Written by: Si Spurrier
Art by: Ramón Perez
Colors by: Matt Herms, Pete Pantazis
Letters by: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Cover art by: Ramón Perez
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: September 25, 2024
The Flash #13, by DC Comics on 9/25/24, brings the first arc to a close when Wally and Barry remove the Deep Change's poison, but the real solution will require some Flash-style TLC.
Is The Flash #13 Good?
Oof! You know a writer was forced to course correct when he ends a mind-bending, reality-warping, convoluted-as-all-get-out story with cheap pulls on the readers' heartstrings. The ending to this dismal story is at least an ending, but appeals to the lowest common denominator feels like a cop-out. Regardless, Spurrier is still the Flash writer for the foreseeable future, so hopefully, the next arc will show that he's learned from his mistakes. When last we left the family of speedsters in The Flash #12, everyone gave Wally the boost of power (and encouragement) he needed to catch up to the "bullet" attack on the Deep Change, intended to end the power on the other side of the Source Wall and stop Time. By the end, only Barry could keep up, so the two devised a plan to use the "interdimensional blade" to cut out the infection before the Deep Change "died." That's a lot of air quotes, but nothing is tangible in this series, so nothing that's real matters. In The Flash #13, the "surgery" has begun. After tone-deaf words of mutual validation, Wally and Barry excise the Arc Angles "ball" of infection. However, removing the poison isn't enough. The wound must be healed, and Wally feels compelled to wade into the wound to channel himself into sealing the wound. Meanwhile, Pilgrim appears through a portal and beckons Barry to follow with the "ball" of infection to prevent interference with what Wally must do next. "Oh. Is that all?" you might wonder. Yeah, after the complex, Rube Goldberg-esque series of twists and turns it took to get to the end, Spurrier opts for simple contrivances to align the heroes. Barry somehow knew he could out the infection with the interdimensional knife. Pilgrim somehow knew how and where to open a portal. Wally somehow knew he could be the conduit of healing. It looks cool, but it's lazy. When the Arc Angles see their plans are about to fall apart, they resort to showing Wally that they have his family and will kill them if he doesn't stop. Wally counters by racing at the Arc Angles and slices them to bits (temporarily) to save his family, bringing them together as a unit. At first, Wally was afraid that he would have to sacrifice himself to complete the healing, but now, he knows true healing will come through the power of his family's love. The issue ends with the Deep Change revealing it's giving birth to something that we never see, Jai helping the Deep Change come up with a proper (and confusing) punishment for the Arc Angles, and foreshadowing of things to come. What's great about The Flash #13? It's over. That's what's best about Si Spurrier's attempt at "cosmic horror." It's over, and hopefully, everyone can learn from this experience by moving on and never repeating it again. What's not great about The Flash #13? Oh, brother. Healing reality with the power of love is as cheap and cliché a resolution as you could possibly pick to end this story. In an arc seemingly designed to rip apart reality at every turn, Spurrier took the laziest out possible. Further, several developments never get explained. Why was Jai shirtless in the school's boiler room talking to someone we couldn't see? If Pilgrim knew what was going to happen, as evidenced in this issue, why was he arresting Speedsters for destroying reality with their speed? Did Jai turn the Arc Angles into The Stillness? If so, how is that a good idea when you consider that The Stillness chose to aid the Arc Angles because they wanted to die? There's nothing wrong with thinking outside the box or tackling big ideas, but big ideas are no substitute for basic story structure and complete thread management. How's the Art? Ramón Perez does a fine job trying to make sense of the senseless, albeit in the most coherent issues in the entirety of Spurrier's run. The visuals are certainly creative, and the brief moments of emotion are well done, so kudos to Perez.
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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Final Thoughts
The Flash #13 brings the mind-bending but ultimately ill-conceived attempt at cosmic horror to a close with lazy shortcuts and cheap tugs at your heartstrings to wave all the problems of reality away. If this ending was Spurrier's plan all along, somebody at DC should have told him to rethink his plan. At least the art is great, and the arc is finally over.
4.5/10
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