REVERSE-FLASH versus FLASH & MAX MERCURY

Flash Facts (DC)
Where: Flash: Rebirth #4 When: September 2009
Why: Geoff Johns How: Ethan Van Sciver

The Story So Far...
Before this universe came to be, there existed an infinite array of Earths populated by super-powered champions. When life throughout the multiverse came under threat from a violent creature called The Anti-Monitor, one hero rose above all others to run his final race to stop the end of everything. That hero was Barry Allen - The Flash!

To the merged universe that was created after the Anti-Monitor's defeat, Barry Allen had given his life so that all may live! The legend of his sacrificed lived on in the legends of all the heroes he'd known, especially Wally West - who carried the torch of scarlet speedster into a new age as The Flash.

Only, when the New Gods fell to Earth and another crisis threatened reality, Barry Allen made his shocking return - alive!

In truth, Flash had become one with the cosmic phenomena called The Speed Force: the lightning that powers all speedsters! His return has mysteriously meant death for other runners bound by the Speed Force - a fact that forces him to return to the otherworldly dimension, where he will face another who has escaped death - Professor Zoom, The Reverse-Flash!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Draw 5 (Professor)
Speed: Draw 7 (Light Speed)
Stamina: Draw 6 (Generator)
Agility: Draw 2 (Average)
Fighting: Flash 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Max Mercury 3 (Explosives)


Super-villain royalty finally joins the ranks of the Secret Wars on Infinite Earths in today's feature fight! Professor Eobard Thawne is better known throughout the ages as Professor Zoom, the villainous Reverse-Flash!

Originally born in the 25th century, he was a scientist who idolized the Silver Age of super-heroes, in particular the museum memorialized 20th century icon: Barry Allen, The Flash! Adoration turned to resentment when the Reverse-Flash chose to use his speed powers to commit crimes, beginning his inversion as the counter opposite to the scarlet speedster!

By recreating the chemical bath that accidentally connected Barry Allen with his incredible powers, Professor Zoom gained comparable super-human speed and mastery over all that entails. He can move and react at unfathomable pace, endure harsh physical forces, manipulate his molecules fast enough to pass through solid objects, and even use his speed to travel through time!

We haven't seen Professor Zoom in action in past entries, but his successor Hunter Zolomon could be found buzzing in the background of Infinite Crisis #1 as a member of The Society. The nature of Zolomon's powers differ in that they are more specifically linked to time manipulation and displacement.

The Flash has clashed with many speedsters throughout his career, including, but not limited to: Savitar, Lady Flash and even the faster than a speeding bullet - Superman [Flash: Rebirth #3]! We know he can run in step with Professor Zoom, but can he take him down alone? He won't have to!

For every fast running nemesis, The Flash has a speedster to call a friend! Max Mercury is a whirlwind runner from the 19th century, whose early encounters with the speed force eventually led him to become a Zen guru of speed! His life's exploration of The Speed Force phenomena led him to befriend Jay Garrick in the 1940s, and later mentor Wally West in exploiting the fullest of his speed!

Are two speedsters better than one? You'd think so - but let's find out...

The Math: Max Mercury & Flash Ranking: Flash (#14)

What Went Down...
A dance of ghosts greets The Flash as he rejoins the blurring red haze of The Speed Force. The Reverse-Flash - buzzing with afterimages and crackling with red lightning. He didn't expect his nemesis quite so early. It hardly matters...

The yellow clad villain blitzes across The Flash and Max Mercury in the blink of an eye. The collision of his fist against their jaws leaves a ghostly snapshot in time -- a fleeting memorial of his lightning quick ambush!

The world has only recently learned Barry Allen is no longer dead - lost to the world in an act of self-sacrifice that kept him a part of the Speed Force. With his return to the energy phenomena, the scarlet speedster now knows of Professor Zoom's imminent resurrection. A broken neck no longer an end to his tyranny.

Flash tries to rush his enemy, but catches only a fading image. Zoom is already behind him, stabbing through his arm with a lightning tipped baton! He leaves it there - dashing to overwhelm Max Mercury with an onslaught of punches!

