The Flash is reunited with his cousin Impulse, but the family reunion may not be over just yet. Your Major Spoilers review of The Flash #27 from DC Comics awaits!
THE FLASH #27
Writer: Mark Waid and Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Vasco Georgiev
Colorist: Matt Herms
Letterer: Buddy Beaudoin
Editor: Chris Rosa
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 26, 2025
Previously in The Flash: After Impulse’s shocking decision, the Flash races through the time stream before Impulse’s irrational actions can potentially doom the DC Universe. But someone is just a step behind the speedsters, while the Flash and Impulse run right into a shocking reunion!
TUNGUSKA, 1908
After being sidelined while the Justice League fights a tournament to gain the power to stop Darkseid, Impulse lived up to his name, rushing back through the timestream to destroy the Lord of Apokalips before he could ever threaten the universe. It was a fairly terrible plan, doomed to failure, leaving Bart trapped in the early 1900s, face-to-face with his mentor, Max Mercury, and the Legion of Darkseid. Young Max, during his Whip Whirlwind era, is being manipulated by Saturn Girl’s telepathic abilities, ranting and raving about the Omega Speed, a vein of corruption in the Speed Force itself. The Omega Speed is making it harder for Impulse to access his Speed Force abilities, something that is also affecting The Flash. As Impulse tries to figure out how to defeat the Legion without destroying his mentor/father figure, and Flash tries to keep the Legionnaires from killing a speeding train full of innocents and creating a cascading paradox through reality, another Legionnaire arrives to deal with Mister West and Mister Allen… a familiar face, in the form of their Darkseid-ified cousin, XS!
THE SECRET OF OMEGA SPEED
First and foremost, this issue looks amazing, thanks to the combined work of Georgiev and Herms, with the speedsters facing the Legionnaires in a clean-lined world, with a broad, fascinating color palette. The grays and browns of reality in Russia circa 1908 coexist with the dark and stony Darkseid Legion, as the bright crimson costumes of our heroes tear through every panel. This issue is a DC K.O. tie-in, in the spirit of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossovers of days gone by, in that it explains what the fastest men alive are up to during the first round of the tournament. Waid and Cantwell combine forces for a story that recaptures the days of Waid’s seminal run on The Flash, playing Wally West as Bart Allen’s unwilling overseer, while Bart can’t believe what a stick-in-the-mud Flash is. By the end of the issue, the Legion has stolen Impulse’s idea, leaving our heroes stranded over one hundred years in the past, their link to the Speed Force severed, wondering what happened to Barry Allen, and also making me worry that something horrible has happened to the second Flash.
BOTTOM LINE: LIKE A NEW WAID ERA
As a Flash fan since 1983 or so, I can tell you that The Flash #27 holds up against some of the best “everything goes wrong and only a super-speed hero can fix it” tales, giving us the shocking reveal of XS, the epic sight of The Flash rocketing away with a stolen flight ring, and hyping readers up for upcoming issues of The Flash, DC K.O., and the Legion of Super-Heroes revival, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. It’s fast-paced, fun, and suspenseful, and well worth your four dollars.
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THE FLASH #27
For once, a super-speed race against time actually feels like the desperate rush it should, and this issue's art and coloring are impressive as well.
I like it.
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Writing9
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Art9
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Coloring9
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.