Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Of all the heroes that you encounter when travelling through the world of D.C. Comics, it could be argued that Barry Allen, The Flash, is by the most accessible to both the relative new comer to the land where fiction meets graphic art and the long standing devotee of comic book/graphic novel publications to grace the pages in which the likes of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman have gained the most adoration over the years.
His accessibility comes from the fact that he is more like the reader than any of the so called big six that make up the Justice League and in his own way is akin to Marvel’s Steve Rogers, Captain America, in terms of wanting to fight crime and destabilising forces in the most human of ways. Yes he is a superhero but unlike Batman or any of the other heroes in the D.C. Universe he is a man of deep conscious, of thought and of reason. Superman is at times far too alien, Batman, a hero who embodies all that comes with the tag of vigilante, Wonder Woman (one of the finest characters to ever grace D.C. Comics) can be off putting at times to all but those who find Greek and Roman mythology stimulating; whereas the life of Barry Allen is one of normal short lived human life but with the added bonus of being a crime fighter who catches the eye for his true ability.
This ability, this aptitude for reason and thought is captured superbly in volume two of The Flash by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, Rogues Revolution. Not only do the writer and artist capture the essential quality from the start as The Flash is under threat in Gorilla City, a timely reminder in itself of the fleeting nature of evolution as a constant forward motion, a reminder that at times the reader may wonder just exactly how is humanity evolving when all there is constant thought of war, famine, death and disease stalking our every move, but from a group of renegade criminals who used to use law breaking only for the thrill of scoring the crime, not for the use of killing or maiming.
The moral ambiguity in which this causes the reader to think just how far they would go in a crime if nobody was to get hurt can be seen in the everyday. When somebody says, “If you are going to steal, then steal big, not for pennies”; you have to wonder just how moral we truly are as a society. Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato capture this thought perfectly and in the scenes where The Flash as Barry Allen is trying to understand the nature of the criminal mind as he serves drinks in a bar is one of the compelling to the argument to be found.
With more development into the life of Barry Allen, his mother’s murder, his father’s arrest and the accident that changed his life being incorporated into the current story, The Flash becomes ever more the true hero and a worthy member of the Justice League alongside Aquaman; two members of the team, who for differing reasons seem to have been greatly overlooked in the past but who more than hold their own in their own personal stories.
The Flash, like Aquaman, is a stunning read.
The Flash: Volume 2, Rogues Revolution is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall