The Flash Annual #3 Review and *SPOILERS*

Boomerang is the Best

Written By: Joshua Williamson
Art By: Stephen Segovia, Brandon Peterson, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Hi-Fi

Letters By: Steve Wands

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 16, 2020

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Joshua Williamson is the type of writer that you don’t know which version of himself is going to show up. There have been several Flash storylines that I have absolutely loved during his run. However, he has also given us some absolute trash fires. Now he’s in charge of the latest annual. Sometimes annuals will tie into the main continuity but for the most part they tend to be self contained. So the question is, with only one issue to tell a whole story, will we get the Joshua Williamson that shines? Or the Joshua Williamson that drops the ball? The only way we will know is by diving into this latest issue. So, let’s just jump right into it.

We begin our issue seeing a broken boomerang in the desert and then immediately cut to Captain Boomerang who seems to be in police custody. He is badly beaten and being interrogated about what happened. He tells the officers his story which begins with The Flash, who is trying to track him down. Eventually Flash finds the results of a battle at Belle Reve and follows the trail. Captain Boomerang was currently running with the Suicide Squad which had been expanded by the addition of the revolutionaries. They follow Boomerang’s lead until the arrive at a safe house. The team begins to settle in for the day but they are interrupted by The Flash, who arrives while eating a burger. Immediately the team attacks him. Flash tries to calm them down, realizing that they might be controlled by Waller. Just as quickly as the fight started, it ends and Flash has joined their side to try and get the team to safety. The team is trying to reach a prototype jet that will allow them to flee undetected. The problem is that it is stuck in the middle of Death Valley.

After talking about the plan to reach the jet for a moment Flash offers to run them each there one at a time, but they don’t trust him to not just arrest them one at a time. Luckily, Boomerang has a solution. We cut the the desert with the Flash running while dragging a van behind him with the Suicide Squad squeezed into it. Things are going smoothly until the van is suddenly knocked around by an explosion. Turns out they are being attacked by Deathstroke who immediately hits the van stopping our team in their tracks. The team regroups and the fight with Deathstroke begins. The team is able to quickly destroy his vehicle but taking down Deathstroke is a different story. The battle begins to turn in Deathstroke’s favor until Flash is able to regain consciousness and quickly knocks Deathstroke away. A fight between the two breaks out but ends surprisingly as Deathstroke kills Flash. The detectives hearing the story begin to doubt Boomerang quite a bit at this point, but he holds that the story is true. With the Flash taken care of, Deathstroke turns his attention to the Suicide Squad. They race off towards the ship but Boomerang stays behind to face Deathstroke on his own.

Watch our The Flash Annual #3 Video Review

Boomerang throws his weapon at Deathstroke which is easily taken care of but when they stand face to face, Boomerang tells him that he forgot that boomerangs come back. When Deathstroke looks behind him, Boomerang uses the chance to land a punch, knocking Deathstroke to the ground, unconscious. With Deathstroke taken care of, the Suicide Squad was able to get away safely. Unfortunately, this part of the story is one that the detectives already know and they reveal what actually happened. Deathstroke was too busy beating the crap out of Boomerang to catch up with the Suicide Squad. Boomerang is then led to prisoner transport to send him back to Belle Reve as the detectives reveal that they are able to track the jet and they will get the rest of the team soon. Just as they are about to send Boomerang off, he is suddenly picked up by none other than The Flash. He reveals that he was able to vibrate to make it look as though Deathstroke had killed him. Then, as Boomerang distracted Deathstroke, Flash ran the team out of the desert and set the jet on autopilot. He then saved Boomerang from being killed by Deathstroke before the cops showed up. Despite freeing Boomerang, Flash also dropped off a captured Deathstroke so the cops would be happy with the trade. He then runs Boomerang to his old home in Australia and encourages him to live his life right this time. As he runs away, we see Boomerang receive a message that confirms he has rejoined the Rogues. This is where the issue leaves us.

This issue is a ton of fun! We are immediately introduced to the story knowing that Boomerang is the narrator and thus, is an unreliable narrator. All of the quirky things in this story which would normally drive us crazy, suddenly make a ton of sense because they are all happening from Boomerang’s perspective. Overall the story isn’t too complicated at all (though some of the points are a bit convenient). The art is great and it’s just a fun issue. It gives me hope that Williamson can breathe life into the main Flash book once again.

Bits and Pieces

A fun issue that just feels like an old fashion superhero romp. Williamson brings his best and let’s just just enjoy ourselves with this extra issue. It has some plot points which will be relevant in the future but overall it’s just a goofy issue that is there to let comic book fans just fall in love with the characters and leave the issue with a smile.

7.5/10