Ray: As Josh Williamson gears up for the end of his Flash run, he’s taking inspiration from some memorable past stories to give us a new take on that classic comic book trope—the body swap. Eobard Thawne is now in Barry’s head, leaving Barry trapped in the Speed Force. As Thawne runs roughshod in the body of the fastest man alive, we get some genuinely unsettling scenes. Thawne isn’t a routine villain out to ruin the hero’s reputation—he’s a sadist who wants to ruin Barry’s life while using his own hands to do it. When “Barry” reunites with Bart Allen, aka Impulse, by essentially hijacking him from his time with Young Justice, he takes his “Grandson” on a journey that involves Thawne brutally beating some of his own henchmen and taunting Bart that he’s not brutal enough to be a superhero. It’s more than enough for Bart to get suspicious, and it seems like Williamson is getting the entire Flash family together for this last act.
Barry, meanwhile, has been reunited with some old friends of his own when he was sent into the Speed Force—Max Mercury and Jesse Quick, erased from existence in the Flashpoint. When I say Williamson is coming full circle, I mean it—this feels like it’s about reuniting the Family from multiple eras, with references to the Waid and Johns era aplenty. It also feels like Barry might get the chance to atone for some of his past mistakes by the end, maybe undoing some of the Flashpoint’s costs. The end of the issue brings in yet another Flash to intervene in a tense showdown between the fake Barry and his family, but the absence of Wally West is noted—and commented on. He seems to finally be getting his due in Death Metal, but I do feel like the Flash-family isn’t complete without him. Regardless, this is one of the best arcs of Williamson’s run and his run is likely to go down as one for the ages.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
This post was last modified on August 10, 2020 2:47 pm
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