Flash: Rebirth

Flash: Rebirth #5

This was solid, but for me the delays have kinda killed any momentum this book had. I wish DC had recap intro pages like Marvel, they especially come in handy when books have big delays like this. Other than that, I think Johns is doing a good job of tweaking and altering Flash continuity to make things more streamlined. This issue was non stop action, I'm still seeing red and yellow everywhere lol.

Oh and I think changing Wally's costume was a great idea. And it wasn't too drastic either so that's good, just a subtle darker tone and now he has Batman eyes on the cowl which look cool.

i thought this was the best issue so far in the mini series. it was great action and i liked seeing a little bit of barry's past

I just re-read all five issues at once and I have to say it's finally all clicked for me. The slightly different past for Barry with his mother being murdered. The speed force. It all finally clicked. I also liked the explanation about Wally's twins and the speed force. I like that Irey is the new Impulse and I like her costume. I very much like Jessie's new costume and the nod to both parents. Does that mean she still has the super strength as well? I love Wally's costume. It reminds me a touch of the television version of the Flash. It's very cool though and this issue has made me very excited for a Flash on-going.

Flash: Rebirth #5

Delays, delays, delays. I still don't understand why DC doesn't have the recap page. Oh wait, yes I do! To make money! With no recap, you're pretty much forced to buy the preceding issues. The book started off as a welcoming home for Barry Allen, and for many, it wasn't that great. Why? Cause most of this generation has followed Wally West as The Flash, and this just seemed like another Silver Age character push ala Hal Jordan. Difference is, Hal's Green Lantern Rebirth will go down as one of the very best comebacks in comic history; while, important, Barry's Rebirth just doesn't strike a chord among the masses. The masses, meaning I'm looking at reviews, I'm following blogs on the forums--cause I actually love this series myself.

Lately, especially with the delays, it seems like Geoff Johns has started his Flash ongoing in the midst of his Rebirth mini. The focus has now shifted to the whole Speed Force; not only Barry and Wally, but Bart, Jay, Wally's twins Jai & Irey and Liberty Belle. The point being that Barry is the newborn leader of the force, while Professor Zoom's "Negative Speed Force" explains that he's Barry's Romolus of sorts. Most fanboys are probably not going to see eye-to-eye with the whole "creeper" angle; though some of the revelations make more sense than usual. That, or Johns is overtrying in making splash reveals in competing with other big stories Blackest Night and Adventure Comics.

Ian Van Sciver does such a wonderful job with the new looks and costumes of the characters, the wildy explosive yellow and red environments, and the emotions entangled between Barry and Zoom. The action scenes were indeed electric; pushing the pace to lightspeed proportions.

In all, Rebirth #5 was more or less worth the wait. This ish does a wonderful job setting the precident for the ongoing Flash book. It'd just be nice to enjoy the book without having to reread the other four to gain a better understanding of Barry Allen's goals and virtues. Some of us just have too big a punchlist to do that!

3.5/5 Speedknots - Entertainingly solid

Kelson wrote:Zoom's not only ruthless, but petty and vindictive as well.

He's a total dick.

"Remember that time when you were seven and your ice cream fell out of the cone, Barry? That was me! Mwa-ha-ha!"

I liked this fine. It was probably my favorite issue of Flash Rebirth so far.

I don't care for Jesse's new costume. I liked her old one better.

Wally's new costume in nice. I like it (though I liked his old one better). It isn't a huge change. Though I still would have liked it if he had gone with the Dark Flash's costume design.


I think it's cooler and a has more of a difference to Barry's costume than Wally's new one.

I like that Iris is the new Impulse, but I am PISSED that Jai is getting screwed over. It reminds me of Valeria and Franklin in FF.

I really hope that Professor Zoom survives Rebirth. I want to see more of him. I like him.

rwe1138 wrote:

Kelson wrote:Zoom's not only ruthless, but petty and vindictive as well.

He's a total dick.

"Remember that time when you were seven and your ice cream fell out of the cone, Barry? That was me! Mwa-ha-ha!"

