Flash Forward #1 Review

The Road To Redemption

Written By: Scott Lobdell

Art By: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Luis Guerrero, Troy Peteri

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 18, 2019

From the pages of Heroes in Crisis comes Flash Forward, the mini-series that we all hope will fix what that event did to Wally West and make him not only a hero in our eyes again, but to his friends and family as well.  It's going to be hard, but hopefully the next six issues or subsequent series after this one do some real work to make Wally West the Flash that I grew up loving and make him relevant to this continuity beyond just someone pining for a family that he never had in this continuity.  Let's jump into this issue and see what we're playing with here.

So like the cover says, this story is from the pages of Heroes In Crisis, but what it should say is.... From the pages of Heroes in Crisis, Sideways, Dark Nights: Metal and Darkseid War because we're dealing with a lot here that seems way beyond what we need to redeem Wally West........ If there really is such a thing....... and for some reason, that includes Tempus Fuginaut from the Sideways series.  He's the least of our worries though since he only seems to be working as a Mentor/Watcher character here to put Wally back on his path to being a hero, which includes a jaunt through the Multiverse, but he at least was spelled out in early talks about this series.  What I didn't expect though was the revisionist history about how Sanctuary was and the events that led up to Wally losing his cool and killing his friends at the mental health.  This seems like it was out of nowhere and there was no lead up to it all all, unlike the event that showed us Wally's fear of being alone and convinced that the hospital was built solely for him.  

Heroes in Crisis moments aside, we do see the ramifications of that story in this issue and how Wally West has been spending his time in Black Gate Prison, which is fine for the most part....... yeah, some aspects feel off, but ultimately this is where we need to be for our story to begin.  If that hasn't peaked your interest, let's throw in the fate of the Mobius Chair and what it's been up to since the end of the Darkseid War for good measure....... which feels like a weird inclusion, but by the end of everything I do feel kind of hopeful for what's to come from this because on top of being a story of redemption for a hero I really love, it also feels like it could be some fun along the way.

All in all, I love that Brett Booth has returned to DC Comics and is on a Flash book since I know he loves those characters and I love the way he draws them and as for the story....... Well, it's got a lot to prove at this point because from what we see here, Heroes in Crisis was a lot different than it was depicted during the event and adding the Mobius Chair, which should still have the Crime Syndicate member, Grid downloaded inside of it into the story feels like we may be biting off more than we can chew for six issues, while also adding a Dark Multiverse infection within our Multiverse..... but with these elements you can also see how Wally being innocent of everything by the end could be possible...... I just really hope that it flows right and feels earned by the end.  Not completely sold on this yet, but Scott Lobdell and team have five more issues to make me a believer.

Bits and Pieces:

There may be too much baggage here to simply store it in a six issue mini overhead compartment, but with the elements involved laid out in front of us, the creative team may be able to shove it all in in a way that works by the end.  Right now though, it comes off as a beautiful looking hodgepodge that will hopefully redeem our main character in a way that feels right.  

6.5/10