Superboy #16

"Triggers"

Tom DeFalco • Writer
Ron Frenz • Thumbnails
Iban Coello and Amilcar Pinna • Pencilers
Rob Lean and Amilcar Pinna • Inkers
Richard and Tanya Horie • Colorists
Travis Lanham • Letterer
Chris Conroy • Editor

So many people involved in this comic book — what a mess (did we really need a separate person to do the thumbnails?). I imagine this is indicative of the mess Superboy was in at this time. The title was pretty much at the mercy of crossover events that originated in other titles like Teen Titans, Ravagers, Legion, and now Superman. Superboy had a habit of changing a lot after its solicits and generally had trouble establishing its own stories. Of course, I've learned most of this second-hand, as I haven't read very many Superboy issues.

The cover is by R.B. Silva with Rob Lean and Java Tartaglia. It's OK. I just get a little tired of the Bat-worship. I know Batman sells books, but he wasn't the only hero teaming up with Superboy here. This cover implies Batman and Superboy will team up and have their own unique adventure inside, but that doesn't really happen. It could have, but it didn't.

The story begins with Superboy, Wonder Woman and Batman fighting their way past a horde of Kryptonian worker-drones to get to the Fortress of Solitude. H'el has erected a force-field around the Fortress, so Superboy tries to use his tactile telekinesis to tear it down. We then get a quick flashback of one hour ago.

After meeting up with the Justice League at Lex Luthor's prison, Superman decided to take them to Dr. Veritas' lab, which is close to the center of the Earth. Superman hopes this remote location will prevent H'el from spying on them while they formulate a plan. Superman says he has a shard of Kryptonite in the Fortress that might be able to bring H'el down.

Within the Fortress, H'el and Supergirl begin converting his spaceship into a Star Chamber to take them back to Krypton. H'el furthers his manipulation of Supergirl by using his psychic powers to show her images of Krypton just before and during its destruction.

Outside, Superboy is able to dismantle the force-field, and Flash starts to vibrate through the Fortress' wall to find Supergirl. Flash soon finds out, however, that this wall is extremely difficult to vibrate through. While it appears solid, it's actually a composite of millions of crystal-like objects and Flash has to carefully align his vibratory frequency with every single crystal, making thousands of adjustments with each step.

Meanwhile, Superman and Cyborg arrive inside the Fortress via boom tube, but H'el manipulated their teleportation and put them right in front of the deadliest threats in the Fortress — killer-droids from Epsilon-18.

Wonder Woman kicks in the front door and stays behind to fend off the worker-drones while Batman and Superboy race toward the trophy room. However, they soon find that H'el has already taken the Kryptonite. They then run into Superman and Cyborg, who are evading a machine that teleports people into a never-ending series of pocket dimensions. Superman pushes Superboy out of the way of one of the beams, and he gets teleported away. Superboy then purposefully gets teleported himself to try to save Superman.

In the Himalayas, at a temporary research facility with an unknown purpose and unknown operators, a couple of scientists stumble across a big red alien that says, "After months of silence ... the Oracle heeds my summons — and a world dies!"

The Good:

Assault on the Fortress. There was a lot of fun stuff going on here: tons of different robots and natural defenses of the Fortress, combined with the manipulations of H'el. It was a smart idea to split up the team so we could see as much of the Fortress as possible, along with different ways to enter it. They also did a good job of explaining why none of those entry ways were easily accessible. I also liked seeing H'el play with the emotional sensibilities of the teenage Supergirl. It makes him really creepy and shows just how evil he is.

The Bad:

Action/art disconnect. While the story itself was exciting and intriguing, the art didn't get the job done. Of course, a big part of that has to do with the story itself. For example, Flash having difficulty vibrating through an alien wall is an interesting idea, but it looked dreadfully boring on the page. An extremely talented artist would find a way to give us a closeup of the microscopic crystals messing up the Flash' vibrations, but none of the artists on this issue could attempt that. Another big problem with this issue boils down to the root of Superboy himself. He is a psychically-based superhero, which means the majority of his big moments involve him concentrating really hard and occasionally bleeding from his nose. It's interesting to think about him summoning all his will to take down a force-field, but it sure is boring to look at. If this issue didn't have all the robots, it would have been a pretty bad comic book. Instead, it pulled out to be just average.

Final score: 5 out of 10

Next time: Supergirl #16

Superman #15

"Because I'm a Scorpion"

Scott Lobdell • Writer
Kenneth Rocafort • Artist
Sunny Gho • Colorist
Rob Leigh • Letterer
Darren Shan • Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza • Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

The cover is by Rocafort and Gho, and I absolutely love it. All though I do have to point out that Superman was technically not wearing that armor in this issue, it still is a striking image that perfectly conveys the attitude of Lex Luthor. Even though he's in chains, he's still in complete control of the situation. This cover also hides something of a spoiler inside —the scar on Luthor's face. But once you know it's there, you'll see it. The black-and-white version is also great — it really shows off Rocaforts precise and detailed pencil work.

