Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
D.C. Comics’ Justice League has so many parts to it, so many interesting characters within its framework that at times the reader could be forgiven for overlooking perhaps one of the more interesting members within its ranks, that of Police Scientist Barry Allen, A.K.A The Flash.
With American television finally producing a television series of one of D.C.’s finest creations, on the back of the success that The Arrow has had, The Flash seems finally ready to take his place in the wider world of acknowledgement as the great hero he has always been.
Barry Allen may have been the second person to become The Flash, however he is far and away the finest character to play him. After The Golden Age of comics in which The Flash first appeared in 1940, Barry Allen came along at just the right time to kick start the silver age of comics off. Now in the 21st Century and with the revamped but utterly superb New 52 making all the right noises, The Flash once more demonstrates all the right reasons for moving graphic novels and action comics in a new updated version.
What makes The Flash so compelling is that he is unlike any other member of the Justice League. His attitude to the world is refreshing; he isn’t driven by revenge, by alien or Greek mythology power, by 21st Century technology harnessing his brain power or augmenting his potential, he isn’t the King of Atlantis… he is just a man who was in the wrong place at the right time and the effect on him makes him as endearing to the reader as the updated version of Aquaman, who is by far the greatest turn around in D.C. Comic history, or to Wonder Woman or even Batman.
The refreshing attitude though doesn’t hide the potential, nor the innate responsibility and shame he feels as he finds what drives the power and how destructive they can be when around the citizens of Central City. Barry Allen may be the fastest man alive, perhaps even giving Superman a run for his money but he cannot outrun the past.
Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato have done a magnificent job of bring The Flash up to date and with a story revolving around genetics and the folly of science, it seems as though there is a reason, as there is with the restored Aquaman series, to get to grips with another member of the Justice League, the most human of them all and perhaps the most sincere.
The Flash Volume 1: Move Forward is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall