Saturday 8 January 2011

A DC 2010 Retrospective - Flash

Over the course of this year DC has gone from strength to strength. Without a doubt I know that if I had not been a fan back in January not a fan, I would be one by now.

Of note I have found a love for Green Arrow which has really grown on me and given a new perspective for me. It's become a great title and it was incredibly hard to not pick it for this!

But instead I felt the limelight needed to shine in a different direction.

The Flash is back and getting better by the issue, culminating in my favourite so far in The Reverse Flash Rebirth.

Starting out with Flash Rebirth - a cracking miniseries in itself - the Flash was reborn into the DCU. A fantastic start point (or place to go back to) for fans new and old alike. The art was smooth, the colours bright and bold and the actual comics themselves felt sleek yet full.

The Flash is now back on the scene was thrown headlong into a fight for justice. Not only in his work life, but the combination of his super life and personal one too, spanning four centuries and an initially confusing return of villains as futuristic cops!


There have been crossovers into Green Lantern including a slightly lacklustre possession by Parallax. We've also followed a Flash villain through Brightest Day, Captain Boomerang - a man who is struggling to understand his new place in the world since back from the dead.

Ultimately everything leads back to one fact. Barry Allen is the fastest man on the planet but he cannot outrun destiny.

Newton said that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and issue #8 of the Flash explains this beautifully. The who, the how and the why behind Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash.

Released by Captain Boomerang in the previous issue, Geoff Johns has taken the time to write a finely tuned story about possibly the strongest villain the Flash has ever faced. It may only be a single issue but it is so well done that I am now eagerly anticipating 2011. The story almost drips the seething hate and rage that drives Thawne - much more than any Red Lantern - and yet at the same time you feel the desperation behind the man.


It’s a short, sharp history of the man who would be and all the possibilities that made him. Inciteful, informative and delving this was the issue that brought the title back for me. It’s not a point to jump on as it's not part of anything, but it is worth seeing and reading.

You can see why Johns was 2010 Spike TV Scream award winner and I hope that his work continues to grow to uphold that accolade in next years work.

Matt Puddy is the fastest cyclist alive. Apparently!

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