The Flash #221

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Howard Porter
Inks: Livesay
Colorist: James Sinclair
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher

Rating: 4/5

Plot:

The second issue in the Rogue War storyline sees the Rogues, who are searching for the original Captain Boomerang’s body, and the reformed Rogues clash.

Our title character eventually shows up too.

Comments:

This book is as much about the bad guys as it is The Flash and that’s really not a bad thing either. It’s actually a high point.

Geoff Johns gives these characters motivation that’s hard to argue with. This issue goes further in making the reformed Rogues’ reasons even more compelling as you really see why they came together in the first place: a need for family, something that each of them had lost and were searching for. You almost feel sympathy.

Then you also see why these reformed Rogues are back, fighting against former allies: redemption. Their past lives as criminals are helping to wreak havoc on their psyches and this is a way for them to get back a piece of themselves, to prove they’re not like the monsters they used to run with.

But the question is: Are they really that different from their old friends now that they’re working on the side of the angels?
On the current Rogues side though, it’s almost like you want the new Captain Boomerang to find his dad’s body. Digger’s body is being abused in a way that’s shocking. It’s like you feel a little sympathy for this side too!

It’s that combination of feeling a little for both sides that really sucks you in. The reader is torn between those two sides and then you throw in The Flash who is just trying to save the city. Geoff Johns is an absolute genius for making it that way too.

This issue throws a lot your way and does it in an action-packed, fast-paced fashion. It’s all-out war as the two sides battle through Central City!

Yes, the Scarlet Speedster does show up. He does so just in time to see another person arrive on the scene in the last page of the book.

Who?

That would be giving too much away.

Howard Porter’s art didn’t really appeal to me when he first came on the book, but with each subsequent issue it’s grown on me. There’s a two-page spread that’s really impressive. There is an overall darkness to the issue that fits, but in some ways it doesn’t. I think that can be attributed more to Livesay than to Porter though. But in the end it’s a small nitpick that doesn’t really detract from the book at all.

Overall this is just an outstanding issue. If this is only a peak at what’s to come (it’s only the second issue of the arc!) then fans of this book are in for a treat!

Get out there and grab yourself a copy!

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