The Flash #58 Review and *SPOILERS*

Astrology and You

Written By: Joshua Williamson

Art By: Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Tomeu Morey
Letters By: Steve Wands
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 14, 2018

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The Flash has been a bit… slow as of late. Don’t get me wrong, the comic isn’t bad but these new forces that have been thrown around and random plot points that haven’t been explained before are really bogging it down. Barry was told about going on a Force Quest but then it took us 4-5 issues for that to actually happen. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind that if we had some more going on but it just hasn’t. However, for all of my complaints about this title, I still look forward to each new issue. Maybe I’m part of the problem. Anyway, let’s just jump into this title and see where it takes us.

We begin our issue in the country of Badhnisia where we find Iris is getting some food from a local vendor. Meanwhile, Barry is up to his usual tricks as The Flash. The only difference is that instead of running in between cars in Central City, he runs in between people in the Badhnisia market. As he races past each person, he apologizes or excuses himself. He knows that most these people can’t even see him but he wants to be polite. (yes, we wasted a page on this particular detail.) Barry runs down a local purse grabber and saves him from being crushed by a local train car. Barry also adds a line of dialogue that explains why he would be able to fix a train car.

Barry catches back up with Iris who drops a bunch of exposition as to why the two of them are where they are. They are tracking the new forces with the help of Commander Cold and his use of a satellite that can track the forces. The latest was at a local church in Badhnisia. Iris and Barry enter the church and go to the top floor where they find a door has been kicked in. As they walk in, we see the masked culprits hiding above them. Not seeing them as a threat, the thieves jump out and surprise them before leaving on their own. The two reveal their name as Gemini. They jump out the window and Barry takes the chance to dawn The Flash costume and chase them down. Barry is able to easily handle the attacks by a single attacker but when two become involved, they are able to get a small window of opportunity.

The gauntlets that these two wear are able to absorb energy and one of the members of Gemini sees The Flash’s power light up and wants to absorb it but in order to ensure their survival the two of them run away as Flash is left to deal with a falling building. Barry saves some bystanders before realizing that the fight he was involved in caused the destruction of the church. It destroyed a part of history. Gemini vows to go after the Flash for his power while Iris comforts Barry. They get the next location and Barry runs off with Iris. They arrive in Gorilla City and find that the population has been decimated. This is where the issue leaves us.

Seriously?…. SERIOUSLY??? This is the next part of this story? Flash stops purse robbers in some foreign country and knocks down a church? That’s it??? I understand that you hope to have new readers jump on when a “new” storyline, but this is issue 58. I don’t see a lot of new readers jumping on so why do we continue to have recap after recap every single issue. I don’t need a 2 page recap every issue, I ALREADY READ THE LAST ISSUE. It just adds padding to a story that doesn’t have a lot going on. I have been very forgiving to this series up to this point. I know I’m hard to please sometimes but this doesn’t even feel like trying. Abandon all hope, Flash fans who enter here.

Bits and Pieces

Do you like to have a recap every issue for no reason? How about the Flash breaking up petty crime? How about covers that have nothing to do with the actual issue? If you said no to any of those, this isn’t the issue for you and frankly, it’s hard to think of someone that this issue is actually for. At least the art is great.

3.5/10