The Flash is one comic that was severely damaged by DC’s One Year Later move. When Geoff Johns left the title, it started floundering. Replacing Wally West with Bart Allen was a disaster. I don’t know if it was the team that was working on the title or the move itself.
DC realized the mistake and brought back Wally and family. The title was better but not up to speed under the guidance of Mark Waid(who was one of the best Flash writers of the past). Tom Peyer has followed Waid. Peyer has been getting better with each issue. The bad news is that this is his last issue. Next month Alan Burnett will be taking over. Burnett wrote some excellent Batman stories many years ago. The Revolution will give him a wait and see approach.
Creative Team
Writer: Tom Peyer
Art: Freddie E. Williams II
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Wally (Flash) West and his wife Linda have 2 children. Their daughter Iris has speed that matches Wally’s. Their son, Jai, can temporarily accelerate the growth of his muscles. Both are suffering from accelerated aging.
Into this mix is introduced Nzame, a “sacred ape with mysterious healing powers” from Gorilla City. Unfortunately, Gorilla Grodd also has plans for Nzame. In previous issues the speedsters clashed with Grodd. At the end of the last issue, Grodd attacks and Iris ages at an increased rate until she dies.
Wally and Jai are attacking Grodd. Linda is looking at Iris’ dead body. As Wally hits Grodd, he realizes that something is wrong. He orders Jai to leave Grodd alone. Wally tells his son not to hurt Grodd. Jai is upset that his father is protecting the one who killed Iris.
Wally says that Iris died of old age. This is not one of Grodd’s powers. But one of Grodd’s powers is messing with peoples’ minds. As he says this, Iris’s dead body vanishes. Iris appears beside her mother. She is old but still alive. Grodd turns into Nzame. Grodd tricked them into beating Nzame.
Nzame is, understandably, afraid of the speedsters. Nzame runs into the jungle as Wally hugs his daughter. Wally and Iris race off after Nzame. Jai stays with his mother. When Wally and Iris catch up to Nzame, he has been captured by Grodd.
Linda and Jai are talking when they hear a sound from the jungle. Out walks Nnambi(leader of Gorilla City) and his soldiers. They want to know what Jai has done with Nzame. Jai yells that they did nothing with Nzame, it was all Grodd. As he is ready to attack the soldiers, his mother stops him. She says that they are his father’s friends. The soldiers hope they can remain friends.
Meanwhile, Iris is racing ahead of her father. She leaps on Grodd. When she grabs him, Iris installs a permanent vibration. His mind will never be able to catch up to his body. She explains that when they were running she felt a greater force. It told her how to defeat Grodd. It also reached into her and took almost everything.
Back with Linda and Jai in Gorilla City, Iris is explaining how she has not been successful dealing with Iris’ rapid aging problem. Nnamdi suggests his court physician. Linda says that she has not been successful even when she used highly advanced alien technology. The physician tells her that Gorilla City has had highly advanced alien technology longer than mankind has been driving automobiles. His scan reveals that the problem is not with Jai’s DNA.
Just then, Flash races in carrying his daughter. Wally tells them that he has confirmed the cause of the problem is the Speed Force. Jai starts to panic when he sees how old his sister has become. Wally assures him that he can now fix their problem. He holds hands with his children and tells them to hold on tight.
Wally takes them into the Speed Force. Jai suddenly ages very fast. He tells his father goodbye. Wally tells Jai not to give up. The Speed Force has given him the abilities of the Flash. It banished and tried to kill him. But now, for the sake of his children, he will take control of the Speed Force. He pulls the “death aspect” of the force out of his children and absorbs it into his body. They land back in Gorilla City. The kids are now restored to their normal age. Linda cries tears of joy.
Next, we see the West family tucked into their beds. Except for Wally. He is racing out of their house and heading into the city. An enemy had brainwashed the city into hating Wally. That is the only thing still bothering him. A couple call out to him. When he stops, they tell him how they withstood the brainwashing. They could never hate the Flash. He watches the sun rise with them. With a smile on his face he takes off running. He will continue to run until he finds the next good fight.
Comments
The Good: Tom Peyer has definitely gotten on track with writing this series. He captured the fear experienced by the West family in the face of the rapid aging of their children. Watching your children die while you are helpless has to be one of the worst nightmares a parent experiences. I was afraid that Flash’s children were going to die at the end of this story. It is rare to see a married couple with children featured in a comic book.
I liked the small touches, such as the reminder that the inhabitants of Gorilla City have been more technologically advanced than mankind for a long time. Wally(and the previous Flash-Barry Allen) have been allies of the gorillas. It was good to see the gorillas wanted answers but hoped that they could stay friends. It was not the old let’s shoot first, have a big fight, then realize that we should not have been fighting in the first place. I also liked the way Grodd used deception to fight the Flash.
Freddie Williams did a great job with the inhabitants of Gorilla City. The effect used to show Iris “installing permanent vibration” in Grodd was perfect.
The Bad: Tom Peyer is leaving the Flash. This is his last issue.
Freddie Williams’ art was too inconsistent. While he did a great job with Grodd, etc. sometimes his art fell apart on the people in the book. Linda came across as very cartoony at times. I thought he did a poor job portraying Iris’ aging.
Overall: Rotating artists have hurt this book. Next month another one joins the team. If DC wants this book to succeed, they need to get a stable team on this title. Peyer wrote a good wrap-up to his run on the book. I hope they find him another book soon. With the right artist, Peyer would be great on the Flash.