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FLASH: OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1
"Time On Target"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Angel Unzueta
Inks: Jose Marzan Jr.
Colors: Tom McCraw & Digital Chameleon
Letters: John Costanza
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Price: $2.95 US/$4.95 CAN |
The Flash is one of my favorite super-hero books from DC right now, so I was hoping that maybe this issue would overcome my general dislike of "Our Worlds At War" as the Batman: Our Worlds At War special did. However, while this does add some interesting
supporting characters and antagonists to Flash for future use, and it features
an intriguing bit between Flash and the Black Racer, it's tie-ins to the "Our
Worlds At War" story simply remind me how pointless that crossover has been for
the most part. There are some terrific moments here, and Unzueta's art is solid
if not as exceptional as Kolins's work on the main title, but it's nowhere near
as good as the main Flash title has been lately.
This issue features the reunion of Johns
and Unzueta, who were together for the beginning of Johns's run on the Flash.
The two of them work reasonably well together, and Unzueta's style, while
somewhat cartoony, makes great use of odd camera angles and close-ups to tell
the story. In particular, his shot of the bombers over Vietnam, parademons
flying over Keystone City and Flash running have energy and a feeling of power.
This guy's art was just made for super-hero comics.
One of the strongest elements of Johns's
run to this point has been a redefinition of Keystone and a rebuilding of
Flash's Rogues' Gallery, and both of those elements are in full view in this
issue. Using an old Green Lantern villain as a labor leader in Keystone
continues the trend of changing (and reforming, to some degree) villains that
has been a trend in Flash for a long time and reinforces the industrial, blue
collar feel of the city. And the introduction of Cyborg, while killing any last
hope I might have had for a Titans West mini or ongoing, makes for a good
"science guy" to support Wally, a nice addition to the supporting cast. His new
look and abilities, a throwback to his old style while still maintaining
continuity with his new powers, also gets a hearty thumbs-up from me.
There's a lot going on in this issue, and
most of it really doesn't feel all that connected. It seems plainly obvious that
Johns is using the opportunity to introduce these new characters into the
ongoing Flash tapestry, because the plot itself takes about four pages to
resolve, and isn't that interesting in the first place. Parademons invading
Keystone makes for a great visual, but given the lack of focus that the war has
had, it's hard to connect with this threat as anything more than generic, and
hard to view Wally's defeat of them as anything more than "another super-villain
down, ho-hum."
The more interesting conflict in the issue
is a race between Flash and Black Racer. It's a terrific idea, given that speed
is a power the two share, and Johns does a nice job with the Racer, balancing
his godly power and role with Flash's incredulity that the guy is anything more
than another rogue metahuman. But even this conflict is a mere few pages in
introduction and resolution. All in all, though the book is enjoyable, it does
feel a bit padded to fill out its extra length (and extra price.)
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