As much as it seems weird to say, it seemed like the second issue of
FLASHPOINT was more of a setup than the first one was. One of the better components of the second issue of this series is that we get to see a bit more of the new world in the context of the main story, as opposed to being fed long side stories that don’t intertwine with the main book. For instance, Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman meet for the first time in this issue. But unlike their classic first meeting, it’s far from pleasant: Wonder Woman in this world, leader of “The Furies,” is a cause of much turmoil in the world due to her war with the Emperor of Atlantis and apparent (Former? Estranged? Ex?) husband, Aquaman.
The thrust of this issue, though, is continuing the exploration of the Thomas Wayne/Barry Allen dynamic introduced in the closing pages of the first issue. After beating the living hell out of Barry for a few pages, Thomas begins to understand what Barry is talking about, and is particularly interested in his knowledge of Thomas’ dead son. Slowly, this Batman begins to listen to what Barry has to say and begrudgingly agrees to help him with an experiment -- one that Thomas has no problem in telling Barry how stupid it sounds. When you’re the fastest man alive without the “fastest” part though, what’s a hero to do?
The issue reads a little too fast for my taste, and doesn’t push the overall narrative as forward as I would’ve liked, especially since this is a relatively short event at five issues. I think a lot of this pace has to do with the layouts on each page, as only a marginal number of pages have more than four panels. That makes each page a speed to read, and while I’m not advocating for 12 or 15 panels to a page, most of the panels are big moments of action accompanied by very little dialogue. While the execution is definitely there, it made this issue a very, very fast read and pushed us only a little bit further in the overall scheme of things.
Andy Kubert’s work continues to shine here, and although the issue’s splashes and large panels make this a quick read, those panels are filled with clean and defined action that’s dynamic and pretty damned enthralling to look at. Sandra Hope’s inks, accompanied by Alex Sinclair’s colors really make even the dark moments pop with a vibrancy you might not expect, which at the same time feels pretty natural given this book’s status as a Flash title. What’s supposed to remain dark, though, succeeds, particularly on Batman. The glow of his eyes juxtaposed with the shroud of the cape set in the dank, wrecked Batcave are great images and the work of all involved shows a balance of tone and style that more event books should have.
The end of this issue felt a little flat to me. Instead of validating a suspension of disbelief, which usually isn’t too hard for Mr. Johns to do to me, it made me think instead, “Well what did you expect was going to happen?!” Luckily we still have three issues to go, and the mystery of FLASHPOINT coupled with this new exploration of Thomas Wayne as The Batman will definitely keep me around. I just hope the forthcoming issues do a little more to push the story forward, and take more than five minutes for me to read.
