Flashpoint #1Wed, May 11th, 2011 at 6:26AM (PDT)
If you happen to read this before you read “Flash” #12, no worries. That issue doesn’t lead directly into this one as much as you would expect. Sure, it points the reader here, but if you happen to read this issue (or this review) first, nothing is going to be overly spoiled for you.
The first drops of the marketing and publishing flash flood that is “Flashpoint” hit the new comic racks this week. Everything before now was just a sprinkle. This first offering is a great deal of flash (little “F”) and not very much Flash (Barry, Wally, Jay, or Bart, your choice). Johns puts a few key players on the board and doesn’t do a great deal with them except have them posture at one another. Through that posturing, we are given the information that Cyborg is rallying troops to stave off a world-threatening battle between Aquaman and Wonder Woman.
Many of the characters themselves seem very similar to their “normal” counterparts. The Elseworlds vibe isn’t fully soaked in. Batman is dark and brooding, Cyborg is technologically advanced, Captain Cold and Pied Piper are at odds. Nothing is exceptionally gasp-worthy. That said, a lot of the “newer” characters seem less impressive. Nothing I see with the Outsider convinces me that he’s worthy of $2.99, let alone the full $8.97 his miniseries would run me. Much of the same can be said of the other characters presented: Citizen Cold, Abin Sur, or S!H!A!Z!A!M!
Andy Kubert and Sandra Hope do work well together, giving this book a look that is very reminiscent of Rags Morales’ work without aping Morales. Kubert’s style still shines through, but Hope’s ink work makes it seem slightly more realistic. Alex Sinclair’s colors fill the issue well, adding glitzy glow to Gotham City as well as helping cast each new character in a very specific light.
This issue shapes up to be an empty-calorie merchandising sandwich. The start of the issue is engaging and informative. Barry Allen is introduced to the reader and his history is set up. There are some surprises, but the flow gets interrupted just as it seems to start clicking. The end of the issue features a surprising revelation that leaves enough of an impact to pique my interest to come back for issue #2. The in-between, however, threatens to choke this story out with its exposition, character introduction, and tie-in push. It introduces a number of “new” or “re-imagined” characters and concepts, but none of them are deep enough or intriguing enough to stay in my brain much past this week, if they make it that long.
Yes, “Flashpoint” is set to have an historical amount of ancillary issues connected to it, but that doesn’t mean that the main story should suffer. That certainly seems to be the case right now. This series offers hope, but all the “main” action surrounding any characters anyone finds intrigue in appears set to happen elsewhere. As event comics go, this one seems a little more like “War of the Gods” than “Crisis on Infinite Earths” to me.
All the same, it was neat to see Cyborg getting some time in the spotlight, even if nothing really develops from it. It’s just a shame that an alternate reality had to be created for Cyborg to shine. Surely with the star power and talent they possess, Johns and Kubert could have found a way to craft an event around Cyborg and bring the character to prominence.
This is, however, the first issue of what will be, once complete, well over fifty (that is a low-end estimate) comics that tell the story of this new world. To judge the entire story on this initial step would be folly. To commit to the entire story based on what is given to us here would be insanity. I’m anticipating the second issue trends more towards what the beginning and end of this issue gave us. After all, as the father of three very active kids who is currently paying through the nose to gas up his car, there’s just no way I can stand a chance to buy all fifty issues to complete this story. Hopefully the five main issues with select (based largely on creator involvement) other issues will be enough to give me a complete story.
Flashpoint #2Wed, June 1st, 2011 at 7:12PM (PDT)
Putting aside all of the recent post-"Flashpoint" announcements for the DC Universe (and I know it's difficult to ignore that elephant in the corner), reading "Flashpoint" #2 has a large, fundamental problem at its core: it's hard to care about what happens here.
Geoff Johns tries his hardest to rev up the reader. Halfway through the issue, Barry Allen tells Batman, "This isn't a parallel Earth or a mirror world... this is home. It's real." He might as well have turned directly to the readers and addressed them with that line, trying to hammer home that this isn't just another "trapped in a different world" story.
But at the very heart of "Flashpoint" is the underlying fact that this is a story where time travel was responsible for the unraveling and remaking of the DC Universe. And of course, what can be altered through time travel can just as easily be altered again, body count be damned. In short, it doesn't particularly matter what happens in "Flashpoint" because—even before the news broke that the DC Universe is getting rebooted again—we all knew that the world of "Flashpoint" would not survive and that everything would be different. This is a universe where time travel caused some people to die early and others to still be alive; time travel will no doubt do the same to any characters that are killed in its pages.
Or to put it another way, by making the changes in "Flashpoint" so huge and sweeping (Half of the UK dead! France destroyed! Atlantis at war with the Amazons! Gorilla City taking over half of Africa!), Johns has destroyed any inkling that even pieces of this might survive. Compare it to Johns' first story about Wally West, "Wonderland" (included in the "Geoff Johns Flash Omnibus" just released) where Wally is plunged into an alternate world. But because the stakes are much smaller—only he is trapped there, not the entire universe of characters—there's tension, there's excitement, and overall it works much better than this.
So what do we get with "Flashpoint" #2? A surprising amount of talking, above all else. I appreciate that Johns is trying to sell this changed world, but at the same time it's remarkably light on action, or tension. There are a couple of nice surprises (what's waiting for Barry inside the Flash ring, or our brief glimpse into New Themyscira) but all in all it's a slow-moving, slightly leaden story.
The high point is Andy Kubert and Sandra Hope's art. Kubert's been reportedly working on this for a year now, and getting the additional time results in some gorgeous moments. Our glimpse of the ruins of Paris is fantastic, with the tilted, ruined Eiffel Tower having a great impact thanks to all of the detail in both its structure as well as the clouds and smoke surrounding it. Using the Eiffel Tower sounds like a visual cliché, but its iconic nature works well here because of Kubert's hard work. Even then, there are some pages which seem a little cluttered and messy, like Wonder Woman's attack on the spy in her country. He's definitely best at the big, beautiful moments; as the panels shrink in size, so does a lot of the impact from Kubert's contributions overall.
"Flashpoint" is going to end up being a curious footnote in DC Comics history. If it wasn't for September's reboot, I have a feeling that it would turn out to be a crossover that was largely forgotten like, say, "Genesis" or "Final Night." Now, it's going to serve as the end of an era. Sadly, it's heading more towards a whimper than a bang.
Flashpoint #3Wed, July 6th, 2011 at 7:52PM (PDT)
I referred to the first issue of "Flashpoint" as an "empty-calorie merchandising sandwich." That was roughly two months ago, prior to DC's announcement of the September reboot of their comic book line. Since then, fifty-two titles have been announced as part of the September launch and creators have been identified for all of them and over two dozen "Flashpoint" issues have been released. Some of the characters introduced in those "Flashpoint" stories have been revealed to have a role in life in the DC Universe following Flashpoint. A few more pop up in this issue.
This issue also features a joining of forces in the traditional comic book sense, as heroes start to realize their combined might may fare better against a common threat. Of course, those heroes have differing views of the "common threat," the method to defeat said threat, and the vision of the world after said threat is removed. Geoff Johns brings the trio – Flash, Batman, and Cyborg – together cleanly. They're a nice triple threat and, packaged together, bring a strong visual sample of the DC Universe. Johns selectively plays up the strengths of the characters, altering them for this new landscape, and to great effect.
I haven't been enthused about Barry Allen since his return, but in this issue, Johns makes the former patron saint of deceased comic book characters a character that I actually find myself interested in once again. Johns adds in an extremely grumpy Batman, and fortifies the cause Cyborg fights for. In doing so, we learn a bit more about both characters, but Cyborg finally gets a reasonable portion of the spotlight (as well as a headquarters in Detroit, appropriately enough) and this issue is better for it. Johns, through the words of Batman, offers rationale for more Cyborg adventures in the future: "There's not a brick wall or a firewall that can keep Cyborg out." I hope this gets revisited once "Flashpoint" winds down.
It's picking nits, but this issue could have used a better proofreading, as Flash asks a question or makes a statement on the following line, "What is it?." A little later in the story, Cyborg leads Batman and the Flash into a "multizlevel facility." These are sloppy mistakes that any word processing application can (and would) catch. For them to see print diminishes the quality of the book. DC has had a number of editorial snafus of late, and I sincerely hope they're just shaking the bugs out of the system. I'd hate to think their system is flawed.
Andy Kubert and Sandra Hope – with Alex Sinclair on colors – continue to bring a high level of energy to this book. The briskly paced pages are filled with detail and color and pack enough punch to hold the attention of any comic reader. Some of the pages seem to have too much detail – too many panels or too many characters in those panels – but for the most part that simply works as an economy of page count.
I tried to be a non-believer in the "Flashpoint" flash flood, but some of the creators drew me in to a handful of these stories. Much to my surprise, some of those stories have been unpredictably enjoyable. This book isn't unpredictably enjoyable, but it is also not torturous. The main "Flashpoint" tale is finding its legs and is starting to offer something worth coming back to, regardless of the surrounding titles.
Flashpoint #4Wed, August 3rd, 2011 at 7:39PM (PDT)
"Flashpoint" is in its final month (the conclusion goes on sale August 31), which means it's time for everything to start wrapping up. And with one issue to go? It's becoming increasingly clear that the altered world of "Flashpoint" is little more than window dressing.
