Tag: barry allen

Eobard’s return pt 5 – 1993 Flash Issue 77

· Leave a comment ·

Issue 77: Suicide Run

So it’s 5 issues in and still no Eobard. However I’m pretty sure by this point that I know where this plot is going and he is going to turn up next issue. Having to read all 5 parts just to get there has been variable. Some issues, like 4, were quite good, but others have been a bit meh.

 

image

  This issue starts with Wally West (Mk2 Flash) watching Barry Allen (Flash) on tv fighting Hal Jordan (Green Lantern). Wally is currently a scruffy mess as he wallows in angst cause Barry left him for dead in the last comic and has since become a villain. He’s really emotionally fucked up over how he used to worship Barry and tried to live up to his legend but now he feels betrayed, wants to die and doesn’t believe he is fast enough to stop Barry either. So he goes out for a walk.

image

  Meanwhile on a building site a bunch of builders are discussing current events. Amusingly they call Wally the shiny flash and Jay the old Flash with the hat. Barry is now dubbed evil Flash. Speaking of which they are suddenly thrown from their scaffolding by evil Flash and saved by Jay Garrick, Max Mercury and Johnny Quick. A huge fight ensues. Johnny is basically not fast enough to take on Barry.

image

  Next up is Max. He is faster than Johnny but not as fast as Barry. However he is smart and uses the scaffolding to his advantage. Max is also an agile gymnast, having an advantage over Barry who his trying to balance as he chases him up the scaffolding. But Barry uses the typical hero weakness and endangers civilians.

image

  So whilst Wally is out on his walk he wanders to the place where Barry rematerialized. He realises where he is and has a look for clues. Some homeless guy is reading a suspiciously Flash themed book and so Wally buys it off him. Turns out it is Barry’s journal. But something about it spooks Wally. Whatever it is gives him back his confidence and he claims the title of the Flash again, vowing to take Barry down now that he knows his secret.

image

  Still on the building site Jay tells Barry it is his last chance to surrender but Barry just boots him in the face. Helicopters turn up but Barry is busy beating the crap out of Jay. He eventually spots the news crew and tries to take down the helicopter. Jay, Max and Johnny try to rescue the film crew but the helicopter explodes seemingly killing the three speedsters.

Eobard’s return pt 4 – 1993 Flash Issue 76

· Leave a comment ·

This is a full length review detailing the plot of the below comic, many spoilers!

Issue 76: Identity Crisis

image

This issue starts with Wally (Mk2 Flash) reminiscing about
how he became Kid Flash when he was 10. So he talks
about how happy he was until Barry (Flash) disappeared whilst saving the world.
Now he is conflicted due to Barry’s return.  Wally is worried that he is now redundant as
he isn’t as fast or experienced as Barry. But Barry seems to be becoming more
erratic and protective of his own identity and that has got Wally worried as
well. Barry is currently staying with Jay Garrick (Grandpa Flash) but he hasn’t
raised any concerns. So Wally gets suited up and goes to fight crime to take
his mind off of things.

image

Meanwhile Jay, who is just wearing a huge coat over his
costume, goes to talk to Johnny Chambers (Johnny Quick). Now Johnny is
apparently the head of a self-help empire and self-styled superstar. He already
knows Jay’s fears and agrees to help him. He offers to get Jesse, his daughter
(Jesse Quick) in on the action but Jay says it’s a job for the experienced speedsters
and so they go off to find Max Mercury instead.

image

Wally has called Barry in on fighting Combine, leader of the
tech commandos. Wally is taking in the girls at the beach as they go past,
basically the artist wanted to draw sexy women in bikinis. So they get to the
hideout, find a scale model of the city and the bad guy gloating about taking
over. They try to attack him but he’s a hologram and they fall into a trap. It’s
an ever shrinking force field!

image

Down in the subway Jay and Johnny are talking to a clerk
that they are sure is Max, even though he is denying it. Apparently he used to
be called Lightning, Blue streak and Quicksilver at various points before
settling on Max Mercury. The clerk keeps denying it but Jay knocks over his
token pile when they go to leave and Max has to use his speed to catch them
all. He bitches about being caught out but Jay calls in a favour from1949
claiming it’s a matter of life or death. Jay gives Max his costume, having kept
it for all these years, apparently he’s Jay’s hero.

