letter to be genuine — despite all the clear warning signs around Val's sudden departure — and he decides that if Val really wants to talk to him then she'll give him a call.

Speaking of Val, she miraculously survived the explosion. She pulls herself out of the rubble and runs through the desert until she finds the highway. Val stops the first truck she sees, begging for a ride to the nearest town. The truck driver is eager to help her, but only if she lets him have his way with her first. But before the driver can do anything bad to Val, Inertia arrives, beats up the driver and ties him up. He explains to Val that he designed Mota's chamber to fail and Val's to protect her from the explosion. Inertia also reveals that Abra Kadabra has informed him that Bart has moved to Los Angeles, and he thinks it's time to reunite the two love birds.

Using a device that mimics Val's voice, Thad gives Bart a call, asking him to come to the Desert Star hotel in Las Vegas to talk. Bart doesn't ask any questions over the phone and agrees to race over there immediately.




I now see why Bilson and DeMeo dragged their feet so long on making Bart the Flash. They don't know how to write a good Flash action sequence. Everything about that Abra Kadabra scene was awful. So a super villain from the 64th century teleports a jewelry store to Switzerland. Pretty low brow for someone like Abra Kadabra, but whatever; he needs to fund some operation. Bart, as a superhero, has two main objectives here: 1) Take Abra Kadabra into custody, and 2) Return the jewelry store to Hollywood. And Bart failed on both those counts. What was the point of him removing all the diamonds? And where did he put them? Or why did he manually punch numbers into the safe combination? Or use a diamond to slice open a case of another diamond? All of these decisions were horribly stupid!

But Bart's worst decision was to move to Hollywood without telling anyone. He owes it to the Garricks to let them know what he's up to. Yes, a city as large as Los Angeles does need a superhero, but Bart shouldn't be going there at this time. Jay just barely got out of the hospital, and even though he healed quickly, this series has repeatedly told us that he's getting slower each day. Bart's not exactly leaving Keystone in good hands here. And Bart also owes it to Wally to try to find him and bring him home. Now's not the time for more "soul-searching." He's been doing that for a year now. Start acting like a hero for crying out loud!

The most interesting part of this issue was Inertia's interaction with Deathstroke. But I think the credit for that goes to Geoff Johns, who is building up a Titans East storyline, which we will be covering before too long. But really, this is a painful comic to read. It even fails on little, easy things, like Inertia's gloves. Even the cover had one fingerless glove and one full glove. So it was no surprise that this issue would switch between the two styles back and forth in this comic, even once on the same page. And the sense of time has always been all over the place this whole series. (How long ago did Mota kidnap Val?) And this issue struggled with that mightily. When Inertia pushed the button, the sun was just starting to rise. When Val pulled herself out of the rubble, it was the middle of the night with hundreds of stars in the sky. But on the very next page, when she found the highway, the sun was rising again. Are we to assume she spent the entire day under the rubble, then wandering through the desert all night? Or was this just a massively flawed book with too many errors for the two writers, two pencillers, two inkers, two colorists and two editors to catch?

There are two sides to every ghost story. It takes two to take back the castle. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for Nintendo DS.

If there's one thing you learn when you are a kid ... it's to never go into the forest ... alone. Death Jr. for Nintendo DS and PSP.

Action Comics Annual by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner.

From the pages of 52: Who will be the next to wear ... the helmet of Fate?

DC Nation announces a survey to choose the greatest DC comic book cover of all time.

Next time, we'll get a special Christmas story in DCU Infinite Holiday Special #1.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #6

Lightning in a Bottle Part Six: Burning Bridges

Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo Writers
Ken Lashley & Andy Smith Pencillers
Art Thibert Inker
Pat Brosseau Letterer
Richard & Tanya Horie Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern Assoc. Editor
Joan Hilty Editor
Cover by Art Thibert

This is our first cover not drawn by Lashley, and I'm pretty happy about that. Bart doesn't look dark and evil. The background isn't a vague mess of chaos. And the scene depicted on the cover actually happens in the story inside. Yeah, the guys in the car do look a little goofy, but everything else is pretty nice. Ironically, the children Flash is carrying look remarkably like Wally West's twins — who we haven't met yet.

