The Flash #38 Review

No half-measures…..

Tensions continue to rise between Future Barry and the people in his life – as his violent outbursts and tendencies cast a shadow over everyone he meets.

Meanwhile, we get more knowledge about the history of the Speed Force.

SPOILERS FOLLOW……………

As Patty Spivot and Barry Allen sort out the Jane and John Does that died in the wake of the Crime Syndicate attack, we see Overload growing more and more irritated by the people around him.

Barry finds what he assumes is the first victim of Overload (someone who hasn’t appeared in the present, but will face Barry in the future), leading Patty to suspect that he’s keeping something from her.

When Iris West arrives happy that she may be getting a Pulitzer for uncovering the hidden dead bodies, an alert comes out from the police that Mirror Master is robbing a bank. Barry gives an angry retort that some dead bodies at the bank would make a great byline for Iris.

It seems since the loss of Heat Wave during the Syndicate attack, Sam Scudder aka Mirror Master has become the leader of the Rogues and brought a hot-headed new heat-based metahuman by the name of Napalm on the team.

When Scudder realizes that Napalm is getting out of hand, he tries to get the two of them out. But Barry, now with new abilities due to his experience, is able to make the glass opaque mid-transport – leading to a gruesome scene where Napalm gets his hand cut off.

Only Iris’ presence prevents Barry from ending Napalm, but the damage is done – Iris decides to put out that the Flash is now a murderer, while this revelation makes Patty hide the fact that she found futuristic tech from the body of the murdered teen Kyle Karot.

Meanwhile, we finally get Selkirk’s past. Apparently, he was a researcher of the fabled Speed Force and just like present day Barry – was sucked through one of the rips in space-time leading to the Speed Force world. They set out for the mountain to help Flash get his powers back.

There were some interesting points in this issue. There is some nice parallelism with the tv series recently having an episode that put the Flash at odds with Iris similar to what happened here. Only then he was possessed, while here it’s his future war-worn murderous self.

I really think Patty is in danger given this Flash’s ruthless rampage against everything he perceives to be against the betterment of the world. First, the teen and now Napalm – Flash is getting more and more unhinged and a unbound Flash is a nightmarish prospect.

Wonder if they’ll call in the League?

SPOILERS END………………..

Vendetti balances the murderous Flash and the people in his life well, but there are pacing problems galore.

The artwork is good, but Booth really needs to work on his faces.

So, I give it 7.0 out of 10.

+Great history lesson on the Speed Force

+Characterization

-Contrived problems

-Pacing issues

-Facial artwork is bad