Tag: zoomy comics

The return of Professor Zoom part 3

3rd Jan 2016 · Leave a comment ·

The previous comic reviews can be found here; PART 1 & PART 2

The next parts are here; PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7 & PART 8.

The Flash 42: Blood is thicker

Barry Allen, aka, the Flash, races over to Iron Heights prison as soon as he discovers that his previously incarerated father is missing. He wants to examine the scene but is denied as he is apparently too close to the case. He is told that his dad was part of the break out but he refuses to believe it, thinking that he has been kidnapped instead. So Barry examines the room at super speed (I love that he is wearing a Batman shirt) finding nothing. Iris turns up but she’s not looking for a story cause she’s meant to be on only Flash stories. She tells Barry that the Flash is hated by the cops and seen as a problem by the people of the city due to the damage he leaves in his wake. As per usual, disaster and character assassination are at the forefront of ‘good’ news reporting. Anyway, Iris was actually there to see her brother Daniel West aka Reverse Flash. She reports that Wally, her nephew, is now doing well, applying himself at school so that’s a good thing at least.

Meanwhile at a Medi-Barn distribution centre, Henry Allen and co are stealing stuff. So much for Henry not being a criminal. (There is a nice nod to Kord industries on one of the boxes.) Henry apparently has a plan but unknown to him, Eobard Thawne aka Professor Zoom, is watching him unseen. Henry and co are about to leave when Professor Zoom triggers the alarm just to be annoying. A guard rushes in and Henry tells him not to shoot, that they can come to a peaceful arrangement, but Professor Zoom has other ideas. From the unseen dimension / speedforce Professor Zoom makes Henry pull the trigger on his gun, killing the guard. Henry is confused but they need to run before they get caught, so off they go.

Anthony aka Girder goes back to Keystone city to visit his grandma. She is just about to fix him a snack when the Flash turns up. Grandma is having none of it and threatens the Flash, however Girder just goes straight ahead and fights him. The Flash agrees to leave Girder’s gran alone in exchange for knowing why they kidnapped Henry. Girder tells him that they didn’t but he doesn’t believe him. They continue to fight and Barry eventually leads him to a junk yard where he captures Girder using a giant magnet. He tells him to talk, but Girder isn’t believed and so just tells the Flash to ask Henry himself.

The Flash then turns up at one of the prison guard’s house. Turns out that the guard’s wife is dying of a blood disease and Henry promised to help cure her if he helped him escape. The guard had looked into it and found out that Henry was indeed an amazing blood doctor previously at the forefront of his field and so agreed. He’s prepared to go to jail for this as long as his wife gets treatment but the Flash says he won’t turn him in as long as he says when he sees Henry again.

As the Flash is running home, Professor Zoom pulls up next to him. Barry asks who he is but Eobard just asks why Barry is so angry, insinuating childhood trauma as the cause. Barry goes to grab for him but Eobard is too fast. Eobard disappears and Barry finds that he had chased him down to in front of Barry’s childhood home where his mother was murdered.

The comic ends there with Barry striking a rather flexible pose. I can’t pinpoint what exactly is wrong with it, or maybe I’m just distracted by how fabulous his butt looks, but I’m sure there is something up with that position.

Part 4 tomorrow.

The return of Professor Zoom part 2

2nd Jan 2016 · Leave a comment ·

Part 1 of this 8 part review of the newest Professor Zoom story arc is HERE

The following parts are here; PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7 & PART 8.

The Flash 41: Yellow

I’m so conflicted about Brett Booths artwork. Some of it is awesome but then there are anatomy mistakes and he is just not great with faces. Anyway, on to the plot.
It’s another beautiful day in Central City and the Flash, aka Barry Allen, is fighting an 8ft mech rhino-guy. As this is happening and Barry is bragging about being the fastest there is another figure, Professor Zoom aka Eobard Thawne watching the fight. He is literally walking round Barry, talking to him as if he was in slow motion. Barry notices enough to be distracted and so rhino-guy knocks him down.

Then it changes to now, the previous battle being a flash-forward. Barry Allen is taking a shower and just as he gets out he is startled by a large black and white rat. Which is what he gets for sharing an apartment with former Pied Piper, Hartley Rathaway. The rat is called Moon and is apparently very tame.

So Barry dresses and takes off to visit his dad Henry at Iron Heights prison. Henry is incarcerated for killing his wife and Barry’s mother, Nora. Barry is excited as he has apparently found some evidence to help clear his father’s name, however Henry is less than happy, telling Barry to stop. But then Barry mentions a name, Thawne, and his dad loses it, confessing to the crime and putting the phone down.

On the way back to his cell, Henry is given a message by the criminal Double Down, saying that ‘the Professor sends his regards’, and that the man in yellow is coming. This is apparently enough to send Henry over the edge and a fight starts, though not for long as a friendly guard breaks it up. Once back in his cell with cell mates Travis, Ernie and Anthony, Henry hatches a plan. Lucky for him his cell mates are actually Mogul, Black Mold and Girder.

Meanwhile Barry hasn’t given up and is explaining about his lead to his boss and surrogate father Darryl at the GCPD. They are having a heart to heart when there is a report of a break in and the need for immediate back-up. Barry runs off to become the Flash and we are back at the fight from the beginning. It recaps Barry being distracted and getting hit, but then he gets up, speeds round the rhino-guy who promptly passes out from lack of air.

Meanwhile over at Iron Heights, Henry is pretending to be sick so that they can escape. To be honest it is the oldest trick in the book. They escape, hijack a boat and Henry goes off to protect his son. Though I’m not sure how he plans to do that all things considered.
The comic ends there. Part 3 tomorrow.

The Return of Professor Zoom Part 1

1st Jan 2016 · Leave a comment ·

The Flash relaunched back in 2011 as part of DC’s N52 range. Most of the Rogues were there, though slightly reinvented however Professor Zoom previously Reverse Flash, aka Eobard Thawne, was missing. Daniel West, Iris’s brother took up the mantel of Reverse Flash after an accident and turning evil. However in 2015 Professor Zoom returned.

All the following parts of this review are here, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7 & PART 8.

The Flash Annual 4: The Acolytes of Zoom

Before I get onto the story I just wanted to talk about the art. It isn’t bad but I don’t feel it’s up to DC best standard as there are inconsistencies and I just don’t find it as polished as it could be. I’ve seen worse but it annoys me when things like eye colour changes between panels, or basic anatomy obviously isn’t right.

Anyway, so this story starts out in 1520 Aztec South America. The Aztec empire is dying as the Spanish have invaded. But there is one beautiful Aztec woman who isn’t running, Magali, the fountain of youth who has the power to change the age of anything organic. The conquistadors have surrounded her but there is an old man traveling with them. He introduces himself to Magali as Eobard Thawne and claims that he will save her if she makes him young again. She agrees and Eobard deals with the conquistadors in a flash of black lightning, revealing himself as a speedster. He then invites Magali, to join him in recruiting others who have been given power by the lightning to fight against a great future evil called The Flash!

Next they are in 1883 at a diamond mine in Africa. Someone with powers is stealing the diamonds. It turns out that it is Xolani, one of the Zulu and he has the power to become a teleporting shadow type creature. He briefly visits his wife before going to hide the diamonds he stole, so that the white men don’t find anything. However his wife finds a diamond under her pillow, believing it a gift. Whilst Xolani is burying his stolen diamonds he is confronted by Eobard and Magali. A fight breaks out revealing that they all have powers. Xolani explains that he is burying the diamonds cause if enough go missing the white miners will leave and his village can be free. Suddenly there is an explosion from the village. When they get back there the whole village has been burnt down and his wife murdered. Xolani agrees to go with Eobard and Magali in exchange for help getting revenge.

Next they are in 1957 Australia. There is a Maori woman on a carnival stage. She is apparently the unmovable human Block and punters are paying to try and move her. All of them fail, even the strongest man can’t lift her until a man comes up and insults her Maori heritage, so she punches him. A fight breaks out, someone then shoots her, which does nothing and then they turn on her completely calling her a witch and a freak. She is saved by Eobard and co. He explains that like them she is touched by the lightening and has god like power. She agrees to join him in his quest. Eobard is really good at giving a convincing speech that plays on the current vulnerabilities of the person he’s trying to recruit.

