If there’s one truth about being a Flash, there’s always someone there to lend a hand when you’re in need.
What They Say:
In a battle along the outskirts of time, the secrets of the Speed Force have been revealed! The new archnemesis of those who ride the lightning is coming for Iris Allen. And the Barry Allen you knew is gone forever…or is he? What change does Wally West face? What destiny will Kid Flash choose? Prepare to meet a Flash Family that’s both familiar and different…and get to the starting line for the next epic adventures of the Speed Force!
The Review:
With the Reverse Flash having made his gambit clear and leaping ahead of Barry into the past in order to kill Iris, thereby causing him immeasurable grief, Barry himself is doing his best to get back to stop him. Creating tension like this is hard to do in comics sometimes, especially as it’s all supposed to be happening at a fast pace because they’re speedster’s who are traveling back in time, but they do a decent job here as we see Barry and Wally working together to do just that while Thawne is ahead of them, getting closer and closer to Iris so he can kill her. Seeing her going through the lead-up to that first date with Barry in the past from a different angle is a definite plus to it since it helps to make her more of a real player at this time rather than just a prop, but it’s a fairly condensed piece overall because the focus is on Barry’s struggle to get back before his true love dies before him.
I find myself very conflicted about a couple of things with the result of Barry’s arrival in the past. I dislike the whole idea, at least implied here, that Barry’s return to the past and all the speed force lightning around him is the direct cause of him gaining his abilities. You can talk up paradoxes and the like all you want, but it feels like a very cheap ploy to use and further devalues the way the speed force has operated for so long. I don’t know if this is a whole retcon or change as I’ve not read Barry Allen books in probably close to twenty years now, but it still feels wholly unnecessary and an alteration to the fabric of the speedster’s in general. The other thing I dislike is that the whole thing seems to come down to Barry believe that Thawne has done everything simply because he’s never been loved or truly loved someone else. Love is all you need and you’ll never go bad. When a lot of the best villains are driven by love, especially love lost, showing Thawne in this light and Barry’s preaching about it comes across as incredibly weak and almost a cop-out.
A lot of what makes up the second half of the book involves setup for what’s to come next in Barry’s life. The Gorilla City material is something I find myself very curious about as I’ve always enjoyed these characters in the past since it’s not something you really see done elsewhere. Barry has a realization about his life and some of the pursuits he’s made in the past in regards to his parents and is doing his best to move forward. He’s spent so much time with that aspect standing still that it’s been hard for him to let it go, but the understanding of what Thawne has done in screwing up his life makes it easier to do so now. And obviously, Barry has to make things clearer with Iris so that their relationship can become more grounded now. Barry’s returning to the world of the living is done in a complete way here, including a smiling return to the Justice League, but it’s not something that’s made like it’s honest and real. His smile at the end isn’t forced, but the events that just happened doesn’t feel like it’s truly lead him to the place where he can be like that.
Digital Notes:
This Comixology edition of Flash: Rebirth contains both the regular cover and the variant cover by Evan Van Sciver. Having the variant available in digital form doesn’t change the value of the actual physical variant, so the practice of including both is definitely that is very fan friendly and gives the digital editions just that little bit more value for appreciating the artwork.
In Summary:
At the end of the Flash: Rebirth run, I really find myself feeling like this whole series was completely unnecessary as was Barry’s return to life. Watching the mess that some of the other speedster’s lives have become in recent years, Wally in particular, has left me wishing that the rebirth would have been for him to get him grounded properly and to do something that fixes the mess that has been Bart since he’s been all over the map. The Flash books have always had an edge of seriousness to it but Barry took it too far with this series and his change at the end isn’t convincing. I found myself more interested in nearly every other character than Barry and that’s a shame. Much of what helped to elevate him was his death and the way DC kept him out of everything for so long. Bringing him back is something will take a long time to change me from believing it was a mistake. Geoff Johns didn’t do badly here, but this isn’t the rebirth that Barry deserved or needed.
Grade: C
