A comiXologist recommends…
THE FLASH #21
Flash #21 continues right where Batman #21 ended, but this time it’s from The Flash’s perspective. I can’t say enough positive things about this storyline so far. It has so many of the great things from Rebirth—levity, legacy devices, callbacks to storylines long past—along with the freshness and edge that came from the New 52 relaunch.
Where Batman #21 was heavily saturated in intense action and mystery, this issue takes us on a fun CSI sci-fi journey featuring the incomparable cosmic treadmill! Yes, that’s right – one of my favorite old-school DC plot devices makes its triumphant return in this issue. With Batman and The Flash stumped about what happened to the Reverse Flash, Barry and Bruce have no choice but to use the time travel treadmill to follow Thawne’s path through time and the multiverse to see what he saw and find out what killed him. To deepen the mystery, it seems like the prime suspect might wind up being the Flash himself (or a version of him—either alternate dimension or future).
There were a lot of really fun elements in this story as well. For one, seeing Alfred and Barry hang out while Bruce rests is a sight not often seen (not by me at least). It was also interesting to see Batman hang on to the cosmic treadmill using a bat-line while the Flash ran through time and the multiverse.
That isn’t to say that this book is all fun and frivolity. There are some heavy elements and substantial reflections in this book as well. Flashbacks (no pun intended– this is serious) to Barry’s death in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Cameo by Johnny Thunder and a callout to the loss of the DCU JSA. A particularly illustrative simile comparing steering the cosmic treadmill to trying to catch a single, specific snowflake in a snowstorm. The creators of this storyline and the team over at DC are doing an amazing job of managing ‘The Button’ so far. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Jonah Chuang is a Technical Account Manager at comiXology. Some gal in Surrey sent him flowers today and he loves them.