Flashpoint #5

Geoff Johns, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, and Jesse Delperdang

"Untitled"- Its all been leading up to here. A whole summer's worth of comics and a blog that has nearly killed me a time or two, and it began where this issue will end.

Summary: We open to Reverse Flash taunting Barry that all his friends are dying and its all his fault. Barry of course isn't listening and continues fighting on and arguing that this is the Reverse Flash's fault. So we finally see what caused the Flashpoint. Which I want to point out that I called in the first issue. When Barry Allen found out that the Reverse Flash killed his mother, he went back in time to stop the villain, which caused a ripple effect that caused all of this(and I'm summarizing here): Because she didn't die, Cyborg's dad was somehow available to get mugged, and he fought the mugger which was in teh newspaper that Thomas Wayne read that made him think eh could take on his own mugger, and the story of a death of a child affected General Lane so he took on the young alien boy.. and so forth... its complicated, like I said. Ripples. So, now we have Barry on his knees screaming "No!" like in every story with a sad realization, Before Reverse Flash can hit Barry again, Batman hits him with an explosive of some kind and tells Barry that its ok... if he made this, he can fix it. Then Thomas gets punched out by Reverse Flash. RV reveals that he never killed Barry because ending his life would kill Thawne or make teh speed force disapear. But by Barry changing time, RV is a paradox, so he can kill the Flash and still exist. So, standard villain gloating before killing Barry, so its no surprise when this happens:

Not gonna lie, Thomas Wayne is a total and complete badass, all the way. Meanwhile in the actual fight, the team has discovered that Enchantress is a traitor and is working for the Amazons. Several Atlanteans come up behind Cyborg and Batman, and attempted to kill them when the front line of Atlanteans all get bullets in their faces. Grifter and the Resistance (that's what the name of the book should have been) have arrived, with Blackout and the Outsider. Enchantress vaporizes Grifter in about a second, and Batman jumps in front of a shot meant for Barry, and as he's dying tells him to save the world and to give something to Bruce when he gets there. Enchantress is really sticking it to everybody at this point, killing Atlanteans, Amazons, and I think Godiva and Hyde of the Resistance. However, as perfect timing does indeed exist, everyone but her looks to the sky. Enchantress looks too late, and can only must the letter F before she is reduced to a green smear on the rocks by the stomp of a 90 lb. Kryptonian. He simply says "No more." and flies off with Aquaman and Wonder Woman... no idea where, because that's the last we see of them. And then Grodd shows up because... well, I don't know. He just shows up... WITH A LASER EYE!

Luckily, Barry chooses this time to run into the speed force to avoid WTF paralysis (probably a real disease) and see his mom. He tells her that he will save her life, no matter what, and she tells him its ok. He needs to make the sacrifice. And so he does, but the Barry Allen reset button doesn't work like he thought it would. There are reprecussions as shown below:

You may notice the big League picture in the top right includes a black haired, thin mustached, purple skinned Green Lantern. Boosh to that. Anyway, because the universe took on too much change, it had to swallow nearby realities so that's why Wildstorm and Vertigo have folded into the mix the way they have. We also see that the 50 other earths are still intact so that this earth, Earth 49 (Wildstorm) and Earth 13 (Vertigo) are the only ones affected. So we have a new reality and Barry arrives safely back, but with the memories of the Earth that was, Flashpoint Earth, and now memories of this world. He also apparently gained a chinstrap, so that's there. So, Barry's first and only stop in our new world is the Batcave, where Batman and he discuss the world he came from. As per usual, Batman doesn't really pay much attention, until Barry gives him the letter. We don't really see what is written, but its enough for Bruce to stand, have to support himself on a desk, remove his cowl, and then tear up. The end.

Highs: The big fight was cool for the short time it lasted, and the art is really stellar. Also, and I realize I already said this, but Thomas Wayne is a badass.

Lows: There were 16 Flashpoint tie series, and 11 of those said they would be continued in this issue. We see the Outsider for a panel, half the Resistance shows up, and without any of the Deadman series characters and cameos, Aquaman and Wonder Woman don't really appear beyond Superman grabbing them, but there is a far bigger disappointment: Abin Sur. He never appears. You'd think a Lantern afficianado like Johns would have thought about that... The other big low for me is the fact that this issue seems to just limp for a bit. It's sole purpose seems to be about tying up loose ends... which it barely does.

Verdict: B. Is it a great comic? No. Is it terrible? Not a chance. It serves as a fitting end to this series which has had enough great and terrible moments to be pretty good.

Series Verdict: A-. My friend Stuart commented that this was like DC's big shot at a What If? like Marvel has issues of. And to an extent, he's right. Normally DC just calls them Elseworlds, but since this is the main reality and not some fake world, we have to take what we can get. And honestly, what we got, for the most part, wasn't that bad. We had several new takes on characters, that really seemed stiff in the old guard and it gave Vic Stone a place as a respected adult hero for once. I have a feeling that one of those blank slate earths that used to be Vertigo and Wildstorm may be a permanant home for these Flashpoint characters. So I guess with this issue over, we stand at a precipice between this and the new 52 books. Justice League 1 came out today as well, so I suppose I will jump right into reviewing that once I get done with work today. As the Doctor would say, "Allons-y!"