Zoom is tapping into a negative Speed Force, cutting through the positive like a cancer - or the jagged lightning rod he left inserted in The Flash's arm.
The zig-zag bolt does as much damage coming out as it did going in. Flash cries in agony! Professor Zoom simply cries foul - admonishing Flash for the heroic legacy he left when he seemingly died stopping Anti-Monitor and his cannon.

Spiteful Thawne keeps Barry off balance - rushing him down with another super-fast flurry of fists! Then he assaults the Flash with a revisionist history - a grand plan to undo his legacy by bringing the hero back from the Speed Force!

Flash regroups with Max Mercury by his side, both under attack from the infectious red lightning of Reverse-Flash's Speed Force. He prepares another attack, but the impurity is too great. Zoom's force is too fast!

The sneering grin remains as Flash's hands clutch for a throat that's no longer there. Just a haunting image - fading, as Professor Zoom leaves the dimension of speed to complete his plot for revenge. If Flash won't infect his friends, Zoom will kill them himself. The starter's pistol to a race of life and death!

The Hammer...
It was a fight that ended with a threat, not a knock-out. Yet Professor Zoom ran rings around the heroes, and left them bleeding behind him as he set out to fulfill his wicked designs.

For those overwhelming reason - we must call this a villain's victory! To the matter of attacking The Flash at the very core of his heroic legacy -- that's a subject up for debate...

Throughout the month of July we've been discussing various points in history when DC Comics has invoked a "Rebirth".

In 2016, they're trying to put back the things they lost during their line-wide reboot: The New 52. It's similar to the predicament found in 2004's Green Lantern: Rebirth, which worked to restore the besmirched legacy of Hal Jordan, and bring back the definitive mythos of the Green Lantern Corps.

Green Lantern: Rebirth, also headed up by writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver, found itself at a very similar juncture at this point, but heading in a very different direction.

Issue #4 revealed once dead nemesis Sinestro was alive and well, himself reborn, and directly connected to a polarized impurity infecting heroes. In Flash: Rebirth, it's the negatively charged red lightning of Reverse-Flash's Speed Force. In Green Lantern: Rebirth, it's the yellow weakness in power rings, now known to be a vein of fear spread by the spectrum entity Parallax.

Both stories use this villain's power source to infect heroes, and make them a danger to their family in earlier issues. By issue #4, both launches the reborn nemesis into a two-on-one face-off against a pair of heroes. For a better parallel to the Kyle Rayner & Green Arrow team-up we featured last week, there's the mentor & next generation team-up of Jay Garrick and Bart Allen that Professor Zoom runs into immediately after this skirmish. The similarity ends there.

It was easy to get on board with Green Lantern: Rebirth. It fixed something that was clearly broken. Hal Jordan's fall from grace in the mid-nineties, and career thereafter as the super-villain who murdered the Corps, never sat right. Even with the creation of a perfectly adequate replacement (Kyle Rayner), there was no real denying that something significant had been lost. The DCU was smaller, and the Silver Age Green Lantern's legacy not what it should be when he was finally killed off in a half-hearted attempt to redeem him.

Barry Allen never had that problem. Yes, he'd been tainted by murdering the Reverse-Flash, but he was still the same hero he always was, conflicted in his lethal act. Thus, just as its told in Rebirth, the legend of the Silver Age Flash only grew with his demise. His sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 was poignant and well told. A cosmic predicament only he could solve. A death worthy of an icon, told in an important landmark maxi-series, responsible for the Rebirth of the entire DC multiverse!

Unlike the Green Lantern story, 2009's Flash: Rebirth had nothing to fix. The hero's death wasn't a mistake. His mythos - as stronger as ever! "Kid Flash" Wally West had quickly transitioned into the mantle of his dead senior. There would be plenty of times to miss the Silver Age Flash, but his modern successor was easy to accept. For over twenty years, he was The Flash, expanding upon the role as a multi-media icon, and the shining example of a legacy hero.

So, was the return of Barry Allen a victory - or a defeat?

I like the way these meta-textual questions play directly into the fiction of the story itself. If the series must happen, that's a very worthwhile idea to explore through the characters -- even if the end goal is never to answer the question.

For better or worse, Barry Allen would end this series as The Flash. (In truth, he'd already returned a few months earlier, in the pages of Final Crisis). His legacy would not be that of a selfless hero who sacrificed himself to save the universe. The DCU would not move forward. Wally West would continue to be The Flash, but became irrevocably lost in the shuffle, to eventually be jettisoned two years later when someone decided it was a good idea to rubbish the entire universe -- The New 52 reboot. [For more, see; Hero of the Week: Flash].

As a long time reader, I have an undeniable affection for the Silver Age heroes. Barry Allen was The Flash I knew and loved in some of the earliest comics I read. How could I not enjoy his return? Yet, I cannot ignore the conflict it creates with all that was spawned from twenty-plus years of Wally West! If Green Lantern: Rebirth was created to bring something back - Flash: Rebirth was created to take something away. Which seems like such a shame.

Sadly, our run through past DC Rebirths is also almost at an end. If you haven't read Flash: Rebirth and want to know more, take advantage of the Amazon link provided [to the right]. You can also find many more featured fights from Rebirths past by diving into the Secret Archive!

For a special fifth week our month of Rebirth goes back to where it began to take another look at a post-Crisis battle from the pages of Legends! Don't miss it!

Winner: Professor Zoom
#290 (new) Professor Zoom
#15 (-1) Flash (Barry Allen)
#794 (new) Max Mercury

QUICK FIX: SUPERMAN vs FLASH
Rearview Mirrors (DC)
Where: Flash: Rebirth #3 When: August 2009
Why: Geoff Johns How: Ethan Van Sciver

THE TAPE...
Strength: Superman 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Flash 5 (Professor)
Speed: Flash 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Flash 6 (Generator)
Agility: Superman 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Draw 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Superman 5 (Lasers)

Math: Superman
Ranking: Superman (#5)

THE FIX...
In 2009, the DC deck has been stacked so totally, they've practically trampled on their own feet week-to-week with a rapidfire succession of pseudo-event release that are defining the various corners of their universe!
Batman: Reborn has already successfully reinvigorated the IP with Dick Grayson's ascension to the titular role; while the Green Lantern books have been an event unto themselves, with the War of Light playing prelude to the company's summer blockbuster event (two years in the making) -- Blackest Night!

With events like those, you'd be forgiven for being a little short sighted, but you would be doing yourself an absolute disservice if you were to allow yourself to forget the first major mini to launch DC's event season -- Flash: Rebirth.

It began with Grant Morrison's universe-spanning epic, Final Crisis, but the return of Barry Allen after a twenty-two year absence has really only taken hold in the pages of Geoff Johns' considered reintroduction of the Silver Age's definitive Scarlet Speedster.

If you're a regular Infinite Wars reader, you know that the series, despite being uncharacteristically restrained, has delivered enough action to allow us -- The Comic Book Fight Club -- the chance to talk about all the first two issues [Flash: Rebirth #1, #2] and even include the first in our mid-year DC recap [Cover to Cover].

This is exceptional because the series really hasn't been about the mindless fisticuffs superheroes are prone to finding themselves in. Rather, the series provides a deeply introspective look at a character who once rivalled Batman and Superman for significances, but an entire generation of readers will have only a passing knowledge of.

I've been somewhat puzzled by how inoffensive the return of the legendarily self-sacrificing character has been. Though the overlap between our lives was brief; a childhood of back issues ensured Barry Allen stood firm as 'my' Flash, even if I was whole heartedly accepting of the then-contemporary Wally West character.

On the page, Barry Allen famously sacrificed himself to save the multiverse from the machinations of the Anti-Monitor in DC's company revamping maxi-series, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since then, the hero's sacrifice has been canonized as one of the most significant milestones in the DC Universe. It gave the hero a truly mythic aspect, which has been shared by degrees of separation with each subsequent generation of the Flash mantle. In many ways, it has been one of the most prominent examples of DC's penchant for the 'legacy' model of transition.

So, you can see, how it might be disappointing to have this significant moment lessened by a revamp that takes away from the character's defining story. Yet, under the subdued direction of current DC architect, [Geoff] Johns, it has been as if accepting a matter-of-fact to welcome back the "original" Flash, even at the displacement of a beleaguered Wally West.

Death has taken on a hollow meaning in the world of superhero comics.
Where once the cliffhanger question of a hero's survival was bread and butter to writers looking to wrap-up a story with a hint of mystery, the increasingly visceral (and hyper-realistic) nature of the medium has seen an awkward compromise between the conventions of the genre and demands of modern audiences.

In recent years DC has slaughtered some of it's most beloved characters, all in the name of telling a story, or in lesser examples, driving sales. Few examples, even of the most significant characters' deaths, have come remotely close to holding the power of Barry Allen's conceptually epic, if vague, 1986 demise.

In many cases, hereoes have found their way back to the land of the living through a convoluted series of circumstances, usually contrived for the simple duty of undoing what should never have been done.

I'm a firm believer in accepting the decisions made within any given canon, and expect careful consideration to go into them so as to avoid disrespecting the continuity and versimiltude of a fictional universe out of regret. It's a hard line approach that's been terribly obscured over the years, in part, possibly, due to the regular cycle of comics publishing creating confusion through volume (that novelists do not suffer), but also possibly due to a new generation imposing vocal stupidity and laziness on a medium struggling to stay alive, and keen to pander to the ignorant.

That said -- I'm not so stubborn that I can't be persuaded to make exceptions, which brings me back to the unsettling calm Barry Allen's return has inspired.

Perhaps it's the fact that we've had a long time to get used to the idea of the return, from announcement, to 2008 appearances in Final Crisis, to Rebirth. Or, alternatively, maybe it's the plausibility afforded by the pseudo-science of the Speed Force and the role it played in allowing Allen to outrun death. Either way, it's a move that seems very easy to accept as we move forward in the DCU.

The third issue finds our hero where we left him last, suffering a transformation into the dreaded Black Flash -- grim reaper to speedsters. It's a fact that feels as if it's all part of a tour through the Flash mythology, connecting new readers with a volley of references to the Speed Force, while no doubt also elaborating further on the circumstances of Barry Allen's "return" from death.

After the disintergration of Lady Flash in the last issue, the heroes of the DCU have flocked to help contain Allen's increasingly erratic (and deadly) energies. It's a chance to connect with the character's alienated perspective as he notes those he recognises, those who've changed, and those he has no knowledge of.

The Hal Jordan relationship is obviously going to be a major one as Johns juggles his work on both, but the (Black) Flash's containment serves up much anticipated interaction between he and Wally West, Bart Allen [Kid Flash], and Iris Allen.
A throughline of flashbacks lends credence to the humanity of the character, and specifically his relationship with his wife, by retelling some of Allen's pre-hero history. By interrupting the flow of action in the present, these scenes do have a way of feeling plodding, but such explicit humanity will do well to induct those confused readers who've absorbed the absurd theory that DC characters are "less human" than their marketted Marvel counterparts.

Red lightning and extending black talons signal the Flash's growing instability and demand Green Lantern get him away from those most vulnerable to his lethal touch. The Justice League's most senior members (Superman, Wonder Woman) escort the duo, but Flash opts for a familiar sacrifice of himself to save others.

Allen vibrates out of Green Lantern's containment construct and goes on the run, fully intending to return to the Speed Force for a final time. He finds himself, however, pursued by Superman, whose phenomenal inherent speed allows him to represent those devoted to keeping Allen among the living (without fear of speed force consumption by the Black Flash).

The Man of Steel stubbornly takes chase, debating the importance of the Silver Age Flash while the speedster outruns his dark powers. Allen continues a tone of negativity in perceiving his return. It's difficult to know if it's out-of-character, or just a reasonable response to coming back from the dead.

The race between the pair -- something that feels like another reference to key Flash mythology -- ends with the utterance of a simple revelation that refers to those famous tales of competition between the pair of heroes: "I've raced you before, Barry. I even won some of those races." "Those were for charity, Clark."

Strictly speaking, you might have noticed that this isn't exactly a fight, per se.
It's the second time we've made a concession for a Superman/Flash race [the first being Flash #209, another Geoff Johns book]. I would argue the combative undertone of both instances justifies their inclusion, even if resolutions were sought through non-violent means. Hopefully you Infinite Wars enthusiasts will just accept that it's really cool to have the two race -- especially when the Flash wins. I mean, come on. Being fast is his thing! Superman can't win!

Not that Superman's made to look like a chump...!

Like so much of Geoff Johns' work, there's a nostalgic cool and reverence for the characters that seems ironically contradictory, given that this is a series about bringing Barry Allen back from a significant death. I'm sure introducing new readers, and reminding old ones, of the list of things that make the Flash great was given some consideration in the creation of the book, but I doubt that it's as literal a list as it might potentially be speculated.

The book treads a wonderful line between playing to the strengths of reverence and the referencial nature of bringing the character back from a past, while also being very contemporary in it's presentation and structure. As slow as the script feels, the artwork of Ethan Van Sciver (and Brian Miller, colorist) bursts off the page with kinetic energy!

Flash's return to the Speed Force is a particular treat, reminding me of scenes from one of my emotional favourites, the 1988 Secret Origins Annual, which ultimately told the tale of Barry Allen's origin and death as a cyclical revolution.

The return of Eobard Thawne [aka; Reverse-Flash, aka; Professor Zoom] is an unsurprising conclusion to the issue, but I don't think solid consistency is something to fault the series for. That said, with the villain's arrival so early in the piece, I'm very interested to see what the latter half of the extended six-issue series is really about. I suspect we're in store for something that dances the line between a finite tale, and a preview for the relaunched Flash series.

I suspect we'll get a chance to share the answers together with subsequent issues of the mini. To the landscape of Season 2009 of Infinite Wars competition, Barry Allen really has been the stand-out character. It might be nice to add a bit of history by revisiting the Secret Origins Annual I mentioned, as well.

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 5
Winner: Flash

Flash: Rebirth is a six issue mini-series currently being released monthly by DC Comics! Multiple printings of issues should be available at local comics stores, but you can pre-order the entire tale in a collected format for convenience! By using Amazon.com purchase links provided, you help sponsor future entries on the Infinite Wars. You can find many more releases in our Online Gift Shoppe, collecting almost all the issues reviewed in our Secret Archive! Among the stories you'll find, Green Lantern: Rebirth and Final Crisis, so be sure to browse to see what you can find!

QUICK FIX: LADY FLASH vs FLASH & FLASH
Dead Run (DC)
Where: Flash: Rebirth #2 When: July 2009
Why: Geoff Johns How: Ethan Van Sciver

THE TAPE...
Strength: Wally West 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Barry Allen 5 (Professor)
Speed: Barry Allen 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Barry Allen 6 (Generator)
Agility: Wally West 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Lady Flash 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)

Math: Flash [Barry Allen]
Ranking: Flash [Wally West] (#19)

THE FIX...
Okay, we're still running ironically far behind, so this week's feature starring the fastest man alive will try to live up to the "quick fix" name as we take a look at the second exciting instalment of of DC's pre-summer event, Flash: Rebirth!

It's interesting to observe the path taken by DC to resurrect Barry Allen.
2008's second issue of Final Crisis gave us the "shock" final page return, but by virtue of the much larger epic tale, few specifics were afforded the Flash in his unlikely return. Geoff Johns has followed Grant Morrison in his non-commital role, maintaining an esoteric sense of superhuman phenomena. The truth behind his return remains unknown even to Allen, but in the first issue we got a pretty good impression that it involves the vengeful series mystery-villain, whose machinations involve resurrection and the apparent corruption of the Silver Age Flash's connection with the Speed Force.

With the second chapter, Rebirth plays it surprisingly free and loose when it comes to the big issues. Johns seems to be feeling experimental with his story telling, using the apes of Gorilla City to frame the story with prophetic primal scrawlings and a lot of hooting and hollering. It's certainly interesting, but we'll have to see exactly how much significance it has to the larger story. I'd like to think there might be some reason behind the appearance, which is far too vague to conceivably be part of an introductory checklist to the Flash mythology.

More effective as an introduction is Johns' trademark attention to the logical extentions of his ideas, in this case, careful acknowledgment of the entire family of speedsters. Jay Garrick, Bart Allen, Liberty Belle, and the West kids all get an appearance, but most significant is the eagerly anticipated meet up between Barry and his immediate successor, Wally West.

The iconic pair meet-up in a convergence of speedsters and key plotpoints, arriving in Barry Allen's dubiously named hometown (Fallville), where the Black Flash crash landed and "died" in the first issue. The pair don't have a lot of time to chinwag before the next obstacle emerges in an unlikely foe.

I was somewhat surprised to see the issue pick up so immediately from the death of Savitar [Flash: Rebirth #1]. I suppose I wasn't really giving Johns a lot of credit by assuming the less-than-spectacular speedster villain was served up as cannon fodder for a larger story. Actually, that probably isn't too far from the truth, but as he so often does, Johns at least honors the character's mythology with considerate acknowledgment for it's surrounding parts.

Christina Alexandrova, aka; Lady Flash, appears very early in the issue to overlap with Savitar's unintentional death at the hands of Barry Allen. As a disciple of Savitar's speed cult, she witnesses the scene of her master's final moments through a ritual apparently responsible for sealing his fate by bringing him back from inprisonment within the speed force. This immediate connection provides a simple and logical source for this issue's action, beginning with a blue swirl that surrounds Barry Allen, before heading in Wally West's direction.

The streaking Lady Flash slashes through West's costume and cowl, retaliating with an old fashioned right hook when he snags her left wrist.
The senior speedster comes to his nephew's aid, creating a gale force wind that blows Lady Flash off her trajectory with the spinning of his arm.

Possessing greatly enhanced speed from the ritual performed in Savitar's castle, Lady Flash resumes her assault, toppling Wally West with a jumping super-fast kick. Barry Allen takes full advantage of their numerical (and speed) superiority, catching the foot on it's follow-through to turn the tables of the fight.

Just as it had occurred with Savitar, the merest contact with another in tune with the Speed Force ignites a crackling lightning around Barry Allen. The ricochet of energy channels through Wally West, but as before, his fate is far less than that of the unfortunate Lady Flash. In moments she turns to dust and bones.

Confirming last month's suspicions, Barry Allen undergoes an instantaneous transformation into the embodiment of death for speedsters - Black Flash!

The featured fight goes the farthest lengths to progress the story, but it's not entirely inappropriate for a sizeable chunk of the issue to be dedicated to retelling portions of the title hero's history.

It seems highly unlikely that this shocking issue-end twist will last any longer than the mini-series itself. The tempered pace feels like a knowing response to the success the Green Lantern: Rebirth had for expanding the readership. It feels like the Flash version is more deliberately speaking to, and informing, readers who are understandably unfamiliar with a character who was off the table far longer than Hal Jordan post-besmirchment, (twenty-two years).

It's interesting to see Johns tinkering with the backstory of Barry Allen. Whether or not this is more heavy-handed revisionist history, or part of the plot hatched by the series villain, remains to be seen. I certainly don't remember Barry Allen's motivations as a hero revolving around a murder, and I'm not entirely sure we needed such a hammy 'secret origin' for Allen's penchant for wearing bowties, but fair enough. [Hey, maybe the bowtie did it!]

If the story being told here is to have any lasting consequences, I'd speculate that we might find ourselves with a new Black Flash. In fact, if Rebirth follows through with the relatively obvious return of the Reverse Flash (Professor Zoom) in the lead villain role, it might be fitting if it's he who assumes the role of death for speedsters. That, however, is a pretty big if, unfairly assuming that Johns will take a conventional tact in the way he did during the Green Lantern return tale (which also resurrected Sinestro).

Clearly, Barry Allen is back, presumably to stay.
You really can't fault DC for putting together a series that will not only elaborate on his return to the DCU, but also better inform a vast readership who probably weren't even around for his 1986 sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Their timing has been impeccable, giving the series a chance to live-up to the hype before Blackest Night engulfs the catalogue.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 4.5
Winner: Flash (w/ Wally West)

Flash: Rebirth has been upgraded to a six issue mini-series and is currently available monthly from DC comics. The collected edition won't be available for quite some time, but you can preorder the hardcover edition through Amazon. There are plenty of other collected editions of issues from the Secret Archives available in our Gift Shoppe! By using purchase links provided on the site, you help sponsor future entries!

QUICK FIX: FLASH vs SAVITAR
Lightning Strikes Twice (DC)
Where: Flash: Rebirth #1 When: June 2009
Why: Geoff Johns How: Ethan Van Sciver

THE TAPE...
Strength: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Flash 5 (Professor)
Speed: Flash 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Flash 6 (Generator)
Agility: Draw 2 (Average)
Fighting: Flash 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)

Math: Flash
Ranking: Flash (#29)

THE FIX...
Since we're trying to get out of a month's backlog of updates, I've been trying to avoid any unnecessary deviations. In the case of the return of Barry Allen, this was just too big an event to ignore during a period of week-to-week reviews!

The re-teaming of Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver on a Rebirth title was always going to draw comparisons to their 2005 project of the same name.
It would be clumsy to claim the return of Barry Allen after a twenty-plus year absence isn't a big deal, but for a hero whose death was accepted as such a concrete moment in the canon, there were far fewer questions demanding answers than when the duo resurrected fallen Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.

As icons of the changing guard from Golden to Silver Age; Flash and Green Lantern have come to share a similar meaning to the comics zeitgeist.

When Barry Allen and Hal Jordan redefined superhero identities originally held by Jay Garrick and Alan Scott, they began a tradition that embodied a differentiating philosophy between DC Comics and the House Across the Street. History would observe the 1950's revamps as permission to accept plausible change to a world where characters were free to defy the laws of time. Most recently, you know this as; Kyle Rayner, Conner Kent, Rex Tyler, Courtney Whitmore, or Jaime Reyes.

However creatively profitable the notion of legacy in superheroes has been, we can now see those ideals of succession are about to evolve.

I believe there is a distinct pattern of logic behind this new mentality steering comics, but, before we get to that, it might help to understand a few more details about the larger pieces of puzzle.

Through rumor and supposition, certain "facts" have crystallized within the comics readership.

Ever since Brad Meltzer forced the heroes of the DCU to deal with a harsh case of hyper-realism in his mini-series, Identity Crisis; discussions regarding a lightening of subject matter have come semi-regularly from both sides of the fandom. As DC wheeled out subsequent events [Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis], popular theory supposed conclusions that each story's mysteries would allow various facets of DC's past to be resurrected (such as; a segregated multiverse isolating different characters to their own universes). Considering these lingering, recycled theories have been floating around for the best part of this decade, it puts into perspective how long it's taken to really establish a sense of what any reductions in "darkness" have meant from a DCUniverse perspective.

Barry Allen's return in the pages of Final Crisis [#2], alongside other ideas and characters lost over time, finally gave theorists something tangible to hang their long running theories on. Despite the major return of Hal Jordan, Sinestro, and the Green Lanterns in 2005, it was '08's Final Crisis that provided some of the most overt connections to the already mentioned Silver Age of comics.

The "Silver Age" of comics is chiefly attributed to the post-Comics Code Authority resurgence of superheroes in the 1950s. Chiefly positioned as starting points are popular introductions like the Barry Allen Flash, and the Hal Jordan GL, whose sanitized adventures against evil helped define the period as a singular dimension culminating in the likes of, The Super Friends. Theorists presume the end of this era came with the 1970s revolution of darker, more mature elements of stories, which were channeled through characters like Conan, Morbius, Swamp Thing, and others, eventually ushering in logical conclusions of the shift, popularly defined by The Dark Knight Returns, and Watchmen.

Just as he had been a beacon for it's beginning, Barry Allen took significance at the demolition of Silver Age, famously dying in 1985's rearrangement of the DCU for a modern age, in, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Is the Silver Age here again? Yes, and no.

Longtime readers of the Infinite Wars will have read enough entries like this to recognise a weaving net of references that tie works from various eras, to various periods before them. Now, in this modern age of carefully constructed and written comics, we have a great awareness of the history that defined our medium.

It would be utterly naive to say the comics of today, particularly stories like Final Crisis, or Barry Allen's return, aren't informed by the Silver Age of comics. It would be equally naive, however, to say they've turned their back on the modern conventions that have established the very comics that supposedly defy the Silver Age. Every word is as well spoken, every image as well crafted, and every plot as enfused with the intelligence of the modern era as any other.

It's not as if this recognition of the past is the death touch to "now."

After expanding the mantle of some heroes into third (and fourth) generations, the corporate requirement of maintenance has forced a rethink. While the future belongs to isolated tales and alternate realities, intelligent and informed comics have gone back to readdress and reassess decision of the past.

Similar investments are still being made in the iconography of these characters, but instead, now each iteration has proven deserving of distinction, allowing a more total sense of value to be spread amongst them. Geoff Johns is a chief proponent of this tempered approach, and certainly doesn't take any shortcuts in his introductory issue to the Rebirth of the famous Silver Age Flash.

Lapsed time takes on significant meaning for the scarlet speedster who embarks on a mission to acquaint himself with the years he lost during his supposed death. It's still unclear, even to Allen himself, how his sacrifice to save the multiverse from the treacherous Anti-Monitor has remained intact, despite his apparent survival which brought him hurtling into a world on the verge of being dominated by Darkseid and the Anti-Life Equation (in Final Crisis).

Without the burgeoning controversy of a final decline like Hal Jordan's, the Flash return simply doesn't have the loaded premise of his counterpart. It's hardly surprising, then, that the first issue of Flash: Rebirth lacks the same bombastic action of the Green Lantern mini. In place of stoked anticipation, Johns takes a brief tour through references and set-up for the series, framing the reactions of various characters, good and evil, whilst inserting some revisionist history to form context for the following issues.

Barry Allen's return quite clearly is a major element of the story.
Those unfamiliar with the character should remember to understand the plot even if they aren't immediately connecting with the lead protagonist. Circumstances behind the return are unknown to the character himself, which weighs heavily on the speedster who, despite his advanced perception, comes away with a need to squeeze every last moment of it's potential usefulness.

The plot thickens before issue's end when Savitar -- a mid-nineties Wally West villain of questionable fashion sense, and Flash-like speed -- emerges from imprisonment within the Speed Force directly infront of a blazing Barry Allen!

Aware of his nephew's clash with Savitar and his speed cult thanks to a quick dash through the Flash museum, Barry takes immediate chase!

Unconcerned with how the villain escaped, Flash pursues to Savitar's dismay. Crackling with energy Flash reaches out to the shirtless speedster, only to somehow reduce him to a withered corpse that soon fades to ashes.
With his dying breath Savitar delivers a cryptic message, "You... You were the beginning, Allen... and you're the end." Simultaneous to the villain's death is a wild disturbance that resonates throughout the speed force, quivering those touched by it's energies.

If I didn't know better, I almost would've guessed that by escaping death and it's form of the "Black Racer," Barry Allen had somehow inherited the role himself.
Clearly there is a larger plot at work. We know a mysterious figure with long grey hair (who begins the issue recreating the accident that created Flash) is responsible for Allen's return [Prof. Zoom?], and we know a skeletal Black Flash crash landed and turned to dust in field of corn in Iowa. The result of Final Crisis, a larger plot affecting the Speed Force, or perhaps a combination of both?

Apparently I'm not the person to speculate, but damned if I'm not going to enjoy the ride! As incredibly reluctant as I am about the undoing of one of comics' most significant deaths, I find the quality of story, and craft of DC's overall editorial approach, very difficult to criticise. As meaningless as death has become in pop superheroes, DC have made great use of their corporate obstinacy, finding strong plot-driven reasons to utilize it as a positive, be it through the meta-recognition of resurrections [Final Crisis: Requiem], or dramatic resurrection [Blackest Night].

As to apparent inconsistencies in the character's history -- are these the makings of harsh retcons akin to those used by Geoff Johns in revamps of lesser heroes and villains, or are there in-fiction forces at work? Other characters were given a second chance at life through the universal reboot of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Is it possible in our universe Barry Allen has lived another life? Could time travel have altered his past? I think answering these questions will be a lot of fun.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 4
Winner: Flash

Flash: Rebirth is a five issue mini-series from DC Comics. While soft and hardcover collections will no doubt be announced soon, the series still has a long way to go. Keep your eye on shipping list updates for more information on issues, and be sure to find the single issues on shelves as they come. If you're hungry for some trade reading, you'll find Green Lantern: Rebirth, Flash editions, and other issues reviewed in the Secret Archives via our online Amazon Store. Using purchase links provided helps sponsor future entries, so may the Speed Force be with you!