The Flash #769 – Jeremy Adams, Writer; Brandon Peterson, David LaFuente, Artists; Mike Atiyeh, Luis Guerrero, Colorists
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Last issue wasted no time sending us off on a crazy new speed force adventure, and things don’t slow down at all in the second. When we last left off, Wally had decided to retire from being the Flash and asked Barry to help him strip himself of the speed force. They went on a wild race through time—and things didn’t go as expected, with Wally apparently being transformed into pure speed force energy and being catapulted through time and space and into the body of other speedsters. After barely avoiding being eaten by a dinosaur in prehistoric time, he was flung into the 30th century—into the body of resident speedster Impulse, who had to run from a giant-sized Dominator and was assisted by Adams’ personal creation. That would be the chaotic Gold Beetle, a young time adventurer who has picked up where the popular Blue and Gold left off and is trying to keep the timestream intact—with mixed success.
This issue’s biggest challenge is the tonal shift between two segments—both in writing and in art style. While David LaFuente handles the future segments and gives them a fun Silver Age vibe, the Brandon Peterson segments in the present are almost hyper-realistic. They mostly focus on Barry, Oliver, and Michael Holt trying to find answers to Wally’s predicament and breaking into the Flash Museum to find a secret that Barry left there years back. Some of the banter is amusing, but it feels slow and stretched out compared to the future segments, which have Gold Beetle and a very confused Wally/Bart going up against a kaiju-sized alien. Gold Beetle is a hilarious burst of energy in the title, and I’m hoping this isn’t the last we see of her—and that we get some clues to her origin. Overall, it’s a fun comic but I’m still not sure it’s fully working as a Flash comic—especially since I’m not sure who our lead actually is.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