image

So trapped in the shrinking force field, Wally is freaking
out whilst Barry tries to use logic to get out. They can’t just vibrate through
the walls as it keeps adapting to their frequency. They need to both vibrate at
different frequencies to confuse it but Wally isn’t fast enough to vibrate on
his own. Barry gives him a kickstart and it works. Barry jumps to freedom but
Wally only gets his arm out. He yells for Barry to help him, to save him, but
Barry hesitates. Barry then goes off on one about how he is the only Flash,
about how Wally stole his life from him and that the town is ungrateful and he’s
going to destroy it all. He leaves Wally to die.

image

Wally pulls himself together and manages to vibrate himself
through the force field, though he is left wondering what the point of
honouring Barry’s legacy is now if he has gone evil/corrupt/crazy. When Wally
gets home and turns on the TV he finds Barry giving an interview to the press.
He is saying how much he loved Kid Flash and was grateful for him taking up the
mantle. But then he says how he wasn’t up to the challenge and has been killed
by Combine. Wally breaks down and there the comic ends.

Eobard’s return pt 3 – 1993 Flash Issue 75

· Leave a comment ·

This is a full length review detailing the plot of the below comic, many spoilers!

Issue 75: Running Behind

image

  This issue starts with Wally West (Mk2 Flash) and Jay Garrick (Grandpa Flash) trying to stop a bunch of super-tech commandos from stealing stuff. Apparently a new mob boss is in town and all his men are actually really competent, well-armed and bold in their crimes. The worst bit being that whoever the boss is, he has armed his minions with anti-speedster weapons. So the bad guys derail a train, going to crash it into a school as the Flashes try and get people out of the way. Barry Allen, aka Flash, turns up just in time to help out and everyone is saved despite the destruction.

image

  After the rescue a bunch of people want the Flash’s autograph but Wally discovers that they don’t want him, they want Barry. So much angst. He’s still trying to figure out how he feels as he makes dinner later that night with his girlfriend Linda. Linda is a total fox/drawn for porn. But she also gives loving and good advice about how Wally needs to believe in himself and find his own identity. A tickle fight then ensues which I am sure is there because they couldn’t draw them having sex, before Wally is called away on Flash duty.

image

  Wally and Jay find Barry roaming all dazed in the alleyway that he originally rematerialized in. He seems a bit out of it, going on about having a second chance at life and looking for clues in the alley as to why he’s returned. They then get on with crime fighting, joining a load of cops surrounding a warehouse. The tech commandos burst out of the building with a tank and some super weapons and a huge fight ensues.

image

  So the tech commandos manage to get their canon off and a wall falls on Wally, the leader cheering that they’ve killed the Flash. Barry then smacks the shit out of the bad guys. Wally comes round, though deafened a bit, and witnesses Barry losing it, being ultra-violent with the badies. He approaches Barry as he is shouting at a bad guy whilst beating the crap out of him and is horrified by what he hears.

image

  Everything gets cleared up, no idea what Jay was doing during half that fight though. Anyway, Wally is all confused and upset by what Barry said. He reveals to Linda that he was expecting Barry to be shouting about killing him but he wasn’t. He was shouting that he was the Flash.

image

Eobard’s return pt 2

· Leave a comment ·

This is a full length review detailing the plot of the below comic, many spoilers!

Part 1 can be found HERE and will explain what is going on.

