The search for Barry Allen continues, but the other Flashes may not be able to escape prisons of their own. Your Major Spoilers review of The Flash #785 from DC Comics awaits!
THE FLASH #785
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artist: Amancay Nahuelpan
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editor: Paul Kaminski
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 16, 2022
Previously in The Flash: Just when the speedsters seem to have snapped Barry out of Pariah’s clutches, Wallace seems to be falling in… and the creator of Barry’s mind prisons isn’t about to let the team of speedsters just run off. And even if they could, where exactly would they run to…?
THE IRON FIST OF THE NIGHT FLASH
Scattered throughout the multiverse, Flash, Kid Flash, Jesse Quick, another Flash, Max Mercury, and Wally West’s children Jai and Irey continue to search for Barry Allen, lost in the multiverse that was left abandoned before the Crisis on Infinite Earths. While Max and Jesse aid a Barry Allen in a world without water (that takes a lot of cues from Mad Max: Fury Road), Linda Park also enters the multiverse, convincing Mr. Terrific to send her in after her husband and kids. Said children are trapped on a world where Barry Allen has become a caped psycho, ruling with an iron fist like a big crimson Batman, but complications quickly ensue. As for Wally (the former Kid Flash) West and Wallace (the current Kid Flash) West, they’re stuck on Earth-Flash, a world created as a paradise to trap the mind of Barry Allen and keep him out of the way of Pariah’s Great Darkness plan.
Then, things get even weirder…
THE FLASH FAMILY IS BACK
The big pluses of this issue’s story are the use of the other Flashes, especially some cute interactions between Max Mercury and Jesse Quick in their desert wasteland. Their realization that all the various Barry Allens they’ve encountered are heroic forces ties in perfectly with Jai and Irey’s portion of the tale, while Linda’s arrival becomes the edge that Wally and Wallace need to break free of Earth-Flash. (The coloring effects, designed to mimic the Flexographic printing process of the ’80s is also amusing.) The downside comes in how things tie into Dark Crisis, as the events of the issue don’t really have any direct impact, and the freeing of one Flash from captivity leads to him immediately rushing off to try and save the rest of the Justice League, begging the question of why he wouldn’t take other experienced heroes with him. Nahuelpan’s art proves to be malleable enough to go from reality to reality, altering its tone to fit each world, but there’s a cartooniness to the proportions and facial expressions (especially on Night Flash’s Earth) that undermines some of the drama for me.
BOTTOM LINE: NICE TO SEE JAY AND MAX AGAIN
Overall, while The Flash #785 has elements that are fun to see again, especially in the midst of a massive grimdark crossover, but it ends up feeling like a side trip that doesn’t really accomplish a great deal, which undermines some of the fun for me, with adaptive art that gets a little bit TOO elastic at times, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. There were a number of issues during the original CoIE that were touted as “A Crisis Crossover” where the only tie-in was a red sky or a brief mention of the Monitor, and this particular book reminds me of those, even as I cheered to see the original Flash in action again.
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THE FLASH #785
It's nice to see the likes of Jay Garrick and Max Mercury again, but the Dark Crisis tie-in feels tenuous and as the issue ends on a very strange note.
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Writing6
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Art6
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