The Flash #1 – Si Spurrier, Writer; Mike Deotato Jr, Artist; Trish Mulvihill, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: There’s a difference between “a good comic” and “a good comic for the property,” and I feel like this month’s highly ambitious, divisive launches sum this up pretty well. Tom King’s Wonder Woman, while highly intense and political, felt like it was ultimately perfectly suited to propel Diana into her next era. This run, following up on Jeremy Adams’ wildly popular Wally West revival, feels less so. The creative team was controversial from the start, with Si Spurrier being mostly known for dark, wildly ambitious sci-fi and horror epics and Mike Deodato being known for highly realistic art. Neither one feels naturally suited to a Flash title, and this first issue leaves me both impressed with the craft involved and uncertain about the book’s future.
The best way to describe this issue is that it feels like a dark curtain has fallen over everything. It does continue pretty neatly from the Adams run plot-wise, but everything seems sort of askew—including the Speed Force. There is one positive note right at the start—it confirms that Bart and Max are still around, their journey into the Speed Force foiled by a weird backlash and a disturbing vision from Max. As for Wally, he’s dealing with both trouble in his superhero life, as the Speed Force continues acting in weird ways, and in his home life. Linda is depressed and struggling after losing her powers, Irey and Jai are squabbling and Jai is getting in trouble at school, and Mr. Terrific seems to have taken a turn for the mercurial.
Every character in this run seems to have a harsher edge, as is seen in Wally’s conversations about Michael’s long-lost son. But this is a very ambitious first issue, and that gives it a lot of points in my book. Spurrier works in a lot of ominous plot threads in only one issue, and Deodato’s art is surprisingly kinetic when depicting the Speed Force. The main thrust here seems to be that the Speed Force is a wildly powerful and unpredictable force—and now something horrific might be emerging from it. The final visuals of this issue are deeply disturbing, plunging this issue into the realm of full-on horror. It’s clear that’s what this creative team wanted to go for—I’m just not sure how well it works yet.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