Twyane: "And you remember the time you failed that Algebra test in the seventh grade....me. Hahaha, and remember the time in gym class when you got that mysterious wedgie...also me! Hahaha. And remember in your freshmen year in high school when somebody started that rumor that you were gay....ALL ME! Muwahahahahahaha".

Barry: "Jesus christ man, how much free time do you have"?

Batman25JM wrote:I liked this fine. It was probably my favorite issue of Flash Rebirth so far.

I don't care for Jesse's new costume. I liked her old one better.

Wally's new costume in nice. I like it (though I liked his old one better). It isn't a huge change. Though I still would have liked it if he had gone with the Dark Flash's costume design.


I think it's cooler and a has more of a difference to Barry's costume than Wally's new one.

I like that Iris is the new Impulse, but I am PISSED that Jai is getting screwed over. It reminds me of Valeria and Franklin in FF.

I really hope that Professor Zoom survives Rebirth. I want to see more of him. I like him.

I love that costume! I was hoping Wally would go with that one, too, but his new one is looking great.

well it looks like its happening....

blackest night flash is coming out before reborn 6 silly dc comics...

BrodieBruce_BlaculaHunter wrote:Twyane: "And you remember the time you failed that Algebra test in the seventh grade....me. Hahaha, and remember the time in gym class when you got that mysterious wedgie...also me! Hahaha. And remember in your freshmen year in high school when somebody started that rumor that you were gay....ALL ME! Muwahahahahahaha".

Barry: "Jesus christ man, how much free time do you have"?

After I showed my wife the comic, we were joking about making a list of all the things Zoom's done to Barry. Making sure he got picked last for teams, stealing his homework, removing one of each pair of socks...

Batman25JM wrote:Though I still would have liked it if he had gone with the Dark Flash's costume design.

Yeah, I like that one too. I just couldn't see a way for them to make it work, character-wise, without tossing something majorly tragic at Wally (which I'm glad they didn't do). At least there are some elements of it in this one. I've actually put together a comparison of various costumes showing the elements that came from each one.

Kelson wrote:

BrodieBruce_BlaculaHunter wrote:Twyane: "And you remember the time you failed that Algebra test in the seventh grade....me. Hahaha, and remember the time in gym class when you got that mysterious wedgie...also me! Hahaha. And remember in your freshmen year in high school when somebody started that rumor that you were gay....ALL ME! Muwahahahahahaha".

Barry: "Jesus christ man, how much free time do you have"?

After I showed my wife the comic, we were joking about making a list of all the things Zoom's done to Barry. Making sure he got picked last for teams, stealing his homework, removing one of each pair of socks...

Nice. In fact, why aren't we doing that here?

Just caught up on reading all the posts since last I did, and I have to agree, the #5 is the best so far. Everything is coming together. If anyone noticed, the issue was symmetrical to an extent. If you flip to the closeup of Barry's face, keep your finger there and go to the back with Zoom's closeup. On the opposite page are the panels of past events for the characters. Thought that was neat.

Jherek wrote:
I love little Iris as Impulse but I found it odd that, even in the heat of battle and costume redesign, no-one asked after Jai. He's gonna be a little pissed off to lose his powers isn't he? When pretty much his whole family are super. I hope he doesn't go to the dark side of the Speed Force!

I'm telling you guys, they're pushing Jai towards and past Kingdom Come by making Jai a villain. He's going to become a Reverse Flash or something. He's going to get that power back and show Irey, the Speedsters, and the world that he isn't the weakest, he isn't the slowest, he is the Fastest Being Alive.

They've always hinted at his downfall. Really started noticing during the story-arc when Wally was low on cash and Jai ominously, with a serious tone, asked why they didn't just take it from a bank. And Wally, with a pissed look, said, "What was that?" Something. And Jai, back to his cereal, was like, "Nothing." Let alone this whole power stance Irey has taken in the past with accelaration and stuff. That's gotta wear on poor Jai. Make him feel inadequate.