The rest can be found here;
PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, & PART 7

Issue 74: Trust

image

So, Wally West is Flash Mk2 (previously Kid Flash) and was
enjoying Christmas with his other half Linda Parks and the Garricks, Joan and
Jay (Grandpa Flash) when the original Flash, Barry Allen appeared at his door.
This wouldn’t seem strange except for the fact that he’s been disappeared for
years. So this comic starts with Hal Jordan (Green Lantern and Barry’s previous
BFF) turning up to grill the returned speedster on where he has been.
Apparently he remembers nothing but one of Wally’s battles with Doctor Alchemy
drew his spirit out of the speedforce and made him whole again. Yeah, cause
that makes sense…. Anyway, Hal believes him as his ring also acts as a lie
detector and everyone is relieved. Though they are keeping the return under
wraps for the moment. 

image

As they are all waving off Hal, Barry spots Pied Piper
walking down the street. He is appalled by his being free and taking a daytime
stroll and so attacks him. Turns out it is all a misunderstanding as since
Barry’s disappearance Piper has gone legit, though Barry seems rather pissed
about this. Not to mention that Wally has taken on the Flash mantle.

image

Anyway there is no time for arguing as Piper brings news of
trouble in town and the two Flashes suit up. They invite Jay to join them but
his wife drags him off, not letting him skip out on new year’s. Wally is now deferring
to Barry, still obviously idolising him despite having done the job of the
Flash for a while now. Barry however is blowing hot and cold, judging Wally one
moment and then complimenting him the next.

image

Eventually they get to the crime boss ‘Handsome Jack’ Giacomo,
apparently the vainest man in crime. Turns out that he rents out the same
amusement park every year and wanted the Flash there are protection because he
believes that someone has put a hit on him. Wally wants to slap him but Barry
lecturers him on the law and they end up trying to find the assassins instead,
much to Wally’s annoyance. Wally apprehends the first one, Barry finds the
second and then they end up in a hall of mirrors. They do manage to find the
last assassin, Barry saving Jack and Wally punching the killer.

image

But once they are done, Jack saved, Barry takes off leaving
Wally to clear up and wondering why. Turns out that Barry is suddenly reminded
of Iris and goes to her grave, leaving flowers and crying. Now this contradicts
with the previous series in which Barry ends up living in the future with a
resurrected Iris. So either he has forgotten about her resurrection of it has
been retconned???

image

Anyway, Wally fiinds him at the grave and decides that he
really is Barry, having been suspicious all week. Barry says he can still feel
Iris’s presence and tbh the whole thing is canonically screwy all things
considered. Like doesn’t he remember that before Crisis and his death he also
had 2 kids?? And that is all for this issue. Don’t worry I am sure Eobard will
turn up soon.

Eobard’s return pt 1

· Leave a comment ·

I have returned! And now to get back to the comic reviews.

This is a full length review detailing the plot of the below comic, many spoilers!

The following parts can be found here; PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, & PART 7

At the end of the first series of the Flash (which you can
find HERE) we found Barry Allen (the Flash) traveling to the future to be with
his resurrected wife Iris who had previously been murdered. Our favourite
villain Eobard Thawne (aka Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash or Zoomy as I like to
call him after he was nicknamed that by his friend in the comics) was dead
after Barry murdered him for trying to kill Barry’s fiancé Fiona Webb. 

As you might be able to guess, considering all
my reviews are about Zoomy he returns in Wally West’s run of comics as the
Flash. Wally becomes the Flash after Barry is killed, melting into the speedforce
during Crisis on Infinite Earths (Justice League comics).

However, he turns up during a 7 part arc and so I am going
to have to review the whole damn thing. Now I don’t really enjoy Wally’s run so
please excuse any snark.

Issue 73: One perfect gift.

image

Its Christmas and the Flash family are celebrating. Wally
West (Flash Mk2 /previously Kid Flash) is dragged out for some festive heroing
by his friend and fellow speedster Jay Garrick (Grandpa Flash). Talk turns to
Wally’s girlfriend, Linda Park, and if he’ll propose, but it’s looking
unlikely. She does know his secret though. So both Flashes go and help out at
the local soup kitchen and doing other good deeds, chatting the whole time. It’s all good family festive
fun, though Flash mk2 is whining about how he isn’t a kid anymore and Santa no
longer loves him.

image

Flash mk2 saves a woman from getting run over, only to
discover that she has gone into labour and her husband has fallen in with a bad
crowd and is planning a robbery. They can’t move the girl, so Grandpa brings
the doctors from the hospital to her (seems irresponsible to me, like what if
they were in the middle of treating someone??). And then Flash mk2 goes to stop her
husband, Joey, from doing something stupid.

image

The Flashes look for Joey but he’s already clocked off from
his job as a mall Santa. He manages to steal the money but gets stopped by a
kid who’s only wish for xmas is that his dad wasn’t in jail. This pulls all the
right heart strings and Joey can’t go through with it. But then his mobster
friends arrive, feeling betrayed they open fire. The boy and Joey run only to
be saved by the Flash Mk2. The Flashes sort out the money and the boy whilst
Joey goes to find his wife. She has now had the baby and all is good with the
world (blerghhh).

image

The comic ends with a heart- warming get together with
Wally, Linda, Jay and his wife Joan. It’s Christmas and all is good, Linda got
Wally something he wanted and they are just kissing when the doorbell goes.
They open the door and standing there in his Flash costume is original Flash
Barry Allen!!!

image

DC Rebirth – The important bits

· Leave a comment ·

And considering the theme of my blog when I say important I mean relating to Eobard and the Flash 🙂

Spoilers

So Wally West 1 (ginger speedster) is trapped in the speedforce. He is from the classic comics up to Flashpoint. He witnessed that after Flashpoint some higher power fucked with time taking out ten years and also changing people’s relationships. This gave us N52.

However, no one remembers him. He tries to break through the reality barrier now it has been weakened by Darkseid’s death. He appears to various heroes but no one recognises him, not even Linda his once wife. But Barry does and so Wally manifests in the N52 universe. He explains about the past to Barry who now remembers. He also warns of the great power and impending war.

Now I presume that this will lead to various characters getting their memories back. Though I’m concerned about Eobard cause he died in Flashpoint. But as he now exists again hopefully he’ll stay that way. It would be nice if he got a bit of his old character back, as in actually being a genius scientist, engineer and speed force expert. But right now I’ll just settle for him existing and hope that he gets used again in plots.

Masterpost of Eobard Thawne’s classic comic appearences

· Leave a comment ·

Here are all my reviews of classic Flash comics containing Eobard Thawne aka the Reverse Flash / Professor Zoom (1963 – 1983).

The classic comics end on issue 350.
I’ve summarised the end plot below for anyone interested.

Barry Allen aka the Flash is put on trial for Eobard’s murder and it is all going very badly for him. However it turns out that Abra Kadabra is manipulating events. In the end Barry is acquitted as he was defending his bride to be, Fiona Webb. Fiona had a break down after being stood up by Barry at the church. She was taken to hospital and Barry visited her secretly at speed, something that caused her doctor to think she was delusional as they’d seen no visitors. She didnt know he was the Flash and so it lead to further mental break down.

Barry however finds out that Iris’s soul has been put in a new body in the 30th century and as he is now a free man he leaves so that he can be with her. Leaving behind him a now very damaged Fiona and the corspe of Eobard Thawne.

The Flash 2×18: Versus Zoom

· Leave a comment ·

I don’t usually comment on episodes without Eobard in them but I felt I should after watching the episode this morning. So here are my thoughts.

The good

  • Loving the whole thing with Cisco’s power development and
    how he feels about it.
  • First time I have actually had any feels about Wally and the
    whole West family story arch.
  • Loving the black eyes on Hunter, that was beautifully spooky.
  • Hunter as his true self is far more animated and fun than he
    ever was as Jay. 

The bad

  • Harry accuses Jay of being a coward but he is terrified of
    Zoom. He is willing to let a whole world burn because he is scared of him.
  • Iris and Caitlin only talking about the men in their life…. Bah!
    Bad writing.
  • I find it amusing that the speech that Barry gave Cisco about being bros was instantly followed by the request to open the portal. Like if a known manipulator like Eobard had given that speech, we’d all be saying he was just manipulating him.
  • Why have guns if they aren’t going to shoot Zoom?
  • Using childhood psychological trauma to disable Zoom is
    really fucked up.
  • Barry made the supervillain mistake of gloating.