Our story picks up with the Griffin ignorantly performing experiments on Jay Garrick in a desperate attempt to stop his rapid aging. While Griffin fiddles with the computers, Jay vibrates free from his restraints (which are completely different from what they looked like last issue). However, Griffin spots this before Jay is completely free and hits him with a blast of green lightning. At that same moment, Bart is actually conducting some good old fashioned detective work.

Bart returns to S.T.A.R. Labs to get more information about the stolen equipment from Dr. McGee. He then quickly visits the Keystone Water and Power Central Station to track down the isolated spike in energy the Speed Force Spectrometer would cause. He finds the spot on the corner of Anderson Street and Fox Avenue (named for Flash creators Murphy Anderson and Gardner Fox). Bart carefully vibrates through the street, making sure not to stretch the matter into taffy again, then quietly sneaks into Griffin's underground lair.

With Jay unconscious, Griffin has begun rambling incoherently to himself, complaining about how the city doesn't love him anymore (even though there has been no evidence to suggest this). Looking at an old poster of the bridge between Keystone and Central City, Griffin gets an idea to do something big to make everyone forget the Flashes. Bart decides he's heard enough at this point and whips up a cloud of cement mix dust and ties Griffin to a pillar with some cables. He then spots Jay and accuses Griffin of killing him.

While Bart tends to Jay, Griffin uses his green lightning to easily escape, making sure to take down the pillar he was tied to on his way out. Bart whisks Jay away to safety before the tunnel caves in, but discovers that Jay's heart has stopped. He begins to cry, wishing he could save his mentor, when suddenly a surge of lightning sparks from Bart's fingertips, giving Jay's heart the necessary jolt to start beating again.

We then head over to the Gila Canyon test site in Nevada, where Valerie has been strapped to a chair that presumably will break down her genetic material to rebuild her father's body. Val is remarkably calm and curious in the face of death, asking the question we've all been asking: What does Inertia have to gain by assisting Mota? Inertia mostly just laughs Val off, and Mota says once he regains his body, he and Inertia will proceed with their plans to take down the Flash. But Inertia thinks to himself that he's not seeing Mota in his plans.

Later, Bart and Joan are at Keystone General Hospital, waiting to hear how Jay is doing. Dr. McGee is also there, presumably to tell the doctors what that Speed Force machine did to him. McGee tells Bart and Joan that Jay was exposed to high levels of radiation and he's been moved to the ICU, but he has stabilized and his pulse is good. Bart tells them how Jay's heart was stopped when he found them, but he somehow was able to utilize the Speed Force to save him. Bart then realizes he should probably be out looking for the Griffin now, since he is an unstable homicidal maniac, after all.

Speaking of Griffin, he is currently carrying out his insane plan to regain the city's respect by sabotaging the Keystone Bridge. He destroys one of the bridge's support pillars, causing it to collapse with dozens of cars still crossing it. Bart hears the collapse from the hospital and rushes over there to find Griffin saving some people from the catastrophe he obviously caused. Bart joins him in rescuing more people, including the kids we saw on the cover. Griffin sees this and immediately attacks the Flash for stealing his thunder.

As the two fight, Bart randomly feels compelled to tell Griffin that he's Bart. Griff calls him a liar, saying Bart was weak. Bart notes the word "was" and starts spinning like a top for some reason. And then ... I'll just admit I can't follow this art ... somehow both Flash and Griffin end up underwater. I don't know if Bart knocked him down there and then jumped in after him or if he dragged him down there for whatever reason. But the important thing is Bart and Griffin are fighting each other in the river and Bart starts drowning. In this moment of extreme distress, however, Bart suddenly remembers everything that happened after he took Superboy-Prime to the Speed Force.

Griffin almost gets away, but he's suddenly hit by a huge piece of the collapsing bridge. Bart manages to dig him out from under the rubble and drag him to shore. Griffin weakly asks Bart why he bothered saving him, saying he's already a dead man. Bart coldly says if he knew the answer to that question then he might have actually been the hero he wanted to be. Griff tells Bart he was always the smart one, and he apologizes as he dies. And Bart just sits there and watches him die, making no effort to take him to the hospital or use the Speed Force to jolt his heart or anything.

The next day, Bart and Joan are visiting Jay in the hospital, who is reading the newspaper with the headline "Flash: Back" next to another headline, "Griffin meets a tragic end," indicating that Keystone still did love him. Anyway, the good news is Jay is healing fast and Bart is ready to tell him what he remembered. When Superboy-Prime escaped, Bart, Wally, Barry and Max followed his path to another Earth with an alternate version of Jay, who was unable to prevent Prime from stealing the Monitor Armor and taking off. Wally said they need to return to Earth to warn everybody that Superboy-Prime is returning, but Max realized none of them are fast enough to catch him.

