Directly flowing from the last issue, Flash and Green Lantern are facing off against Multiplex after the villain ruined Flash’s birthday party. Rude. Meanwhile, Reverse-Flash is seriously putting a damper on Wally West’s night.
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Publisher: DC Comics
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
“RUNNING SCARED” prelude—guest-starring Hal Jordan! Green Lantern Hal Jordan has recruited Barry Allen for a dangerous mission that only The Flash can accomplish! Unfortunately, that mission is on a hostile space station deep in the cosmos, which means leaving Kid Flash alone to defend his and Barry’s loved ones from a deadly attack by their greatest enemy…
Why does this book matter?
Given “The Button,” Reverse-Flash showing up seems highly relevant to the bigger picture story going on at DC Comics. This also is a fun team-up issue as Hal and Flash work together like the old days.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
This issue opens where the last issue opened…hmm curious…
Flash’s concern about telling his girlfriend he’s Flash ramps up in this issue, particularly because she’s directly threatened by Reverse-Flash. It seems Flash’s concerns might not matter after all as the villain attempts to seriously screw up Flash’s life. Joshua Williamson writes some truly frightening moments with Reverse-Flash making short order of Wally who attempts to defend Flash’s girlfriend. The villain is written in a believably psychotic way that ramps up the fear factor for the good guys. Juxtaposed with Flash and Green Lantern fighting off Multiplex, Williamson pulls it all together with captions that continue to reveal Flash’s fears. It’s as if Williamson has written Flash’s fears into action.
Though a bit off from the main narrative, Williamson writes up a fun back and forth between Green Lantern and Flash that reminds us these guys have a long history together. It also allows them to let their hair down–and poke fun at Hal’s inability to keep a relationship–and gives the issue a nice brotherhood moment.
Carmine Di Giandomenico draws a strong issue, especially when scenes with Flash juxtapose with scenes of Reverse-Flash doing his worst. The electric energy continues to be a staple of Giandomenico’s work and highlight the energy these characters exhibit. In a cool scene, Flash talks about how everything slows down, and Giandomenico uses blur well to convey things moving, yet Flash is standing still. The Reverse-Flash scenes are incredibly frightening due to the shock and fear on Wally’s face and Giandomenico does a great job heighting Reverse-Flash’s madness too. That’s ever more present in the cliffhanger full page spread which is straight up frightening.
Reverse-Flash is going to seriously freak you out in this issue.
It can’t be perfect can it?
The fear Flash feels about telling his girl about being The Flash seems to be a tad off from the last issue, which did a great job capturing Flash’s worry as a way to slow him down and put him in danger. It all seems to have gone away this issue with Flash easily winning the fight and seemingly come to a resolution. It might be something Williamson plays with further down in the series, but this issue gives the impression that might be thrown out now that Reverse-Flash is seriously screwing with his life again.
Is It Good?
An exciting issue that’s more horror comic than action comic as Reverse-Flash is incredibly scary in this issue. He’s also psychotic and you’ll feel every pulse-pounding moment of fear along with Wally West in this issue. It’s freaky just thinking about it!
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