FLASH #5 THROUGH #8

[ DEATH TO SPEED ] 

I'm afraid to say that over the last two months Tyson V Jones hasn't been able to review any episodes of the Flash. But fear not, speed freaks, while he's away, I thought it might be a good idea if I could review them myself. So stand back, take a deep breath, and get ready for my quick round up of the Flash, issues 5 through 8, created for us by Joshua Williamson, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Neil Googe, and published by DC Comics. It's October, 2016, and I hope Tyson gets backs soon.

TO QUOTE Woody Allen: 'I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens'.

THE REVIEW:

I will now try my best to give you a basic review on each issue of the Flash, issues 5 through 8, without boring you too much on the little details.

Now, as its title suggests, issue 5 centers around Barry Allen's day off, or to be more specific about it, what the other speedsters get up to while he's away. Generally speaking, I found that a large portion of this tale was focused on Doctor Meena Dhawan teaching Wally West how to use his speed (Good job), doing so while Barry leisurely catches up with Wally's Aunt, Iris West, as well as his partner, August Heart.

Unfortunately, by the end of the issue Meena turns up dead, very dead, and this leaves Barry feeling guilty that he wasn't around to save her. To prove this point, come issue 6, Barry does his damnedest to track down her killer, the villain called Godspeed, whilst trying to figure out why he's mysteriously slaughtering his fellow speedsters.

Another interesting aspect that surrounds issue 6 is the fact that two major revelations are finally made. The first one is kind of a side step, conceptually, as it's a quick little sequence that basically tells Barry that Wally has speed force powers (Shocking? Not to the rest of us, eh?). The second revelation, however, is much more pertinent to this Godspeed story-line, mainly because it explains who Godspeed is and why he's doing what he's doing.

And what is that exactly? Well, we find out these details with some more depth in issues 7 and 8, with both installments recounting Godspeeds origins and motivations for his inane killing spree. Simply put, this vile villain is Barry's partner, August Heart, and the reason why he's killing those other speedsters is pretty obtuse to follow. He need's their power, their super-power, so he can maintain his own. More importantly than that, though, is that he also wants to show Barry that by killing the bad-guys they'll be able to save the lives of good people. Case in point, the Black Hole gang, the said same gang that August massacres in issue 7, paying them back for killing his brother all those years ago. Issue 8, on the other hand, focuses more on the resolution to this larger than life story-line, and shows us -- the reader -- who lives, who dies, and who will never be the same again. Amen.

For fairly obvious reasons I don't want to expand too much on issue 8 or else I might spoil how it ends. That said, however, what I am willing to say is that.... errr... zoom-zoom, ouch-ouch, clunk-click, oh-no, ka-boom, twist-turn, splat, pop, wow?  

Quickly moving on, and yes, I best mention that I'm really loving the work done by this new Flash creative team. Although it does look a bit messy in places, Carmine Di Giandomenico has a dynamic kinetic style to his artwork, and manages to show enough emotion on each of the characters faces so you can tell what they're feeling (Not an easy thing to do in Godspeeds case, huh?). Likewise, Joshua Williamson's story, while also structurally messy, does a fairly nice job of setting up the characters and laying down the essence of each chapter. For instance, issue 5 was a 'day in the life' type tale, issue 6 was a dramatic revelatory epic, and issues 7 and 8 were concluding chapters to a much larger story arc. A shout out also has to go to Neil Googe for his fill in work on issue 5. Despite it being tonally less busy than Carmine's pencils, in the same breath, Neil's simpler and more relaxed style suited this more simple and relaxed tale.  

Great issues, all of them, and I can't wait to see where we'll go from here.   

THE MUSIC:

If you need a little help answering my concluding-question (see below), then if I were you, I'd listen to the following song sung by Ray Parker Junior.

THE COMPARISON:

There was a scene in the sixth issue of the Flash where Godspeed calls himself Judge, Jury, and Executioner. And to me, words like those always remind me of another person who likes to Judge, Judge Judy, hasn't she got such wonderful hair?

THE CONCLUSION:

At the end of issue 7 Godspeed demonstrates to Barry a super-power he doesn't possess. So, for the sake of speed -- pppppphhhhhhhooo -- let's see if you can guess what that power is out of the following eight options? Could it be...

1. The power to vote for both Trump and Clinton.
2. The power to fart a perfume smell.
3. The power to make DC Comic Book Movies good.
4. The power to rub your belly and your head at the same time.
5. The power to say, 'Yo, What's Up', without sounding like a street-punk from the 90s.
6. The power to kick someone in the face with your back.
7. The power to be at two places at the same time.
8. The power to shop without money.

Nuff said