The Speed Force continues to impact the speedsters in various ways as blasts from the past resurface.
What They Say:
At last, the answer to the question that’s plagued DC fans for decades: Who’s faster, Superman or The Flash? Call your bookie and bet the farm, because you’ve never seen a run like this – and if speedsters keep dying at the pace they’re going, you might never see another one again!
The Review:
With Barry seemingly taking on the role of the death personified form of the Flash, there’s a concerted effort amongst those who know him and those who know of his legend to try and help him out. With some of the biggest and most creative minds among the heroes, there’s an attempt in the works that will essentially cause him to vibrate so fast and close to the temporal line so as to burn off the “dead” molecules that are crackling around him. Doing so should force out all the speed energy that’s causing him to take on this new role, but it’s also likely to drain him entirely of the speed force. But as Wally says to him, he’ll at least be alive and that’s the main thing. Barry being Barry though, he does his best to keep all those tied to the Speed Force away from him, but it just can’t seem to happen as they invariably come to see him.
It’s no surprise that any of them try to spend some time with him, such as Wally, Bart and Jay. That Barry is really surprised that Iris shows up feels kind of strange considering their relationship and the chance that this attept at curing him could leave him dead. She continues to be what grounds him to reality, but this return from death has him feeling even more aloof than ever before and more intent on trying to fix and save the world while he can. Flash: Rebirth has been interesting to read as it deals with the time of their courting as we’ve seen it in flashbacks over the first two issues and this one is no exception. There’s a cuteness to it all, especially as he gets his first red bowtie that has long defined his crime lab look.
The action component of the issue is decent as it deals with Barry realizing that he can’t deal with what’s happening and opts to try and return to the speed force in hopes of stabilizing things so that he doesn’t drain the other speedsters any further. His attempts at pushing them away didn’t work as they’ve kept coming to see him to help, so it fits into his mindset that he just wants to flee. The first part of it is rather fun as he races away and Superman slides up along him to try and convince him to knock it off and return with him. The banter between the two about past races is just right and helps to de-power Superman just a bit in the larger mythos in a way, which has always been needed after the way he became able to do just about anything in the 50’s and 60’s. His run turns really interesting as it starts to show how he’s going in reverse to get to the speed force and we see a lot of his life, but also the supposed twist about the who and why he’s being manipulated.
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 physican 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:
The Flash: Rebirth series continues to paint Barry Allen in a bad way as someone you try to hang out with and do things with for awhile but eventually just start to ignore because he never gets back to you. There’s a good deal of help being thrown his way this time around as people try to help him solve the problem he’s going through, but he’s resistant to them for the most part and then when things start to get rough, he bolts out on his own to rejoin the speed force to try and make things better. At the halfway point of the series, I like the overall idea of it but it continues to give me a character that I just can’t sympathize with. I can understand him, but the way he handles himself and deals with everyone else just pushes me further away from wanting to read about him. Having an interesting story with an uninteresting character definitely makes this series difficult to enjoy.
Grade: B-
