The Flash #29 – Mark Waid, Christopher Cantwell, Writers; Vasco Georgiev, Artist; Matt Herms, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Mark Waid last left his mark on the DCU in the 1990s, before his resurgence at the company in recent years, and the biggest impact may have been on the Flash where he wrote what many consider the definitive Wally West run and also introduced us to a host of other fan favorite characters like Impulse. And all that comes full-circle here for a story that weaves through time as the Dark Legion tries to end the Speed Force for good – by disrupting the accident that gave Barry his powers. At this point, Barry is just a meek scientist, and with Bart stuck in the present suffering from Speed Sickness, Wally has to face them down alone. There are some great details here, like Barry initially thinking Wally is Jay Garrick, and Waid’s handle on Bart is still as great as it was when he and the late Mike Weiringo were tackling the character. He’s still as funny as ever, but also far from incompetent.
In fact, Bart winds up being the linchpin to this entire story, as the Legion comes extremely close to wiping out the Flashes for good. There are some really interesting plot points in this issue, like one Legion member with a unique reason for not being all-in on Darkseid’s plan. And things get so tense towards the end of the issue that I was actually starting to wonder – is this Waid sending off Bart with a proper story written by his co-creator? After all, all the Young Justice generation has been sort of ill-used in recent years, and there’s always that fear. But instead, Waid seems to potentially set Bart up for a much bigger role going forward, one that plays heavily into his origins from the future. While this issue resolves a lot, it also sets up a potentially bigger crisis in the next issue as this creative team prepares to mic-drop – and tee things up for Ryan North and Gavin Guidry in March.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