The confusing

  • Hunter’s backstory is pretty much the same as the New 52
    version of Eobard.
  • Despite everything else being so very modern in Earth 2 I am surprised
    by the archaic design of their asylum and the electroshock. Yes we still have
    mental health institutions that use electroshock but it wouldn’t be daily and
    it’s all very safe.

  • Why at the end are they still calling him Jay rather than
    Hunter? It’s the whole Wells/Eobard thing again.
  • How did Hunter create the portal back to E2 and then E1
    again?
  • Why is no-one shooting Hunter?
  • Is Eo in the iron mask? Or maybe it is Jay Garrick, as in where he actually got the name from?
  • Why the frick-frack did they just give Hunter Barry’s speed?
    Like without any contingency or sneaky stuff.
  • He kidnapped Caitlin, I am so not surpised.
Gallery · · Leave a comment ·

OK, so not an Eobard item, but they didn’t have one. He does get a mention inside the pull out though.
I was in Forbidden Planet in London at the weekend and picked up this lovely faux leather Flash notebook by Insights. The paper is nice and thick with thin rule so it’s good quality. The inner cover images are cool and it has a back pocket too. I’m going to write all my creative projects in it so that they are actually replicable for once.

The death of Eobard Thawne

· Leave a comment ·

The Final Return of the Reverse Flash part 4.

This is the end of Eobard’s run in the
classic comics (1963 – 1983). The other 3 parts can be found here: PART 1, PART 2, PART 3.

The Flash issue 324 – The Slayer and the Slain

image

This issue starts with Wally West (aka Kid Flash) saving a
baby whilst on his way to Barry Allen’s (aka the Flash) wedding to Fiona Webb.
However despite being late, it hasn’t started yet because Barry is missing.
Fiona is understandably upset.

image

Barry is actually busy chasing Zoomy (Eobard Thawne aka Reverse
Flash/Professor Zoom) across a desert. Zoomy has Barry in a choke hold and
starts to monologue about why he’s pissed at him. Basically he didn’t like
being trapped in a hell dimension for 4 years. Barry breaks free and they fight
whilst Zoomy continues to waffle on about how epic this battle is and how much
he hates Barry.

image

Back at the wedding people are speculating about where Barry
is. Fiona is crying. Wally wants to find Barry as he thinks he is in danger, because
he wouldn’t miss his wedding otherwise, but the Guardian stops him. He did
promise Barry that he wouldn’t let anyone help in his fight against Zoomy.

image

Meanwhile the two speedsters are now up a snowy mountain.
Using his speed sculpting technique Zoomy creates a bust of Iris in the snow
and then proceeds to taunt Barry about her. Yes, Zoomy killed her cause she
turned down his proposal but he does like to go on about how lovely she was.
They fight more, Zoomy continues to taunt Barry. Despite the whole villain
talking to much thing I actually like that he monologues all this stuff, it
gives a good insight into how he sees the world, situation and Barry. They
really hate each other, and Zoomy derives a lot of perverse pleasure in
torturing him.

So the battle continues and the two speedsters end up on a
beach, where Barry has to save people from a tidal wave caused by Zoomy. Then
they end up in space due to hanging on to a rocket. And finally another beach
where Zoomy has left the message that the game is over and that he is going to
kill Fiona.

image

People at the wedding are still waiting. The police can’t
find Barry and Fiona is getting annoyed by this point, all heart broken and humiliated.
So as it’s been over an hour of waiting she walks out. She bumps into the
wedding photographer outside as she’s stopped to cry some more. She believes
that this was deliberate and that Barry never planned to marry her.

Just at that moment Zoomy turns up but an enraged Barry is
not far behind. He reaches for Zoomy and gets him in a choke hold. Thinking he’s
knocked him out he tries to comfort Fiona but she is very upset, not caring if
she lives or dies. It would be good to remember that this is a woman who lost
her last husband only a few months ago and has been through a lot of hardships.

image

People rush out of the church and a doctor inspects Zoomy
only to find his neck snapped. Yep, that is the end of Eobard Thawne in the
classic comics. Barry Allen snapped his neck whilst saving Fiona, killing him
outright.  I’m going to write one last
review to sum up the end of this plot and series of comics.