Flashpoint #1 Review

This week marks the beginning of DC's Flashpoint event. Written by Geoff Johns and featuring art from Andy Kubert, this is a book that looks to do for the Flash what the Sinestro Corps War did for Green Lantern. And considering how crazy good and event the Sinestro Corps War was, this book has a lot to live up to.

Right off the bat, we're hurled into the situation with Barry Allen waking up to find that his world has been rocked. He's no longer got his powers, he's no longer married to Iris West, and oh yeah, Superman and the Justice League no longer exists. This is a world where Europe has been ravaged by a war between Atlantis and Themyscira. Aquaman and Wonder Woman are tyrants. Batman is a murderer. Captain Cold is Citizen Cold, hero of Central. This is not the world Barry knows. And it is this world and it's introduction in this issue that will have me coming back for Flashpoint #2.

This is a great issue because it does a great job of introducing us to this broken world. And this is a world I want to know about, because it's pretty exciting. Take the Batman of this world, for example, who for the most part is the focus character in this issue. In many ways he's the same dark, brooding protector of Gotham that we know and love. But then he tosses a criminal he's trying to interrogate off of a building after she refuses to tell him what he wants to know. He's a very darker, angrier Batman. I think the most intriguing thing about him is his identity; that is something you'll have to find out for yourself, but it's the thing that's got me the most excited about this version of the character.

It doesn't hurt that this issue Andy Kubert's art, either. It makes this issue look mighty fine. One moment in particular, the scene where Barry realizes that he's no longer the Flash, was particularly nice. The sequence of Barry falling down the steps was a great play on the usual Flash panels where you see him doing cool stuff while running. There's also the two page splash where Cyborg introduces the team he wants to assemble to battle Aquaman and Wonder Woman. It's a great ensemble of the characters in this book and while it isn't especially exciting, it is really good looking.

Still, I'm not completely sold on this series yet. We've been introduced to this awesome little world, but now we need to have something happen in that world. Barry Allen has a challenge to overcome and hopefully that ends up. But what worries me is that the lead up to this point, the Flashpoint Prelude from the main Flash book, was boring and drawn out much too long. It could have easily been told in one or two issues less than it was. That's the kind of drawn out, decompressed story telling that can kill an event outright. And Johns suffered that kind of problem with Blackest Night. Still, with only five issues to fill up I'm a little optimistic that this can work. Give Flashpoint #1 a shot; you won't regret it.

The Verdict: READ IT.

The Weekly Round-Up: 09/22/10

Alrighty folks, if there's one thing I've learned from my summer of useless blogging, it's this; I like doing multiple review in one post. Let's face it; I don't review much outside of the stuff I'm already reading. I may occasionally pick up something new, but that only happens every once in a blue moon. Meanwhile I want to talk about what I'm reading and what I'm reading is stuff I've talked about at length multiple times. And since (a) piracy is wrong and (b) I'm not getting any review copies, it seems I'm just stuck writing about the same things over and over. Now then, ONTO THE WANK!

So first up this week is the book that should be the main Justice League book, Justice League: Generation Lost. First off, let's talk about that cover. Goddamn is that a sexy cover. If I ever saw that cover at a bar, I'd buy it a drink and then I'd try to hit on it, only to fail and end up back at home in a puddle of shame. That's how sexy this cover is. If I have one gripe with this cover it's that it's more misleading than the first Bleach Opening-a-majig. Batman appears in this long enough to give us a hint at just how powerful Max's trick is working. It's actually one of the cooler parts of the issue.

As far as the rest of the story in this issue goes: pretty standard. We get the team figuring out what they're going to do next (hunt down all of Max's little bases to see what they can find) and we see what Max is up to (tricking Magog into working for him). Still, there are three really cool moments in this issue: a nice moment between Fire and Ice, the already mentioned scene with Batman, where he and Power Girl show us just how powerful Max's world wide mindfudgery can be, and the final page, which has the appearance of an awesome group of characters that I'm not spoiling for you. Honestly, if you aren't reading this book right now, then you should be, because it's freaking awesome.

Meanwhile, back in Marvel Land, Jonathan Hickman is tearing it up on the Fantastic Four. And this time, he's got STEVE EPTING on art duty, as we start up "Three" which promises to kill one of the FF. Now before I get to what I liked, I do have to say that I'm disappointed in Hickman for doing the whole "Someone dies" story: not only is this a tired cliché, but it's the hook to a story that Mark Millar did on his run on FF, which was the run before this. Still, that being said, this isn't bad for a tired cliché story that the previous writer already covered. We've got a great little scene between Valeria and Doctor Doom, we've got the FF doing their fantastical thing and fighting against fantastical baddies, and we've got hints of something happening involving Doom, Reed, and third guy that I have yet to recognize hooked up to some weird machine. It's all over the place, yet I had no time following what was happening save that part with the weird machine. And much like Justice League, this issue closes with an "OH S#!%" moment, which got me really excited for what's next.