As the speedsters discussed their dilemma, they agreed it would be possible, but incredibly dangerous, for Wally to absorb the entire Speed Force and be fast enough to catch Superboy-Prime. So Bart offered to go instead, telling Wally he needed to take care of his wife and children. So Barry gave Bart his suit, saying it'll protect him. Bart said he'll be OK since he'll have all of them with him, and he made his journey back to Earth, arriving just barely before Superboy-Prime did, essentially making his warning worthless. After Bart finishes telling Jay this story, Jay cheesily proclaims Bart as the Flash — the fastest man alive.




And so we come to the end of Griffin. I feel like Bilson and DeMeo really thought they had a big, emotional climax in this issue. But they failed to establish Griffin as a likable character, let alone Bart's best friend. If Griffin actually started out as a halfway decent guy, then his downfall would have had some emotional stakes. Instead, all we got was watching a big jerk turn into a bigger insane jerk with super powers. Instead of the final battle being an Obi-Wan vs. Anakin scenario, it was a dull, anticlimactic affair muddled by confusing artwork.

It also really bugs me that Bart made a point of saving Griffin to show him what a real hero does, only to idly sit by and watch him die. I'm fine with Griffin dying, but Bart should have at least tried to  revive him. However, this death scene was much more palatable than the Griffin on the CW Flash show, wherein our "heroes" deliberately planned on causing his death. But that's a complaint for a different blog.

The most exciting part of this issue was Bart randomly remembering everything that he supposedly forgot. But we really didn't learn anything new. From Infinite Crisis and 52 we already knew that Bart was given Barry's suit to run back to warn everyone because he was the only one who could do it. So I guess the only new bit of information we gleaned from this flashback was Superboy-Prime stealing the Monitor Armor from an alternate Earth. But now I want to know more about Prime's escape and the fate of Wally and his family. And I can all but guarantee we won't be getting those answers in this series. So ultimately, what could have been an eye-popping reveal fell flat. Just like with everything else in this series. Let's check out the new ads:

Superman Returns on DVD and Blu-Ray.

A planet assaulted. Menacing villains rising. Powerful heroes uniting. Final Fantasy V on Game Boy Advance.

Every pack of Magic: The Gathering comes with 15 cards and endless possibilities.

Endless adventure, incredible worlds ... the Nintendo DS awaits. Children of Mana and Magical Starsign.

Buy Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2 and get a 28-page comic book.

The most explosive fighting game ever. DragonBall Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2.

Do you have what it takes to be a Time Spy? Time Spies books.

The DC Nation page features Dan DiDio teasing the upcoming Infinite Crisis Christmas Special.

Destroy All Humans! 2 for PlayStation 2 and X-box.

Evil knows no boundaries. Killzone Liberation for PSP.

Next in Flash #7, Bart goes West — toward a trap set by Mota and Inertia!

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #5

Lightning in a Bottle Part Five: Missing in Action

Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo Writers
Ron Adrian Penciller
Alex Lei & Rob Lea Inkers
Pat Brosseau Letterer
Richard & Tanya Horie Colorists
Rachel Gluckstern Asst. Editor
Joan Hilty Editor
Cover by Ken Lashley

Our cover has absolutely nothing to do with our inside story. And it's not a particularly good cover, either. It really bugs me that people are taking pictures of the Flash, but none of the pictures line up with the image of the Flash right in front of them. But it bugs me even more to see a credit error on the cover. Sal Velluto, who drew part of last issue, did not draw any of this issue. You'll also note that Ron Adrian was not described as a guest penciller, essentially signaling the approaching end of Ken Lashley. And yes, this is our fifth different art for this five-issue-old series.

Our story picks up right where last issue left off, with Bart now dressed as the Flash, racing back up the skyscraper to continue his battle with the Griffin. Unfortunately, Bart runs a little too fast and zooms right past his former roommate and is soon airborne.

