The Flash Annual #1 - A Review

Left feeling more alone than ever in the wake of The Titans being dissolved by The Justice League, the original Wally West seeks companionship among his uncle Barry and cousin Wally. When that only serves to make things worse, since Wally is still reluctant to approach his Aunt Iris (who still doesn't remember him and is already coping with enough), Wally looks up his childhood friend and former girlfriend Frankie Kane to see if she still remembers him. The good news is she does exist and she still remembers him. The bad news is so does her evil super-villain persona Magenta!


I loved Geoff Johns' run on The Flash and I've recently starting reading through the classic Wolfman/Perez run Teen Titans. While I've yet to read the original Magenta stories, I find the character interesting and it's a real treat to see her restored to the DC Universe here, even ignoring Wally's need for friends now given his current predicament. Joshua Williamson puts a lot of heart into every story he writes and this one is a prime example of how he can tug o the heart-strings even while setting up a major crossover event.

The artwork is equally excellent. Both Howard Porter and Christian Duce are fine artists and you can barely tell when the story switches between their respective sections here. Hi-Fi also deserves praise for some fantastic, eye-catching color work.

The Final Analysis: 10 out of 10.  A great entry point for The Flash and a great opening for Flash War. 

The Flash #32 - A Review

Thanks to Wally West's positive influence, Barry Allen is starting to adjust to his new negatively-charged Speed Force powers. Unfortunately, there's little Wally can do to help Barry with settling in at his new job as Staff CSI at the maximum security prison Iron Heights under the ruthless Warden Wolfe...


Police brutality is a hot-button issue and tensions are heightened on both sides of the discussion. While it's uncertain just how deeply Joshua Williamson wished to tap into that zeitgeist, his reintroducing Warden Wolfe - who famously tortured his super-villain charges during Geoff Johns' run on The Flash - into the reality of DC Rebirth hints that a topical discussion will be forthcoming. Politics aside, Wolfe is also a great foil for a straight-arrow cop like Barry Allen and it will be interesting to see how the two interact in the future.


The artwork for this issue is fantastic, with Christian Duce adding a level of complexity that hasn't been seen in this series in sometime. Duce's more realistic style suits the darker tone of this issue well and Ivan Plascencia matches that aesthetic with deeper colors that further heighten Duce's inks.

The Final Analysis: 9 out of 10. If you haven't been reading The Flash, now is the time to start!

The Flash #29 - A Review

Still struggling with a newfound connection to the negative side of The Speed Force and destructive powers he can't control, The Flash is suffering mightily in the wake of his latest battle with The Reverse Flash. He will have little time to find his footing, however, as Shrapnel attacks Central City and his secret identity, CSI Barry Allen, is tasked with finding a crooked cop that is causing important evidence to go missing.


The Flash #29 proves an unintentionally excellent case study in how two different artists working on a single comic can prove detrimental to the work as a whole. Both Pop Mhan and Christian Duce are great artists and I've enjoyed their previous work immensely. Unfortunately, their styles don't mesh well together and the visual continuity of the book is virtually nonexistent.

Mhan's heavily detailed style doesn't suit the opening fight between The Flash and Shrapnel and most of the fine details are lost in too-small panels under heavy inks. Duce's work fares better, but suffers in that this issue is light on action after the Shrapnel fight. As a result, Duce never really gets a chance to show off, mostly illustrating the scenes of Barry discussing his case with his co-workers. The one constant to the artwork is Hi-Fi's colors look fantastic throughout.


While the artwork may be at war with itself, Joshua Williamson's scripts remain a bastion of harmony. The story steps away from exploring the ramifications of Barry's new powers, for the most part, focusing instead on Barry Allen playing detective. It is an odd thing, given his job, that so few Flash comics emphasize Barry's powers of deduction outside of a scientific environment and it is gratifying to see that element of Barry's talents come out when he is suddenly unable to use his powers reliably.

The Final Analysis: 7 out of 10. A great story with good art, which would have been better with only one artist working on this issue. 

Detective Comics #953 - A Review

Lady Shiva and her League of Shadows are laying waste to Gotham. With several of his operatives captured, Batman has most of his rookie recruits hiding out in The Belfry. Yet Cassandra Cain - the heroine now called Orphan - wishes to confront the mother she never knew and seek the answers to questions she can barely understand and remains unable to articulate.


I've never cared much for Cassandra Cain as a character but James Tynion IV's script has - if not made me a fan of the character - enabled me to understand the appeal from the eyes of other people. Cassandra's search for identity is a relatable situation, albeit it one born of unbelievable circumstances. I also like the development given to Clayface in this episode and the odd friendship developing between him and Cassandra. It's these moments that sell the story far better than the action scenes.

Mind you, the action scenes in this comic are good. And both art teams (whom I would credit directly, if I were certain who had handled which pages) do a wonderful job on every aspect of the story - from the quieter moments of conversation to the fight between Shiva and Cassandra, which is presented without backgrounds so as to emphasize the focus of both combatants. There is nothing else - only mother and daughter in conflict. It's a stunning visual and typical of the sights one sees in Detective Comics.

Detective Comics #952 - A Review

The League of Shadows is real! Led by the vicious Lady Shiva (who has also been revealed as Cassandra Cain's birth mother) , the group's ultimate goals are unknown. All that is known for sure is that they have caused Ra's Al Ghul hardship and that they have set their sights on Gotham and Batman!


Detective Comics #952 is a master-class study in how different artists and colorists can be used to enhance the mood of a story. The issue's opening flashback sequence - depicting a conversation between Shiva and Ra's - has an entirely different tone that the rest of the issue, which is more action-oriented. By having Fernando Blanco and John Rauch illustrate this opening sequence, it gives the story more power when we shift to the present-day, which is awesomely handled by Christian Duce and Alex Sinclair.

 The book's final three pages, which depict the aftermath of the battle between The Batman Family and The League of Shadows, sport a subtly different look thanks to the colors being handled by Allen Passalaqua.  The effect is indescribable beyond my simply saying that effect is breath-taking and that James Tyinon IV (easily the strongest voice among the Bat-Family writers at this time) is fortunate to have such fine artists bringing his wonderful words to life.

Detective Comics #951 - A Review

Someone has killed Gotham City's mayor and framed Batman for the crime. There's any number of villains who could be responsible but Jacob Kane - currently a prisoner in Batman's Belfry base - says this is the work of The League of Shadows. Of course Batman doesn't believe The League of Shadows exists... but Batman has been wrong before!


Detective Comics #951 marks the first issue by artist Christian Duce and colorist Alex Sinclair. Their first outing is a strong one, with Duce's style being both intricately detailed yet uncluttered by heavy lines or inks. Sinclair avoids the dark hues that dominate most Batman books, giving this issue a distinctive and gripping look.


Despite the story building upon the previous arcs, the script by James Tynion IV remains accessible to new readers. It will mean more if the reader read last issue's prologue story but it isn't strictly required. It's a simple touch like this that makes this the strongest of the various Batman books.