Swap out the new and different characters that Barry Allen is finding himself alongside with any other Elseworlds comics characters, and I think you'll find that (barring an extreme choice of character) nothing in "Flashpoint" would change that much. You can boil the first four issues down to, "Barry finds himself in an altered timeline because the Reverse Flash has changed history. Allying himself with [two altered heroes], Barry finds himself at the battleground between [two other characters normally heroes] trying to return his world to normal."
That's not to say that the overall plot is a bad one—we'll get to that shortly—but rather that there's nothing up until this point that made the changes in timeline particularly important to the story. Almost all of these mini-series, with new inventions such as the Secret Seven, or Hal Jordan as a bomber pilot? They mean, as we suspected all along, absolutely nothing. Even Aquaman and Wonder Woman's war really has no significance aside from it being two former heroes fighting one another when the Flash and company show up. These new and altered characters feel like they've been thought up in a vacuum, because their connection to the core of "Flashpoint" itself simply doesn't exist; we could have just as easily had this story where each issue was set in a different old Elseworlds project.
So with all of that in mind, how is the story itself? It's perfectly acceptable, if nothing out of the ordinary. I like Johns' new Element Woman; it's a small and slightly one-dimensional character, but she's brand new and not even a major character, so that's actually all you need from her. And I'm enjoying the relationship (such as it is) between Thomas Wayne and Barry Allen. The two work well together, and it gets Barry to where he needs to be at the end of the issue, all set up for the final battle in four weeks. It's an utterly standard story, but accepting it as such makes it a good enough read, if perhaps not quite worthy of multiple tie-in mini-series and one-shots.
Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang provide, likewise, perfectly acceptable art. Once again, Element Girl shines (can we have her in the new Justice League, please?), and the glimpses of how the world should be are drawn nicely. Some of the smaller character portraits also work well; the image on the television of Hal Jordan, for example, makes him actually look more dashing and handsome than we normally get, and the Reverse Flash looks particularly menacing considering it's just a guy with a big yellow suit. The one part that doesn't work quite so well is when it's time for motion. The big fight splash between the Atlanteans and the Amazons looks horribly stiff and staged. In particular, Aquaman and Wonder Woman look like they're posed or perhaps frozen, not struggling to gain the upper hand.
"Flashpoint" will ultimately be remembered for serving as the prelude to the big relaunch next month. Because when the dust settles, this is a perfectly standard story that perhaps didn't need its own mini-series (save for what it's leading into). It's not bad, but it's nothing more than average.
Flashpoint #5Wed, August 31st, 2011 at 3:37PM (PDT)
Poor "Flashpoint."
At this point, I suspect most people aren't reading it to see the actual conclusion to Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert's mini-series event. No, they're picking it up to see how the DC Universe Re-Launch occurs. (The cover helpfully notes, "It all changes HERE!") But let's set that big moment that everyone's waiting for aside for a few minutes and give the rest of the issue some attention that it's almost certainly not receiving.
This is the issue where we get the final pieces of exposition. The explaining how and why "Flashpoint" occurred and what needs to be done to fix it. And in doing so, it also answers a question that perhaps wasn't articulated: with one exception, all of the changed characters in "Flashpoint" have nothing to do with the main storyline. The Atlantean vs. Amazon war? It's not only superfluous to "Flashpoint," it's barely even resolved. Most of the characters are either in the background, or get a one-or-two panel cameo. And with some of those cameos, like the character who lands on top of Enchantress at super-speed so that she splatters, I could have done without that moment.
Buried in the exploding bodies and sinking islands are two scenes about parents and their sons, and they are the emotional core of "Flashpoint." They're the pieces that I wish we'd seen a lot more of; forget half-seen concepts like the Shazam Kids or Grifter's Resistance, this is the interesting idea in "Flashpoint" that should have received a great deal of attention. Considering the two scenes bookend the shifting of the timeline, they could have felt repetitive, but they manage to not do so; it's where we get to see Johns' strength as a writer and it makes me wish this hadn't gotten lost in the overall shuffle of "Flashpoint's" five issues.
Kubert's pencils, likewise, are at their finest in those two scenes. The earlier portions of the comic set in England feel cluttered, gray and lacking in energy; I'm not entirely sure anyone could've made them work that well, but with those two scenes, it's a reminder why Kubert is a big name in the comics industry. From the moment Barry arrives on the front lawn until that fateful moment that he jumps back into the time stream, the images are carefully drawn and are full of visual emotional response. It's good stuff and I'm glad Kubert's best art for the series was on those pages.
