Flash #45 Review

Speed Bump

Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Christian Duce, Luis Guerrero, and Steve Wands
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: April 25, 2018

After Grodd's attack, it's time for the Speedsters to pick up the pieces and move forward, but are some things too big to let go?  And are some memories too hurtful to remember?  The Flash War is almost here!

The issue opens with the Speedsters fixing up Central City but quickly heads off to Iron Heights to pay Meena a visit.  Barry tries to be nicer to Meena than she may deserve, but she takes a large part of the blame for her actions.  Then she throws some serious shade his way by telling him he isn't the best man for the Flash job.  Epic Burn!  Of course, Barry kind of blows it off, but I was still mad at even more talk about the Negative Speedforce without any explanation.  There is a nice ending to it all with Wally and Avery showing up to see Meena.

We get a little Kristen and Barry action centering on Godspeed's escape and disappearance.  Speaking of Godspeed, we see him in what can only be the first major bit of Flash War foreshadowing.  It seems someone may be recruiting Speedsters.

We then move on to Avery saying goodbye to Kid Flash and then Wally calling Damian out for spying on him.  Yep, Damian Wayne is in the house!  It's all a setup for the upcoming Teen Titans Special coming up in a few months where it seems as if Damian has had enough of being on the sidelines while the starters keep messing things up.  I usually don't like this sort of thing forced into a story, but I want to see what happens with all that so I'm not that upset about it.

We then get to some big stuff...Barry having a talk with Iris (we find out what Barry listens to while running around) and then it's kissy time!  This is what Rebirth is supposed to be about!  Am I right?!?  Then Iris tells Barry she loves him, not the Flash and all is right in the world.

Well, almost.  We still have the thing that this issue is all about, Wally telling Iris about...well, about himself.  After a false start, Iris remembers him all by herself and then asks a question that sends Wally into a Speedforce stroke!  Now, there is going to be some questions about what we all think Wally remembers or doesn't remember up to this point, but then again, it may not really matter now.  

This was an okay post Grodd wrecking Central City issue that begins to put the pieces in place for Flash War as well as putting together a bit more of the Rebirth puzzle.  Maybe it was just me, but the cliffhanger didn't hit as hard as I thought it would, but it may be because of what I thought I knew going into verses what I thought we didn't.  Also, what is really going on with Wally is a bit unclear, but I think that will be revealed next issue.

I did like Christian Duce's art a whole lot in this issue and wouldn't mind seeing him a lot more on this book.  It has a Rebirth Special vibe to it which fits the overall story perfectly. This entire series has had some really kick ass art, but this is one of my favorite looking issues.

Bits and Pieces:

Joshua Williamson gets us a step closer to Flash War, but mainly reunites Iris with a couple of the most important guys in her life and I couldn't be happier for that.  Yea, I wish we could have gotten more of that, but the rest does push the overall story forward so I can't really complain...much.  The art is great here and even if the big moments were a bit underwhelming, they were still big moments that needed to be resolved before the big story starts.  Only one more issue!

8.0/10