Great Cover, Marginal Comic

When Last We Left Our Hero:

The Flash’s Powers are killing him. His wife, Linda, was attacked by a swarm of bees. ALIEN bees. She’s at death’s door.

Full disclosure: The Flash is my absolute favorite superhero, no question. It doesn’t matter who’s wearing the costume; matter of fact, the generational nature of the comic has been one of its great strengths as far as I’m concerned. Also, from the early 90s to about two years ago, the title has been a breeding ground for the best writers (Waid, Johns) and artists (Carlos Pacheco, Scott Kolins, Ethan Van Sciver, the late Mike Wieringo) in the field.

So what happened?

First off, DC decided to kill off Bart Allen and bring back Wally West from the dead after only a year. Second, they rehired Mark Waid, who had written the comic for almost a decade, and had been gone for almost as long. To his credit, he did not want to rehash stories from his previous tenure. Unfortunately, his stories focused more on the Flash’s super-powered children and relegated the titular hero to the supporting cast. Finally, this summer, they announced that Barry Allen will return from the dead and the series will be rebooted yet again.

Despite working on a lame-duck series, writer Alan Burnett’s issues have been enjoyable. This issue actually works as an excellent introduction for new and returning readers. For most of this issue, the Flash sits at the foot of his wife’s apparent deathbed and reminisces about their relationship. It sums up about 20 years of Flash continuity in a handful of pages, and even reminded me of plot points I’d forgotten or missed entirely. On the other hand, the issue feels like a detour in the story arc, and barely moves the plot along at all.

I have nothing bad to say about the art, though. Carlo Barberi is awesome.

Recommended For: People who can spare $3 and want to know what the Flash has been up to these days.

Not Recommended For: Anyone else. Save your money for the reboot, coming in January.