So yeah, I'm finally back to the chronological adventures of the Flash. While he was battling Grodd and the gorilla invasion, the Justice League was battling the invasion of Atlantis. Now that that's over, Superman has called in the League to help with a little problem of his own, and this time, the Flash is free to help. Now, Superman #15 is not the best jumping-on point for the H'el on Earth storyline, but luckily this issue immediately gave us an editor's note referring to a couple of previous issues. Nine times out of ten, I'll heed the counsel of the editor and go buy those issues, which is exactly what I did here. Since the Flash didn't appear in either one of these, I won't give them full-fledged reviews, but I will provide a brief recap, since it'll help with the story going forward.

The first recommended issue was Superman #14. In there, Supergirl introduces Superman to H'el, who claims to be an astronaut from Krypton, who left that planet before Kal-El, but arrived on Earth 27 years later. H'el also claims he can bring Krypton back, and while Supergirl believes him, Superman does not. They get into a fight, and H'el causes Superboy to appear right in front of him. Since he's a clone, H'el views him as an abomination and almost kills him. He also plays some tricks on Supergirl to turn her against Superman.

In Superboy #15, Superman takes the dying boy to the Fortress of Solitude and he enlists the help of Cyborg and Dr. Veritas (I have no idea who she is, but apparently she's a scientist-ally of Superman's, much like Dr. Elias was for the Flash, was being the key word). Cyborg and Veritas discover that Superboy's genetic makeup comprises human DNA, Kryptonian DNA, and a third, unidentified strand. Apparently H'el started to rip Superboy apart on a cellular level, so Superman gives him his armor, which acts like a cast for his DNA. H'el then teleports into the Fortress and uses his telekinetic powers to show Superman and Superboy out.

And so that brings us to Superman #15. We start with Lex Luthor building a scale model of the Fortress of Solitude. He's then alerted to a couple of approaching visitors, who are, of course, Superman and Superboy.

Superman has decided he needs to visit Luthor, who is currently in a super-secret, heavily guarded prison built just for him (Superman tricked Luthor into designing it himself). Superman and Superboy have to fight past a lot of armed guards and even more booby traps inside before they finally get to Luthor. Superman is surprised that Luthor has somehow been able to keep track of everything that's been happening, and Luthor says he's been watching H'el watch Superman for some time now.

Superman asks Luthor if H'el's time travel plan could work and at what potential cost. Luthor explains that since H'el is in the Fortress, he now has access to technology that could make his plan work, but he would require vast amounts of energy, which he could only acquire by causing the solar system to collapse on itself. The two heroes then leave the villain, and Superboy offers to call in the Teen Titans to help. Superman's not too keen on the idea of unsupervised super-powered teenagers, so he calls in his friends instead.

Batman and Cyborg are surprised to find such a large prison neither one of them knew about, and Superboy is surprised to see a "Man Flash." "What? Who would ever call himself 'Man Flash'?" "Well, I know this kid ..." All joking aside, this is the first time Superman has ever called in the Justice League, so they know this has to be something pretty big. Superman explains the situation perfectly: "We're going up against a foe of incredible power. H'el has barricaded himself into my Fortress of Solitude — and is very likely about half an hour away from destroying Earth's entire solar system. Any questions?"

The Good:

The art. Kenneth Rocafort suddenly became one of my favorite artists with this issue. He's no Francis Manapul, but his unique style is a refreshing change of pace from the usual Jim Lee style we see everywhere. Rocafort's use of the hundreds of little sharp, angular boxes is also very different. I've never seen that before, but it's kind of fun to see a different approach to comic book art and presentation. Maybe I would eventually grow tired of that technique, but for now, I'm quite fine with it.

The story. This is the beginning of an epic crossover event — the first in the Superman family in the New 52. And what really makes it great is the inclusion of the Justice League. If something's really going to be a big deal, then the biggest and the best characters need to be involved. But even pushing all that aside, this is a great issue by itself. I loved the implied history with Luthor and his massive, intricate prison. I didn't go into all the traps in it, but they were all pretty fun. Most of all, though, I loved the interaction between Superman and Superboy. You never forgot that Superboy was a teenager who was way in over his head. At one point he even hid behind Superman's cape. Rocafort's art also helped by making Superboy actually look younger than Superman. He wasn't just shorter, but he was skinnier and less developed. A little attention to detail goes a long way.

The Bad:

Well, we only got two panels of the Flash here, but I loved the "Man Flash" line so much I'll let it pass. This was a very good comic book, and while some things may have been confusing, there were plenty of editor's notes telling you where you could find more information. So yes, this is a comic book I would recommend picking up, even if you only cared about the Flash.

Final score: 7 out of 10

Next time: Superboy #16

Rogues Gallery

This is my 50th post on this blog, so I've decided to celebrate with a brief glimpse of 25 villains the Flash has met so far. For the sake of variety and convenience, I've put the baddies in alphabetical order.

Amazo

We don't know much about Amazo, except that he is a giant robot created by Professor Ivo, who worked with Cyborg's dad at STAR Labs. Professor Ivo was carried away by parademons during the Darkseid invasion, and it remains unclear if and how he returned. The Justice League defeated Amazo largely off screen, and Green Arrow provided the valiant contribution of shooting an arrow in his butt. The Justice League took the robot back to STAR Labs, where it was decommissioned.

