Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Howard Porter
Colors: Hi-Fi
Letters: Steve Wands
Variant Covers: Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson, Mikel Janin
Flash (Barry Allen) created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino.
At the end of the last installment, Barry Allen scurried over to the Batcave only to find a bloodied and unconscious Batman, and the burned corpse of Eobard Thawne, aka the Reverse Flash. This issue of The Flash opens with another superhero joining the time-displaced Saturn Girl in knowing that something is terribly amiss with the DC Universe. An aged Johnny Thunder screams his magic word to the heavens, only to wait in vain for his faithful Thunderbolt. He clearly remembers the existence of the Justice Society of America. Not that it helps when a bunch of orderlies show up to drag him back to his room at the retirement home. Johnny is just the first sign of the returning pre-New 52 Universe. This issue then keeps tapping into fandom’s nostalgia for DC's past.
To begin with, Barry admits to the convalescing Batman about experiencing visions of the Helmet of Mercury. But Johnny’s returning memories would indicate that Barry is actually foretelling the return of his predecessor Jay Garrick. And if that’s not enough, Barry later shows up at a cavernous Justice League storage room filled with artifacts that should not exist in the New 52. What could the Flash want from this outlandish and never before seen collection? Oh right.
The Cosmic Treadmill is a familiar Flash plot device, but has been virtually absent since the New 52 era began. So its reappearance means that some weird sh#@ is about to go down. Barry plans to use the treadmill to trace Thawne back to wherever he came from. He’s joined by the still injured Batman, because no one really talks him out of an investigation even when his health is on the line. Where do they end up? A most impossible place.
Story: Joshua Williamson, Tom King
Art: Jason Fabok
Colors: Brad Anderson
Letters: Deron Bennett
Variant Covers: Tim Sale, Brennan Wagner
Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
According to Barry Allen, Flashpoint should not exist. Flashpoint isn’t an alternative reality, but a badly damaged DC Universe. Barry should know, since he was there when it was erased and then replaced by the New 52 timeline. Barry also sounds like every irate fan reading this comic. And that’s because he and Batman are somehow back at Flashpoint as if Barry never left. And they’re both facing this timeline's Batman, Thomas Wayne. Then they get to fight a bunch of Atlanteans and Amazons, because the issue needs some gratuitous violence to distract from dialogue that is basically a trio of superheroes arguing about their metafictional status. The big takeaway of their conversation is that only something immensely powerful could be messing with the DC Universe, since this mysterious entity can sustain an entire nonexistent timeline. At this point, I’ll be disappointed if no one less than Geoff Johns doesn’t show up at the end to explain his nefarious plan to control all reality by roofying Doctor Manhattan with the aid of Donald Trump.
Otherwise, this feels like an excuse to have Bruce Wayne meet his would-be father as an adult crimefighter. Batman has so far been pretty much a passenger on Barry's inter-dimensional chase. And it’s not as if Barry alone couldn’t have quickly mopped the floor with the bad guys while fixing his damaged treadmill. But at least fans get to witness just how awkward the imagined reunion would have been between these two emotionally stunted males who both like to cosplay as bats. The only weapon Thomas has left to fight the Atlantean and Amazon forces storming the gates is the gun that was used to kill his child. But fully-grown Bruce quickly swats it away. Did he forget just how severely injured he still is from fighting Thawne, or is Bruce just that much of a self-righteous prick? Still, Thomas gets the last word in when he tells his son that he doesn’t need to be Batman anymore.
Hey, the story arc is finally rushing to its conclusion. Where will the dynamic duo end up next? Will Bruce heed his father's sensible advice to raise a family? Maybe we'll finally get some real answers? Hah. Just kidding.
