The Flash #751 // Review
The Flash #751, written by Joshua Williamson, with art by Christian Duce, inks by Luis Guerrero, and colors by Hi-Fi, picks up where the landmark #750 left off but manages to steal some of the momentum that was built up by making its new villain a lot less interesting. Previously, a new nemesis emerged with a major grudge for Barry Allen. He was a monstrous hulk of a man named Paradox, who had his life altered catastrophically by the Flash’s attempts at time travel. The problem being, this man remembered his old life and gained a massive amount of power over time, which he now wields in his revenge scheme against the world’s fastest man. Now, with Flash’s old frenemy Godspeed recruited to his cause, Paradox carries out his initial attack against the man that stole his life. Can the Flash survive? Most likely, but he may have his views of time travel forever altered by the experience.
This arc finally brings back Godspeed, one of Williamson’s most compelling creations. Starting off as a friend of Barry’s on the CCPD, he was one of many who were gifted with speed powers by a mysterious Speed Force storm. However, over time he grew power-hungry and began killing other speedsters to steal their speed, all in the name of finding his brother’s killer. When Flash finally stopped him, he was sent to jail and has only been seen on a few occasions since. The relationship between Godspeed and Barry is always interesting, hinging on a Magneto/Xavier kind of dynamic, in which the former is not exactly evil, but has made poor decisions, and uses unusually extreme measures in his pursuit of “justice.” They will likely always be at odds, but you can’t help but want to see what Godspeed might accomplish if the Flash weren’t there to stop him.
Paradox, so far, has been a fun, new foil for the Scarlet Speedster, if only because he’s coming from a place of legitimate anger towards the Flash. If not for Barry’s selfish and careless attempts at time travel, this man might still be happily married with a wife and children. The world was altered around him, and he has nothing left of his old life, not even being able to recognize himself in the mirror. If that had remained the core of the character, he could go down as one of the best Flash villains of all time. Unfortunately, the waters have been muddied a little bit this issue, revealing a less-than-pure motivation behind Paradox’s actions. Combine that with his generic (and somewhat 90’s) design, and his vague “time powers,” and he starts to become forgettable at a rapid pace. Hopefully, Williamson can save it in the last half of the arc, but he has a bit of a track record for blowing it in the final leg of a story, so keep your fingers crossed.
Duce’s art is clean, sleek, and polished as usual, and he has a great handle on Godspeed, but there’s not much that can be done with the boring design of Paradox. He makes up for that with plenty of fun action scenes involving Flash and Godspeed racing through the panels. Accompanied by the always great Guerrero and Hi-Fi on inks and colors, the art team really makes this one of the best-looking books at DC this month.
Williamson is always at his best on this book when he is writing about the Speed Force or his newly-created “other Forces” (Still, Strength, and Sage). So this cosmic story of a man simultaneously gifted and damaged by Flash’s time manipulation lends itself to his strengths. He falters a little this issue, but there’s still time for him to dig deep, and focus on what works best about this arc: the fact that Barry Allen was wrong to try to alter the timeline, and he should probably pay for it in some way, shape, or form. If not, it might just be another generic story with a one-off villain nobody will remember two years from now.