Bane

It seems like most of the pre-52 continuity holds up with Bane, as he mentions having previously broken Batman's back. In his first New 52 appearance, Bane developed a new and improved venom with the help of Scarecrow and Poison Ivy. He used several high-profile test subjects to battle Batman, including Two-Face, Clayface and Deathstroke. Batman called in Flash to help him on the case, but Flash spent most of the time running around the globe to get the toxin out of his bloodstream. When he finally sorted that out, he arrived just in time to help Batman defeat Bane by giving him an antidote to the new venom and then pushing him off a cliff.

Captain Cold

Leonard Snart was the founder and original leader of the Rogues — a group of super villains with a code of conduct. Tired with constantly losing to the Flash, Cold traded in his freeze guns for actual superpowers, courtesy of Dr. Darwin Elias. The transformation resulted in an explosion that put Cold's sister, Lisa, in a coma. Cold then was somehow caught and taken to Iron Heights Prison, but probably not by the Flash, who didn't discover Cold's new powers until later. Cold escaped Iron Heights during the blackout from the Mob Rule storyline, but soon found out the blackout made it impossible for doctors to operate on Lisa's brain tumor. Believing Flash caused the blackout, Captain Cold took his revenge out on the speedster, and during the fight, a vortex to the Speed Force opened that sucked up Iris, three others, and presumably Barry Allen. Flash defeated Cold and helped saved Lisa, but she blamed Len for accident that gave them powers.

Captain Cold later escaped from Iron Heights again, probably thanks to David Graves, who was releasing and interrogating Justice League villains. Cold then went to a bar to drown his sorrows, when Heatwave showed up, blaming him for his gruesome and painful transformation. Luckily, Barry Allen happened to be working at that bar, and was able to turn into the Flash and defeat the two Rogues. On their way to Iron Heights, Lisa, now Glider, saved Heatwave, but left her brother to die in the crashing police van. Cold was saved/captured by the Pied Piper, then saved by Trickster. He then teamed up with Flash to take down the Rogues, but he quickly double-crossed him and tried to reclaim his position as leader of the Rogues. But then the gorillas invaded Central City, so Cold and the Rogues had to fight them off. Once that was all said and done, Cold retreated back to Mirror World with the Rogues, who harshly reminded him that he is no longer their leader.

Cheetah

Barbara Minerva was one of Wonder Woman's first friends, but she was always a criminal in disguise. She worked in ARGUS's secret Black Room of enchanted artifacts when she stole a ceremonial dagger that possessed her with the goddess of the hunt — the Cheetah. The Justice League helped Wonder Woman track down her former friend, and she bit Superman, briefly turning him into a cheetah-man. She also got a couple of good hits in on the Flash, even slicing up his calf clean to the bone. But she was eventually captured and taken to Belle Reve Prison, which is exactly where she wanted to end up.

Daniel West

He's not really a super villain — at least not yet — but he was the getaway driver in a bank robbery that was one of the Flash's first adventures. Daniel tried to escape while being taken into jail, but Barry happened to be right there visiting his dad, and was able to stop him. Daniel received 5 to 10 years for his crime, and he tried to get his sister Iris to work with Barry to help reduce his sentence. But Barry felt Iris was using him, so he broke off their relationship. Daniel was released 5 years later for good behavior, but found himself in the middle of the gorilla invasion. Luckily, he was saved by the Rogues. His ultimate role in the Flash story has yet to be revealed.

Darkseid

The ruler of Apokolips launched an invasion on Earth apparently to search for his daughter. Seven of Earth's mightiest heroes teamed up for the first time to defeat him and send him back to his own planet. Those heroes, including the Flash, decided to form the Justice League to battle other massive threats to Earth. Darkseid is still out there, and has sworn to return one day.

Dr. Darwin Elias

Darwin Elias is a scientist with often perplexing motives. He gave the Rogues superpowers "just to see what happens," but also helped the Flash learn to think at super speed and tried to help the Mob Rule clones keep from dying. He failed with this last endeavor, and inadvertently caused a citywide blackout. He pulled the Gem Cities out of the blackout, though, by creating a machine that could collect the Flash's excess Speed Force energy into battery cells. Elias then took full credit for the battery cells and started to host anti-Flash rallies. He built a big monorail for the city, but was attacked by Glider at the ceremony. He did survive, but probably believes it was the Flash who attacked him and has now vowed revenge. Although Gorilla Grodd drained most of the battery cells, Elias does have a small secret stash of Speed Force energy to himself.

David Graves

David Graves was an accomplished author who specialized in the paranormal and mythical. He happened to be in Metropolis with his family when Darkseid attacked, and they were saved by the Justice League. He wrote an instant best-seller about the team, but he and his family became terminally ill after breathing in ashes from Darkseid's omega beams. After his children and wife died, Graves journeyed to a mystical temple to make a deal with fallen gods. He came into contact with spiritual parasites that disguised themselves as his family and gave him superpowers. He set out to turn the public against the Justice League, and then release the spirits to reunite the world with their lost loved ones. He also tried to kill Steven Trevor, believing Wonder Woman hadn't experienced enough pain. The League ultimately defeated him after they learned the truth about the "spirits" and they sent Graves to Belle Reve Prison, where Amanda Waller tasked him with writing a book on how to defeat the Justice League.

Folded Man

Not much is known about him beside his name and 2-dimensional appearance. He was apparently caught by the Flash before and was in Iron Heights when the blackout happened. He, Girder and Tar Pit tried to take Iris West hostage before making their escape, but they were quickly defeated by Flash.

General Silverback

Grodd's right-hand man ... er, ape, shared his king's violent dreams of world domination. He killed some disloyal elders, rescued Grodd after the temple collapsed on him and helped lead the invasion of Central City. Although it wasn't explicitly stated, I like to believe he was the gorilla Patty Spivot shot and killed to save Darryl Frye.

Girder

As with Folded Man, we don't know much about Girder — just that he was an enemy of the Flash and most likely remains in Iron Heights.

Glider

Lisa Snart is the sister of Captain Cold and the girlfriend of the Mirror Master. Although she wasn't a Rogue at the time, she was present when Elias' genome recoder exploded, giving the criminals all superpowers. She gained the ability to send an astral projection out of her crippled body and interact with the physical world for a few seconds at a time. She united the Rogues through their shared hatred of Captain Cold, and she became their new leader. She attempted to murder Elias and stole his monorail, but then soon had to deal with the gorilla invasion. She helped save a bunch of people and took some of the gorillas' machines into the Mirror World. She is now plotting her next move with her new toys.

Gorilla Grodd

Grodd became king of Gorilla City after killing his father and eating his brain. But then the Flash showed up and threatened his belief of being the Speed Force's chosen one. Grodd tried to kill Flash, but accidentally caused an ancient temple to collapse on himself. General Silverback rescued him, and Grodd killed all who opposed him. He rallied together an army and launched a full-scale invasion of Central City. Grodd quickly found Elias' battery cells and drank the Speed Force energy to acquire super speed. He almost killed the Flash, but began to lose his newly acquired powers and had to return to Elias' lab. The Flash then met him there and took him to the Speed Force. With the assistance of a rampaging wooly mammoth, Flash trapped Grodd in the Speed Force while he saved Iris West and three others. Although Flash believes he's the only one with a key to the Speed Force, Grodd remains a constant threat to return.

Heatwave

Mick Rory was a member of the Rogues who decided to turn in his fire gun for superpowers. But the transformation left him badly burned and gave him a perpetual fire in his chest. Cursed with a bad temper, Heatwave has a bad habit of burning down buildings. He eventually found Captain Cold in a bar and tried to take his revenge on him, but the Flash quickly put a stop to it. Heatwave was then saved by Glider and helped her steal the monorail and fight the gorillas. He was last seen in the Mirror World, plotting the Rogues' next move.

Martian Manhunter

No, he's really not a villain, but he did once get into a fight with the Justice League and apparently defeated them all single-handed. We don't know exactly what caused this fight, but it is likely the League will be seeing him again soon.

Mirror Master

Sam Scudder was a member of the Rogues with a mirror gun that allowed him to transport things and people to the Mirror World. When he tried to gain superpowers, he became permanently trapped in the Mirror World. He teamed up with his girlfriend, Glider, to steal the monorail and battle the invading gorillas. He used his powers to entice Turbine to join the team, and he is currently looking to Glider to plan their next move.

Mob Rule

Manuel Lago was Barry Allen's best friend in college. When Manuel's dad was killed by the terrorist group Basilisk, he joined the CIA and began hunting them down. At one point, he lost his hand, but the CIA gave him an experimental treatment that gave him the ability to regenerate lost body parts. He was then captured by Basilisk, and while torturing him, they discovered his regenerative powers, so they began to repeatedly hack off his limbs and pile them in a room. Eventually, clones of Manuel formed from his discarded limbs and they helped him escape. For a while, Manuel and his clones waged war against Basilisk, but then the clones began to die suddenly. Manuel then abandoned the clones, but they tracked him down to use him and Elias' genome recoder to fix their premature death problem. Elias' machine actually killed all the clones, though, and caused a massive blackout. Manuel then ran away to an unknown location and began creating more clones for an unknown purpose.

Pied Piper

Hartley Rathaway was once a member of the Rogues with his flutes that can control rats and pigeons. But at some point, he decided to leave them and pursue a life of good. He became conductor of the Central City Symphony and started going out with Barry's boss, Director David Singh. Against David's wishes, he became the Pied Piper again in the Flash' absence and tried to help him fight the Rogues, but was quickly taken down by Weather Wizard. It remains to be seen whether Hartley will continue acting as the Pied Piper or if David will allow their relationship to go public.

Reverse-Flash

So far, nothing is known about this villain. He was first seen after the Gorilla Warfare story, and he apparently wants to kill the Flash and take out others who've been touched by the Speed Force. We'll just have to wait and see who or what this bad guy is.

Spore

Dr. Samuel Street was an abusive husband, who was an Army biological warfare specialist. He was delivering the "spore" virus to ARGUS, when he ran into a mysterious intruder and was exposed to the virus, which turned him into a monster that could create miniature versions of himself. He tried to take back his ex-wife, but the Justice League stopped him off panel. It is unclear whether they cured him of his condition or if we'll see him again.

Tar Pit

Not much is known about this man apparently made of lava, but he somehow earned a spot in Iron Heights, where he presumably remains to this day.

Trickster

Axel Walker was once a member of the Rogues, but was kicked off the team for ignoring orders and botching robberies. He also insulted Lisa Snart, which didn't help his relationship with Captain Cold or Mirror Master. He left the Rogues before they acquired their superpowers, so he continues to rely on his bag of tricks and gadgets. Axel eventually found acceptance with the Outlanders, and they corroborated with Mob Rule for a little bit. He later saved Captain Cold from the Pied Piper, hoping to earn some favors down the road. When Grodd invaded Central City, Axel sought to offer his services to the gorilla, but got his arm ripped off by the enormous ape. Trickster was then involved in another adventure that I haven't reviewed yet, so I won't spoil anything here.

Turbine

Rosco Hynes was a World War II-era fighter pilot who accidentally got sucked into the Speed Force. He spent decades alone there, learning its mysteries and acquiring powers. He watched Barry Allen's life unfold and learned all his secrets. Occasionally, portals would open up in the Speed Force, and Turbine would try to spin through them to return to his home, but he always ended up pulling other objects and people in, disrupting the flow of space and time. This caused several objects to show up in random places at random moments in history. It also led to Iris, Marissa, Gomez and Albert being sucked into the Speed Force. Flash went there to save them, but instead found Turbine, who wanted to force Flash to help him return home. Flash wouldn't consider traveling back in time, so he pulled Turbine out to the present day. During the gorilla invasion, Turbine saved Patty and Darryl, and took Patty to find Solovar, the founder of gorilla city who had journeyed to the future to help the Flash. Turbine then helped Darryl fight the gorillas and rescue the human hostages, but Turbine soon found himself in Mirror World, where the Rogues began recruiting him to join their team.

Weapons Master

Not much is known about this villain, but he was released from Iron Heights by David Graves, who was gathering information on the Justice League. Green Lantern and Flash captured Weapons Master, but their fight caused a bit of damage. They tried to interrogate him, but this time Flash wanted to try being the bad cop. It failed miserably, so Wonder Woman came in and used her lasso of truth. Weapons Master is presumably safely back in Iron Heights.

Weather Wizard

Marco Mardon was born into one of South America's most powerful mob families, but he decided to make his fortune in the states as a member of the Rogues. He acquired superpowers with the others, but they became linked to his emotions, sending him into a deep depression when he uses them too much. When Marco's brother was killed, he returned to family business in Guatemala. Patty Spivot went down their to investigate the murder, but was captured by Marco's sister-in-law. This brought the Flash down there, and when Marco learned his sister-in-law had killed his brother, he decided to kill her and himself with a bolt of lightning. He survived, however, and was recruited by Glider to rejoin the Rogues. He returned to Central City to help steal the monorail and fight the gorillas. He's now with the rest of the Rogues in the Mirror World, planning their next big job.

So yeah, that's basically everybody the Flash has fought so far. It's been a fun 50 posts on this blog, and hopefully I'll have another 50 out before too long.

Next time: I'll finally begin the epic Superman crossover H'el on Earth!

Justice League #15 & #16

When I heard about Throne of Atlantis, I was really excited to get an excuse to read Aquaman, as I had heard a lot of good about it. Instead, I got an excuse to not read Aquaman, as Geoff Johns decided this mini-crossover would be better served without the Flash. However, nobody told that to the people who did the alternate covers, so we got a couple of more images of the Scarlet Speedster.

The variant cover for issue #15 was done by Billy Tucci and Hi-Fi. It's one of those super-unique covers that you either love or hate, and I happen to love it. It is reminiscent of the famous Japanese Great Wave, and I think the Japanese spin on the Justice League characters is a fresh and fun take. Perhaps my years of Naruto-fandom has given me a liking for this style. Some may think it's weird for Superman to punch a wave of water, but I consider this a symbolic representation of an iconic fight. But I can totally understand why someone wouldn't like this cover.

The variant cover for Justice League #16 was done by Langdon Foss and Jose Villarrubia. I really have no idea what the intention was here. Everybody looks so goofy, it seems like it was done on purpose. Almost like a Mad cover. Everyone is just making the stupidest looks on their faces. I just don't get it. Apparently the Flash doesn't, either, as he's running away from the madness.

So yeah, these were the only two issues I read of Throne of Atlantis, but it seemed like a promising story. Apparently one of Aquaman's old friends felt he wasn't acting "kingly" enough, so he staged this huge war with Atlantis and the surface world. Naturally, Aquaman was eventually to straighten everything out with the help of the Justice League, but at one point, Cyborg needed to call in more reinforcements, opening the possibility of expanding the League's roster.

Of course, Cyborg didn't try to call the Flash, because he was "busy" with Grodd. I find that a bunch of baloney. While this was happening, Batman was involved in Death of the Family and Superman had his hands full in H'el on Earth, but they both found the time to battle a full-scale Atlantean invasion. It makes zero sense to me why the Flash, a founding member of the team, would be left out of its first crossover. What's even more disturbing is that this storyline marked the beginning of a trend of leaving Flash out of the Justice League. From issue #14 to #21, he only makes one appearance (and it wasn't a very good one at that). I guess Geoff Johns wanted to shake the roster up a bit, but at least he provided a good reason for Green Lantern to leave. I think the fastest man alive would need a pretty compelling reason to skip out on helping the League, but we haven't seen that. He's just been ... gone.

