Post by Zoom on Jun 23, 2011 23:23:14 GMT -5
Flashpoint Week 6
Reverse Flash one shot
Honestly, this book is a waste of your time. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the story and the art’s okay, it’s just that…this story is the same as the Rogue Profile story for the Reverse Flash earlier this year in Flash with a little dose of Flash: Rebirth. I mean, I guess if you hadn’t heard that Professor Zoom killed Barry’s mom, messed up time and probably created Flashpoint, then you have this issue to tell you that Professor Zoom killed Barry’s mom, messed up time and probably created Flashpoint. Me? I don’t have any desire to pick up books that are 100% recapping information from events that took place in the past two years.
2/5
The Outsider 1
Like most James Robinson stories since Starman, this story is no fun at all. We follow the exploits of the Outsider, an invulnerable gangster who controls all of India. The Outsider does not have an interesting personality. The Outsider does not have interesting powers. The Outsider does not have interesting goals. So, we get to see the title character talk about the Russian drug trade and selling nickel reserves and other things that could not possibly be less important when you’re in the middle of the worst war the planet has ever known. Other low points are the third smartest man in the world (note: I think Mr. Terrific is the eighth smartest man at best but if I call him the third smartest, you know who I’m talking about) attacking a world famous metahuman without bringing any weapon capable of harming him, an invulnerable world leader backing out of a planet saving operation because Batman (who I’ll remind you is Thomas Wayne, not the lead tactician behind the Justice League) won’t be there and lots of people being brutally murdered for shock value. There is no joy in this comic book and all the plot points ring false. It’s just Cry For Justice in an alternate universe where you don’t particularly care that James Robinson killed off a bunch of good characters.
1.5/5
Lois Lane and the Resistance 1
Here’s the thing about alternate universes. Superman came to earth as a baby. He’ll probably still be Superman on an alternate earth. Same goes for Aquaman and Wonder Woman. They’re still superpowered individuals whose origin stories are very self contained and no matter what happens to the rest of the world, they’ll probably still exist. Then there’s another breed of characters, characters who are important not because they were born with special powers but because of coincidence. Hal Jordan is one of those characters and I’m not looking forward to his mini because without that ring, Hal Jordan isn’t important.
Same goes for Lois Lane. In Flashpoint, Lois Lane is not in a relationship with Superman. I like Lois Lane as a character, tremendously (Silver Age comics aside), but Lois Lane is not important in and of herself. If circumstances don’t happen to make her into an important character, she’s just one more hot chick in the background of a comic. Because of this, I did not want to read a story about Flashpoint’s Lois having an adventure. I didn’t buy that she’d have an adventure in the first place or be useful to any resistance.
However, despite this, the issue is still pretty good. The pacing works, the art is great (though Lois is quite a bit bustier than normal), there’s a decent plot hook to get Lois involved with the resistance and we get some nice background on Wonder Woman’s plans. The only problem with the plotline is that it involves us not believing that Lois Lane is inherently special but that Jimmy Olsen is, which is even worse. If you can ignore that, you’ll enjoy this comic.
3/5
Kid Flash Lost 1
I have a problem with Kid Flash comics. The problem is that Impulse was awesome. Both Impulse's comic and Young Justice were side splitting funny and Impulse was a truly unique character who somewhere along the line, I grew to care about. I didn't know when it happened. I was just cruising along laughing with Bart and his friends and then something bad would happen and I’d find myself holding back tears. See, most of the time, when bad things happen in comics, I roll my eyes. Oh gosh, a Superman Robot heat visioned Donna Troy in the heart and broke Omen’s neck. Who cares? Neither of those characters touched my heart in any way after all the Titans comics I read. In fact, the only time Donna Troy’s death choked me up was when Roy and Lian Harper (also unique, funny characters) talked about how much they cared about her. That’s the thing about characters. When you have good times with them, you feel for them in the bad times and you care about what happens to them all the more.
So what’s the problem with Kid Flash? Well he died. No, I don’t mean in that bad “Fastest Man Alive” series after Infinite Crisis. I mean when Geoff Johns took over writing the Flash and launched a new Teen Titans series with Bart on the grave of the old Young Justice series, he forgot that Bart Allen was supposed to be fun and with that, the Impulse that I knew and loved was dead. Conveniently, he changed his name to Kid Flash soon after so that I can say “I love Impulse. Kid Flash is meh” and all the other Titans fans can nod in agreement.
Aaaaanyways, Kid Flash Lost. Bart’s still not particularly fun but that’s not entirely Sterling Gates’ fault. Basically, the story here is that 31st century Brainiac 1 has somehow grabbed Bart out of the timestream (meaning that along with Barry Allen and Booster Gold, Bart is one of the only people to remember “real” continuity) and is keeping him captive so that he can try to steal the chronal energy from Bart’s cells. Fair enough. This means that we get some dream world scenes from a drugged out Bart and a couple pages of Bart dodging robots after he wakes up and then Bart and Hot Pursuit (that’s the name that they’ve given the motorcycle Barry, who is somehow now a different minor character introduced in Road to Flashpoint) try to escape but are like “oh noes we can’t escape and also I’m melting away cause I shouldn’t exist due to Flashpoint.”
The whole thing just seems like a bunch of filler, like this could have been the first three to five pages of issue one instead of the whole thing. Add that into the fact that we’ve got Bart Allen both a) not being fun and b) not having super speed and I’m left wondering what the draw to this comic was supposed to be.
2.5/5
Bottom Line: Lois Lane and the Resistance ties into the other Europe titles nicely and if I was you, I’d pick them all up because three of the four books (Deadman, Aquaman and Lois) are above average. Kid Flash Lost might tie into the main series so you might buy that, too. Skip Reverse Flash unless you didn’t read Rebirth or Road to Flashpoint. Skip Outsider if you have good taste.
