The Flash #778 – Jeremy Adams, Writer; Fernando Pasarin/Matt Ryan, Brent Peeples, Artists; Jeromy Cox, Peter Pantazis, Matt Herms, Colorists
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Jeremy Adams is continuing to prove himself one of DC’s best new talents in a while with his Flash run, which brings Wally West and his family back to the center of the franchise. Wally continues to have a big, crazy, very un-Flash-like adventure as he’s stuck in Gemworld. Up against one of the most powerful villains in the universe, Eclipso, he’s forced to fight the possessed members of Justice League Dark and team up with the evil Dark Opal as the only hope against the plague. This is an intriguing partnership that is a little awkward given that the last time we saw Opal, he was a mass killer who tried to murder Amethyst many times over. But all ports in a storm. The art in the battle segments is great, but this segment does have a lot of exposition and doesn’t seem to advance the plot too much. Still, it’s great to see Wally’s more freewheeling Flash in a cosmic storyline.
If you told me last year my favorite part of the Flash book would be dealing with Wally’s kids, I would laugh at you, but Adams’ writing plus some slight aging of the characters has done wonders. After Irey and her new friend Maxine (Baker, likely Animal Man’s daughter) are ambushed and kidnapped by two members of the Fearsome Five, the non-powered Jai has to step into the hero role and pursue them to the base—where a notorious villain is looking to round up young metahumans for experimentation. Jai has sort of been a vestigial limb for the franchise ever since he lost his powers, so I’m glad to see him take center stage once again. This issue also adds some very interesting wrinkles to why Jai can’t connect with the Speed Force—his powers may not be exactly what we think they are. It’s a fun book that delivers a different type of Flash comic from Williamson’s epic, plot-dense run.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
