The Flash #34 Review

Family ties.

While the present Mashup Killer arc comes to a close, the Future one grows more threatening day by day.

Barry is having a very tough time. Vendetti is putting him through a crucible and he isn’t going to come out of it okay, that’s for sure.

Booth’s artwork is good and helps augment the story (especially the future parts).

SPOILERS FOLLOW……………….

Barry, after a brief talk with Patty, changes into Flash and confronts Seaborn at a crime-scene.

Using his partner as a distraction, Seaborn brings out the full armory of weapons he had and we finally get to know what happened.

Apparently, during Forever Evil, Seaborn hooked up with very crew he had captured, and used them to become a gang of criminals. Sadly for him, the Justice League returned and he had to go back to being a cop.

But the crew was loose-ends, and he had to make sure they didn’t talk.

 There’s an inherent belief that good people will make good even in the worst of times, while bad people are just waiting for a moment to let their demons out. While I don’t subscribe to abstract notions of good or bad, Seaborn’s actions speak for themselves.

And finally, Barry comes face to face with the Speed Force breaking down when he’s unable to vibrate out of the way of the nails raining down on him thanks to another of Seaborn’s weapons.

Seaborn though has lost it. With his disguise compromised, he attempts to atleast take out the Flash, but thanks to a shot in the arm from his partner, Seaborn is captured by the Flash.

Director Singh and Patty show up for the aftermath, as does a bleeding Barry. He finally comes clean with Patty that the speed force is broken somehow and he’s loosing time every time he uses it.

Patty reinforces that he can’t always run away and leave her hanging.

After reconciliation, it’s time for family as Barry arranges a meeting with Daniel, whom he bribes to lie to Wally about changing for the good.

Daniel though gets the last word in as he notes that the Wests have always been on the other side, nothing he says or does will change Wally’s descent into the black.

In the future, after countless saves to correct accidents he couldn’t stop, Future Flash arrives at the time when Wally died. And now we know that a raging Daniel West as the Reverse Flash was the reason.

As Barry starts to remedy his final failure, he promises that he himself is next on the chopping block.

SPOILERS END………………..

Some good action, excellent themes and solid artwork contribute to a stellar penultimate issue of the future arc.

I still have problems with the lack of a proper villain in the present scene, which did throw up some nice questions about inherent decency, but the future scenes and Barry’s dilemmas make up for it.

So, I give it 7.0 out of 10.

+The themes of decency and bonds was well handled

+The future scenes are still engaging

+Booth’s artwork serves the story well

-The present scenes felt bloated without a proper villain