After reading the Deluxe Edition, I'm left wondering if it's just good in comparison to Civil War II. Of course, for someone like me who only waits to read the trades, it's hard to say if this was the right jumping on point. The title would certainly suggest so, but I was surprised to find how heavily it followed the Wally West version of the Flash. I don't know why I'd be surprised by that, it's not like he's completely absent from the cover art or anything.
It turns out that Wally West had been cast into something called the Speed Force by a villain named Abra Kadabra. The Speed Force apparently is like another dimension. Wally can see his old universe but is forgotten to have ever existed there and is trapped. He spends this book trying to break free, succeeding only briefly to engage with the other superheroes trying to kickstart their memories.
I would have thought that a reboot, or rebirth, would be more inviting to newbies than this. I'm not a newbie (I got the references to the events of Flashpoint, for instance) but far from avid chronological follower, and the amount of history alluded to in this book would definitely be confusing and off-putting for anyone just trying to break in.
I also don't give a flying fart about Wally West and I found him to be an odd character to pin the rebirth on. Maybe he's got a big fan following?
That all said, the one exciting twist (for comic book fans) is that Wally senses a larger and more manipulative presence than Abra Kadabra and it ends with teaser of Alan Moore's old Watchmen characters being folded in.
The art is passable, but lackluster except for the throwbacks to Watchmen.
No comments:
Post a Comment