BlueMaxx wrote:Just caught up on reading all the posts since last I did, and I have to agree, the #5 is the best so far. Everything is coming together. If anyone noticed, the issue was symmetrical to an extent. If you flip to the closeup of Barry's face, keep your finger there and go to the back with Zoom's closeup. On the opposite page are the panels of past events for the characters. Thought that was neat.

Jherek wrote:
I love little Iris as Impulse but I found it odd that, even in the heat of battle and costume redesign, no-one asked after Jai. He's gonna be a little pissed off to lose his powers isn't he? When pretty much his whole family are super. I hope he doesn't go to the dark side of the Speed Force!

I'm telling you guys, they're pushing Jai towards and past Kingdom Come by making Jai a villain. He's going to become a Reverse Flash or something. He's going to get that power back and show Irey, the Speedsters, and the world that he isn't the weakest, he isn't the slowest, he is the Fastest Being Alive.

They've always hinted at his downfall. Really started noticing during the story-arc when Wally was low on cash and Jai ominously, with a serious tone, asked why they didn't just take it from a bank. And Wally, with a pissed look, said, "What was that?" Something. And Jai, back to his cereal, was like, "Nothing." Let alone this whole power stance Irey has taken in the past with accelaration and stuff. That's gotta wear on poor Jai. Make him feel inadequate.

Good call!! I like that!

I think maybe I need to go back and re-read all the issues because I'm just not feeling it like some of you guys. I'm a fan of Johns but I just feel like he's not quite clicking with this - I don't know, it just all feels a little forced to me.

rwe1138 wrote:#5 was the best issue yet, IMO. Non-stop action.

Interesting you should say that because I thought even though it probably appeared to be non-stop action the whole issue was mostly Zoom doing exposition.

BrodieBruce_BlaculaHunter wrote:

rwe1138 wrote:

Kelson wrote:Zoom's not only ruthless, but petty and vindictive as well.

He's a total dick.

"Remember that time when you were seven and your ice cream fell out of the cone, Barry? That was me! Mwa-ha-ha!"

Twyane: "And you remember the time you failed that Algebra test in the seventh grade....me. Hahaha, and remember the time in gym class when you got that mysterious wedgie...also me! Hahaha. And remember in your freshmen year in high school when somebody started that rumor that you were gay....ALL ME! Muwahahahahahaha".

Barry: "Jesus christ man, how much free time do you have"?

I've got to say the pushing down the stairs one was borderline ridiculous.

Oh and I really have to criticise Barry's mother for allowing him to stand on the same side of the car as the traffic when she was broken down by the side of the road. Not smart.

I must say also that I feel sorry for Barry that he had the same haircut as a little kid that he does as a grown man.

"Remember countdown that 51 issue suckfest which included the death of your grandson?"

"you sick son of a bitch...."

"yes I wrote it!!! mwah-ha-ha-ha!"

"come to think of it I felt that paul dini was a much better writer than that series let on...."

Aussiemandias wrote:I think maybe I need to go back and re-read all the issues because I'm just not feeling it like some of you guys. I'm a fan of Johns but I just feel like he's not quite clicking with this - I don't know, it just all feels a little forced to me.

I agree. I think a lot of the Barry Allen stuff from Johns so far has felt a little forced, whether its this or in Blackest Night. But Flash is his favorite character so I do understand where he's coming from.

And it finally limps past the finish line. #6 was okay. It'd probably have been better if we didn't already know pretty much what happened. Love me some Hunter Zolomon, though.

I was underwhelmed. I liked a lot of the little moments, but I really wish I'd gotten to read 6 issues of real story-for-the-sake-of-story rather than 6 issues getting from point A to point B on an editorial decree. And I wish the book had convinced me that I'd want to read the new series. Shouldn't that have been its primary goal?

At least I finally felt like I was reading a book with Barry Allen in it, and not some guy who has the same name and haircut.

Full review at Speed Force.

Issue #6 was meh. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. I agree that the whole series felt like it was just trying to get to a point. It was all set up. I was looking so forward to this series and it was a pretty big disappointment. At least it's over and now hopefully we can get some awesome stories in the new Flash book.

