Art: Howard Porter
Colors: Hi-Fi
Letters: Steve Wands
Cover: Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson
Flash (Barry Allen) created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino.
Jay Garrick created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert.
Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
The last instalments of “The Button” story arc felt like an exercise of running in place. Clues were teased and some moments were played out for their nostalgic value. But there was a dearth of actual revelations. The origins of the smiley face button are never discovered, and the powerful entity Reverse Flash refers to as “God” remains hidden. This last chapter doesn’t advance any of the main plot points. On the contrary, both Batman and Flash get to witness again the death of Eobard Thawne at the hands of his unseen God.
The comic’s primary attraction, as made clear from the cover, is in its teasing of a reunion with the original Flash Jay Garrick. As in the guy from the 1940s who used to live on Earth 2, not his New 52 counterpart. The character’s presence is of enormous symbolic importance. And his teammate Johnny Thunder has already put in an appearance. DC isn’t quite ready yet for the full restoration of the classic Golden Age milieu. So we only get a few pages of Barry and Jay interacting before the latter is pulled back into the chaotic timestream.
After four issues, Batman and Flash have little to show for their investigation. What they found out is pretty much what they already knew when DC Rebirth began. And they lost the button to Doctor Manhattan. Not that they know this yet, because DC is is still holding off on this revelation, even though this isn’t a surprise to anyone following their comics for the last several months. The reasons for the story’s lack of forward movement are revealed in its epilogue - essentially an advertisement for the upcoming event that will be the official coming out of the Watchmen characters, Doomsday Clock. And as if to show that things are finally getting serious, the panels revert back to the nine panel grid first used in Batman #21. Look out folks! It’s the battle of the Supermen.