Art wise, Steve Epting is off to a nice start, with the high point being that last page. His art is definitely a big factor in the crazy awesomeness of the last page and his art is just all around good. I look forward to next issue, which will have Ben Grimm de-Thinging, which promises to be heartwarming. (I can't even tell if I'm being sarcastic here)

And while I didn't bother to scan their covers, the Ultimate Universe got it's monthly dose of Bendis with the release of both "Ultimate Mystery #3" and "Ultimate (Comics) Spider-Man #14". Ultimate Mystery continues to be a pretty great Spider-Woman and Fantastic Four tale. We get to see the new Ultimate FF smack down the Ultimate Nova, while Jessica continues her infiltration of Roxxon. We also finally get to meet the guy behind the attacks from Ultimate Enemy, and if it is who I think it is, then holy crap Bendis really pulled one over on me. Still, I can't advise anyone to buy this in issues, because this is just gonna read better in trade. But definitely pick it up in trade, because this is pretty awesome.

Meanwhile, Ultimate Spider-man ends "Tainted Love" and what an ending it is. The (boy)Chameleon faces off against Johnny Storm and Iceman in a fight that does nothing but satisfy. The Creepy Chameleon sibs end up getting their comeuppance, which involves one of the coolest displays of the human torch powers that I've ever seen. Still, the status quo of the Ultimate Spider-man story is once again shaken and it looks like Pete's gonna be single again. Oh, and did I mention that David Lafuente is a beast, because he is.

Finally we've got The Flash #5, which may or may not feature a typo: the chapter title reads "Dastardly Death of the Rogues Part Four", though I do believe this story started in issue #1, which would make this part 5. Again, it may not be, but I'm too lazy to look this type of thing up.

The issue itself is pretty good, with The Rogues and the Renegades facing off over who gets the Flash. There are some really cool Rogues moments here, like Mirror Master escaping an attack from the Flash by hiding in the little wings on his cowl and the reveal of what is hidden in Scudders giant "Break In Case of Flash" mirror. There's also twist I actually did not see coming and it's a big one. And for those of you who either listen to Tom vs. the Flash or are familiar with silver age Flash, there's a reference to the fact that time cops are always dicks who only care about their era.

Much like Lafuente, Francis Manapul is owning the art in this book. While we don't get any huge awesome Flash sequences where we get to see the Flash doing his thing, we do get a full page spread of the Rogues and Renegades fighting, there's the sequence with the Flash getting trapped in Scudder's big trap, and an awesome page where we get to see the Weather Wizard show off his weather wizardry! This may not be the best book DC is putting out at the moment, but it certainly is the best looking book they're putting out right now. (Joe the Barbarian is a very close second!)

Tomorrow (maybe!): I take a look at Thor #615 as I do a THORSDAY REVIEW OF THOR-Y GOODNESS of the first issue of Matt Fraction's run on the book! And (maybe!) then I'll talk about Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet, by two of my favorite Brians: Brian Clevinger and Brian Churilla!

Night and Day: Action Comics #890 and The Flash #3

Alrighty folks, time for a two-fer review on this fine Saturday night. Since they both feature something I want to talk about in length after and they both allowed be to use a cliched title, I'm going to review both Action Comics #890 and The Flash #3!

We get things started with Action Comics, which I immediately want to note the distinct banner on the cover. This isn't a Brightest Day book, no this is a Blackest Night Aftermath book, which is what I thought Brightest Day was, but I guess not.

This is a book I've been excited for because this is the time when Action Comics begins following the adventures of Lex Luthor and his quest to regain the powers he had come into during Blackest Night. Yes, he's looking for the power rings, but not the ones you might think he'd be looking for the Black Lantern rings. Why he would want them, I don't know, but he's doing everything in his power to find them. On a disturbing note, Lex has what appears to be a Lois Lane android, which is just plain creepy, though I'd also gamble that it's a sexbot, which is awesome. The issue ends with a twist I did not see coming and boy am I excited to see what's coming next.

Meanwhile, back under the Brightest Day banner, we've got the Flash #3. This new Flash title is something that I'm finding myself fall in love with more and more each issue, if only because Francis Manapul is a beast. His departure from Adventure comics was the first factor to bring me down the path of dropping that title and his name showing up in the solicits for this title was one of the factors that had me itching to pick this book up.

This issue starts us up with Captain Boomerang discovering that he's got a new ability tied into his black lantern revival, before we go back to where the last issue left off. Barry's DNA is showing up on the forensics tests and Forrest thinks Barry has become sloppy, taking the opportunity to chastise him. From here we see Barry and Iris meeting for coffee, which is quickly interrupted by the Renegades, who give chase to Barry.

This leads to a few really cool sequences with Barry using his speed to save Iris and put on his costume. Good to see Manapul and Johns doing this awesome stuff here, though we don't get any sequences as awesome as the Flash dismantling the car and putting the building together that we got in the first two issues; those were awesome. We close the issue with Captain Boomerang showing up to show off his new powers and I'm excited for the next issue.

Overall, both of these are good single issues, but I find both have a common element that I'm feeling conflicted about; the black lantern rings aren't as gone as we think. In Action Comics we have Lex searching for the rings and building a map that may just lead him to finding what he needs to get one for himself. In Flash, we've for Captain Boomerangs new power. So it seems we're not quite done with the Blackest Night stuff just yet and I'm torn on how I feel about this. On the one hand, I was done with Blackest Night 3/4 of the way through the event itself. It was one event book that I'm just glad to be done with. On the other, DC's books have been doing some interesting things with all this. We've got Captain Boomerang's powers, Max Lord seems to be effected with it, and even Firestorm and Aquaman are having side effects of being Black Lanterns who got revived.

Honestly, as long as DC doesn't drag this out too long (though we've got about another 10 months of this so I won't hold my breath), I'll be cool with all this. As things stand right now, I'm intrigued.