Quick Review: The Flash Rebirth

I read a LOT of comics.

In this new series of posts I’ll be providing quick and simple reviews of a few of the comics I’ve been reading.

The Flash: Rebirth

Geoff Johns, the newly appointed member of the DC Comics triumvirate, is widely regarded as a writer that you either love or hate. Creatively, that has to be a good place to be in as it brings lots of recognition to whatever you are doing. However, it makes it hard to win over readers who may see your name on a project and decide then and there that they are against it. After reviving Hawkman and Green Lantern, Johns has also had his influence felt on Superman and the Legion of Superheroes.

In addition his many modern-day laurels, he is also known as one of the best writers to work on the Flash series, along side fan favorite Mark Waid. When DC Editorial decided to bring back the second Flash from the Silver Age, Barry Allen, Johns was a sure bet for writer. Entitled Flash: Rebirth, many fans readied themselves for a similar treatment to what was dished out for Hal Jordan during his awkward revival. However, while Jordan was a character who had suffered the slings and arrows of many different creative teams turning him from hotshot test pilot to grey-templed embittered hero to blood-thirsty and even the wraith of God itself… Barry Allen’s problems were far less complicated.

Barry isn’t convoluted… he’s just dull. I say that as a fan of the Barry Allen Flash, but it’s true. Over the years, fans of the Flash monthly title have had a lot to deal with. From the death of Barry Allen and ascension of Wally West to the role of his mentor. After several years as the Flash, Wally was eventually removed to make way for a younger Flash… who was killed after a year… then brought back. The short story here is that if you are a fan of the Flash you are used to be messed with.

I became a monthly Flash reader during Geoff Johns’ amazing run back in the day and was wowed by his enthusiasm for the character and the energy of artist Scott Kolins. The big pull for me as a reader was the fleshing out of the Flash’s rogue’s gallery. The scarlet speedster is regarded as having the best villains in comics alongside Spider-Man and Batman. The Johns run saw that advantage and beefed those characters up while using Wally West’s own abilities as a key to his appeal rather than attempting to add depth to him (aside from a brief experiment). I really enjoy the Geoff Johns issues of the Flash and lend them to friends as a tool to show how cool the character can be. With news of a new Geoff Johns Flash comic on its way, I was very pleased.

The Flash:Rebirth series is an attempt to get the character back on track, if you will. Currently there are 6 speedsters in the DC Universe (Barry, Wally, Kid Flash, Jay Garrick the original Flash, the new Impulse Iris West, and Liberty Belle), making the return of Barry Allen seem a bit like overkill. Johns claimed that while Barry’s profession as a police scientist wasn’t interesting when he was initially introduced, it would play a stronger role in the new series. Thanks to the current interest in TV programs such as CSI, police science is much more valid, he figured. This is a great idea, but also seems a little desperate as a focal point for why Barry will be ‘cool.’

The concept of a grounding element seems to be vital to Flash: Rebirth, especially the revelation that while Barry Allen has his wife Iris as a ground, the Reverse Flash has nothing. It’s a strange concept and as a reader it never really works for me. It seems to be far too ‘poetic’ in that the Flash’s origin is tied to lightning, therefore the science of lightning is presumably also vital. The idea that the Reverse Flash has re-arranged Barry Allen’s past is also a bit ropey and threw off a number of die-hard fans as they thought Johns was making Barry’s past more ‘gritty.’ I think that it works fine but it didn’t exactly wrap up neatly in the series. I was left unclear if Barry Allen’s new altered past was the new status quot or if it was the first plot thread of the new series.

The Flash: Rebirth mini-series attempts to breath some life into Barry Allen through use of the Speed Force, an invention of Flash-scribe Mark Waid and an old villain the original Reverse Flash, arguably the most important of the Flash’s rogue’s gallery… but it never really comes together. I quite like Geoff Johns and am a big fan of Ethan Van Sciver, but neither seems to be on their ‘a game’ with this story. Numerous delays in the release of Flash: Rebirth greatly impacted the enjoyment of the series and a second Flash mini-series connected to Blackest Night didn’t exactly help as it was unclear where it fit in to Rebirth. With both series coming out around the same time I found myself confused as to where I had left off in what comic.

I am glad that Barry Allen is back, but he seems very awkward and superfluous in a universe where so many characters have the same ability as him. I’m also still unclear on what is going to happen to Wally West now that Barry is back.

I’ll hold back my complete verdict until the new Flash series debuts but so far, I’m not sold on the Flash being a ‘must-read’ series. Johns is a fantastic writer but Flash: Rebirth may be a sign that he has spread himself too think with other projects to deliver the caliber of work that he is known for.