The Flash #792 – Jeremy Adams, Writer; Roger Cruz, Penciller; Wellington Dias, Inker; Luis Guerrero, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The stakes are sky-high for this issue, coming after two chapters and a one-shot. The Fraction is invading Earth, has frozen most of the population, and only the Flash family is still standing. And casting a massive pall over everything is the fact that Iris West seems to have been killed in the initial attack. The problem is, and this isn’t Jeremy Adams’ fault—we all know this isn’t going to stick. Iris isn’t the kind of character you casually kill off in an event where her husband isn’t even the main Flash. While Adams does manage to wring some emotion out of this subplot, we all know a reset is coming—which makes it all the more impressive that he’s able to keep the tension going as the Flash family desperately tries to stay ahead of the aliens. And it’s two of the younger, often-disregarded members of the family who really steal the show—Ace West and Impulse, whose on-and-off rivalry is on again this issue.
Bart Allen is one of the hardest characters to write, I think, with most writers either defaulting to writing him as a wacky, clueless comic relief character, or just sanding off all his edges and making him another generic kid sidekick. Teaming him up with another, more conventional young Flash works really well, as Ace can articulate all the misconceptions many writers have about Bart. The story find them teaming up to infiltrate a Fraction base, and encountering the psychic assassin known as Miss Murder. While she mostly looks like an alien version of The Batman Who Laughs, there is a very cool twist to her powers that adds some real tension, and the end of the issue has a great reveal about what exactly the Fraction is trying to gather on Earth. This is a long story, going through April, but so far it’s held my attention like no major Flash story has in many years.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
