THE FLASH #45/ Script by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON/ Art by CHRISTIAN DUCE/ Colors by LUIS GUERRERO/ Letters by STEVE WANDS Published by DC COMICS
It is a time of renewal in Central City. Rebuilding a broken town is easy when you have the Fastest People Alive working to put everything back in place after a team of mad scientists led by a telepathic gorilla try to destroy your hometown.
Rebuilding a broken heart – or a broken relationship – is not quite so easy.
Meena Dhawan – the STAR Labs scientist turned speedster who was once known as Fast Track and now controls the Negative Side of the Speed Force – has surrendered herself into Iron Heights Prison. Still at large is Godspeed – the murderous speedster who was once Barry Allen’s best friend on the police force. And then there’s Iris West – the reporter who was Barry Allen’s friend, who was on the way to being something more. All people Barry Allen feels he failed. All people he must make peace with.
Iris will prove the most difficult and not only because of Barry’s lying to her about being The Flash. There is another secret Barry has kept from Iris – the existence of a nephew that time and Iris forgot! A nephew who, in another time and another place, became Kid Flash and then The Flash!
Paradoxically, the final chapter of The Perfect Storm seems more like a beginning than an ending. Granted, this may be because it is primarily concerned with tidying up the loose ends so as to set the stage for the upcoming Flash War event, but Joshua Williamson does this in such a manner as to make all the information easily accessible to any new readers that might stumble upon this issue.
Though the main focus here is upon a reunion two-years in the making (that of the original Wally West and his favorite aunt, Iris West -an event that has been teased since DC Universe Rebirth #1), Williamson resolves quite a few subplots even as he sets up others. Chief among these is a link to an upcoming Teen Titans storyline and a promise of a new role for Godspeed in the issues to come.
The most gratifying of these scenes, however, is the resolution of Fast Track’s story. I quickly became enamored of Meena Dhawan when she was first introduced as a potential love interest for Barry early on in the series and I loved her role mentoring both the younger Wally West and Avery Ho (The Flash of Justice League China). I disliked how she was suddenly turned evil and while the series isn’t writing off all of that as being due to Grodd’s influence, it is nice to see her being treated with the respect she deserves.
The artwork in this issue is a marked improvement on recent months. Christian Duce proves the perfect pick for this issue, which is low on action and high on conversation. Duce’s detail-driven style might seem a bit sedate for The Flash but it suits the smoother tone of this issue. The color art by Luis Guerrero and lettering by Steve Wands are also top-notch.
If you haven’t been keeping up with The Flash, this is the perfect time to catch-up.
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