Broken Frontier

Barry Allen is back among the living but how and why? He wants answers… even if he doesn’t like them.

There is no denying that this comic is controversial among fans. Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, was killed off in a moment of heroism in 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series and has been (basically) dead ever since. Why bring the character back now? Why bring the character back in this way? Writer Geoff Johns says he has reasons and he intends to show the readers. So… time to see the show.

The latest "Crisis" is over and as citizens put their lives back in order so too do the superheroes. Amongst the losses there have been some gains and one of those gains – the return of Barry Allen – is a cause for celebration. Barry, however, has other ideas. He’s not so certain he should be back and he does not know how or why he has come back either. He’s looking for answers and worried about how much time he may have left. Is this what he should be worried about, though? There are things happening that will drastically alter his future and may put a lot of people he cares about in terrible danger – a danger not even the Flash can outrace.

Years ago, on a trip to a theme park a friend talked me into getting on a new roller coaster. The ride used linear induction motors to literally launch the train from 0 to 70 MPH in 3.72 seconds. That was probably the expectation most readers had for this comic – that it would launch into high gear right out of the gate. Instead, what they get is something more like a traditional roller coaster – the slow pull up to the top of the first hill, that moment of topping the crest before gravity takes hold and then the plunge carrying the train to maximum velocity.

The slower start to this story was an interesting choice but not, I think, the best one. There is a bit of unnecessary extra conversation and the sequences of different groups of heroes preparing parties for Barry are too fawning – enough to set even a Barry Allen fan’s teeth on edge. Johns also seems to be adding a significant deviation from Barry’s past and it is bewildering as well as senseless. Finally, the character of Bart Allen comes across as strangely and suddenly out of character here. Strangely enough, several characters also appear to have been hit with the de-aging stick with no explanation.

While there are definite problems here, Johns does include some very interesting ideas. While it was an idea once put forward by Marv Wolfman, here Johns runs with Barry as a man who understands on a visceral level that one day time is going to stop on him again. It’s a bit of a throwback to the old Challengers of the Unknown characters but it really resonates here. With all the comic book characters who manage to come back from the dead it has always astounded me that more writers do not use those characters to play with ideas of what a second chance means as well as fears that one day this "extra time" is going to run out. Also, remember that roller coaster analogy? Well, while it takes most of the comic to pull the cars up the incline the end is like cresting the hill and looking down the vertical plunge in anticipation. Hopefully this isn’t all just smoke and mirrors because there are a couple of really fascinating bits of mystery here that hold the promise of breaking the sound barrier in intensity.

Along for the ride is Johns’ Green Lantern: Rebirth art partner Ethan Van Sciver. Van Sciver’s hyper-detailed work is quite a wonder to behold – particularly when considering the sheer amount of figures and background he also packs into every scene. There is also a sequence where Barry unleashes his costume from his ring and changes into it that is a tribute to the work of artists like Carmine Infantino while at the same time creating something new and amazingly cool as Van Sciver uses the effect to flow from one panel to the next. While there is no doubt to the artistry here Van Sciver’s detailed and sometimes grim art does feel like an ill-fit for the previously joyful Barry Allen. The sense of wonder and humor are gone in favor of a dark intensity that worked wonders for the darker Green Lantern: Rebirth but seems a bit off here.

With a surprisingly slow start, some shocking changes to history and continuity and some characters seeming out-of-character, The Flash: Rebirth is off to a rocky start. Counterbalancing this, however, are some intriguing ideas, a bit of mystery, and a sense of looming threat and if there is anything Geoff Johns knows how to do its build a climactic, character-shaking danger. In the final equation, there is probably enough here to keep readers hanging on for the next issue but Johns will need to let the lightning out of the bottle to keep readers interested beyond that.