The Flash #77 Review and *SPOILERS*

Get the Band Back Together

Written By: Joshua Williamson
Art By: Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Tomeu Morey
Letters By: Steve Wands
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 28, 2019

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Flash is in an interesting place. We just started this new storyline and the first issue of it was really great. That being said, the story seems like it is going to feature one of the worst parts of Williamson’s run, the new forces. Now, hopefully since we set them all up in the Force Quest storyline, we won’t have to deal with overly long introductions to each of these characters but it’s hard to tell. I’ve decided to stay positive about this storyline for now. After all, I was a huge fan of the previous issue and if this new issue continues to give us that quality of the story, then this will be a VERY enjoyable set of issues. Let’s just jump into this issue and see where it takes us.

Our issue begins in the Amazon where we see someone monologuing. It is none other than Weather Wizard, who seems to have gotten some upgrades of his own. He has been approached by Captain Cold and Heatwave to rejoin forces. Weather Wizard agrees to join them, in his own eccentric way. We cut back to Central City where we left off. The Black Flash is sucking the life out of Steadfast but Barry is able to rescue him for a moment. However, with the Black Flash hot on their tail, Flash gets help from Kid Flash and Avery in order to use a little misdirection to confuse it. Then, Steadfast puts his still force power into his cloak which confuses the Black Flash when it finally catches it and he disappears. Since the Black Flash is targeting the new force users, Flash, and Steadfast head out on their new mission. Meanwhile, the villain Fallout has appeared in Central City so Kid Flash and Avery jump into action themselves.

In Corto Maltese, we catch back up with Fuerza, the Strength Force user and she is fighting who appears to be King Shark. Flash and Fuerza didn’t end things on the best terms last time so understandably, Barry is a little cautious. Flash tries to talk to Fuerza but she isn’t hearing it and is instead focused on the mission at hand. After she believes that the fight is over, King Shark jumps her from behind and sinks his teeth into her arm. Fuerza uses her strength to break his jaw and send him flying though. She then turns to Flash and while Flash is trying to hurry things along, Fuerza doesn’t trust him. It isn’t until she sees Steadfast helping people that she is willing to listen. The Strength and Still force connect to each other and Fuerza agrees to join them.

We cut to Zandia where the Sage Force user, Psych is still active. He is spying on a meeting so that he can use the information to blackmail people later but he is interrupted by The Flash. Barry takes him to meet the other two force users but the situation quickly becomes volatile as Psych uses his powers to read their minds. He discovers The Black Flash in Barry’s mind and projects an image which causes Fuerza to panic. Barry tries to calm the group down by Psych uses the information in Barry’s head against him and states that Barry has no idea how to stop this. Psych then turns his attention to Steadfast and forces him to start using his powers a lot in order to use him as bait for his escape. Steadfast becomes uncontrollable and this is where the issue leaves us.

This is an interesting issue. Not a whole lot happens as the entire issue is basically just exposition for what is to come. That being said, I actually really enjoyed watching our force users who have been introduced in a previous story interacting with each other. We continue to get set up for the Rogues and we continue to establish Kid Flash and Avery as a capable duo of heroes. The issue deserves some flack because as I stated already, Barry pretty much just gathers the troops and that is it but it was difficult to be too hard on this issue. The art was great and I liked seeing these characters interact and we get a decent cliffhanger that might lead to some really interesting things. I’m hoping this leads us to a story that we actually are invested in but I’ll stay positive for now as the book hasn’t given me a reason to doubt it so far.

Bits and Pieces:

Some gorgeous art and interesting interactions take place in this issue which carries the book for another issue. That said, not a whole lot happens in this book and it deserves some criticism for that. However, I cannot say that you should skip this issue at all. So, the book is still in a good place for now and I’m looking forward to the next issue. Not a whole lot else to say about it.

6.5/10