It finished pretty much how I thought it would from where it left off. Even some of the minor details. Like Jai becoming a possible villain. And I mean "villain" loosely. So...he's back-back. Seems Johns is setting it up for Barry to end the Flash legacy? I could see him doing that, in a sense. The Lightning'll carry on, but only in the sense that all of time is relative and that when he dies, everyone who can tap the Speed Force (even in the future) will no longer be able.

Anyone find that Thawne being imprisoned by Zolomon was ludicrous?

Still have to read BN: Flash, so that's next.

Flash: Rebirth #6

I was really digging this issue until I realized this wasn't the first of the series; for this was the sixth. As a mini that jumped all over the place it often found itself zigging and zagging to nowhere. And whether it's true in what they say about many good things coming full circle, the majority of the circle might be forgotten.

Barry as the Black Flash: Johns overusing his expose. Wally's new costume: looking like a red Batman. Never knowing whether Professor Zoom was alive, dead, from a different timestream, the Reverse Flash, or Eobard Thawne: yeah.

But as I said before, there were some levels of enjoyment. Maybe the best reason is that Johns sums up a whole of his parts, allowing at least a tad of forgiveness for such an ultra late ish. It gets the Reborn treatment, if you know what I mean. As for the art, Van Sciver's 90s-inspired sketching is either your cup of tea, or not. I've never been a huge fan of such tales, other than some outrageously Manga-inspired elseworlds X-Men events, but Ian did an admirable job capturing the Flash's essence. Manupal, however, is a whole 'nother beast. He's sure to do a fine job mashing Scott Kollins dreamy fragments with Van Sciver's detailed visibility.

If Rebirth's aim was primarily to set up the ongoing, it fit the bill. I'm not sure it accomplished much more than that, except for maybe updating fanboys, who love Wally too much to care, with Barry's past and present frame of mind. Regardless, it'd be stupid to doubt Johns at this point. Need I not say another word.

3/5 Bags&Boards - Not as bad as some will say, but nowhere near the level of GL: Rebirth, obviously.

Flash: Rebirth was quite the disappointment for me. I was never a huge Flash fan but I thought Johns would do what he did with Green Lantern: Rebirth and streamline the franchise and make it much better. But it just hasn't worked out like that for Flash IMO. In some ways, Johns made things even more convoluted and turned me off on Barry even more. Hopefully the Flash ongoing is good though.

LooseCannon: I agree. There was something really, really off about Wally's outfit. Why would Wally change it all of the sudden because Barry's back. Bit silly.

BigTymin: I don't feel as strongly, but I get where you're coming from. It is supposed to be his favorite legacy of all comicbooks, and he only gave us a mediocre+ story at best. I'm still confident about the ongoing. Blackest Night'll be over and Flash, amongst JLA and Titans, will flow into Brightest Day moreso with the Flashs. So that could be cool.

I'm not sure what I felt about this series as a whole. I really didn't like the whole thing with Barry's parents. So now his mother was killed by the Reverse Flash, his father was framed for the murder and died in jail. Is that what's going to motivate Barry from now on? I really don't like that. I think Geoff does a good job when he changes backstories but in this case, I am not a fan of the changes he's made. It just didn't do it for me.

This is a time where messing around with a character's backstory was not only unnecessary but was just a bad choice in my opinion. I feel that overall, this book was trying to be too much like "Green Lantern: Rebirth instead of being it's own story and it suffered greatly because of it. There were too many similarities between the two mini-series and it wasn't necessary. You had two stories that brought back a silver age character and their villain. You had a bunch of supporting characters make appearances and revelations and other stuff. Geoff Johns tried to make lightning strike twice and it just didn't work.

I didn't hate this story. There were some cool elements to this but overall, I just didn't feel that this story had it's own voice and I think the story suffered overall from it. I am curious to see where the new Flash series is going to go and there were enough plot points by the end of this story to give Geoff some good stories. I just wish Flash: Rebirth had it's own voice and not so much Green Lantern: Rebirth's voice.