Quite honestly, I wasn't really all that jazzed to read this issue of The Flash. A guest artist (even the incomparable Phil Winslade) was disappointing, Peek-A-Boo is one of the few characters from the Johns/Kolins run I don't much like and I was anxious to get on with the Professor Zoom story. As it turns out, this was one of the stronger issues of The Flash, being mostly a downtime/transition issue between the previous big story arc (Grodd) and the next (Zoom). There's plenty of development with Hunter Zylomon's crippling injury and how he reacts, not to mention a follow-up on Peek-A-Boo's story and some character stuff involving Linda, Wally and their pregnancy, and the artwork by Winslade is terrific, so that I enjoyed it even though I did miss Kolins.
Peek-A-Boo is sort of a weird character. Weird visual, weird powers, off-beat motivation and personality. However, her love for her father and frustration at being unable to save him is easy to grasp onto, and Johns does some great work with her and Wally, showing how Wally can't always be the all-knowing good guy. Winslade also does a terrific job on the explosive effects of her powers, making her seem volatile and potentially deadly even with the superspeed that the Flash possesses. It's possible, given that Peek-A-Boo has lost her motivation in many ways, that we may not see her again, but I'm no longer actively dreading another appearance by her in the book, in large part due to the work done on her in this issue.
While that story is certainly interesting, however, the story that gets the focus and most of my attention is the tale of Hunter Zylomon. The Rogue Profiler was an interesting addition to the cast, but I had no idea the direction in which Johns was eventually going to take him, even given the anagram clues in his name. Hunter's motivations, his fear and his anger, are easy to relate to as well, and though his harsh words to Wally and rash actions speak of someone not entirely in his right mind, they do have a sort of easy-to-follow twisted logic that might result from such a tragic injury. In addition, the pain that it causes Wally to be unable to help his friend makes for a nice counterpart to the similar pain that Peek-A-Boo feels in regard to her father.
Providing a little bit of an upside to this somewhat grim issue is a little more of a look into the pride and happiness that Wally is feeling in regards to his impending fatherhood. I can relate to this one myself, although thankfully I haven't had need to feel the same concern that Wally feels at one point during the issue. At any rate, the notion of a secret pregnancy, and the decision of when to tell friends and relatives, adds an element of optimism and promise of the future into a script that is essentially about final days of sorts for three people and dark, defeated days for another.
Winslade's artwork is a completely different look than the one that I've come to expect on the book, but that turns out to not necessarily be a bad thing. While he doesn't have the same expansive backgrounds and sense of movement that Kolins has, he does give the characters a muscular, lean and powerful look that reminds me of the work of Greg LaRocque from when I first started reading the book on a regular basis. His very expressive faces and moody style is also perfect for the darker, more intimate tone of the script.
