Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
A powerless Flash travels to Australia to try make amends for an incident that happened early in Superman’s reign.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things I love about the alternate timeline books is that the creative side is a bit more free to do things. This franchise has certainly embraced that even while playing within the sandbox of what the games are doing. The downside to this kind of book is that it’s the only book and has to cover a lot of characters, which means the majority of interesting side stories get lost. Frankly, this book could go on for a hundred issues with some very fun side stories in the mix to give the main arcs some breathing room. Tom Taylor delivers just that with this installment while getting to work with Tom Derenick again to dig into a Barry Allen story after the events of the fight against the Regime.
The deal he made with Bruce is one that makes sense as Barry did show a change of heart, late as it was, and chose to do the right thing. That does mean something to Bruce which allowed Barry to live free but with an ankle monitor that lets Bruce know if Barry uses his abilities, which he’s forbidden to. That’s hard for a speedster to be sure but Barry understands what he’s done and is looking to make some amends to the world where he can all while knowing it can’t really fix anything in a way. But putting more right into the world is a good thing regardless. That has him down in Australia where we get a neat segment about the longest straight stretch in the world that highlights his struggle in a post-Flash world while also setting into motion an event where he has to use his abilities and get a talking-to about it.
What this book wants to focus on is something from the past where we had see an Australian kid named Mitchell who took on the name Galaxor stood up to Superman and Wonder Woman during one of the darker periods as he protected some protesters from them. It cost him significantly and in the time since he’s been a mess. It’s ideal for someone like Barry to come and try and help, to be a positive influence and force for someone who did something that few others did and that he should have done himself. Yes, it’s superficial and minimal in how we get from point A to point B but it covers the themes well and with all the backstory we have for Barry it definitely connects well, giving him a start on his redemption.
In Summary:
Injustice 2 hasn’t dabbled with too many of the side stories and that hasn’t been a problem as there are a lot of threads that Tom Taylor is weaving together for the larger narrative. This one definitely works nicely in a quick and concise kind of way while still having room to breathe so that it didn’t feel rushed or overly wordy. Tom Derenick’s artwork definitely works well here with the minimalist side of Australia that we get with the road and a kind of bright but simple look for Barry as he tries to find a new path forward. It’s a solid entry that gives a little more color and possibly some closure for the character that he might not have gotten otherwise.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 14th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
