This issue calls to mind the Aesop fable of The Tortoise and the Hare as a newly powered Barry Allen faces the slow but sinister super-villain called the Turtle. Joshua Williamson continues his “Year One” arc that began in issue #69. Although Williamson’s narrative is heavily concerned with Barry’s origin as the Flash, it is far from the same old story. All of the major elements of a “Year One” epic are present, but Williamson crafts an engrossing, action-packed Flash adventure through the Speed Force. As the narrative unfolds Barry finds himself in an apocalyptic future version of his beloved Central City in which the speed sapping Turtle is running rough shod over the city. It wouldn’t be a proper time travel adventure if Barry didn’t run into his future self, which he does and the meeting proves instrumental in preparing current Barry for his life as The Flash. Beyond giving Barry a Speedster tutorial, future Barry he also helps his time displaced doppelganger return to the present day. All is well that ends well right? Wrong! Barry returns just in time to find the Central City Trust being robbed by The Turtle.
This issue kicks off with some fast paced Flash action as the Scarlet Speedster now makes pretty quick work of the sinister slowpoke, The Turtle. The next few pages call to mind an early Spider-Man story complete with plenty of thwarted thugs and cheering children. The youthful exuberance Barry exhibits as he makes Central City a safer place is intoxicating. You can’t help but get caught up in the exciting antics and heroic hijinks of a young Flash. Another thing Barry Allen seems to have in common with a young Peter Parker is his bad luck in the dating realm, Barry gets a date with Iris in spite of himself and things look up, but as is already the case for Barry, things change in a flash. Suffice to say the date doesn’t go as plan and we are introduced to one of The Flash’s most iconic rogues. I’m not going to spoil the reveal, but it doesn’t disappoint.
Joshua Williamson has been doing such a fantastic job on this book, but sadly it has not been given the attention it deserves, in my opinion. While The Flash is certainly an A list hero he is overshadowed by Batman, Superman and even Wonder Woman in the mainstream consciousness. Even with the success of the CW series the Flash comic book hasn’t garnered the readership a book this good deserves. Williamson is definitely a fan favorite as well as being critically acclaimed, so I’m not sure why the Flash is being outsold by books that are not as entertaining, exciting, well-written and just plain fun. Let me get down from my soapbox and get into the reasons why you should be reading Flash.
The “Year One” arc is shaping up to be on of the gems in Williamson’s stellar run. Among the other Year One narratives, notably Batman and Green Arrow, Williamson’s arc reaches the lofty precedent set by these brilliant works. The high energy level maintained by Williamson’s writing style fits so perfectly with this title overall, but perhaps nowhere is that more evident than this issue. The pace is not just fast its precise, measured allowing for emotional highs and lows. The big story beats hit with all the impact of Tyson in his prime, while the trademark Flash humor gives us just enough slack to allow the jokes to land. Williamson ranks among the best of the Flash scribes including Mark Waid and Geoff Johns because these guys all wrote a great Barry Allen. Yes they wrote extremely high octane Flash action, but it was the humanity as much as the Speed Force that make these guys the elite of the Flash writers. Another element that defines a great Flash story is the use of his legendary Rogues Gallery. Williamson does this with absolute aplomb, he writes each of these villains as a reflection of Barry, a sounding board that echoes the depths of what makes Barry the hero he is. In this arc Williamson uses The Turtle, arguably the exact antithesis of the Flash, to define the young, inexperienced Flash. He simplifies the character down to his core. What better nemesis to speed could there be than sloth or the lack of speed. In exactly the same way that apathy, not hate is the opposite of love, The Turtle’s draining affect on the Flash’s speed is the precise foil to his newly found powers. Later in Barry’s life as the Flash we know he encounters the other Forces beyond the Speed Force, but this is the first year of Barry’s life as a speedster.
Visually Howard Porter absolutely kills this issue. I have been a fan of Porter’s work since way back in his JLA days and since then I have eagerly grabbed any and every book he has worked on. There is a dynamic to Porter’s work that is extremely cinematic in appearance, however there is a beauty to his work that surpasses the cinematic. His genius use of panels runs the design gamut from the rigid structure of grids to the more organic and flowing splash pages to the explosive panel breaking images often used in his kinetic and precisely choreographed action sequences. Porter’s gorgeous pages are made all the more mind-blowing by Hi-Fi’s intense colors. Hi-Fi’s pallet is vivacious without being garish, there is something of the real world in the way even the most fantastic images are colored. This is one of the most expertly crafted comic books on the racks this week
Overall The Flash #72 is sequential art perfection, visual poetry and perhaps more than anything else it’s fun as hell. The synergy that exists between Howard Porter’s images and Joshua Williamson’s narrative is a viable force. There’s a chemistry that enhances the work beyond the page and that magic is present throughout Williamson’s Flash run. If you haven’t been reading The Flash, I suggest jumping on with the first issue of Williamson’s “Year One”. 5/5
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Writer- Joshua Williamson
Artist- Howard Porter
Colors-Hi-Fi
Letterer- Steve Wands
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