Flashpoint Review

 

With The Flash arriving to theaters this Friday, I thought it'd be a good idea to review the comic that had an influence on the movie, as suppose to Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox considering I already reviewed it.

Flashpoint was a 2011 DC Comics crossover story arc, the core issues can be found in Flashpoint #1-5. The storyline was written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Andy Kubert.

The story is Barry Allen has woken up and immediately notices that nothing is how he remembers it. Not only his not the Flash but his deceased mother is alive and his father never went to prison, but the Justice League he was apart of doesn't exist. To make matters worse, Wonder Woman and Aquaman have been fighting in an intense war and it only seems to escalate more and more. Now, Barry must get his powers, stop this war, and find out what caused him to be in this dimension.

• Negatives

I've got nothing, just move on.

• Mix

The only gray area is the story. Now, there's a lot of good things. Such as an interesting mystery, good emotional moments, and action. The only downside was the war between Aquaman and Wonder Woman. The backstory as to why they're fighting is barely there. We got a quick image here, and a quick bit of dialogue there. I think maybe had there have been an issue or two, then maybe that part of the story would've been stronger.

• Positives

Now for the positives with one of those being, or at least from my opinion, but I think this is a good read for both new and old readers. Lifelong fans whether they like DC, The Flash, or both, will enjoy this. And newer readers will also get a kick out of this. Because while there are two references (those being Barry's mom's death and Barry's connection to the Speed Force) to another Geoff Johns' Flash miniseries [The Flash: Rebirth], you don't really need to read that to understand what's going on here. Especially since this miniseries basically gave you a shorten version of those two references.

Then we have the pacing. Much like any other forms of entertainment, whether it be movies, TV shows, or this case comics, there could be instances where things just feel slow. This isn't the case for Flashpoint. I was impressed with how quickly I finished this. I mean it, if you want to read this and you're worried about your time, don't worry, you'll breeze right through this.

The last thing I'll praise is Andy Kubert's art. It's beautifully detailed and drawn nicely. And Andy nailed two things that I think are the two essentials things whenever you're drawing superhero comics, and that's action and emotion. The action drawn here is perfect, but it's the emotional aspect that also elevates things. I've read this story, maybe three times, but that last page, where Batman says Barry's one hell of a messenger, still gets me.

While the story of Flashpoint does have its flaws, I still really enjoy this. Both from a Flash storyline perspective and a DC Comics event perspective.

My final rating is, Good.

That's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Jun 17th, for my review of The Flash. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.