Art by: Diego Olortegui
Colors by: Luis Guerrero
Letters by: Steve Wands
Cover art by: Jorge Corona, Sarah Stern
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: October 17, 2023
Jay Garrick: The Flash #1 reunited Judy Garrick, aka The Boom, with her parents sixty years after her disappearance. Can Judy acclimate to the modern world, and what part did the mysterious Doctor Elemental play in her disappearance?
Is Jay Garrick: The Flash #1 Good?
Following the events in Geoff Johns's Stargirl: The Lost Children and the current JSA run, Jeremy Adams brings Judy Garrick home again in Jay Garrick: The Flash #1. Filled with plenty of speedster heroics, rock-solid emotional beats, and an attention-grabbing mystery, this mini-series just might be the Flash adventure you didn't know you needed.
Adams's script focuses on (a younger) Jay Garrick and his speedster daughter as they race to save Jay's wife from the nefarious Doctor Elemental. During the mission, the two speedsters split up - Judy rescues her mom while Jay diffuses a series of bombs placed on a nearby dam. The mission is successful, but at the moment the family should be reunited, Judy disappears, and the knowledge of her existence is wiped from her parents' memory.
After the events of the Stargirl mini, Judy is home again, but her parents have aged sixty years while Judy has barely aged a day. While Judy struggles to get used to life in her future, we learn Doctor Elemental was to blame for Judy's disappearance, and Judy recognized his face just before she vanished.
I often use the phrase "understanding the homework assignment" when encapsulating whether or not a writer gets the story right. Not just on the technical execution, but in the spirit of the tone, characters, and the adventure at hand. Adams 100% understood the homework assignment and did what so few modern writers struggle to do - introduce a new character who is charming enough to stand on her own as a welcome addition to the DC Universe.
What's great about Jay Garrick: The Flash #1? Practically everything. Jeremy Adams nails all the basics in his script, including pacing, action, dialog, scene development, and transitions. The issue feels like a classic Bronze Age story with nary a moment of clunkiness or corniness to be found.
What's not so great about Jay Garrick: The Flash #1? Admittedly, the Bronze Age charm might not appeal to everyone with modern comic tastes. It's not grim, dour, or slathered with a patina of misery, so this comic probably isn't for you if you're a Tom King fan. This is good old-fashioned superhero storytelling at its peak.
How's the art? Diego Olortegui's style looks great as an appealing mix of Ted Nauck and Francis Manupal, which makes sense since those are two artists with the best success on recent Flash runs. Olortegui delivers exciting speedster shenanigans, authentic figure work, strong facial acting, and dynamic action. This comic looks as great as it reads.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
Jay Garrick: The Flash #1 is good, old-fashioned, classic superhero storytelling with a modern twist. All the characters are instantly likable, the action is plentiful, and the mystery surrounding Judy's disappearance is perfectly introduced. Combined with Olortegui's eye-catching art, this comic is a winner.
9/10
I think Adams pulls off angst and conflict very maturely here and that's why I think there won't be a reason for this not to appeal to modern readers as well. One strong point of his writing usually is that his characters react like humans to situations. It might sound strange but sadly in most other issues I have read recently the reader is constantly frustrated with the writer for not making the most of the scenario they have or having characters act not according to who they are, just so the at- best -subpar plot- they -didn't think-through could happen and have the characters broken and ooc as a result instead of thinking of a plot and conflict that would reasonably match the characters or have them react in character to the plot. Anyways I think he showed the conflict and difficulty Judy and the Garricks have very well and it's a rather unique situation even for comics so it's very interesting and at the same time very heartfelt. Your score and review is very on point, the only downside I can think of is that the wait between issues is too long especially since between everything else DC is putting out that mostly aren't good, this is a breath of fresh air and I want to read what happens next for this family. But as long as Adams can keep up the quality of writing desplayed here, that's fine.
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