Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

The Flash #3

By Hervé St-Louis
November 27, 2011 - 17:41

The Flash uses his super-powered brain to rescue a jumbo jet falling from the sky. But now that both Keystone City and Central City are suffering from a black out, Barry Allen and his fellow cops have to protect the city and maybe discover what happened to his old buddy Manuel and why he’s being cloned so often.

The Flash so far has been a middle of the run series for me in the new 52. It’s not great, but it’s not bad. Many parts of this comic book are cheesy, but the Flash has always had cheesy elements. The story of the clones of Manuel, the old friend of the Flash continues without much of a resolution. I didn’t remember how the last issue ended so I was surprised about the jet falling from the sky. If I don’t remember where the last issue left off, that can’t be a good thing, right? This issue brings in Keystone City which was not mentioned before, so perhaps Justice Society fans can feel good that some trace of that team still exist. Right now, I’d say I pick up the book because I like the artwork and that’s it. There are touches of simplicity and cool moments throughout, but nothing that makes this series break out for me. Yet, it’s not a bad comic book at all. Perhaps giving the creative team some more space to get its groove is all that’s needed.

I guess, giving the Flash to a new writer like Manapul was a big gamble on DC Comics’ part. The Flash is one of the core characters at DC Comics and it’s always had great creators working on it. Visually, Manapul does incredible work and because he’s both the writer (partly) and the artist, his work relies on the visual storytelling a lot. It works. There are very few mainstream comic books still written and drawn by the same guy and I hope that DC Comics will let the experiment continue a while longer. These comics usually produce gems when given time to grow.

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12