THE FLASH #243

Fast Money, Part Six:  Everything, Always

October 2008

Written by Tom Peyer

Pencils by Freddie E. Williams II

Inks by Freddie E. Williams II

Cover by Freddie E. Williams II

Synopsis

Gorilla Grodd has just killed Iris West, the daughter of Wally West (aka The Flash), by accelerating her to old age.  Wally attacks Grodd, intent on hurting him, but senses something is wrong.  Wally pauses.  Grodd is messing with their minds.  As soon as Wally realizes this, Iris appears alive, the same as before.  Grodd disappears to reveal Nzame, the white ape with the power to heal.  Nazame runs away.  Iris and Wally give chase.  They encounter Grodd.  Iris runs at Grodd and feels the power of the speed force.  Meanwhile, Linda and Jai return to the gorilla palace.  There, the court physician examines Jai and determines Jai’s aging is not connected at all to his DNA.  Just then Wally returns.  He tells them the problem is the speed force.  Wally then takes his kids into the speed force and when they return the kids are back to the way they used to be.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This feels like a return to zero, an issue in which all that the writer has done for the last storyline has completely been reversed and we’re back to the status quo.  Not that I expected different, mind you.  But this seems more obvious than usual.  Some of that is due to the fact that I know a new creative team is taking over; whatever the new writer has in mind did not include taking over whatever Peyer had started.  Part of it is the fact that Peyer seemed to be pushing Wally and the family into different directions.  Granted, some of it was obviously was not going to stick (the death of Iris).  Yet, some of it seemed an interesting way to build Wally for the long-term (such as the job situation).  I suppose, ultimately, the story wasn’t all that bad and was getting better as it went along, but the undoing of a lot of what Peyer set in motion undercut the story a little bit.  I am not asking that all stories make Big changes to a character; sometimes the smallest things can mean a lot. 

Let me ask this question:  if you know what the problem is with your kids and when you fix it one of them goes from old age back to a teenager, why wouldn’t you just continue with the fixing and revert the kids to the age they are supposed to be?  Or would that be a problem with the kids having abilities and thoughts that go beyond their infant age.  I suppose I shouldn’t point out that Iris was acting differently when she became older, so perhaps she would act differently if she became younger.  I don’t know.  All I know is that if you have the chance to give your kids a normal childhood, you know taking 13 years to become a teenager rather than 13 days, you should take it.

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