The team end up in Oklahoma in 1982 during a tornado. The cause is actually a teenage boy. Xolani and Block stop him. The poor boy is Roscoe, his power to create tornadoes having destroyed his home. They were medicating him to control his powers but Eobard convinces him that he just need guidance and training. So on the promise of giving him a new family, Roscoe joins them too.

So with his team assembled and joined by a non-powered guy called Selkirk who is just really knowledgeable about the Flash, the team start training. They apparently train for centuries, getting the teamwork perfect so that they can take down the Flash. It is here that they start to call Eobard Professor Zoom and it is revealed that his powers are a control over time, not speed. I want to know in their centuries together, who does the cleaning, cooking etc. Do they have games night? Squabble over what movies to watch?

Anyway, Magali eventually asks Eobard about his past but he doesn’t reveal anything to her. However we do get to see a flashback. Turns out that it was Eobard who set the conquistadors on Magali, who placed the diamond under the pillow and tipped off miners to Xolani’s village, who told the guy to taunt Block about being Maori and contaminated Roscoe’s meds to set him off. When they eventually find out, and I am certain that they will, they are going to be so pissed at Eobard. Oh and he’s taught them how to take out someone with super speed, yeah, that’s not going to back fire at all….
Part 2 tomorrow.

The death of Iris West part 3

23rd Dec 2015 · Leave a comment ·

The previous reviews can be found here, PART 1 and PART 2.

The Flash issue 283 – Flashback

(Or Professor Zoom’s guide to romance & rejection)

In a quick flashback to the previous comic it is revealed that during his journey back to the 1970s, Barry Allen aka the Flash has worked out who killed his wife Iris. However, just as he gets back to his own time he is caught in an explosion. Zoomy (as in Eobard Thawne aka Professor Zoom / Reverse Flash) is waiting for Barry to arrive to watch his demise. There is a massive explosion and Zoomy believes that he has won, finally kiling the Flash.However he notices a film projector. Not expecting Barry to own one he investigates and finds the surveillance film that shows Iris’s death. He comments on how desirable Iris is and so steals a picture of her for later use, then runs off to cause more mischief in the city.

Turns out that Zoomy is behind the sudden rise in the drug trade. He is manufacturing heroine to create a nation of junkies that can work as his slaves.Yeah, cause junkies are so incredibly reliable. Apparently his reason for all this is simply because he’s bored as there is no crime in the future. Amusingly his drug making minions think that he’s crazy.

Ok this is where stuff just gets creepy… Zoomy gets his minions to kidnap a woman, dose her with ether and then hands her over to a plastic surgeon so that he can transform her into Iris. Yeah… because that isn’t creepy as fuck! But apparently he’s still in love with Iris, so that’s what he’s going to do.

So with his soon to be love undergoing surgery, Zoomy sits down to voice record his diary. I’m not sure why there is a name change but he calls himself Professor Adrian Zoom, (The writer, Cary Bates was unaware that John Broome had already named him Eobard in issue 153. It gets retconned back to Eobard later). Zoomy had actually removed the records that previously existed of what he had done in this time and for some unknown reason now feels the reason to replace them. He reveals that his plan was to escape the boredom of the future by coming to the 20th century, being a crime lord, kill the Flash and then take his wife. He regrets that the last part didn’t happen.

He explains that many months ago he went to visit Iris when she was alone and confessed to her just how much he loved and admired her. He went on to pour out his heart, including his plan to kill Barry so that he’d have no competition. Zoomy obviously doesn’t quite understand how love is a two way thing. Iris laughs in his face and rejects his offer thus he offers her an ultimatum. Either she dumps Barry or he’ll kill her and she has 24 hours to decide. He wipes her mind of their conversation and then disappears. 24 hours later Iris is at the heroes and villains Whitlock masquerade party and Zoomy is stalking her. He gets a dance with her, tells her who he truly his and then asks her out again. Iris slaps him and that seals her fate.

