A Sense of Doubt blog post #2735 - THE FLASH - Comic Book Sunday for 2208.14

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2735 - THE FLASH - Comic Book Sunday for 2208.14

Welcome to the (belated) Comic Book Sunday for 2208.14.

I confess. I let comic books pile up. Within the last year, I burned through big stacks of Nightwing, Detective Comics, and Justice League. The Detective Comics stack was almost THREE years of comics! I have big stacks right now of Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Flash. Well, I had a stack of Flash. I read them and suddenly, the new issue of the Flash vaulted to the top of my reading stack.

Smart people would see these back logs as a sign that I am buying comics faster than I can read them, as also evidenced by the stacks of books and graphic novels that I am trying to work my way through. The old adage that one can never have too many books never had to go through the painful process of giving away a couple thousand books to pare down one's possessions to move out west.

Digital books are just not the same. Don't get me started on that subject.

Anyway, I let my The Flash comics pile up from issue #775 (street date October 20, 2021) to issue #783 (street date June 22, 2022).

Here's the round up for this volume of the flash and the review round up page for issue #775.

These links may need to be copied and pasted.

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/flash-(2016)

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/flash-(2016)/775

Reviews varied on issue #775, and so I included two below. The issue received an average rating of 8.2 from both reviewers and readers. The first five reviews on the page are all above 8.5 with two 10/10. But the a-wipe from Bleeding Cool  gives it a 5/10, and his reasons are wholly personal and not at all based on any kind of reasoned evaluatory analysis. The guy just hates Wally West, and so he doesn't like the book. Fine, then, fuck off, loser. You don't "get" comics and what we should want from them.

Jeffrey Lyles from Lyles Movie Files "gets" it. Writing by Adams and art by Pasarin blend beautifully. There's echoes of Bart Sears in the art work.

The comic is just plain fun and should remind many of us (except Hannibal Tabu of Bleeding Cool) why we like and read comics.

An Eclipso-powered Glaive that unlocks people's anger and hate, even in Superman as in the above image (currently Jon Kent not Clark), takes over the city and affects everyone but Wally, whose new, dad-centered, take-things-as-they-come attitude and good "Zen" spirit makes him immune from the effects (supposedly he has no anger or hate to unleash) -- see the image below.

Flash struggles against his friends and co-workers as well as a host of villains the glaive calls out to. He tries various solutions until Eclipso possesses Starbreaker, who then flies out to start his campaign of vengeance. Wally thinks his day is done until Dr. Fate whisks him through a portal to save the universe.

The comic is light-hearted and humorous throughout, right up to Wally's final joke about having the universe in his hands, hands not being his best feature.

Then the next issue breaks the fourth wall and goes off the rails into fun and smart story telling.

But I was already hooked and stayed up late burning through all of these issues to bring me up to the current publications.

These The Flash books remind me why I love comics as an escape, a fun romp with jokester heroes who also have a message for people ("hey, lighten up"). We need that message right now in our world.

https://lylesmoviefiles.com/2021/10/19/dc-comics-10-19-21-batman-115-nightwing-85/13/

The Flash was one of the standout titles in the Rebirth era. Writer Jeremy Adams is ensuring it’s staying that way in the post-Dark Nights Death Metal era. For this double-sized milestone issue, artist Fernando Pasarin joins Adams on a fun riff of Arthur and Excalibur.

A glaive has landed in Central City and not only can Superman not pull it up, but it’s attracting villains far and wide causing all kinds of problems for Wally West. The handoff from Barry Allen to Wally West has been seamless yet it felt somewhat strange to have a big anniversary and no glimpse at Barry’s current whereabouts.

Adams has brought back Wally’s optimistic good nature with an equally entertaining sense of humor. Too many writers take their characters far too seriously, but Adams knows how to just have fun with Wally in any circumstance.

Pasarin is sticking around for one more issue, but he’s really an artist that needs a permanent title ASAP. At least in this issue, Adams gives Pasarin a number of characters to draw that likely won’t always show up in The Flash. Though The Rainbow Raider appearance was fantastic.

Inker Matt Ryan and colorist Jeromy Cox know how to best highlight Pasarin making for a gorgeous presentation.

It’s hard to knock a book that delivers so consistently right down to the villain payoff and launch of a new arc. The Flash is definitely a title alongside Nightwing and Catwoman that are can’t miss titles from DC.

Rating: 10 out of 10

And then this asshole...

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/flash-775-review-ended-poorly/

The Flash #775 Review: Ended Poorly

Posted on October 24, 2021 

by Hannibal Tabu

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Comments

If you ever found Naruto annoying and tedious, The Flash #775 gives you a chance to find Wally West even less charming and more grating. With guest appearances from Superman, Mister Terrific, and a big bad menacing the televised Stargirl — which all sounds like it'd be a big deal, but it's not — this issue goes a long way for very little reward at the end.

A strange glaive with an odd energy signature has crash-landed into a city street and become inextricably embedded, blocking traffic and causing an upset. The Flash calls in Mister Terrific and Superman, but no one can seem to get it to budge from its spot in the middle of the lane. Likewise, suddenly everyone starts to be testy with Wally's easygoing, carefree manner. If you've got a decent sense of DC comics history (or, again, are already watching Courtney Whitmore on TV), you know exactly what is on the way and why this is happening.

This Jeremy Adams script not only ended poorly but stumbled along the way with Wally West understanding very little about what was happening around him and not actually overcoming any challenges he faced. You surely can't lay any of the blame at the feet of Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan, Jeromy Cox, or Steve Wands, who turn in a book that looks as good as anything on the stands.

The sheer unlikability of Wally West, combined with being bad at his job of being a hero and the exhausting ending, leaves a book that should have stopped before it started. RATING: NO. JUST … NO.

and so my back-log stack of Flash comics...

And so then, these next two jumped to the TOP of my reading stack!

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2208.14 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2599 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.