Oh well. Enough ranting about issues that don't have the Flash, and on to talking about issues that do have him. The following is my chronological list of every Barry Allen appearance in the New 52. I've divided the list between Active Appearances (where he's physically present and says or does something) and Passive Appearances (where he's only shown in a dream, alternate reality or picture). I've also included the scores for the issues I've reviewed, which are on a 10-point scale. I haven't included any solicited issues, because I like to wait until the issue comes out before I can determine the extent of the Flash's appearance and the chronological placement of the issue.

Active Appearances

The Flash #0 – 10
Justice League #2 – 6
Justice League #3 – 6
Justice League #4 – 6
Justice League #5 – 7
Justice League #6 – 6
DC Universe Presents #0 – 0
Action Comics #10 – 6
Batman: The Dark Knight #3 – 2
Batman: The Dark Knight #4 – 2
Batman: The Dark Knight #6 – 2
Batman : The Dark Knight #7 – 1
Captain Atom #3 – 6
The Flash #1 – 8
The Flash #2 – 9
The Flash #3 – 9
The Flash #4 – 9
The Flash #5 – 8
Justice League #7 – 4
Justice League #8 – 4
The Flash #6 – 9
The Flash #7 – 10
The Flash #8 – 9
The Flash #9 – 10
Action Comics #14 – 3
The Flash #10 – 8
Justice League #9 – 6
Justice League #10 – 5
Justice League #11 – 5
Justice League #12 – 4
Justice League #13 – 7
Justice League #14 – 4
Green Lantern #13 – 5
Green Lantern #14 – 5
Green Lantern Corps #14 – 4
The Flash #11 – 8
The Flash #12 – 10
The Flash Annual #1 – 8
The Flash #13 – 9
The Flash #14 – 9
The Flash #15 – 8
The Flash #16 – 9
The Flash #17 – 10
Superman #15
Superboy #16
Supergirl #16
Superboy Annual #1
Superman #16
Superboy #17
Supergirl #17
Superman #17
Justice League #18
The Flash #18
The Flash #19
Justice League Dark #19
Justice League Dark #20
Justice League Dark #21
The Flash #20
The Flash #21

Passive Appearances

Justice League #1 – Cover only
Action Comics #12 – 1
Resurrection Man #12 – 5
Stormwatch #0 – 4
Justice League #15 – Cover only
Justice League #16 – Cover only
Animal Man #12
Animal Man #12
Animal Man #16
Animal Man #17
Justice League of America's Vibe #1
Justice League of America #1
Justice League of America's Vibe #2
Justice League of America's Vibe #3
Dial H #11
DC Universe Presents #19

So what do you think? Is the order correct? Did I score some things too high or too low? Also, as always, let me know if I'm missing anything. Thanks again for reading — hopefully we will have many more amazing Flash stories to enjoy in the future.

Next time: A reader suggested I do some sort of a rogues gallery, so in honor of my 50th post, I will present the top 25 Flash villains I've covered so far. I hope you enjoy the break from the regular reviews.

Stormwatch #0

"Crash Course"

Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Will Conrad
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Assistant Editor: Sean Mackiewicz
Editor: Pat McCallum
Stormwatch created by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi

The cover is by Tyler Kirkham, Batt and Wes Hartman. It's your standard zero issue cover DC did last September, and it shows the whole team displaying their powers. It's simple and to-the-point, but it is pretty nice.

According to legend, a promising young artist at Marvel named Jim Lee decided to team up with a few other big names in the business to form their own company to rival Marvel and DC — Image Comics. This new universe needed a lot of new characters and teams, and one of them was Stormwatch, sort of like a parallel to the Justice League. Eventually, Jim Lee sold out to DC and worked his way up to be co-publisher. He now has major influence to ensure his original creations remain alive and well in the New 52 universe. This current Stormwatch is a mix of classic superhero elements, magic and sci-fi. I honestly don't think there's need or room in the DC universe for this team, but that's not what this post is about. I am here to review issue #0, which should be the perfect starting point for new readers. And since this is a Flash blog, I am going to focus on his appearance here, which is another passive, not-really-there showing.

Our story starts now in hyperspace aboard the Eye of the Storm, Stormwatch headquarters. Four members of the team — Engineer, Apollo, Jack Hawksmoor and Midnighter — are all using their powers to investigate a strange alien they just picked up. The fifth member of the team, the young Jenny Quantum, is in her room, receiving an unexpected visit from Adam One. Adam was last seen being sucked into another dimension by a Shadow Lord in issue #5. Jenny asks how he got back, but he instead teaches her that she is a Century Baby and what that exactly means.

Adam shows Jenny flashbacks of his own life, and we learn that he is really Merlin and ages backwards very slowly. The first Century Baby he shows her is from 1013. Merlin recruited this girl to join Demon Knights and she helped them defeat an army of evil dolphins in mechanical suits. Later, though, this girl misused her powers and was taken away by the Shadow Lords.

Merlin found another Century Baby in 1340, and she joined the team as it shifted its focus to battle extra-terrestial threats and changed its name to Stormwatch. Adam shows Jenny two more Century Babies and helps her hear and feel what the others have felt. He then shows her something that's been troubling him for a long time — the beginning of the end, basically.

