CBI Archive
The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #2 Review
- by Brian Cronin
- in Comic Reviews
Saturday, July 19th, 2003 at 6:02 PM EST
Updated: Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at 10:11 PM EST
This comic is just a mess.
Artist Ken Lashley appears rushed, with this issue looking better than the even MORE rushed-looking #1, where #1 had a squadron of inkers, this issue only had two. Still, the art is not particularly good (although there are some nice panels here and there).
But the main problem is the story, if you wish to call it that, by writers Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo.
I do not know how much of this we can really lay at the feet of Bilson and DeMeo, as this reeks of editorial interference, but man, it is just so bad. First off, Bart Allen has exactly ONE character attribute nowadays - and that’s mopey. I do not mind heroes being mopey every once in a while, but here’s the key. Mopey is a situation where a character acts different from their normal personality because they are sad/depressed, whatever. The problem here is that the young 20s Bart Allen doesn’t HAVE a personality to begin with!
In the pages of Impulse, Bart Allen had a personality. But Geoff Johns did not like said personality, so he wiped it out when he had Bart get his knee shot. At that point, Bart decided to become super smart by reading every book he could find. However, none of the books had a section on “How to have a personality,” because his only character trait after that was “serious and knows stuff.”
So when you then AGE him to the point where he’s not much younger than Wally West? You just can’t go with mopey! Because if you go with mopey, that’s ALL we’re going to know about Bart, and that IS all we know about him. We just know that he’s this whiny dude who mopes around a lot and complains about his powers.
Who wants to read THAT?
Meanwhile, the cast the writers is adding is just painfully lame. Especially Bart’s roommate Griffen who, I think, will soon be a villain using the name (do I need to tell you?).
And the plot is barely existent. A lot of it is tied to the characters. The characters we have supposedly grown attached to in two issues (of course, because they are such weak characters, we have not, in fact, grown attached to them, so the plot doesn’t help).
The book is about the Flash, the fastest man alive. He wears a bright red suit. Dark, brooding stories CAN be told with him (Waid had a few during his run, like when Wally was being sued), but only if you first put the main superhero story in place, and play OFF it. When you START with this mopey, whiny stuff….man, then you better have a really interesting plot.
This book barely HAS a plot.
It is just not enjoyable to read.
I would recommend that you not read this comic.
Cool cover, though!
9 Comments
Filipe
July 24, 2006 at 1:28 am
This is one real awful book. It’s really a course about how not to launch a book. If this were issues #15 and #16 it would bew just very bad comics as #1 ans #2 thy don’t make any sense. If the book doesn’t improve soon I predict a very short Flash tenure for poor Bart.
Jason
July 24, 2006 at 11:38 am
Anybody else up for a “Best of Bart Allen” poll? I’d rate Mark Waid’s big-haired version at the top, followed by Peter David and Geoff Johns. At least Johns tried to evolve the character…I tried wading through Messer-Loebs and DeZago’s runs, and I just couldn’t do it. And “mopey Bart” sounds a helluva lot better than “bald Bart” or “self-replicating Bart.”
Rick Jones, really
July 24, 2006 at 4:26 pm
In the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the best thing to come out of the chaos was the new Flash comic book, starring Wally West. Mike Baron created a character who was unsure of himself and his place in the legacy of his hero. It was a fascinating read and it carried me along all those many years, through Messner-Loebs, into the greatness of Waid and the mediocrity of Johns.
Now, though, I’m through. I can’t stand that I sound like those obnoxious fanboys with too much time on their hands and not enough of a life, but this Flash just isn’t for me. The only thing bringing me back to issue 3, the title’s last shot, is the Wally West narration from the end of issue 2. We’ll see, but I’ve got the feeling that I’m out of here. Too bad. It used to be a great title.
Imitation Cheese Spread Prime
July 24, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Ack.
I think I’m a bit behind.
So Barry and Iris got married?
Kidding.
No, really. I had a bit of a hard time accepting Wally as the Flash.
But eventually I was okay with it because the stories were great. That could have made it easier to accept Bart. But I just can’t decipher issue 1 and now this one is just infinite monkeys typing and doodling.
I think I’ll wait until the infinite monkeys have some kind of infinite crisis of infinite continuity and reboot the whole thing ten years from now.
Kelson
July 24, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Dezago actually had a good handle on Bart, I thought. Messner-Loebs and Johns, not so much. Waid and David, of course, had him cold.
For this series, I’m reserving judgment until the opening story arc is done in #6. We’ll see.
Ken Raining
July 25, 2006 at 4:12 am
I still don’t understand why they felt the need to replace Wally West. He’s the one Modern Age replacement for a Silver Age character that really worked, and developed into a worthy character in his own right. Rather than replacing him, they should be celebrating him.
John Seavey
July 25, 2006 at 5:20 am
And to use the “Comic Book Dictionary” you guys created, the replacement of Wally with Bart is a real Cousin Larry move if I ever saw one. When Barry died, he died a real, spectacular, heroic, irreversible (Loophole aside) death, saving the planet Earth from total destruction and melting into a skeleton on-panel. Whether you liked it or not, they pinned their colors to the mast and said, “Barry Allen is dead! Wally West is the Flash!”
Wally…went, um, somewhere. With his wife and kids. For a while. He’s, um, taking some time off. Or something. Now, Bart Allen is the Flash!!! …unless the comic bombs. Then we bring back Wally.
Total Cousin Larry move–getting rid of a character in such a vague, ill-defined fashion that he could wander back in any time people get sick of his replacement.
FunkyGreenJerusalem
August 3, 2006 at 5:22 am
Jason Said “At least Johns tried to evolve the character…”
I’d disagree actually. Johns didn’t evolve the character at all, he just turned him into the Flash he wanted - a cross between Barry and Wally.
Impulse into Kid Flash was one of the worst bits of nostalgia writing I’ve ever seen.
It was supposed to be a “whoa” moment, but was just sad.
timeends
September 25, 2006 at 5:33 pm
I say, we stop buying the Flash comics. Make the sales drop in other word, boycott. Send some mails to DC so that they will bring Wally back.