What Happened: This issue takes place sometime during Blackest Night before issue #5(which came out a few weeks ago)and after Flash: Rebirth #6(which hasn't come out yet)... Hmm... Anyway, this issue begins with Barry Allen making like Paul Revere warning the heroes of Earth that the Black Lanterns are coming. He warns them that the BL's feed off of emotions, so try not to get emotional when confronted by a BL... Easier said then done! Barry winds up running into Black Lantern Reverse Flash, who is dead even though he's currently menacing Barry in Flash: Rebirth, which hasn't concluded yet... Barry keeps his emotions in check and tosses BL Reverse Flash away, running to... Oh no... Gorilla City... Upon arriving in Gorilla City, Barry spots his old friend, Solovar, who is now a rampaging Black Lantern. The sight of BL Solovar throws Barry into a rage, and he attacks the dead monkey king in a frenzy. Ultimately Barry reins in his emotions and scatters BL Solovar across the Indian Ocean. From there Barry is contacted by Nekron(?)and he realizes that he has to get to Coast City immediately. Meanwhile, the dead Rogues of the Flash have all headed to Iron Heights prison. Upon learning his dead sister is one of the rampaging ghouls, Captain Cold decides to attack the dead Rogues with his band of Rogues, ending this issue.
What I Thought: Ugh, this was one of the worst Geoff Johns written comic books I've read in quite some time, if not ever! It basically had everything I hate about a Flash comic... I'm STILL not sold on Barry Allen, and the fact that he is running around bossing around the other members of the Flash family left a bad taste in my mouth. Barry's been dead for a mess of years, shouldn't he take a back seat to Wally, who has been a super-hero for a longer period of time then Barry? Uh-oh, I feel a rant coming on... Barry Allen became the Flash in 1956 and died in 1985. Simple arithmetic tells me he was the Flash for a grand total of 29 years. On the other hand, Wally West became the Flash in 1986 and is still the Flash today, in 2009, meaning he's been the Flash for 23 years, nearly as long as Barry. But wait, Wally debut in 1959 as Kid Flash, meaning that he was Kid Flash for 27 years before he took up the Flash mantle. That means that Wally has been a super-hero for a grand total of 50 years! That's nearly TWICE as long as Barry!!! Why the HELL is everybody in the Flash family looking to Barry for advice?!? Wally is a WAY more seasoned hero then Barry is! So yeah, Geoff hero worshiping of Barry Allen is really starting to get under my skin. Besides the fact that this issue was all Barry, all the time, we also had Barry visiting Gorilla City! Anybody who has read my blog for any length of time probably knows that I HATE DC's bizarre subculture of talking gorillas. Who the hell thought talking gorillas were a good idea? I mean, yeah, John Broome is a true comic book legend, but what was he thinking when he decided to create a race of telepathic gorillas!?! *Sigh* Well, this became less of a look at BN Flash #1, and more a post about what I think is wrong with the Flash family of comic books... Oh well, now that I've gotten all of that stuff off my chest I won't bother complaining about it again... Until Flash: Rebirth #6 comes out that is!
Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.
Barry Allen vs. a dead talking gorilla... My worst nightmare come to life...
I really liked this comic. Haha, will we ever agree on a book again?
ReplyDeleteWow, Hex liked it too... I must have been in a really bad mood when I gave this one a read!
ReplyDeleteI think I was bothered more by Barry Allen then by anything that actually happened in this comic(well Barry and the talking monkeys...). I'm just SO sick and tired of him already. Yes, Barry Allen is the Speed Force, he's the god of speedsters, he is better, faster, smarter and stronger than Wally... I get it already! How much do you want to bet that Geoff ends BN with Barry somehow defeating Nekron? I mean enough already!