Flashpoint has been an event that, like most events, has had many ups and downs. The premise of the series is highly intriguing with the setting being in a new, alternate universe. The series has presented some cool twists on characters which have felt new and fresh. Unfortunately, the execution and pacing of the story has caused the series to suffer. With the huge amount of pressure for Flashpoint to be the entry point of the new DC Universe (DCnU) things need to start turning around immediately now that there are only two issues left. Hopefully, Flashpoint #4 will right the ship of all the problems the event has been facing.
Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Andy Kubert
Inker: Jesse Delperdan
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Story Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: In Fawcett City, Billy, Mary, Freedie and some other kids are sitting in front of a TV wondering what they should do while watching the President’s (Obama?) speech about the Aquaman/Wonder Woman War. The kids wonder if they should get involved as Captain Thunder (The Captain Marvel of the Flashpoint DCU)
Over in Coast City, Hal Jordan and Hector Hammond prep a jet with the “Green Arrow” Bomb that was provided by Queen Industries. Hector tells Hal to take things seriously. Hal says that even if he is terrified he will focus on the mission at hand as he does not want to hide like all the “super-heroes.” Hal takes off and Hector wishes his friend luck.
In Metropolis, Flash, Batman and Cyborg are faced with an army of soldiers after being abandoned by Superman. They are getting overwhelmed until Element Woman appears and takes out all the soldiers. She reveals that she has been following Cyborg since the meeting in Gotham City (Flashpoint #1).
Barry starts suffering from the aftereffects of being in a new universe and is overwhelmed by the new memories taking over his old ones. Batman is able to ease Barry’s pain and tells him not to forget his son, Bruce.
Back in Fawcett City, Billy and the kids continue to talk about what they should do about the war. Suddenly, Flash, Batman, Cyborg and Element Woman enter the house and say that they need the kids’ help. Batman lays Flash on the couch. Billy takes a look at what is wrong with Flash. As soon as Billy touches Flash’s forehead he gets a rush of memories from the DCU Captain Marvel.
Just then a news report comes on talking about Hal’s mission being a failure and that Hal is the first known casualty of the American military.
Flash takes Batman into the kitchen where he tries to convince Batman to help Cyborg and the other heroes. Cyborg and the others enter the kitchen saying that they could hear them yelling. Billy says that he will join Cyborg as will all the other kids and Element Woman. They all decide head out. Flash turns to Batman saying that Bruce would have come with them. Flash’s words hit hard and Batman says he will join them.
While our heroes are on route to new Themyscira, The Outsider and other heroes inform Cyborg through a communication channel that it’s a bit late for a huge team-up. Enchantress says that the Secret Seven ran into a problem and that only she can join them. She quickly teleports onto the jet.
In the middle of the battle field, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are fighting. As they blame each other for the war the heroes appear, ready to end the war.
Captain Thunder instantly goes for Wonder Woman. As they fight Enchantress betrays the heroes and splits Captain Thunder back into Billy and the kids. An Amazon warrior attacks Billy from behind. The Amazon warrior stabs Billy. As she does, it cause Billy to overload and creates a huge explosion in the area.
Flash recovers from the explosion and is met by Reverse Flash who is standing in the middle of hundreds of dead bodies. He tells Flash “Look what you did.” End of issue.
Commentary
The Good: Continuing the trend of the previous three issues, Flashpoint #4 has the same problems that have hindered this whole event. Though the issue has its moments where we see flashes of greatness they are overshadowed by all the problems with the story.
Johns saves his best writing for Thomas Wayne as Batman. Though it may be the same costume we are used to seeing the person behind the cowl is completely different. Johns has done a lot of great character work to show Thomas as someone that is willing to do anything to have Bruce still alive, even if it means his death. There is a lot of parental heart to the character as he shows himself to be a father first in his moments with Barry.
I also enjoyed how Johns gave us a reason for why Thomas can still operate as Batman even in his advanced age. In this new Flashpoint DCU, all the heroes see Thomas’s Batman as a god with everything that he has done. This adds more to the character than how Bruce is, sometimes jokingly, referred to as a God Killer. Having the character carry a godly reverence to him makes it clear to the reader why he can still be Batman other than him being “The Goddamn Batman.”
Hands down the best part of this issue was Andy Kubert’s art. Again and again, Kubert proves himself to be one of the best artists in the business. Not only are his character designs fantastic, but he breathes life to every panel with his phenomenal backgrounds. Each page is given a lot of detail which is something that Kubert always does well in his books.
