Thicker than Water
Written by: Joshua WilliamsonArt by: Neil Googe, Ivan Plascencia and Steve Wands
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: September 13, 2017
It's time to start up a new arc for the Flash, but all I want to know is what's going on with Barry's (kind of) new Negative Speed Force powers. Sure, I don't mind seeing Barry working his day job at the CCPD, but I want to know more about his Negative Speed Force powers! Yea, I want to...screw that! I want to learn about Barry's Negative Speed Force powers!!! Do we find out anything new? Let's find out...
Of course, I realize that this is the new "Blood Work" arc and we open the issue with a peak at the new villain. We then head to the CCPD and hear and see Singh ripping Barry a new one. It's understandable and Singh is 100% right...until he steps over the line and throws Iris into the fight. That's when Barry flips out.
Barry rips apart Singh, the department and unfortunately, Forrest before pretty much demanding to be fired. Barry does wonder if the Negative Speed Force has something to do with his emotional outburst, but we don't get any solid answers.
Kristen then stops her passive aggressive ways and becomes Barry's best friend and convinces him to keep working on the missing evidence case. The two of them wonder where someone could dispose of all the missing blood while I was wondering why someone would. The villain had already burned down the record room to cover his or her tracks, why destroy what they stole?
Oh well, Barry plays a hunch and as the Flash, catches the bad guy red handed. I won't spoil who he is, but it wasn't a shocker as it was a guy who was just forced into the story last issue. Of course, he has a reason for stealing the blood, but Joshua Williamson really ends it there.
The issue ends with Barry showing a bit more of the effects of the Negative Speed Force as the bad guy gives himself the name, Blood Work. It's a pretty boring name for a very uninteresting villain that we sadly will continue with as the book moves forward.
The major problem I have with this issue is I really don't have a grip on how Blood Work became Blood Work. He injected some meta-human blood into his veins and not only cured his hemophilia (yea, if you are reading Wonder Woman, this will sound familiar), but got super powers. Whose blood was it? How does that even work? Also, why did he become a bad guy? There is no real motivation and Williamson even flip flops a bit at the end with the idea of Blood Work being a bad guy or a guy who could save millions.
I also didn't like the art much. I am a Neil Googe fan, but his Barry Allen looks off throughout this issue and there is a lot of Barry. The little Flash we get isn't great either.
Bits and Pieces:
This is not a good start to the Blood Work arc. The villain comes off as boring with little explanation of how he got his powers and no real motivation for becoming a bad guy.That and underwhelming art lead to an issue I can't recommend.
5.5/10
I mostly agree with Mr. Werner's review. Barry's idea that the blood thief would be found in a place where he/she could dispose of blood didn't make much sense. Why would someone steal blood just to dispose of it? The culprit then gains meta powers and becomes a villain because: comics!
ReplyDeleteI actually liked the art a lot, it looks like it could be the designs for a Flash animated series. Except for the design of Barry, which looks nothing like the Barry I've come to know.
This probably sounds like I didn't care for this issue but I actually did. It has a fun Golden Age feel to it. Nothing too deep or heavy. It's just heroes and villains created through weird science doing what heroes and villains created through weird science do. The negative speed force is a fun concept and I'm interested in learning more about it. I had good old-fashioned comic book fun reading this. I'd give it a 6/10.