DCU Comic Book Reviews

The Brave And The Bold #8

Wally's Choice

January 2008

Written by Mark Waid

Pencils by George Pérez

Inks by Bob Wiacek

Cover by George Pérez

Synopsis

At the headquarters of the Challengers, the various team members learn that reading the Book of Destiny can have a mental and physical toll on them.  In Keystone City, Wally West (aka Flash) receives messages from Dr. Niles Caulder of Doom Patrol that he might be able to help Wally’s kids with their unstable powers.  At first Wally refuses, but his wife Linda convinces him it might be best to at least listen.  In Prague, the Wests meet Doom Patrol.  Then, with the help of Metamorpho, Caulder begins his experiment, but something goes wrong.  Suddenly Metamorpho disappears and everything becomes unstable.  Caulder tells Wally he can only save one of the children and he needs to choose which one.  Wally debates, but decides he won’t choose; he will save both.  Afterwards, in the wreckage of the experiment, they find a word scratched into the equipment:  Megistus.  Meanwhile, the name keeps poppin’ up in the Book of Destiny, but the Challengers are unsure what it means.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This issue felt more like an issue of Waid’s The Flash than an issue of the Brave of the Bold, despite the presence of Doom Patrol or the Book of Destiny.  Some of that is because Waid writes both books, but a lot of that is due to the emphasis of the story on Jai and Iris, which is the focus of the current Flash book as well.  I think if this issue just had the Flash without the kids, it would’ve read differently.  No better or worse, just different.  What I mean to say is that, as usual, this is a great issue of the title with good characterizations from Waid and detailed, but not too busy art from Perez.  I loved the way Waid and Perez worked in a couple of action sequences into a story that doesn’t seem to have any and yet these scenes didn’t seem forced or unnatural.  As usual, Waid does an excellent job providing enough exposition to explain who the characters are, but not enough to weigh down the story.  While I am familiar with the Wests, I am not so much with Doom Patrol, but at no point did I feel lost with the characters.  My only other exposure to Doom Patrol came from an early One Year Later issue of Teen Titans.

As a parent of two children, I can empathize with Wally’s agonizing decision to pick between his two children and then later his pain and distress that he actually made that choice.  I don’t care how many children you might have, you love them equally, which is to say you love them with all of your heart.  There is no way to choose.  I knew that Wally could not make the choice and, of course, I knew both kids were going to survive, but the final conversation with Linda really made that moment even more poignant (especially when you consider how long one second really is to the Fastest Man Alive. 

It is curious that the Flash logo used for the cover of this issue is the logo (and title) that was used when Bart Allen was the Flash.  For Wally’s new (or old or revamped) title, the logo is completely different and lacks the tagline “Fastest Man Alive”. 

 

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