Review: The Flash #776

Just when you thought this Flash run by Jeremy Adams could not get more delightful, he brings the 4th wall crashing down this issue and gives us a loopy, silly and incredibly well executed issue. Adams knows a secret that almost everyone else seemed to forget, any comic starting Wally West should always make us smile. No character in comics is like a friend to readers as much as Wally. That’s why when Dr Fate shows up, shows Wally the audience and asks me, the reader, to complete various actions to assist them, I absolutely buy into it and earnestly try to help.

The basic premise of the book is that Flash and Dr Fate need to journey to another dimension to garner help to defeat Eclipso. Eclipso does not appear directly here but the darkness he represents is a nice foil in this comic run given the incredible heroic lightness Wally and the creative team bring to every issue. Dr Fate very quickly directs his orders towards us and then proceeds to ask readers to perform a series of actions to alter the physics of the world around them and allow them to advance through a series of monsters and mazes.

The danger is that the reader simply rolls there eyes and zips though the book. But Adams has done such a great job of making us love the Flash again, that we are invested in helping him. This is a book that works best in physical format, but even with digital readers we get the larger idea, and incredible art that shines on every page. The art by Fernando Pasarin brings an incredibly detailed fantasy element to the book which adds to the outlandish tone of this book. This book also is the perfect example of how a great inker can elevate the visuals on any book. Matt Ryan shows us what comics should look like. Tone, expressiveness, action and story-telling are all aided by his work. So too do the colors by Jeremy Cox which are a candy coating of meticulously executed work. The colors become even more vital as three colored shapes become vital to the plot, making the reader go back and sift through the detailed backgrounds of the book.

This is a book that depends on a device which could have entirely fallen through. That Jeremy Adams and the art team are able to stick the landing here and trust our love for this character is strong enough to break the fourth wall successfully is a major achievement. Hopefully the skill, heart and detailed work they are doing is rewarded with a growing audience so we see more comics with this amount of love for the character going forward.

Writing: 5 of 5 stars
Art: 5 of 5 stars

Overall: 5 of 5 stars

Writer: Jeremy Adams
Pencils: Fernando Pasarin
Inks: Matt Ryan
Colors: Jeremy Cox
Publisher: DC Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.