The Flash #794 // Review
Wally West is apparently dead. Jay Garrick is in a really bad place, too. The One Minute War isn’t going too well, but things are never as they seem when everything is moving so fast. Things can change in an instant when the Speed Force is involved. This becomes quite apparent in The Flash #794. Writer Jeremy Adams continues a swiftly enjoyable multi-issue story arc with the aid of artist Roger Cruz. Ink assists by Wellington Dias and colors by Luis Guerrero lend tension and style to the page of a very appealing run with the Flash family.
Jay Garrick’s granddaughter might not have had much of an impression of Superman until she had a chance to work with him. A quick, little bit of work with him beating up some aliens has her duly impressed, but there’s scarcely time to talk. There’s real danger out there. Meanwhile, Jay Garrick is about to be dissected by a large multi-eye humanoid alien with weird appendages. Before he could be brought down, Jay might have had a tooth knocked loose. It’s all he really needs to get out of his predicament. He just needs the right aim, and he’s free...
In addition to writing one of the most totally badass moments in the history of the Golden Age Flash, Adams is beautifully balancing an uncomfortably large ensemble. One might not expect so many different speedsters to come across as anything other than a pleasant blur, but Adams finds a unique personality for everyone and a pacing that allows each of those personalities more than enough time to make an impact on the page. It’s all well-articulated, with all of the heroes managing distinctly different forms of charisma as they shoot across the page. There’s very little innovation in another alien invasion story, but Adams doesn’t need much to make an impact.
In and amidst everything else, there are some truly somber moments. Dias and Guerrero hit the silent, poignant moments with a wash of emotional intensity that can feel very, very deep. Then a couple of pages later, the Speed Force is launched at a white board at the instant of inspiration. Pages after that, a tooth is used as a bullet. It’s all pleasantly weird, but Dias and Guerrero manage to keep it all flowing beautifully with enough depth and resonance to shoot the story gracefully from cover to cover.
Given Adams’s treatment of the ensemble, it’s not hard to imagine the current Flash series splitting off into a couple of different titles that would have a chance to focus on a couple of different Flashes. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing that’s ever happened. Adams’s writing certainly HAS found the right appeal for just about every character in the ensemble. Adams, Dias, and Guerrero are developing an entertaining dynamic for every hero in the book. The villains scarcely have any time to make much of an impact, but it really doesn’t matter. The Flash family is interesting enough to carry the title.
