The Flash #23 – Simon Spurrier, Writer; Vasco Georgiev, Artist; Matt Herms, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: This series took a while to find its footing, but as Simon Spurrier’s run comes to a close, this final act is turning into something spectacular. This issue spins directly out of Alex Paknadel’s Shade-centric special last week, as it’s been revealed that Richard Swift is in thrall to Eclipso – gaining his powers from him in the first place and also owing a debt to him in exchange for Eclipso’s help with Shade’s dying wife – the ancient shadow immortal wishes to die with her. That’s made him resigned to his new villainy, as he confronts Jai West and the Wally dupe who’s gained his own awareness. The two speedsters try their best to hold Swift off, but the more experienced metahuman has the edge – until Jai tries something unconventional that turns out to be a parallel to one of the most iconic superhero movie scenes in the last decade. If I had a nickel every time a cosmic being…
Meanwhile, the real Wally West – who has lost a little bit of his mind in the process as he battles to keep tabs on countless dupes – is leading his Flash army against Eclipso’s shadows with the help of all the other speedsters – including one who finally makes his journey back from unknown quarters. But time is running out, and it comes down to Irey to pull off an unexpected move to give them a chance. While the run didn’t start out with as much of a focus on Wally’s kids, it’s building in a very interesting way on the work Jeremy Adams did developing them into fan favorites. I think this run might read a lot better as a collected story – the strange, cosmic sci-fi didn’t quite click on an issue-by-issue basis, but everything Spurrier did has led to this, and it’s turning into a Flash story with some fascinating elements and unique implications for what it actually does to a person to be a speedster.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
