The Flash #82 Review and *SPOILERS*

When You Play the Game of Thrones…

Written By: Joshua Williamson
Art By: Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Arif Prianto
Letters By: Steve Wands
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 13, 2019

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The Flash has been in a steady decline as we have barreled toward this new storyline. Instead of giving the proper time into the previous story, we rushed it and what was an intriguing start to a new story quickly became a jumbled mess. We are now rushing into a brand new story as the Rogues have risen once again and are attacking Central City. With the Speed Force still in a state of flux, how will our speedsters fight back against them? There are a lot of different story threads that Williamson can tug on to drive this new story forward and I hope he utilizes them properly. Let’s jump into this new issue and see where it takes us.

We start the issue with a small monologue from Captain Cold before we dive into Central City which has become a frozen wasteland. We see two groups of people exchanging fire as one group makes their way into S.T.A.R. Labs to find that it has been broken into by insurgents. They find a Flash symbol that has been spray painted inside but aside from that, they aren’t able to find anything. The group finishes their fight with the insurgents before calling in to HQ to report to Captain Cold about what they found. At his HQ, which has now been deemed Ice Heights, Captain Cold holds a meeting with most of the Rogues and asks them if any of them had anything to do with these robberies. They of course deny everything. After the meeting, we learn nothing but it is revealed through his High Guard that the city is not without a large amount of problems.

Afterwards, it is revealed how Cold was able to take control of the city. Luthor provided him with hard light technology which gave Cold the ability to use the power of Mirror Master’s Mirror Dimension. With the power of creation at his fingertips, the Rogues finally won. Cold then asks Chambers if she found any traces of his sister around the city but they are interrupted by the High Guard. She reports a disturbance which seems to be yet another robbery. Cold sets out to investigate the disturbance himself. He finds insurgents fighting his men and attempts to take them out but he is stopped by none other than Commander Cold. He has teamed up with Avery and Kid Flash and he tells them to get everyone out of there. A fight between the Colds breaks out and while it seems that Commander Cold has an upper hand at first, Captain Cold has the last laugh as he turns Commander Cold’s attack on himself and freezes him in ice.

Kid Flash and Avery run away from the battle and meet up with Iris. They reveal that they were able to get what they were after, a piece of a mirror. However, they have lost Commander Cold in the process. We finish the issue with another monologue from Captain Cold. He remarks about how he has the power now and there is nothing they can do to stop him. During the monologue we see what remains of Iron Heights and as we get further, Cold reveals that he has a prisoner kept here. He kept them here because he wanted them to see him finally win. He throws the frozen head of Commander Cold into the cell and it is revealed that The Flash is the one being held prisoner. This is where the issue leaves us.

I’ve been burned before but I have to say that I really enjoyed this issue. It opens so many questions about what happened in Central City while at the same time, it gives us a reason as to how Captain Cold was able to reach the position that he is in now. It drops a decent amount of new plot points that will hopefully be fully explored in the coming issues. While this issue is mainly set-up, it is actually very entertaining set-up. Instead of slowly getting to this point, we jumped forward in the timeline to a place where almost everything we see is completely new to us. In addition, we saw a major character death as Commander Cold has been with this book for quite some time now. We also are left with a huge cliffhanger that makes me want to read more as soon as possible. For the first issue of a new story, this new issue gave me everything I want and some more. It’s not without some issue but I’m really looking forward to reading more.

Bits and Pieces

Flash takes a huge step forward an introduces an almost completely new world that has formed since the previous issue. For an issue that would typically be all about set-up this issue takes huge steps to not only set up the new world but to progress the story with some huge implications for this book going forward. Add an amazing cliffhanger to that mix, and we have an amazing issue.

9.0/10