Monday, December 7, 2009

Blackest Night: Flash #1

There is so much exposition pounded into each of these Blackest Night tie-ins, it can be hard to take. When the exposition deals with all sorts of Barry Allen back-story with which I have no familiarity? Then it's even worse. I have no idea if Barry Allen and Solovar were great friends, but based on my limited knowledge, it seemed like a stretch that Barry would be so upset seeing the zombie ape. I would have liked a bit more Wally West too. Seeing Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins work together again just makes me miss their work on "my" Flash.

I really like the idea that the Rogues are setting out to stop the Black Lanterns on their own, not waiting for the creatures to come to them. The ominous appearance of the dead Mirror Master was well played, hinting that the Rogues may be falling into a trap. I am confused at what the Rogues can accomplish since the Black Lanterns are so powerful. Overall this issue had a lot of confrontations and quick encounters, but I'm missing so much history (from both Flash Rebirth and even further back) that a lot of it had no resonance with me. When did Professor Zoom come back? What is that cave painting symbolizing? Why is Barry Allen's best friend a gorilla? I haven't felt this lost in the mainstream DCU in quite some time!

Scott Kolins draws a great Flash. His clean, classic style fits right back where it belongs in the Flash universe. I'm pleased he'll be handling the Wally West stuff in the new ongoing.

Fair

2 comments:

Jeff said...

I can't stand exposition, but I figured you'd like it a little bit better when you're NOT familiar with the story. I didn't mind it here nearly as much as I did on say, Booster Gold, whose story I already know well.

Martin Gray said...

Yeah, Solovar and Barry were good mates but it's a shame there were no corpses with even closer links. Now, if Iris had stopped dead . . .