Writer/Artist: Francis Manapul
Color Artist: Brian Buccellato
Publisher: DC Comics
“But the thing is...no matter how
fast or now far you run...you can't outrun...yourself?!”
-- The Flash (Barry Allen)
A funny thing happened on the way back
to Central City. I read the first of “The New 52” that I fully
enjoyed with no reservations. The reboot on Flash is simple and it
works. Writer and artist, Francis Manapul takes a broom and a
dustpan to over 50 years of ever-more complicated continuity and
sweeps it clean. Back in place is a younger Barry Allen, experienced
as Flash, but not experienced enough to have died repeatedly and been
replaced and resurrected repeatedly. Gone is the Batman-esque
tortured soul of the recent REBIRTHed Flash. Barry is a young
professional crime scene investigator on the laboratory side. He's a
big O.C.D. And self-deprecating but highly intelligent and confident.
And he is a hero simply because it
would be wrong to have his powers of super-speed and not be a hero.
He cares about people and he cares about what's right.
This was a refreshing comic and a
refreshing take on the relaunch without regressing our lead character
to the point of mental infancy nor did it incorporate the darkness
and bloody gore that permeates so much of the recent & new DC (so
far as I've seen). So, hold on to your hats as I recommend this one
for old-school and new-school readers out there.
What I discovered, to my surprise, is
that Manapul is able to visually tell a story and make it flow
smoothly and still incorporate some “Wow” moments with the
action. In fact, the 2-page spread that makes up the title page and
origin recap is one of my favorite images from all “The New 52”
that I've actually had the fortune (or misfortune) to read recently.
I enjoyed the dialogue and the way Manapul often integrates the
panels and word balloons to move the narrative along. It gives a
real sense of movement, which is always a trick for a comic book
about someone with super-speed: How do you take static
panel-to-panel storytelling and get a sense of movement and speed? I
thought Manapul paced everything just right to give us ebb and flow,
action and mystery, characterization and depth, and a strong
cliffhanger.
Glory be, the plot does not revolve
around Prof. Zoom or any of the familiar Rogues Gallery of The Flash,
but rather a genuine mystery surrounding an old college classmate of
Barry's. I love the Rogues and I love the Prof, but it felt nice to
be re-introduced to Barry and Iris without the plot albatross of
Zoom's (or other Rogues') evil machinations. It allowed me to just
focus on Barry and, to a lesser extent, Iris. For most of the last
10 years or so, the focus of FLASH comics have for ill or good been a
place where Flash himself is secondary (or even periphery) to the
story itself. This is fine, occasionally, to mix things up in a
long-running title, but when it becomes the norm to have the title
character essentially a guest-star or supporting character to his own
book...well, that's losing focus and the writer needs to get reined
in.
Ivan Reis's FLASH-tastic Variant Cover |
Visually, I found the art impeccable
and often stunning. Manapul's art is both finished out and enhanced
by Brian Buccellato's expressive coloring work. I recently came
across a quote from the late, but not forgotten, comic coloring
legend, Adrienne Roy. Roy said "Color leads the eye and
helps tell the story subconsciously...it should never distract from
the even flow of the total creation." Buccellato's work on
this comic exemplified her statement. I especially liked his
repeated use of a muted violet offsetting the strong red and yellow
of The Flash. You can see an example even on the cover. It helped
set a different tone for this comic from any other I had read from
DC.
One of the things that's so easily
overdone for the last few years of FLASH comics has been the coloring
effects that have laid in the electrical charge bolts flying off his
body. I understand that the intention has been to give a visual
sense of movement and excitement to the character even when he's
standing still. However, surely everyone else has caught on to how
overdone it had gotten by the end. Well, here, Buccellato works off
of Manapul's pencils to create slight variation on that visual that
works very well for me.
In the Silver Age, The Flash had his
Flash ring that when Barry pressed a button on the side, it would
open up and his cloth uniform would fly out in grand Infantino-esque
fashion to expand until large enough for Barry to change his clothes
at super-speed. In 2011 and forward, the ring utilized some sort of
higher tech to electrically fire the top of the ring outward where it
expands and attaches to his chest to form his Flash insignia and the
costume itself flies out of the chest piece in parts that form-fit
around his body. The seams where those parts connect are the areas
that we see electricity charge up when Barry takes off into
super-speed action.
I was very surprised by THE FLASH #1.
I did not like his characterization in the last, truncated FLASH
comic, nor did I care much for him in the FLASHPOINT mini-series. I
am also a bit saddened by the disappearance of Wally West/Kid Flash
from continuity because he was a character I always enjoyed from his
Kid Flash days through his 20 years or so as The Flash himself, but
if DC continues to take care of Barry like they did in this comic,
then the future looks quite decent for THE FLASH.
Look for this and other reviews tomorrow @AICN Comics! |
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