The Flash #10 – Simon Spurrier, Writer; Ramon Perez, Vasco Georgiev, Artists; Matt Herms, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: This series started as a strange, cosmic thriller as Wally West was taken beyond the speed force and became the plaything of cosmic entities. But since then, it’s become something even stranger—an event tie-in! Absolute Power has reached into the title and pulled in just about every Flash—besides Wally. For the lead character, he’s oddly feeling rather irrelevant to it at this point—this issue, he spends the entire time being artificially pacified by the cosmic entities, dimensions away from the rest of the cast, as they explain to him their nefarious plans for the universe. These segments certainly look good, but they lack the human touch that makes the rest of the issue work and feel almost like a distraction. Also cosmic but far more effective are the time-travel segments as Inspector Pilgrim (aka Wade West) mentors Jai, who seems to be becoming quite the nascent time investigator.
But the majority of this issue focuses on another Flash—Barry—as he faces off against Amanda Waller’s determination to rid the world of superheroes. He’s up against the Justice Buster, an old power-suit that Bruce Wayne designed in case he needed to fight metahumans. But what Barry doesn’t know is that it’s driven by none other than Amanda’s right-hand man—Oliver Queen, who has gone deep cover and is forced to go up against his friends. This is an interesting twist on what would otherwise be a fairly routine battle, and sets the stakes high the week before the event kicks off in earnest. There’s a great moment where the entire Flash family shows up to back Barry, but the issue suffers from irregular art (two artists who don’t really match) and irregular plots. This issue and the last felt like they were finding a new tone, but the cosmic overtones of the series still don’t really work.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