Bart flies so high in the sky he can see the Earth's curvature before finally beginning to fall. He hastily creates an air cushion to brace his fall in the middle of the Keystone Zoo, but it's still a pretty rough landing. When he comes to, he's so dazed that he mistakingly believes he's being attacked by Gorilla Grodd. But it's just an ordinary gorilla named Princess. Suddenly, Cyborg arrives and takes Bart away.

The former teammates return to Griffin's apartment, but find it empty. Bart wants to immediately begin searching for him, but Cyborg advises him to recover a bit first. Vic explains that he heard Bart had grown up while he was offline for the past year, and he decided to come visit the former Teen Titan in person. He visited Bart's apartment first, found he wasn't home, then went over to Griffin's, only to see Bart flailing wildly up in the sky.

Cyborg says Bart is having a hard time controlling the Speed Force, and Bart realizes that Vic has been talking to Jay. Vic admits this and says it's weird to see the formerly impulsive Bart so scared now. Bart recounts to Vic how he raced back to Earth to warn everyone of Superboy-Prime's escape, but claims he doesn't remember most of what happened before that. He says he was gone for less than one year, but somehow aged four years in that span. Bart admits he's scared, but says he feels like his old impulsive self whenever he's with Val. Cyborg gives Bart some clichéd advice about facing his fears then leaves.

Instead of heading out to search for the extremely dangerous and unstable Griffin, Bart heads off to what must be a very late night double date with the Garricks and Val. (The sense of time in this comic has always been screwy, and this is definitely one of those times, as Bart makes it clear that this is all happening on the same day.) Val was supposed to meet them at this restaurant, but she's running late, which is making Bart nervous. Jay and Joan, however, are thrilled to see Bart finally show some enthusiasm in something after a solid year of moping.

While they wait, Jay brings up the Griffin, and Bart casually admits that Griff almost killed him about an hour ago. Jay says Bart needs to give the city the hero it deserves. Bart says he doesn't want to let Jay, Max, Wally and Barry down, but then he suddenly bolts on the conversation by running off to find Val. Joan happily comments that this is the more impulsive Bart she remembers.

When Bart reaches Val's house, he finds it completely empty — like, there's not a single piece of furniture or scrap of clothing in the entire building. The only thing he can find is a note addressed to him saying, "Bart — Sorry, but I just can't make this work right now. I'm heading West to start over. — Val." Bart returns to the outdoor table with the Garricks and lies about Val, saying she got "tied up or something."

Jay can sense something is wrong, but before he can press Bart, Griffin zooms by in his sports car. Jay immediately takes off after him. Bart hesitates, but Joan urges him to go, reminding him of how dangerous Griffin is and that Bart is the fastest man alive. Bart quickly catches up to Jay running alongside Griff's car. When Griffin sees Bart, he mistakingly believes he's Wally and he criticizes him for being M.I.A. for a year. Griffin says the cops are pinned down at 5th and Main, and he's the only hero Keystone needs. He then hits Bart with a blast of green lightning and takes off.

Jay stops to help Bart up, who quickly recovers and tells Jay where Griffin is headed. The Flashes arrive at the police standoff before Griffin does, rushing right past Detectives Morillo and Chyre and into the building. Bart and Jay quickly disarm the three gunman and make them peacefully surrender to the police. Griffin arrives right as the suspects are taken into custody, and he loudly complains that this is his city and his crime to stop. All the police officers openly mock Griffin for whining like a 5-year-old. This isn't a good idea, though, since Griffin predictably lashes out in anger, knocking the Flashes down with his lightning and causing a police helicopter to crash. Griffin escapes while Bart and Jay deal with the crash, and they finally decide that it's way past time to bring Griffin in.

We then cut to Val waking up in a small, dark room. The last thing she remembers is her energy-based father touching her and causing her to black out. She begins banging on the door demanding to know what her father wants. A voice from the corner tells her Mota is out at the moment but should be back soon. Val recognizes the voice as Bart's, but when she turns around, she sees Bart's long lost evil clone. He introduces himself as Tad Thawne, aka Inertia.

Back in Keystone, Griffin stumbles across the perfect underground lair for himself — a conveniently abandoned subway station with running water and electricity. In another lucky stroke of convenience, this place also has a computer containing information about Jay Garrick and the machine he helped S.T.A.R. Labs build to measure increments of the Speed Force. Griff realizes that Jay looks a lot younger than he really is, and he theorizes that Jay and this machine might be able to help Griffin stop rapidly aging.

