Barry’s attempt at dealing with the man under the cowl don’t exactly go to plan.
What They Say:
The world-changing miniseries continues! Where are the World’s Greatest Super Heroes? Barry Allen is on a mission to find out or die trying – and that may be what’s happening as he tries to make lightning strike twice! Meanwhile, around the submerged Paris, the pirate Deathstroke confronts Emperor Aquaman!
The Review:
After the opening issue of the miniseries that showed us how much the world had changed and a handful of miniseries that expanded on it, Flashpoint puts us into the middle of three stories here that cover very different things but helps to tie it all together pretty well. Alternate world stories and changed timelines are definitely the kinds of stories that I like and Flashpoint is doing some fun stuff with it right from the start. The only downside has been that it’s being spearheaded by Barry Allen, who at least has a little more personality here than my last encounter with him in the Rebirth series.
The three stories that run here works us with both the big picture events as well as the smaller and more personal ones. After the opening issue of the Deathstroke miniseries, going back to it here where we see them inside the realm of the war zone and with Aquaman covering the area, getting our first look at the man that’s waging a large scale war definitely helps to show that he’s hardened, but still has some compassion about him. Though Deathstroke has his reasons for being in the sunken remains of Paris, and even after seeing what’s happened to Warlord, coming across not only Aquaman but Ocean Master is the worst of all outcomes. The anger that Aquaman has is palpable and that he’s in the state where no survivors is his mantra, it’s definitely a powerful piece.
Taking up about the same amount of space is the story involving London in New Themyscira as we see Steve Trevor trying to escape after an encounter with a group of Amazons. His spy work hasn’t exactly gone as planned, especially as Queen Diana is the one putting the lasso of truth to him, though it has a curious effect on him unlike others at first. This encounter is useful to highlight the resistance that’s going on to fight against her as he reveals that he’s there to find Lois Lane who has been passing on a lot of information to Cyborg for quite a few months. The sequence here is more to reveal that there is an active resistance going on and who all is involved. With Lane not appearing here at all, her reputation is preceding her in a number of ways and it certainly ups the expectations for when she does actually appear. It also cements Diana’s information about the resistance which just redoubles her efforts to crush it.
The most interesting part of the book involves where things left off before with Barry getting into the Batcave and trying to solicit help from Bruce. Barry is quick on the uptake, which is appreciated, as he gets that it’s not Bruce but Thomas and extrapolates what happened in Crime Alley all those years ago. It’s amusing to see Thomas beating the snot out of him, but the reason for pulling back feels a bit forced since it’s just Barry realizing that this is all real and not a dream. If anything, it’s easier to imagine that Thomas would just knock his block off even more. And it doesn’t get easier when Barry tries to show him a bit of who he is by whipping his costume out of the ring, only to see that it’s the Reverse Flash outfit. Of course, Thomas has the best line of the series so far as he asks how he stuffs it all in there.
It does feel right though when Thomas figures out what’s going on with Barry and understands that there may be a chance to “fix” things so that his son lived, which has haunted him all his life. It’s a sliver of hope to ease the guilt he felt all these years though he does give in to the idea pretty easily. With Barry down for the count with his powers, it leaves them in an even more amusing position as Barry comes off as a bit crazed in how he wants to recreate how he got his powers, and even more amusing that Thomas goes along with it. Barry does come across well here though when he talks to Thomas about the relationship he’s had with his son, but again, Barry’s been out of the mainstream comics universe for so long that it’s hard to really connect with it because of that.
Digital Notes:
This digital edition of the book from Comixology is the regular version that includes three covers. The first has Flash and Batman working to restore his powers while the second has Diana wielding a severed head with quite a look of disgust in her face. The third cover is the pencil rough version of the primary cover which looks great and detailed here. A world map of events is included at the back as well as five pages of costume design notes for the main characters. A deluxe version of the book is also available that includes the full issue in pencil and ink version.
In Summary:
Flashpoint has tickled my fancy from the start and I’ve enjoyed the couple of spinoff miniseries that I’ve sampled so far. This one ties to those nicely and sets up further events in them while progressing the larger storyline here as well. The majority of the time is spent with Barry and Thomas and that works well for the most part as it blends in some humor amongst all the serious moments. The dips into the larger setting issues with the war between Aquaman and Diana is handled well as we get a look at how ruthless both of them are in this world and how they’re commanding their territories after the state of the war. There’s plenty to like here and it offers up enough to make you want to come back for more. Whether it makes you want to dip into the spinoffs is another story, but they do work to expand things a fair bit in terms of the world setting and the characters. With both of those appealing aspects, it’s definitely enough to get me to check them out more.
Grade: B