The moment everyone's been waiting for, of course, is the rewriting of the timeline to the new DC Universe. It's supposedly a big deal, the focal moment of "Flashpoint." Unfortunately, it feels tacked on. The moment in question is a two-page spread, showing the DC Universe merging with Wildstorm and some of the Vertigo characters, with a mysterious woman explaining how everything needs to come back together to fight off some future summer crossover and tie-in extravaganza.
But if you skip those two pages? You'd never know they were gone. Tape them together and the comic flows just as well. Actually, it flows a little better. We jump directly from the moment the Flash fixes the timestream (and a final "Krraakkoomm" sound-effect) to Barry waking up with everything restored. There's also absolutely no mention of the timeline having changed to anything other than what Barry had left it.
I'm not saying that this addition was a last-minute addition to the script; I wasn't there, and this is something that only Johns, Kubert, Jim Lee, Dan DiDio, and Eddie Berganza probably only know for certain. But as a reader, it's the impression it left me with.
And so, "Flashpoint" comes to an end. Ultimately, that two-page spread aside, it feels like a Flash storyline on steroids, one that probably didn't deserve all the extra spin-offs and one-shots and even core mini-series. With lower expectations and reach, I think "Flashpoint" might have been a fun little group of issues in "The Flash." (A nice closing moment for Johns, too, considering that he began writing "The Flash" with his alternate-world story "Wonderland.") Alas, this story just doesn't hold up to the expectations placed on its shoulders.
The World of Flashpoint ushered into existence as the latest parallel earth located within the multiverse that signifies one of the vast 52 current universes. Who are the major players, super-heroes, super-villains, and aliens that comprise this world?
Abin Sur: The White Guardian - Abin Sur, once a Green Lantern is now the sole bearer of the White Lantern of Life whose new mission is to protect the World of Flashpoint from Alien menaces and the cosmic entities that would enslave of destroy this new world, including both internal and external
Bat-Man (Thomas Wayne) - Resurrected by persons unknown at the end of Flashpoint with clues to the possible rebirth of his son Bruce Wayne.
Britannia (Penelope Black) - The British powerhouse that may be related to Power Girl of Earth 01
Captain Marvel (Billy Batson) - Reborn with the aid of the White Entity and the Gods of Olympus, Captain Marvel is no longer a composite individual comprised of six children. Now as a contender in the world of Flashpoint, Captain Marvel has a colossal mission, and that is to keep the mythological characters of this earth in check.
Cyborg (Victor Stone) - Flashpoint's chief technological hero and America's greatest champion.
Doctor Fate (Richard Greyson) - Premeire archwizard of the Flashpoint universe, if he can master his new responsibilities before someone kills him.
The Flash (Barry Allen) - An altered personal history and a different rogue's gallery do to the machinations of the Reserve Flash and the anti-hero Captain Cold.
Oracle (Selena Kyle) - Information brooker to Thomas Wayne. A quadrapelgic that uses her computers to fight crime and keep Thomas Wayne informed about activies and histories in Gotham. She yearns to walk again.
Superman (Kal-El) - Deep psychological scars run through Kal-El's psyche. Can he live up to an image that was denied to him and still hide from his masters from Project: Superman?
Ideas
The Pantheon - Hercules, Sif, Achilles, Chimera, Fenris, Hela, Loki
Grifter, Voodo, Gen 13 and De-V-8s in one group.
The Doom Patrol - Those who have meet their doom and survived it.
- Proteus (Animal-Vegetable-Mineral man)
- Madame Rogue
- Prometheus
- Owlwoman (Wenonah Littlebird)
- Remnant
Lex Luthor and the Secret Six
- Blue Devil (Danial Cassidy)
- Fire (Beatriz da Costa)
- Hawkman (Ch'al Andar, Originally known as the golden Eagle of Earth 01) has been hiding from Thanagarian Justice for nearly five years. In exchange for protection and retaliation from Thanagar and Rann, he has agreed to supply Lex Corp. industries with Thanagarian and Nth Metal technologies. In turn, Ch'al has agreed to serve as his bodyguard, enforcer, and security executive.
- Looker (Emily Biggs) - An abyssian with strong telepathic abilities
- Katanna (Tatsu Yamashiro)
- Manhunter (Mark Shaw)
The Coven
The Immortal Man
Nightshade
Ragman
Traci 13
The Creeper
Joshua Morgan
Jennifer Morgan
Mariah Romanov (aka Thunderbolt)
Major Villains
Diana Princess, Wonder Woman
Aqua-Man and the Kingdom of Atlantis
The Warlord
Brother Blood
Brainiac 01
Sinestro and the Red Lanterns
Gorilla Grodd
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