Barry has been injected with Angel Dust by this point and so is all woozy. Iris goes to get Barry some water and walks into the room where Yorkin aka Beast-man is (I have no idea why he is hiding out there). Anyway, Zoomy is hiding behind the door. He vibrates himself invisible and in what he calls a crime of passion, he vibrates his hand through Iris’s head, killing her. He leaves the body there, allowing Yorkin, who is known to be violent to take the blame.

Zoomy stops his diary recording there, or as he calls it, ‘the Professor Zoom chronicles’. He’s all emotionally drained from talking about Iris and decides to take a nap, claiming that he’ll record about his killing of the Flash tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the factory where the heroine is being made suddenly starts to tremble and falls apart. Back at his hideout Zoomy is woken up to the voice of the Flash stating that he knew that Zoomy had killed Iris cause only another speedster could be invisible on the film. He then goes on to explain that the explosion didn’t kill him but as it tore him apart he gained control of his molecules and moved them a few hours into the future and very slowly reconstructed himself. Yeah, I know, a very silly explanation, but all this old stuff is full of silly explanations.

So obviously they both fight. Zoomy claims he loved Iris more. Barry just gets more pissed at him. Zoomy thinks he’s lost Barry after knocking him into the ocean and so goes to get in his time machine. However, Barry swam after him and gets to the time machine too, and knocks Zoomy out. He sets the machine for the future, hoping that they’ll reinstate the death penalty for Zoomy’s crimes, however they start going back in time instead.

Zoomy reveals that the time machine is booby-trapped and that it will go back and self-destruct if anyone uses it but him. Barry decides to get out of there, despite Zoomy saying he’ll never outrun the time shock wave. Barry leaves anyway as Zoomy begs him not to let him die alone.

The next issue I’m not going to review as I’m only reviewing Zoomy centric comics. But I will tell you that Barry travels through his own timeline, eventually getting back to the present where he decides that he now must get on with his life without Iris. What happens to Zoomy is not revealed, he’s presumed lost in space and time, probably dead.

The murder of Iris West part 2

22nd Dec 2015 · Leave a comment ·

First review in this arc can be found HERE. and the next part can be found HERE

The Flash issue 282 – Mishmash

Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash is quickly sinking towards the centre of the earth thanks to heavy matter/ gravity boots put on him by Zoomy (Eobard Thawne a.k.a. Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash) in the last issue. Barry manages to vibrate enough to stop the heat from killing him as he gets to the earth’s core. The boots aren’t core proof though and so they melt from heat releasing the Flash to be taken back to the surface by lava currents.

He pops up in the ocean only to discover Hal Jordan a.k.a. Green Lantern looking for him. Hal picks Barry up, but Barry denies wanting any further help as he wants to track down Iris’s killer himself. Because Zoomy mentioned that Iris’s killer was a matter for the history books, Barry decides that he will go to the future and look through said books.

Barry uses the cosmic treadmill and arrives in the 25th century, causing a flying car crash! He saves the car and a future policeman recognises him. Luckily he’s a fan and discovering that Flash is trying to apprehend Zoomy, he gives Barry directions to the historic library. He gets there and with the aid of a robot helper looks up Iris. It says her killer is unknown. Barry suddenly realises that Zoomy was just using this as a distraction.

Meanwhile, the chief of central city police, Paulson has just landed in a small South American country for what his family believe is a vacation. However, in reality he is on the run because it was really him who put out the hit on Frank in the last issue. Anyway, the Flash suddenly turns up and drags Paulson out of his car. He’s going to drag him to jail for being corrupt and suggests his family take his money and hit Disneyland instead. He gets Paulson to confess, though he swears that there is another man behind the whole thing, a Mr ZYX, however he never saw him. The Flash drops him off at the police station, having recorded his confession and leaves him to be locked up.

The Flash is just leaving the police station when Hal Jordan aka the Green Lantern turns up. He wants to talk to Barry but the Flash basically tells him to fuck off, even knocking him aside. Hal is confused by this and convinced that the Flash is still being effected by the Angel Dust. He tries to reach out to the Flash but is only met with violence. So Hal tries to capture him but it doesn’t work because lo and behold, it isn’t Barry at all but Zoomy in disguise. His yellow coloured suit still exerting the power to disrupt Hals green power ring. Zoomy gloats and runs off leaving Hal wondering where the real Flash is.