He says the arrival of the Justice League and superheroes is a sign that the final, cataclysmic battle is at hand and Stormwatch will soon turn on itself. Jenny, naturally, is the only one who can save the team.

The Good:

An editor's note. I'm a sucker for editor's notes that send me to other issues, and here, it sent me to Stormwatch #5. It begins with a Shadow Lord killing Adam, partly as punishment and partly so he could join the Shadow Cabinet. The Shadow Lord then goes through each member of Stormwatch, including Martian Manhunter, and explains why they can't be the leader of the team. It then ends on a cliffhanger with a traitor destroying their headquarters. Issue #0 was a good origin story for the general idea of Stormwatch and Jenny Quantum, but it didn't tell me much about the others. Issue #5 helped fill in some of those gaps, so I was happy to have the reference to it.

The Bad:

No Flash. He's only in one panel, and it's not a particularly impressive one, either. It also comes with a very standard doom and gloom message about the Justice League. Like at the end of Flashpoint, Pandora said they needed to team everybody up and merge the universes to gain strength to battle the biggest, strongest, vaguest threat to all existence. Here, it was: the formation of this team only means that awful, cataclysmic events are immanent. We won't say what, or when, just know that it's going to be huge and terrible and it will change everything forever! Which DC is now saying about Trinity War. Can't the formation of the Justice League ever be a good thing filled with hope?

Evil dolphins. That is just one example of some of the weirdness that occurs in this title. To some people, I'm sure an army of evil dolphins is awesome and exciting. I, however, can't help but think about the Simpsons episode where evil dolphins conquered the land. I didn't really care for it in that episode, and I absolutely do not care for it in this issue. That, combined with the title's sense of uselessness, really turns me away from Stormwatch. I'm not saying it's a poorly written book, I'm just stating that it doesn't appeal to me, personally.

Final score: 4 out of 10

Next time: I will take a look at Flash's "appearances" in the Throne of Atlantis crossover and provide an updated chronology list.

Resurrection Man #12

"The Reborn Identity"

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Writers
Javier Pina Artist
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Katie Kubert Assistant Editor
Brian Cunningham Editor
Resurrection Man created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Butch Guice

How neat is it that two of the character's creators worked on this issue? That is pretty rare in the world of DC nowadays. It also means that we can rest assured that the title character will be portrayed accurately. Anyway, the cover is by Francesco Francavilla, and it really doesn't make any sense. I have no idea what's going on with this cover, and it does not compel me to read the inside story, which is a shame, since the story is actually pretty good. I think they would have been better served to get the book's artist, Javier Pina, to draw an action scene of something that happens in the issue, not this vague ... what is it? He's just standing there! And who's behind him? Such a waste of a cover.

Oh, and if you're curious about my chronology, this issue falls under my Passive Appearances list. These are issues where we see the Flash (or something that looks just like him), but he's not "really" there. This counts pictures, dreams, holograms, zombies, etc. So basically, since the Flash is not actively present in this issue, the timeline doesn't really matter that much for my purposes, and I'll review these passive appearances whenever I can.

Our story begins with Mitch Shelley, the Resurrection Man, flying above Gotham City. He has the ability to rise from the dead, and whenever he does, he gains a new power. He last remembers visiting a secret lab in Viceroy, South Carolina, to try to discover the secret behind his powers. Currently, he is quite surprised to find himself flying and in Gotham.

Shelley is shot down by a police helicopter and he falls to the ground and dies. He quickly wakes up, only to be attacked by Batman. Resurrection Man fends off the Dark Knight with his new power — telekinetic explosive blasts — but he is stabbed from behind by Aquaman and the Justice League.

We then find out that Shelley really is in the lab, and a team of scientists are projecting a series of simulations into his brain to fool his body into thinking it's dying over and over again. The scientists are carefully recording each new power Shelley exhibits, as well as trying to determine the extent of his powers.

Resurrection Man then gains laser eyes, which he uses to vaporize Aquaman and Flash in the virtual reality. He's then killed by Wonder Woman, but resurrects as a lava man and defeats the Justice League just in time for Darkseid to show up. His fight with Darkseid is ended when one of his friends saves him from the virtual reality. They try to escape from the lab and they get into a few fights, a few people die, and the issue ends with Shelley meeting the CEO of the lab, who appears to be a female version of himself.

The Good:

The story. I know I skimmed through that synopsis, but I actually really enjoyed this issue. I had no idea what was going on, so I didn't delve into any details, but this a great science fiction story that involves a lot of characters with powers that come with a price. For instance, there's one guy who's immortal, but can never heal, so he's always walking around with an open, festering wound on his face. It's really neat stuff, and I wish I had the time and money to read it all. And I think that is precisely why this title only lasted 13 issues. It may be a great story with good art, but the only people who'll buy it are those who buy pretty much everything. For the rest of us comic book fans, we have to carefully pick and choose where to allocate our resources, which means we'll usually stick to the big stuff like Batman, Superman, or the Flash. Resurrection Man is great and all, but I'm not going to drop the Flash to read him. Hopefully DC can find a way to resurrect him once more.

