The Flash #27 Review

Negative Barry

Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Paul Pelletier, Howard Porter, Andrew Hennessy, Hi-Fi and Steve Wands
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: July 26, 2017

I was not a fan of the ever returning reverse Flash.  His return after the Button story lessened the impact of Dr. Manhattan and it all just was getting old to me.  However, something about last issue and seeing Eobard using his brains and the future to get at Barry felt so fresh.  It didn't hurt that the issue ended with a pretty awesome cliffhanger that had me excited to get to this issue.  Now that it's here, did it keep the good times rolling?  Let's find out...


We start off this issue with a little Eobard Thawne narration (from his book "The Life and Times of the Flash, the World's Greatest Hero") and Iris trying to avoid getting trampled by the blur of two Speedsters fighting each other to the death.

It's Negative Barry versus Eobard in a scrum for the ages...through the ages.  Seriously, the two go through what amounts to human history and use it all for a backdrop of punches and trash talking.  While Barry is usually left on the service end of the diss war, this Negative Barry has upped his game.  He tells Eobard he forgot about him because...well, he's forgettable.  Sick burn there!

It all ends up back at Barry's mother and while Eobard tries to act all cool, he didn't realize that Barry had stolen his powers.  Of course, Thawne just tells Barry he'd get his powers back eventually...right before Iris rips him apart with the Black Hole gun!  It really was epic!

With Thawne gone, Barry seems to get back to (almost) normal and tries to make things right with Iris.  He promises her the future can still be changed for the better, but when they head back to their past, their problems are still around.  Wally is still hurt, but healing and Iris can't trust Barry.  He almost tells her about O.G. Wally, but ends up walking away and the issue ends with a very lonely Barry very much alone.  He does hint at the Negative Speed Force still in his system and it looks like that's what we will deal with next issue.

While I hate seeing Barry and Iris on the outs, I still enjoyed this issue.  Recent past may say different, but I am hoping we don't see Thawne for a while so we can just focus on Barry, Wally and Iris...if that's even what Williamson has in store for us.  I can hope that Barry and Iris work things out, right?  I'm sure some may complain that not enough happened in this issue, but these last two issues were just what I needed to get back into this book.

Paul Pelletier and Howard Porter share art duties and I loved the look of this entire issue.  Maybe it was because it was such a fast moving issue but I didn't even notice the transition at all.  Good job guys!

Bits and Pieces:

I really liked this issue and this and the last one have me excited about where the book is going.  Barry is finding out that some of his past decisions are coming back to bite him in the ass even while he seems to be winning the day and if you have been thinking of jumping on this book, now is a good time.  Recommended.

8.3/10