Comics! Flash #12

Flash #12

Script & Cover by Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato
Art by Francis Manapul

The Solicitation

Setting up The Rogues as a team as the next major storyline for the series begins!

Glider takes center stage!


Preview

Why I Bought It
I just keep buying the Flash to torture myself.

What I Liked
Two big things excited me for this book. The first was that Manapul was back on art duties. And Manpul rocks on art. I liked seeing his rendition on each of the Rogues and how they "should" be appearing in the new 52. I say "should" because you realistically hoped that Manapul would have done the art for each issue until now and we would have gotten how he would have drawn each character compared to the artist who did fill in issues previously.

The second thing I liked about this book was that it appealed to the old school Flash fan in me and had a huge Rogue fight going on. I knew the characters, knew what was happening, and it felt like I was right in the middle of Rogue War or something. This is the excitement level that the Flash book should have been carrying from the word "go."

What I Didn't Like
I can only imagine how a new reader to this comic would feel. Granted, if you have been following since issue one, you know a couple of the players involved. But there is so much missing back story that I'm just left wondering how you would read it.

First thing that would throw me off would be Flash standing up in a car. Check it out at the beginning of the book. I'll wait. You back? Did you see it in the panel below the credits? How does that happen?

Next, you get a demonstration of Piper's abilities, to some degree. And he has some back story. But why is he with the Flash? Why did he turn against the Rogues?

Coincidently enough , if you check out the audience that is listening to Elias speak, it turns out to be the cast from the TV show Lost. Kinda funny, like half your audience right now. (See, I made an obvious funny, totally Azzarello-minimum style too!)

Apparently Glider's power is to glide between being tangible and not? And Barry has apparently never seen her before in the past. Kinda odd, but I'll roll with it a bit. Trickster gets his intro on the next page and its yet another villain your left wondering who/what his powers are.

Flash has been shown to vibrate through stuff, what is stopping him from vibrating through a person? And with his new ability to sometimes see all outcomes of a situation, why didn't that kick in at any point in this fight?

Then we get an intro to Mirror Master that leaves you wondering about more villains. Then the end of the book. We do get a good look at Cold at the end, but it is nothing that his gun would have done itself. Again, I am left wondering why change up the Rogues and their powers like this. I'll leave the Annual up to explaining that.

Panel to Remember
I'm going with the one that included the Lost characters. That stuck out in my mind as being a pretty memorable one.

Quotable
"It can only get better from here, right?" I certainly hope so. you know, like actually starting a story and finishing it up. Or introducing characters instead of giving characters a great entrance.

Grades
Words: 5/10 - Two uses of the word "whoa" in the book. If that doesn't tick it down a notch or two, I don't know what would.
Pictures: 9/10 - Again, fantastic in the art department for me.
Buy Next Issue: I'm like a Pavlov dog when it comes to Flash books, I just keep on buying them!