Tag: flash

Eobard’s return pt 5 – 1993 Flash Issue 77

4th Sep 201621st Apr 2020 · 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

2nd Sep 201621st Apr 2020 · Leave a comment ·

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

Issue 76: Identity Crisis

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

1st Sep 201621st Apr 2020 · Leave a comment ·

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

Issue 75: Running Behind

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.