THE FLASH:  REBIRTH #6

Fastest Man Alive

April 2010

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Ethan Van Sciver

Inks by Ethan Van Sciver

Covers by Ethan Van Sciver

Synopsis

Eobard Thwane (aka Reverse Flash) has traveled back in time to kill Iris West before she meets Barry Allen (aka The Flash) for the very first time.  With Wally, Barry runs hard and fast, catching up to Thwane, getting to him before he gets to Iris, then pushing him a pack to the present and trapping him into a container than prevents his ability to time travel.  Later, Barry tells Iris he wants to slow down and enjoy life, especially when he is with her.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

What was the purpose of this issue?  At one point, this was supposed to be a 5-issue mini-series.  Somewhere along the way, it was expanded to 6-issues.  But I am not sure this sixth issue was really needed.  I think you could’ve easily taken the end of the fight with Thwane, perhaps shorten it a little bit, and tack onto the end of the fifth issue and it would’ve worked.  On its own, it doesn’t quite work here because it is a continuation of the fight from the previous issue.  The rest of the issue (about half) is both a wrap-up of the series as well as hints and teases of what will be coming.  Normally, I like these types of stories in which we get to know the characters a little better with scenes showing them interact with others that isn’t reliant on the dictates of the plot.  In this case, however, it just doesn’t work.  In fact, after reading Barry save Iris and then reading the short little epilogue between the two, I was ready to put down the issue altogether.  The rest of it seemed unnecessary.  Having said that, I will say that I liked this issue and I liked how it fits together with the rest of the mini-series.  But on the whole, I think this issue contains a lot of filler and with judicious editing, would’ve been better in a different setting. 

Ultimately, the question for this issue and the entire mini-series is whether or not Johns has done a good enough revitalizing a character that has been “dead” for over 20 years.  Sadly, I am not sure it works.  The mini-series spent too much time futzing with the speed force, the other speedsters, and with Barry’s origins to really make sense of Barry.  While I understand what Johns was going with when he decided to create tragedy in Barry’s past, I do not agree with the decision.  I do not think it was needed.  What was needed was the define Barry, to let us see who he is, the type of person he is, and I think that is where Johns failed.  There is very little her that defines who he is.  After six issue, I don’t feel like I know Barry.  To me, he is still a cipher, defined more by what he can do (run really fast) rather than who he is.  Hopefully in the new series we’ll get more of him, but for the moment, all of the extraneous stuff got in the way of properly introducing Barry to a new generation of readers. 

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