Hey y’all! We’ve got two issues that came out about a month
ago this week as there were no new comics I read or wanted to try.
Unfortunately, the other fun comic I wanted to review, I was unable to get
access to so that will have to wait for the future, but these issues were fun.
I mean, how could you look at this and not have fun:
The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #4&5
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Clayton Henry
Colors: Marcelo Maiolo
Letters: Rob Leigh
Cover: Cully Hamner
This is it; the big finale of this creative team’s time on the comic. That blows because not only were the prior three issues quite fun, these two stick the landing perfectly. The story is clever, taking unforeseen twists along the way, and the art is beautiful.
After stepping into a time
portal at the end of issue #3, Flash arrives in the Central City of the future,
the ingeniously named Zoom City. He, he discovers a city of speed addicts that live
just to get ten minutes of Speed Force every day. This is how Zoom pacifies his
people, so they remain under his rule without a question. The police detect
unauthorized use of speed and attack Barry. He’s only saved by issue #2’s future
soldier, Shift.
 |
| The drip.. |
That’s where it gets interesting as Shift explains Thawne’s origin story, which is very similar to Barry’s except, notably, Henry draws him like he’s Doctor Jekyll. It just looks incredible and is maybe the standout panel of the entire five issue run. Eventually, Zoom finds them and threatens to murder Barry’s Justice League friends as children before landing on the idea of killing Iris instead. He and Flash fight before Flash takes off through time, daring Zoom to catch him. That moment is a little strange as it seems to be too aggressive and cocky for this iteration of Barry. It can be explained away Barry just trying to keep Zoom’s attention on him, but it still doesn’t sit right with me.
The best of Barry in a nutshell
As the two race through time, we get some fun cameos: Jonah Hex, Kamandi, Jay Garrick’s helmet. Even Barry’s granddaughter gets in on the action as she waits in the exact spot her grandfather told her to so she can deliver a Legion flight ring to Flash. This is what allows Barry to outsmart Thawne at the end by having Iris float away before she can be murdered. Flash beats Zoom to a pulp before deciding that he has to explain who he is to Iris. And the comic ends on a cute one liner.
The comic is good. The story is
good, the humor works, there is a ton of heart, Henry draws the hell out of
every scene. I am truly sad to see this team leave the book but look forward to
them maybe teaming up in the future. I highly recommend all five issues this
teams created for a fun, emotionally satisfying story.
As always, feel
free to give your thoughts in these comments or on Twitter at @alexraysnyder.
And if you like what you read here, consider throwing a couple bucks my way on Patreon to help
cover costs.
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