DCU Comic Book Reviews

FLASHPOINT #2

Chapter Two Of Five

August 2011

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Andy Kubert

Inks by Sandra Hope

Cover by Andy Kubert And Ivan Reis

Synopsis

On the high seas, Deathstroke and his pirates sail to close to Paris and, as a result, encounter Emperor Aquaman.  In Gotham City, Barry Allen tries to explain to Thomas Wayne (aka Batman) that the world has changed and they need to revert history to what it was.  When Thomas realizes that his son, Bruce, is alive in the other history, he agrees to help, so his son can live.  In London, Wonder Woman captures Colonel Steve Trevor of the United States Special.  Trevor has been sent to find reporter Lois Lane, who has been gathering intel on the amazons to pass along to Cyborg.  The news confirms what the Amazon’s counterspy has told them:  Cyborg is amassing the world’s super heroes against them.  Wonder Woman orders Lois Lane to be found.  Elsewhere, Batman and Barry attempt to recreate the experiment that gave Barry his powers. The lightning strikes but instead it leaves Barry Allen charred.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Called it!  I knew that Thomas Wayne would help Barry return the timeline to what Barry remembers so that his son can live. 

I am probably going to get in trouble for this (because you should never generalize), but I think whether or not you will like (or do like) this mini-series may very well depend on how you approach the altered timeline/history/elseworlds or whatever you want to call it.  Some people will find it annoying, believing that the story doesn’t matter, the events don’t matter, because if events can change in a flash to what they are in the story, they can (and probably will) change in a flash at the end of the story.  The news of DC’s relaunch certainly supports this theory.  So, if you fall into this camp, then you probably won’t like this issue (or indeed this series) because after all, who cares if Wonder Woman kills Steve Trevor, or Deathstroke is a pirate, or whatever else.  It doesn’t matter, because at the end of the day it will change anyway.  However, some people will actually enjoy the changes to the world and won’t particular care about the end of the story so much as what is happening now in the story.  And what is happening now is that we have two characters, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, acting unlike anything we have seen before.  SO if you fall into this camp, this will be a fun issue where you see something different. 

The question becomes:  which side do I fall into?  Normally, I would say the latter because what matters is the story and what happens to characters, whether there are the ones we recognize or different versions of ones we recognize.  The problem I have is that while the revisions to Aquaman and Wonder Woman create compelling moments in the book, they don’t have any connection to Barry Allen and the main plot.  Right now, Aquaman and Wonder Woman are simply window dressing and sure it helps to flesh out the new world, but frankly it would be nicer if it connected in some way to whatever Barry is doing. 

Ultimately, I liked this issue and I am hooked on this mini-series, but Johns better shore up the plot and the characters, find the connective links and make everything mesh, before it begins to meander and all we are get are vignettes. 

It feels like to me that Thomas Wayne was willing to believe Barry rather quickly.  I am not sure the presence of a suit appearing from a ring would be enough to make me think that, hey, this guy must be from another world.  However, I am willing to believe that Thomas is hoping to believe if it might mean his son gets the chance to live. 

I like the sarcastic comments from Thomas.  “What kind of name is Eobard” and “How does that fit in there, anyway.”  I love snarky little asides like that, showing a sense of awareness from the writer and, hence, from the characters that sometimes, yes, things in a fictional universe can be as stiupid as things in the real universe. 

 

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