We are (almost) Family
Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Howard Porter, Hi-Fi, and Steve Wands
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: June 13, 2018
“FLASH WAR” part two! Barry Allen and Wally West are brought to the future to stand trial for the murder of Eobard Thawne, but a terrible truth is uncovered when they reach the court—and Wally West is confronted with something he never even realized he lost.
Part two of the Flash War opens with a scene that I'm sure a lot of Flash Fanatics will go nuts over. Yea, it happens "In times forgotten", but it sets up what I think will be the stakes by the end of this story. Come on, Williamson, just do it right now and take all of our money!
We then head to the 25th Century and see Zoom telling Wally everything he wants to hear...right before Wally socks him right in the chops! That connection opens up everything and Wally sees what Hunter did to him (and his family) and if you didn't already know, it's not good. However, we get a huge "tweest" here...Zoom wants to make up for it all and damn it, he seems on the up and up!
Back with the rest of the gang, they are still trying to figure out what happened to Wally and after finding evidence that shows the whole Iris trial was a setup, Cold orders Barry, Iris and Wallace (still not used to that!) to be imprisoned for their own good. Yea, Barry has other plans!
Continuing with Zoom and Wally, we get a generic explanation of how Flashpoint changed things...I was just hoping out of nowhere for Zoom to mention this "big blue guy with god-like powers", but alas, no such luck. We do get the beginnings of a plan to save Irey and Jai when Barry and Cold crash the party. Of course, this is our conflict...Wally will do anything to get his family back and Barry is against it.
Things really heat up as Wally runs off and Barry follows only for Zoom to go and really mess things up. When Barry catches up with Wally, he continues pleading to him about changing events in time and while that is already getting a bit old, it's the emotional scene that follows that is the best part of the issue. Seeing and hearing Wally remember things about Irey and Jai will make any parent tear up and even though I am sure what Wally is going to do is wrong and Barry is my Flash, I may have to get my "Team Wally" shirts printed up! Run Wally Run!!!
This is another good issue of Flash War and really, this is the book that I wish Joshua Williamson was writing through all of Rebirth. Even though they don't see eye to eye, just having Barry and Wally together so much is great and I can only imagine (and hope) how the Twins, Linda and, dare I say, Jay Garrick would make things even better. Please let that happen!
Back to the issue, Howard Porter's art was great once again with the only downside being him not having too much to do since this was a pretty claustrophobic issue art-wise.
Bits and Pieces:
This was another good issue of Flash War that teases fans with visions of Flash Family stories going through their heads. The problem is, Barry is trying to stop it and while he may be right, I can't see anyone rooting for him. He's my Flash and I'm not! Howard Porter's art is spot on and suddenly Flash is one of the only books that is putting a smile on my face nowadays. And no matter what haters of our site and podcast may tell you, I like to smile!
9.0/10
When time was erasing, I really wanted Wallace to say "Aunt Iris, I don't feel so good." lmao
ReplyDeleteOr his skin start peeling off and Danny West appear to then burst open like a cauliflower and reveal he was Charlotte West all this time and spontaneously give birth to Inez. West family reunion.
DeleteGreat issue, Wally is totally in the right. Flashpoint was a reckless and selfish event that Barry caused, but Wally doing this because the timeline has been edited by someone else is simply putting thing back to the way they where meant to be.
ReplyDelete8/10
I know they keep saying that what happened, the moments and milestones stolen from the universe during Flashpoint, aren't Barry's fault... but it totally is.
ReplyDeleteI mean someone took advantage of Flashpoint sure, but Barry's arrogance is what gave them that opening, so his argument with Wally is glaringly hypocritical.
My point is, that if Barry actually OWNED UP to the responsibility of all things post flashpoint actually being his fault (which it is), then I could totally back his point of view in not letting Wally do it. He wouldn't be a hypocrite trying to tell Wally what to do, he wpuld be a tragic figure trying desperately not to have his protege make the same mistakes. I mean that's sort of what we have now, but with less weight.
"Sure you caused flashpoint, but the bad parts weren't your fault Barry "
I know that sounds super critical, but being that Wally is MY Flash , and he's been side-lined since his return, this arc is becoming a high point of the series.
9/10 for me!
Rock on!
Ascent