The Flash #779 – Jeremy Adams, Writer; Fernando Pasarin/Matt Ryan, Brent Peeples, Artists; Jeremiah Skipper, Peter Pantazis, Jeromy Cox, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: For the last few issues, the two plots in this book have been split—but they collide this issue in a big way. Iris, Jai, and Maxine were able to vanquish the villains, but they’re still in danger and Jai’s powers are backfiring on him again. They make the risky decision to seek out Wally—who’s still stuck in Gemworld, fighting the forces of Eclipso including the possessed Justice League Dark. This issue finally confirms that Maxine is in fact Maxine Baker, the now tween-aged Animal Girl and daughter of Buddy Baker—and that she has some powerful abilities of her own. Arriving in Gemworld, the Flash kids reunite with their father and fight to capture the traitor Dark Opal—who really only switched sides out of base self-interest and soon winds up back on the heroes’ side reluctantly. And that shifts the odds to five to roughly one billion mind-controlled supernatural beings.
The scale in this issue is huge, and while there are two artists they flow together pretty seamlessly. Wally is up against a whole planet of supernatural beings, but the real scene-stealer here is Maxine, who channels everything from a hulking grizzly bear to a massive Gemworld sandworm to take on beings hundreds of times her size. If this is an audition for Adams to write an Animal Man miniseries, consider it aced. A surprise cameo from a cosmic power was unexpected, but I was really happy to see the twist regarding Jai’s powers coming, putting an end to a subplot going back over ten years that sort of kneecapped the character. But what I definitely wasn’t expecting was the cliffhanger. After years of serious, crime-thriller Flash stories starting Barry, this run seems to be channeling The Incredibles and the silver age as its primary influences—and it couldn’t be doing better by Wally fans.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
