The Flash: Rebirth

The Flash: Rebirth #1 by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver
Publisher: DC
Format: single issue

Here it is, the red hot team from Green Lantern: Rebirth, one of the hugest stories of this decade… that I never read. I couldn’t really care much about GL, but I’ll always have a soft spot for the Flash, a character who’s monthly I collected vigorously (it’s one of the largest collections I own) though in retrospect I don’t remember flat out loving the stories. For some reason, Flash seemed kinda realistic for me, a little more so than Batman. This mother fucker could run really fast, and I knew people who were fast, so it seemed like a logical progression. Plus, red and yellow are great colours.

So, as you may have figured out by my age of 24, I’m a Wally West man. I’ve only known Wally and only care to know Wally. People who feel this way will probably not enjoy this comic. Reading Barry Allen’s demise in “Crisis On Infinite Earths” was breathtaking and really made him a legend in my eyes. Bringing him back, however, just makes him yet another superhero not worth getting invested in. He can beat death, so what can’t he beat? For a character who’s main point is that he can away from things or get to something quickly, you need to have that fear instilled. The Flash HAS to be a guy who could logically be taken down.

So unless they kill off Barry by the end of this series, I can’t see myself getting into it. The murder mystery at the beginning was wonderfully done, but the rest really didn’t move. It’s like awkwardly watching some uncle you never knew was still around come into your life and tell you that he was and still might be a big deal as the uncle whom you’ve grown up with is forced to take a back seat. Or something.

But holy shit, while I can’t get into the guy in the suit, I love the words being spoken. Geoff Johns is (as we all know) one of the greatest writers of comics and what he’s been doing with DC deserves multiple medals. He’s made so many titles readable. And Ethan Van Sciver has really improved since I last saw his work. I can see why he’s so hyped.

There you have it: capable people working with a guy I just never knew enough about to love. I’ll stick with this for awhile out of curiosity’s sake, but all in all I can’t give a great reason why you should buy this.

GRADE: C+