The Flash #14 – Simon Spurrier, Writer; Vasco Georgiev, Artist; Matt Herms, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: All In is giving all the titles new arcs, even if they’re keeping their creative team like this one is – and in the case of Si Spurrier’s Flash, it may have been the energy boost the title needed. I’ve been pretty mixed on this run as a whole, mostly due to its overly dark tone and dense sci-fi plotting. This first issue largely eschews all that and calls back to the lighter tone of previous runs – as Wally and his family go on a vacation. But they’re not on a theme park trip – they’re in the wild land of Skartaris, the home of Warlord, as the underground kingdom has been experiencing strange weather events. The culprit? Weather Wizard, the one villain still missing from Iron Heights and what some enhanced powers. With Wally initially choosing to keep the true reason for this mission a secret from Linda, this could have gone badly – but thankfully, everyone here actually acts like adults who like each other.
But that’s not to say there aren’t some darker edges in this issue. This series is steeped in the fallout from Absolute Power, most significantly Barry losing his powers. At first, it seems like Barry is fine with it – knowing his legacy is in good hands and being ready to enjoy retirement and maybe start a family. But a few scenes indicate that things aren’t as simple as that. Additionally, the Justice League is just starting to reform, with Red Tornado serving as its non-corporeal AI supervisor, and he deputizes Wally on the mission that takes him to Skartaris. But Spurrier is picking up the great work of Jeremy Adams on fleshing out the Flash Family, and especially giving both of Wally’s kids distinct and likable personalities. This feels like a different run so far, in a very good way, and it also feels like a run that Flash fans are much more likely to embrace. So far, no real misses in All In.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
