The Flash #750 Review and *SPOILERS*

Cash Grab

Written By: Joshua Williamson
Art By: Rafa Sandoval, Stephen Segovia, Jordi Tarragona, Arif Prianto
Letters By: Steve Wands
Cover Price: $9.99
Release Date: March 4, 2020

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The Flash has hit a new milestone in regards to numbering and so you know what that means? We get a huge 80-page issue with a bunch of short stories in it. Now, going through each of these short stories would be excessive and wouldn’t really give a proper feel to how the book actually reads. However, there is a true 30-page issue that serves as the next installment of The Flash book so I will be reviewing that as normal. However, in regards to those short stories, they’re actually pretty good. Not the greatest thing in the world but simple and entertaining for the most part. There is also a short epilogue for the Flash Forward storyline with some interesting things in it if that is a storyline that you have been following. So I wanted to recommend these things if that’s what you are interested in as this review will mainly focus on the actual issue that was released with this 80-page issue. So without further ado, we return to The Flash and his conflict with the mysterious new Paradox villain. Here’s hoping it all goes well.

Our issue begins with a man giving a testimonial about a time that The Flash saved him. During a particularly trying time in his life, he became desperate enough to decide to rob a bank. Once he got inside though, he realized that he is unable to go through with it but before he leaves, Heatwave attacks the bank instead. Just before the man gets torched, Flash is able to subdue Heatwave and the man suddenly finds himself outside of a Career Center with the gun he had brought taken away. Turns out that he met his wife in that very center and it was all thanks to The Flash. Flash gives us a quick recap of things that have been going on for the past few issues. The other force users are gone to investigate their own forces, Kid Flash and Avery have gone back to their own teams, Commander Cold was killed, The Rogues are still on the loose, Flash’s powers were going haywire but were fixed by Pied Piper and Future Flash showed up to warn Barry about Paradox. However, Barry and Iris have rekindled their relationship (guess that Glider thing was just a phase huh?)

Flash and Iris discuss Paradox for a little bit in the Flash Lab before Barry is called away to a crime scene. We then see a testimonial from a young girl who shows us picture that she drew of The Flash and how he fought with Gorilla Grodd. She talks about how she was saved by The Flash. At the crime scene, Barry runs into Singh who tells him that most of his men have taken some time off after the recent events of Central City and so he is working the case himself. He seems to be stumped though as he investigates a robbery. After a quick examination, Barry finds a bit of glass that was broken during the robbery. The glass has a rainbow hue to it and Barry says they need to return to the lab. At the lab, Barry and Singh chat a bit about their own relationships. They seem to both be happy. During the conversation, Barry realizes the answer to the case and when he distracts Singh with evidence, he uses the opportunity to run out and arrest the Rainbow Raider. That wraps things up pretty nicely and Singh leaves with a win as Iris enters the lab.

Iris and Barry chat for a little bit before Barry picks up her notepad and sees that she has been taking the testimonials that we’ve been seeing in the book. We get quick flashes (pun intended) of the many different stories that are praising The Flash. Iris wants the article to have a human element to The Flash as well but Barry is hesitant because he knows he cannot live up to the legend that has been created around The Flash. Iris is quick to turn his mood though and tells him that she has a couple of surprises for him but they are quickly interrupted by a familiar foe. Godspeed is here and he takes a moment to reflect on their shared pasts before he gets down to business. He is here to warn Barry about Paradox and then he runs off. Barry quickly follows him until they reach The Flash Museum. It is suddenly revealed that Godspeed was not here to warn him but rather to lead Barry here. Barry quickly finds himself face to face with the villain he has been looking into; Paradox! As villains do, he monologues for a little bit, typical villain stuff. Everyone thinks you’re a hero but I know the truth kind of thing. At the end of the monologue though, he gives Barry an ultimatum before siccing Godspeed on him telling him to kill the Flash. This is where the issue leaves us.

In typical Williamson fashion, we are running forward in this book into a brand new storyline and the things that have come before are left behind. Sure, we get a quick recap of things that happened previously but this really is a brand new beginning for this book. We completely dropped the Golden Glider story that we had earlier (unless I missed something, which is entirely possible) and things are now getting back to normal. I’m guessing DC is expecting new readers to jump on during this issue so we have to give them something they are familiar with. The rest is really just more set-up for Paradox which, as we discussed previously, is an extremely boring villain but he has teamed up with a much more compelling speedster in Godspeed. There’s not really much else to say about this issue. It’s really just to catch up new readers. Most people who have been reading this book will not get anything out of this book. I will give this issue an addition .5 on the score because I did enjoy some of the short stories that we got in this big issue but other than that, this issue is a real drag.

Bits and Pieces

The Flash takes a gigantic issue to catch up new readers and we have gotten a renumbering for the book. While this may be good for the book as a whole, the writers dropped certain storylines in order for things to go back to a more traditional Flash set up and readers that have been with this book since the beginning may be upset to drop a large amount of money on a giant issue where the main issue inside doesn’t really move the story forward. Overall, this wasn’t horrible but I just found it incredibly dull.

4.5/10