Turns out that the real Flash is in 2479 but about to return home. He travels through time, gets back to his treadmill when suddenly there is an explosion! To be continued.

The death of Iris West part 1

21st Dec 2015 · Leave a comment ·

This is the first part of a 3 part story line revealing the circumstances around the death of Iris West. Part 2 is HERE and part 3 is HERE.

The Flash issue 281 – Deadly Games

First of all a little background. Barry went to a fancy dress party with Iris in which he got injected with a massive amount of the drug Angel Dust, and Iris was murdered.

This issue starts with Frank Curtis, a detective friend of Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash, calling him from a phone booth claiming to have undeniable proof that Clive Yorkin, a.k.a. Beast-man, didn’t kill Iris. Anyway, gun shots ring out and the phone goes dead. Frank fights for his life against 2 hitmen whilst Barry tries to work out where he is. The sound of clock chimes gives away the location and the Flash gets there in time to save Frank and get him to hospital.

The next morning Frank’s body has been reported missing, much to the despair of Chief Paulson, Barry and Frank’s boss. Turns out that he was behind the hit! Both Frank and Barry Allen were working on a narcotics case, which the hit seems to be related to. After a conversation with Barry and finding out that Frank is alive but in hiding, Chief Paulson panics, muttering to himself that Mr. Zyx wouldn’t be happy that the hit failed. So he tries to set up another hit. It must be great being police chief.

Frank is hiding out at Barry’s place which isn’t a big surprise. He has found security footage from the Whitlock masquerade party at which Iris was murdered. Obviously Barry is a little reluctant to watch the tape, but it shows what happened. Iris, dressed as Batgirl because it was a fancy dress party, finds Clive Yorkin (a.k.a. Beast-man) prowling the Whitlock house. At first Yorkin seems startled by the Batgirl costume, but then Iris looks behind her, also spotting something. It appears that she is struck, and that whatever is behind her is what Yorkin is watching and terrified by as he doesn’t even watch Iris drop. Yorkin runs off as soon as Barry arrives, dressed as the Flash.

Seeing the tape brings Barry understandably to tears, both at seeing his wife die again and also knowing that her killer is still at large. Barry send’s Frank away whilst he spends the night re-watching the tape. He knows that there is something wrong with it but can’t work out what. In the morning he goes to Iris’s grave and vows to catch her killer. On his way back, the police radio goes off alerting Barry to a shootout. Barry quickly becomes the Flash and dashes to the scene.

Once there he notices something odd, the policemen are being thrown about by an invisible force, well invisible to them but not to the Flash. It is none other than Zoomy (Eobard Thawne aka Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash). Four years in the comics since their last encounter. Barry threatens, Zoomy claims boredom and then a fight breaks out. Barry stops the gun fight first, saving the cops before taking on Zoomy.

Then one of the most hilarious fights I’ve read so far happens. Barry leads Zoomy out of town, goes to attack him, grabbing his shoulder and Zoomy literally splits in half. I just can’t even express how silly this is so I’ll just leave you with the picture below.

Anyway, Zoomy leads Barry on a round the world chase which leaves Barry super exhausted and he passes out in the desert. When he awakens, Zoomy is standing over him, having given him a gift whilst he was unconscious; heavy matter boots. These are so dense that Barry can’t vibrate out of them and so heavy that they will keep Barry sinking till he hits the earth’s core. Zoomy gloats as Barry sinks, claiming that being from the future he has seen the history records and knows who killed Iris.

The comic stops there, to be continued next time.

The Flash issue 237 – The thousand year separation

6th Dec 2015 · Leave a comment ·

Oh dear….Iris is being objectified yet again….

Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash is secretly being watched by Dr Fate and the Flash of Earth 2 as he tries to find his wife Iris. She’s been missing for two weeks now and so he is off to the 30th century to see if she is with her parents. For those that don’t know, Iris is actually from the 30th century and her real parents are there. Not quite sure why he waited a full 2 weeks, surely it couldn’t of taken him that long to look everywhere else, and plus wouldn’t you check her parents place first??