Reverse Flash one shot
Honestly, this book is a waste of your time. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the story and the art’s okay, it’s just that…this story is the same as the Rogue Profile story for the Reverse Flash earlier this year in Flash with a little dose of Flash: Rebirth. I mean, I guess if you hadn’t heard that Professor Zoom killed Barry’s mom, messed up time and probably created Flashpoint, then you have this issue to tell you that Professor Zoom killed Barry’s mom, messed up time and probably created Flashpoint. Me? I don’t have any desire to pick up books that are 100% recapping information from events that took place in the past two years.
2/5
The Outsider 1
Like most James Robinson stories since Starman, this story is no fun at all. We follow the exploits of the Outsider, an invulnerable gangster who controls all of India. The Outsider does not have an interesting personality. The Outsider does not have interesting powers. The Outsider does not have interesting goals. So, we get to see the title character talk about the Russian drug trade and selling nickel reserves and other things that could not possibly be less important when you’re in the middle of the worst war the planet has ever known. Other low points are the third smartest man in the world (note: I think Mr. Terrific is the eighth smartest man at best but if I call him the third smartest, you know who I’m talking about) attacking a world famous metahuman without bringing any weapon capable of harming him, an invulnerable world leader backing out of a planet saving operation because Batman (who I’ll remind you is Thomas Wayne, not the lead tactician behind the Justice League) won’t be there and lots of people being brutally murdered for shock value. There is no joy in this comic book and all the plot points ring false. It’s just Cry For Justice in an alternate universe where you don’t particularly care that James Robinson killed off a bunch of good characters.
1.5/5
Lois Lane and the Resistance 1
Here’s the thing about alternate universes. Superman came to earth as a baby. He’ll probably still be Superman on an alternate earth. Same goes for Aquaman and Wonder Woman. They’re still superpowered individuals whose origin stories are very self contained and no matter what happens to the rest of the world, they’ll probably still exist. Then there’s another breed of characters, characters who are important not because they were born with special powers but because of coincidence. Hal Jordan is one of those characters and I’m not looking forward to his mini because without that ring, Hal Jordan isn’t important.
Same goes for Lois Lane. In Flashpoint, Lois Lane is not in a relationship with Superman. I like Lois Lane as a character, tremendously (Silver Age comics aside), but Lois Lane is not important in and of herself. If circumstances don’t happen to make her into an important character, she’s just one more hot chick in the background of a comic. Because of this, I did not want to read a story about Flashpoint’s Lois having an adventure. I didn’t buy that she’d have an adventure in the first place or be useful to any resistance.
However, despite this, the issue is still pretty good. The pacing works, the art is great (though Lois is quite a bit bustier than normal), there’s a decent plot hook to get Lois involved with the resistance and we get some nice background on Wonder Woman’s plans. The only problem with the plotline is that it involves us not believing that Lois Lane is inherently special but that Jimmy Olsen is, which is even worse. If you can ignore that, you’ll enjoy this comic.
3/5
Kid Flash Lost 1
I have a problem with Kid Flash comics. The problem is that Impulse was awesome. Both Impulse's comic and Young Justice were side splitting funny and Impulse was a truly unique character who somewhere along the line, I grew to care about. I didn't know when it happened. I was just cruising along laughing with Bart and his friends and then something bad would happen and I’d find myself holding back tears. See, most of the time, when bad things happen in comics, I roll my eyes. Oh gosh, a Superman Robot heat visioned Donna Troy in the heart and broke Omen’s neck. Who cares? Neither of those characters touched my heart in any way after all the Titans comics I read. In fact, the only time Donna Troy’s death choked me up was when Roy and Lian Harper (also unique, funny characters) talked about how much they cared about her. That’s the thing about characters. When you have good times with them, you feel for them in the bad times and you care about what happens to them all the more.
So what’s the problem with Kid Flash? Well he died. No, I don’t mean in that bad “Fastest Man Alive” series after Infinite Crisis. I mean when Geoff Johns took over writing the Flash and launched a new Teen Titans series with Bart on the grave of the old Young Justice series, he forgot that Bart Allen was supposed to be fun and with that, the Impulse that I knew and loved was dead. Conveniently, he changed his name to Kid Flash soon after so that I can say “I love Impulse. Kid Flash is meh” and all the other Titans fans can nod in agreement.
Aaaaanyways, Kid Flash Lost. Bart’s still not particularly fun but that’s not entirely Sterling Gates’ fault. Basically, the story here is that 31st century Brainiac 1 has somehow grabbed Bart out of the timestream (meaning that along with Barry Allen and Booster Gold, Bart is one of the only people to remember “real” continuity) and is keeping him captive so that he can try to steal the chronal energy from Bart’s cells. Fair enough. This means that we get some dream world scenes from a drugged out Bart and a couple pages of Bart dodging robots after he wakes up and then Bart and Hot Pursuit (that’s the name that they’ve given the motorcycle Barry, who is somehow now a different minor character introduced in Road to Flashpoint) try to escape but are like “oh noes we can’t escape and also I’m melting away cause I shouldn’t exist due to Flashpoint.”
The whole thing just seems like a bunch of filler, like this could have been the first three to five pages of issue one instead of the whole thing. Add that into the fact that we’ve got Bart Allen both a) not being fun and b) not having super speed and I’m left wondering what the draw to this comic was supposed to be.
2.5/5
Bottom Line: Lois Lane and the Resistance ties into the other Europe titles nicely and if I was you, I’d pick them all up because three of the four books (Deadman, Aquaman and Lois) are above average. Kid Flash Lost might tie into the main series so you might buy that, too. Skip Reverse Flash unless you didn’t read Rebirth or Road to Flashpoint. Skip Outsider if you have good taste.