It was also great to see that Kubert went with a bunch of different designs for the kids that form Captain Thunder. Each kid is given their own design that stands out from one another and makes them look like they have their own personalities, even if the story itself fails to do so.
The Bad: When it comes right down to it Flashpoint is an event that lacks an identity. No matter how hard Geoff Johns tries to move the story forward he seems to get lost in what this event is supposed to do. Is it supposed to be a big event centered on Barry Allen? Is it a story about a world engaged in a war caused by two people? A character study for lower tier characters? Setting up a new universe in the DC Multiverse? A promotional tool for other books? Or is it just a reset for the DC Universe?
These questions and much more is what seems to be where Flashpoint has lost itself. In trying to accomplish so much Johns has lost control of what he originally planned for this event to be. At the core it is easy to tell that this is a story based around Flash and expanding the character’s universe. This is much like what the Sinestro Corps War did for the Green Lantern franchise. Unfortunately, the story has been butchered with not only countless tie-ins but also with the pressure of setting up the New DC Universe (DCnU) that starts in less than a month.
Having to face such an identity crisis Johns has caused himself to face the same problems that occurred during his previous event, Blackest Night. Similar to how Blackest Night relied on tie-ins to tell the full story and having awkward transitions issue to issue, Flashpoint feels like more of a tour around the Flashpoint universe than an actual event. Johns gives us small looks at various characters and locations making this series read more like a promotional tool than an actual comic.
Things such as Lois running into characters from the Vertigo titles was not even picked up on in this issue even though we had pages of the previous issue dedicated to it. Even Superman’s character was completely forgotten after the first couple pages.
Though Johns could make the excuse that there is still one issue left that one issue is not only supposed to end this event but also have enough pages dedicated to establishing the DCnU. That is a lot to wrap up in just one issue. Johns has done nothing to build confidence that Flashpoint will have an ending that will properly wrap up everything that was introduced.
It also hurts the story that when Johns does use characters in his story they are nothing more than plot devices. Case in point: Captain Thunder, Element Woman and Enchantress are each given roles that do not have you become interested in the characters. Instead, they are just used to get Flash, Batman and Cyborg out of their situations.
And even when it seems like the characters are going to play an important role in the story Johns simply dispenses with them in a quick fashion. Johns just kills Captain Thunder off one page into the huge battle using Enchantress to do so. This does nothing for these characters and only further reveals the weakness of Johns’ writing and the identity crisis Flashpoint has been having.
This identity crisis has also caused this event to not have any sense of real threat. Up until the final page of this issue, we have gone four issues without even who or what is behind everything that was going on in this event. The only sort of villain that has been shown was Aquaman and Wonder Woman since their war has been said to cause massive chaos in this Earth. Unfortunately, even those two characters have not been seen very much in this event either since it has been mostly characters like Cyborg and the President talking about the war and not seeing the actual effects.
This is the exact same problem that Johns ran into when he revealed Nekron as the big bad of Blackest Night. Sure, Flash fans may have known that Reverse Flash had something to do with the Flashpoint Universe. But, DC has continuously promoted this event as a starting point that bridges the new universe with the old. So new readers who do not have a background reading Flash will have no idea who Reverse Flash is except he wears a yellow Flash costume. There has been absolutely no set up or clues revealing Reverse Flash as a villain of the story.
And if Johns or DC want to make the excuse of readers having to read tie-ins to get this idea of Reverse Flash being a threat it would only further point to Johns’ weaknesses as writer. Johns’ inability to establish the big threat of the event, yet again, is just astonishing. Up until Blackest Night and Flashpoint, Johns has been a writer that has done a wonderful job building up a cast of villains for Green Lantern, Flash, JSA and other DC characters. Reading these past two events has felt like I have been reading a completely different writer, one who is lost in the scope of the story he is trying to tell. It is almost amateurish, something Johns is clearly not since he has proven plenty of times that he is one of the best superhero writers in the business.
Overall: With each issue of Flashpoint, Geoff Johns seems to have crumbled under the weight of the event. Flashpoint #4 was no different. If nothing else, this issue put an even bigger spotlight on a lot of the problems that this event has been having. Even with the fantastic art by Andy Kubert breathing life into the Flashpoint Universe, it has not hidden the fact of how thin of a story that Johns is telling. Up until the final page this has been a series that has lacked a big villain which lead to the final page lacking any sort of punch. With only one issue left, which will have pages dedicated to establishing the New DC Universe, I have been left with very little confidence that the ending will be satisfying.
Kevin