Anyway, in a sudden telepathic bit of storytelling, Barry knows that Doctor Fate of Earth-2 saw that Earth-1 was doomed and Iris was the cause. He had Jay kidnap her, explain things and after the whole Justice Society tried to sort out her energy fluxes they decided that the only thing they could do is send her to the 30th century in the hopes that they can cure her. Otherwise they need to separate Iris from Barry forever. Barry suddenly understands and stops just before he can grab Iris, knowing now that if he did then the world would fall apart.

However he got a little too close and a huge storm starts, destroying everything. Flash tries to save the day but is failing until Zoomy (Eobard Thawne aka Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash), turns up and stops the storm instead. The Flash wants to know what he is doing there and Zoomy confesses that it is because he is going to marry Iris! Flash is understandably pissed off at this and makes threats but Zoomy reminds him that if he doesn’t let his wife go then the world will end.

Zoomy claims that he alone knows the secret of the destruction and how to stop it. Iris has already agreed to marry him in exchange for him keeping the world safe. Barry is quick to point out that she is already married to him, but according to Zoomy that’s just in the 1970’s and 30th century law is different. I have to confess that my favourite bit is how Zoomy has sewn a wedding outfit for Iris. I’m not sure if it is just future fashion or Zoomy being lusty but it is rather low cut in the chest and short in the skirt with a corseted waist, rather sexy overall for a wedding dress, it isn’t white either.

Anyway, Zoomy explains that when he was last impersonating Barry (see my last review, tag zoomy comics) he implanted the seeds of this energy flux in her and thus this whole thing was inevitable. He was also the one who tipped off Dr Fate. So Zoomy picks up Iris and rushes off to the other side of the planet where a minister and legal documents await to authenticate their marriage.

Suddenly Barry has a eureka moment and realises that Zoomy has been vibrating his hands, something he thought was a distraction, but actually has to do with the whole energy flux thing. Barry rushes after them, grabbing Iris back just as Zoomy is confessing how much he’s been dreaming of marrying Iris. The Flash and Zoomy fight whilst Iris watches. And then in a winning move, Barry throws Zoomy into a cactus! (rofl)

The world is about to end as Barry and Iris reunite, however Barry starts to vibrate his hands in the same way that Zoomy had been and it neutralizes her energy flux. Apparently after a few treatments the effects would be permanent. They turn round and find that Zoomy is gone and so all go home to have a nice family dinner.

The Flash issue 233 – The deadly secret of the Flash.

19th Nov 2015 · Leave a comment ·

(Someone’s desperate to get laid…)

So it starts with Iris nagging Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash about all the chores he’ll have to do that day. They are looking after Stacy, a dead friend’s 18yr old daughter whilst she attends college in Central, giving her a lift to the dentist.

They are half way down the road when a weather warning says that a group of twisters are going to hit the city. Barry speeds out of the car, grabs a mannequin, places it in the road and pretends it’s an injured person. He thus has to stop the car, gets Iris to drive on to find a phone to call for help. Iris is totally wise to his games though.

So the Flash runs off to sort out the twisters, but the third is suspicious and he gets sucked into it. Turns out it is a death trap, set up by none other than Zoomy (Eobard Thawne aka Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash). Trapped in the tornado the Flash is barraged by cosma-spurs (whatever the frick they are), but they are draining Flash’s stamina. Zoomy explains that cosma-spurs are a new deadly type of energy that was recently discovered in his time. So obviously the first thing he did was travel back 500 years in time to inflict them on the Flash. And it seems that he succeeded as all that is left is the Flash’s burnt out suit with no Barry in sight!

The news reports that the Flash is dead and Iris is understandably upset. That is until he appears at her window, apparently fine. He explains everything that happened and how he vibrated out of his suit to escape. However, when Iris suggests he goes and corrects the news about his death, he says no, claiming that pretending to be dead will smoke out Zoomy. So they spend their day as previously planned, but every time Iris needs picking up, Barry is 20 minutes late. She gets more and more annoyed at him. She snaps at him when he compliments her on her new hair style, claiming that Barry is acting strange and that her hair has been like that for months. So she demands to see his watch, finding it to be at the right time. This annoys her further cause she had worked out that Barry was always 25 mins late and set his watch back that amount to make him on time. This lead to her working out the truth; that this isn’t Barry!

