Art by: Phil Hester
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: November 17, 2014
A Captive Audience
When last we left the Flash, Mr. Bliss was showing him the true meaning of fear. This week, we get the fallout. It's not often you read a superhero story where you see star of the tale go catatonic, but alas that is what DC Comics delivered in this weeks Flash tie-in series. The issue picks up exactly where the last one left off: with Flash being shown his worst fears by the horrible Mr. Bliss. Flash then breaks down and goes catatonic before help arrives to get him out of harms way and back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Despite being a Flash comic--and Flash is indeed in it--this issue focuses more so on the villains of the story, than the hero...and I like it. That character of Mr. Bliss has been real hit or miss for me. He's a sadistic ringleader with the wrong set of powers who wants nothing more than to torture living beings and use them for his own nefarious devices. Among his band of of henchmen there's characters of every sort that you would expect to see in a circus story called Freak Show. Joey Rose, the strong man, gets a particularly nice moment in the book to hulk out and show what he's made of, while the snake charmer woman shows there's more to her than meets the eye.
The writing in this book was rather well done all things considered. I liked the particular focus on the villains side of things and there was a nice set up for what's to come in issue #7. I just hope the pay off is worth the wait. It's not everyday you read a story where the protagonist is more or less knocked completely out of commission but that's something that's done here and it works.
Where I was really in love with this book was the art. Given the fact that there is a particular focus on the villains in the book there's a lot of opportunities to see how well the characters are drawn. While I haven't been the biggest fan of Mr. Bliss in this series so far I won't deny that his character design was well done. Muscles are hard for an artist to draw all and portray in the appropriate light in comic books and Joey Rose shows that when it's done well, it can be incredible. Phil Hester's art is growing on me and I hope they keep him on the book for a while as I imagine the battle that's to come will look beautiful if left in his hands.
Bits and Pieces
The Flash: Season Zero #6 shows that stories can put a focus on the antagonists instead of the protagonists without dragging in a way that makes the story unpleasant. Phil Hester knocks the art out of the park giving particularly nice details to the henchmen located throughout the issue, giving me high hopes for the payoff to this story. Unfortunately while the art was phenomenal the writing left a lot to be desired in the over all scheme of things, but this chapter of Freak Show is still worth checking out.
6.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment