Comic Review: The Flash #50

The Flash #50

DC Comics

Writer Joshua Williamson

Artist: Howard Porter

Who is the fastest man alive? With the conclusion of the “Flash War” story, we get an answer. We also get some minor status quo changes and character development. Fair warning, there will be some spoilers ahead.

Picking up from the end of the last issue, Zoom has the sage force and the strength force in him.  He defeats the Justice League and only Barry Allen and Wally West can stop him. They chase him into hyper-time to stop him from obtaining the still force and changing history. They see Wally’s children, and Barry finally remembers them, but they can’t save them and continue to chase Zoom.

Embracing his memories, Wally uses his “temporal seizures” and knocks Zoom, Barry, and himself out of hyper-time. Back in present-day Central City, Wallace West, the current Kid Flash, emerges through time with Iris West and Citizen Cold. Wallace is angry that he was left in the 25th century while the two Flashes went after Zoom.

Barry tracks down Wally, and the two have a talk. Barry informs Wally that they disconnected the speed force from hyper-time and that they can no longer time travel. Wally leaves to go find his children, saying he won’t make the same mistakes that Barry has. Even though they ultimately “lost” to Zoom, Barry says he’s learned his lesson from all this and vows to be better.

SPOILER ALERT: On the last page we see another speedster, Bart Allen, break out of the speed force and into the present day. In an epilogue, we see the restored 25th century, and the Renegades, rushing into a prison that houses only one inmate. The inmate breaks out, killing the renegades. We see a silhouette say the multiverse will never be the same, and the name on the cell reading “INMATE: CRISIS”.

The art from Howard Porter is pretty good. There’s good detail in most panels. The scenes in hyper-time are my favorite. The lightning coming off the characters while they’re running is pleasing to me. There are a few panels where the running poses look kind of goofy. But very few people look good running, so that’s not really a big deal. I really have no complaints about the art here. It’s not the most gorgeous eye-catching art ever, but it’s nowhere close to the worst, and I did enjoy it.

I think there could have been a bad, cheesy ending to this story. But Joshua Williamson managed to write a satisfying one. Wally is the official fastest man alive. They stopped Zoom, but ultimately he won. We see more of how and why Wallace joined with Damian’s new Teen Titans group than what we saw in the recent Teen Titans Special. It’s also really clear where the next few storylines will take us, regarding each character.

As far as the new “sage Force” and “Strength Force” I don’t think they’re a bad idea. We should give Williamson and others a chance to expand upon what they are and what role they play. Zoom being MIA with both will be an interesting story to pick up down the road. My biggest problem is that of being a “Flash War” it didn’t feel like one. I enjoyed the story, but it feels more like the whole point was to introduce the sage and strength force, rather than an actual fight between Wally and Barry.

I think the Sage and the Strength Forces have potential. Barry telling Wally that he’s the fastest man alive and the sequence that followed was touching. I liked Porter’s art and I think Joshua Williamson has things set up nicely for the next few story arcs to come. It did feel more like set up than any kind of Flash War, but at the end of the day, I liked this issue, and this story arc.