Yes, it is Zoomy, trying to get into Iris’s pants yet again! So as she figured it out, he’s gonna have to kill her. Apparently Zoomy did a mind probe on Barry hence why he knew what their schedule was. Mind powers again… Iris is confused as to why Zoomy is going to all this trouble and so he explains. Apparently its love, because that is the only thing he can think of as a legitimate reason for wanting to murder Barry and marry Iris which just makes him sound crazy. And it is on those grounds that Iris rejects him again and Zoomy decides to kill her instead. Yeah, true love that is… So he demonstrates how she is going to be sliced to death by him twirling a metal yard stick at speed and cutting up a banana.

But suddenly out of nowhere something strikes him, knocking him out. Iris can sense that it is Barry, even if she can’t see him. Barry then reappears and explains. He vibrated himself into non-solid invisibility, but the radiation from the cosma-spurs was preventing him from becoming solid again. So he followed Iris around in the hopes that he’d be able to save her, which he does. So with a passed out Zoomy on the floor, Barry and Iris make out as Stacy walks in.

The flash issue 186 – Time times three equals…?

2nd Nov 2015 · Leave a comment ·

This issue starts with an exhausted Barry Allen a.k.a. The Flash getting some loving advice from his wife Iris about how he should take a holiday. Iris doesn’t have time to go with him so suggests he takes a holiday in time thus could leave and be back only minutes later. Unfortunately once he gets back he collapses and is rushed to hospital. No-one knows what’s wrong with him but Barry is now in a coma.

Then we cut to 500 years in the future to see what Zoomy (Eobard Thawne a.k.a. Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash) is up to. It seems that the prison service has finally worked out that he has mind powers as well as super speed and thus are flooding his cell with radiation that saps the will. They’re making him watch day time tv too! Oh the horror! Anyway, Zoomy is just noting how he should emulate the way gangsters talk when he’s interrupted by the disembodied voice of Sargon the sorcerer. He explains how he will break Zoomy out and bring him back to the 20th century. Zoomy obviously agrees and suddenly find himself in Sargon’s creepy lair.

Sargon somehow has one of Zoomy’s many spare uniforms (ok so it’s later explained that he stole it from the Flash museum which means that Barry did strip Zoomy in that previous comic and kept his suit). So whilst he’s putting that on Sargon explains that he’s studied the occult all his adult life and although the past has taught him many great secrets, he really wants to travel to the future to learn more. However Zoomy says it would take months and he can’t be bothered so he runs off to kill the Flash instead. But Sargon won’t be deterred so easily, so resolves to make Zoomy think that the Flash is already dead so he’ll come back and teach him. Cause obviously that’s what he’d do with his free time, not go on a crime spree or anything else….

So Sargon dresses a skeleton in a Flash suit and arranges for it to be found. The news reports Flash as dead and Zoomy checks with Iris to see if he really is. She believes so as Barry’s missing from the hospital and the skeletons match. So Zoomy goes back to Sargon who is still bothering him about learning to time travel. Zoomy isn’t having any of it so pretends to teach him whilst tricking Sargon into banishing himself to a remote dimension. Good job too as apparently Zoomy was starting to get freaked out by all the magic.So as predicted Zoomy goes on a crime spree.

But where is Barry? He apparently felt better, skipped out on the hospital and then collapsed in his Flash costume in an alleyway. Eventually getting up he hails a cab but the radio informs him of Zoomy’s current crime spree. The Flash resolves to stop him but disappears on getting out the cab, having been summon to Sargon in the other dimension. Flash then saves him and brings him back. Then whilst Sargon is passed out, he goes off to find Zoomy and stop him.