We find out that Val is being kept in the Gila Canyon Test Site, and her father assures her that she won't be kept her long enough for the residual radiation to affect her. Val demands to know why she's been kidnapped, and Mota explains that he currently lives between the membranes of the physical world, constantly struggling to not completely dissipate. But with Val's genetic material, he can be restored to what he was. Val doesn't believe such technology exists, but Mota says it does in the future, which is where Inertia comes in. Inertia says he and Mota both want to wipe the planet clean of all speedsters — except for him, naturally.

Later, we see that Griffin has done a much better job of stalking Jay than Jay and Bart have been at searching for him. Griffin figures out that Jay likes to take a walk every morning, crossing a metal bridge over the canal in the nature preserve. So Griffin sets up a simple trap for Jay and electrocutes him.

Meanwhile, Bart has headed over to S.T.A.R. Labs to ask Dr. McGee if she knows where Val is. McGee says she only received a vague email from her that mentioned a research project out West, but didn't provide any information beyond that. Bart brings up the fact that Val has said Mota's been stalking her, and McGee agrees it sounds suspicious, but says they can't really do anything about it since they don't have any evidence. She then tells Bart that the Speed Force Analyzer has been stolen, which is odd, since more valuable equipment was left untouched. Bart then gets a phone call from Joan, saying that Jay has been missing since this morning. So Bart immediately takes off in his Flash suit.

We see that Griffin has taken Jay to his underground lair and strapped him to the Speed Force Analyzer. Jay tries to explain that he's not connected to the Speed Force anymore, and only has super speed because he's a metahuman. Griff demands to know what's been keeping Jay young, and Jay says it must be a side effect of his previous connection to the Speed Force. But Griffin doesn't believe Jay, nor does he understand the machine he's stolen, so he turns it on, causing Jay a great deal of pain. Meanwhile, Bart quickly discovers the scorch marks on the bridge where Jay was kidnapped, and he vows to search this entire city to find him.




Well, I guess Bart's officially the Flash now, right? All it took was five issues. And even then, he's still extremely reluctant to do anything and completely lacks a sense of urgency. Of course, the same could be said of just about everyone in this comic. Let's start with Cyborg. During Infinite Crisis, he went out into space, was severely injured, and went offline for a year. When he wakes up and learns that Bart has grown up, he goes to quite a bit of effort to track down his former teammate. When he arrives in Keystone, he sees Bart flying wildly out of control. Cyborg pulls him out of a gorilla pen, learns that Bart was in the middle of a battle with a legitimate villain, but refuses to let Bart pursue that villain. And instead of helping him track down the extremely dangerous and unstable Griffin, Cyborg just gives Bart a quick pep talk and goes home. Seriously? There is a very powerful maniac with little regard for life out on the streets right now and you're just going to walk home?

But Bart and Jay are the same way. Instead of tracking down Griffin, they sit and talk about his relationship with Val, then choose to publicly embarrass Griffin instead of actually taking him into custody. And when Griffin gets away, they don't even bother going looking for him. And even though Bart claims to only be passionate about Val, when he sees she's been obviously kidnapped, he barely does anything to look for her. At least he expressed a tiny bit of emotion when he heard Jay has been kidnapped. But man, what a painful journey it's been to get Bart to that level.

I'm still not sure what I feel about Inertia's inclusion here. On one hand, it makes perfect sense to bring back Bart's greatest villain of all time for his new solo series. But on the other hand, this appearance really comes out of nowhere. We last saw Inertia at the gate of the Speed Force, torn between the lies and programming he'd been fed by President Thawne and the true joy he felt by being heroic and loved. He was unable to completely trust others and join a loving family, but he also had realized the Allen-Thawne feud was a ridiculous waste of time. So he ran off to who knows where or when. And now we see him here, choosing to work with the most obscure of former Flash villains in order to kill Bart because ... ?

All I know for sure is that this comic book series falls below DC's standards. It's quite embarrassing, really. Well, let's check out the new ads:

A hero will fly again. Batten Kaitos Origins for GameCube.

PSP theater presents Greatest Hits.

Wonka Sour! Nerds, SweetTarts Squeez and Laffy Taffy. (Wonka had a total of five ad pages in this comic.)

The New Frontier: The Absolute Edition.

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.

The DC Nation page teases a new series of Year One titles.

Well, that's it for the year 2006. Next time is our Year in Review.