Meanwhile Zoomy has stolen all the best loot and shrunk it down to easy carrying size. But upon running into the Flash he resizes it all to attack him, then uses his shrink ray on the Flash himself, putting tiny Flash in a jar. Zoomy then goes on a crime spree across time.The Flash finds that he still has Sargon’s magic gem in his pocket, having torn it off his costume earlier. He uses it to break free, defeat Zoomy and then resizes himself. He deposits Zoomy back in jail, but when he goes to where he left Sargon he has already disappeared. So he nips to the 25th century doctors to get cured of what was making him pass out. Sargon swears he’ll be back for his ruby.

The Flash issue 175 – Race to the end of the universe

12th Oct 2015 · Leave a comment ·

Ok, so this comic is a little light on Zoomy (Eobard Thawne aka Professor Zoom / Reverse Flash) action but he is in there so I’m going to review it anyway.

It starts with Barry Allen on his way home when a bulletin comes in saying that Weather Wizard is going to attack a power station. Wanting to try out a lightning rod he was working on and conveniently carrying with him, Barry as the Flash rushes to the scene.

He’s just fighting with Weather Wizard when Superman turns up to help out. Flash is a bit pissed at Superman muscling in on his territory but Supes claims he was called by Flash. Both leave, rather confused.

Well it seems that Barry has now informed Iris of his secret identity as he busily bitches about how this is all a set up by Supes to prove he’s faster than Barry. Someone has some deep seated insecurities about their speed.

Next day the same thing happens in Metropolis, in which Barry gets the call and Supes denies it. They both resolve that someone is obviously playing them and so go for a meeting with the whole Justice League. However, the league has no idea who called the meeting.

Turns out it was Rokk and Sorban, rulers of gambler planet Ventura. Apparently they bet on a charity race that Flash and Supes did. Each bet on a different hero, however the result was a draw hence they are there to demand a rematch. This time it is 240,000 trillion miles to the edge of the universe and back. And as an incentive they will blow up the home town of the looser, or both if they don’t take part. They use their mind powers to demonstrate that they can destroy stuff, to make Barry able to run and breathe in space, and to restrain Green Lantern who is pissed that there is a space plot that he isn’t part of. In fact they capture the whole of the league so that they can’t aid their team mates.

Flash and Supes start the race, though Flash only has a week’s worth of oxygen. The race starts ok but then it all gets fucked up. Supes has to take a detour due to a red star, happens across Ventura but although it’s got a huge volcano erupting, he doesn’t help cause he sees something that stops him.

Meanwhile Flash finds an old space craft and seeing people inside goes to help. The people are actually fake and the Flash is trapped inside some giant man eating space plant. He manages to vibrate out of it though Sorban, who is meant to be betting on Flash winning the race, is miffed that he survived.
In space, Supes catches up with Flash and is trying to explain to him how something rotten is going on but Flash doesn’t believe him. He gets cut off anyway by kryptonite meteors. Flash gets in trouble with a sticky meteor but Supes saves him.

Back at the watchtower, Martian Manhunter has escaped his bondage and posing as Supes he tries to take on the aliens. However they use yellow kryptonite on him which he turns to lead so they can’t use it on the real Supes. But he gets captured again.

The race continues and Supes and Flash keep getting into trouble and then helping each other out. Though Barry is very distrustful of Supes and keeps on racing even though Supes has said that this is a trap and they should just go back. Just as they are getting to the end of the universe Flash gets tired, realising that Supes has the advantage because he doesn’t. So he stops for a little bit on a planet. Strangely he hears someone calling his name. Whilst this is happening, Supes falls into a trap and only just manages to send a distress signal to Flash. Flash is now all up for helping Supes out and goes to rescue him. They then make it through one final trap with the aid of teamwork and pass the finish line. Oddly enough, it looks like each of them won depending on what screen they looked at.

Supes goes to confront Rokk, who tries to attack him with magical demon powers. Supes calls him out on this and punches him in the face. Flash confronts Sorban and although he is strangely fast, the Flash is faster and punches him too. Turns out it was Abra Kadabra, a magician from the 64th century and Zoomy all along. Supes knew something was wrong because when he went passed Ventura he saw that the volcanos were being bet on by the real Rokk and Sorban. And Flash found out cause Green Lantern used the last of his lantern power to inform him through a talking fish on the planet he rested on.