The Bad:

No Flash. Because this is a Flash blog, I review and recommend issues based on how well the Flash is portrayed in them. In this issue, we see the Flash in two panels. In one, he's just standing there, and in the other, he's being blown to bits by an optic blast that would make Cyclops jealous. I know that was just a virtual reality world, but it would have been nice to see Flash do something. As such, this is not a good Flash story, but it was never meant to be. As much as I criticized the cover, I have to give it props for not shamelessly throwing the whole Justice League out there attacking Resurrection Man.

My final verdict: Flash fans can easily skip this issue and not miss anything, but this is a good comic book that started to wrap up what I assume was a good series. I do recommend reading Resurrection Man, even though I haven't read it myself ... yet.

Final score: 5 out of 10.

Next time: I will review one more passive appearance of the Flash in Stormwatch #0.

Batman: The Dark Knight #7

"The Final Curtain"

Paul Jenkins Writer/Co-Plotter
David Finch Penciller/Co-Plotter
Inker: Richard Friend
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Assistant Editor: Rickey Purdin
Editor: Mike Marts
Batman created by Bob Kane

This issue didn't need a Dialogue Assist, and it did feel more like a Paul Jenkins story. But that doesn't mean I liked it, though ...

The cover is by Finch, Friend and Cox, and I can't stand it. Bane just looks awful. The coloring was a little weird — what's with that burnt orange background? — but the black-and-white version doesn't help at all. It's weird. David Finch is a great artist, but every now and then, he'll just fail. I think he had about a 50% success rate with Bane, with most of that success coming in the last issue.

Our story picks up on Harmon Island, Gotham City, where Batman and Bane are still battling. Bane picks up a big rock (again) and throws it at Batman. Somehow, Batman is able to hide in the splashing water and manages to escape. He quickly makes his way to the lighthouse, where he finds Poison Ivy trapped in a glass tube. He frees her, and she tells him that Bane created an antidote for his new venom. Batman says he already has the antidote (which he found in his Bat-plane). Ivy stresses that Bane needs to ingest the antidote and Batman formulates a plan.

Batman heads to the top of the lighthouse, and gets Bane's attention. Bane leaps from the ground to the top of the tower and beats up Batman. Bats uses some kind of taser gun to burn away Bane's mask, but Bane pounds him pretty good and knocks out the Dark Knight.

In Kansas, Superman is encouraging Flash to keep running, even though he's already been going nonstop for over a day. Flash eventually collapses in a cornfield and finds that he successfully burned off the toxin. Superman wants to take him to a hospital, but Flash insists on helping Batman.

Batman, meanwhile, is being dragged down the lighthouse stairs by Bane. Bane takes him to the edge of the cliff and prepares to throw him into the sea. Batman pulls out the antidote, but drops it. Before the vial hits the ground, Flash catches it and makes a joke about littering. Batman then shoves the antidote into Bane's mouth, then pushes the enormous man off the cliff. Bane hits the rocks hard, and Flash says, "Well. He really let himself go, didn't he?" The villain is then carried away in the surf while Batman and Flash watch from above.

Later, we see Jai taking a bath. She receives a message from Bruce Wayne, who wants to break up with her. White Rabbit enters the room, and we find out that someway, somehow, the two girls are the same person.

The Good:

It's over! No more Batman: The Dark Knight for me — at least for a while. This issue was quite terrible, but I did learn something recently in an interview with Paul Jenkins on the Word Ballon podcast. Predictably, he spent most of his time talking about the current failures in Marvel and DC with their storytelling techniques and how they treat their creators. It is really interesting, and he made a lot of good points. Also predictably, he avoided going into too much detail to protect the innocent. But he did say a few things that helped me understand this disappointing run on The Dark Knight. He said David Finch was originally supposed to write the series alone, but he was having trouble with the script, so he called up his good friend, Paul Jenkins, and asked him to help out. Jenkins said his initial plan was to start with a big, splashy arc with lots of characters to attract some attention, then he'd start to write the kind of stories he wanted to write. He listed issues #2 and #3 as his highlights, and said the real trouble started with issues #5 and #6, when he got sick of being told to re-write his work, and flat-out refused to do so, hence the Dialogue Assist credit. Jenkins also admitted that he rarely reads comics and is unfamiliar with current continuity and many characters. When he was asked to write Deadman, he had to look him up on Wikipedia.

So what does this all mean? It means I probably never would have enjoyed Jenkins' run even if DC didn't interfere too much and give him ridiculous instructions like preventing Batman from sitting down (that's a whole separate issue). I hated issue #3, but Jenkins spoke fondly of it, so I think there is a major disconnect between what he values in a comic book and what I value. I also was a little shocked to hear of a comic book writer who doesn't read comics. I think is evidence that Jenkins very likely did not realize the current Flash was Barry Allen, and had Wally West in mind with all his quips and moments of immaturity. I can't confirm this, but it makes sense, doesn't it?

The Bad:

Lame resolution for Flash. So, for the past four issues, Flash has been circling the globe, while Batman has desperately sought a cure for him. Turns out, all he had to do was run a little bit longer. That's it? He just ran and ran and ran, then collapsed, then immediately hopped back up and was 100% fine. There's a lot more to the Flash than that! They could have solved his dilemma in so many more interesting ways. And again, what was the point of having the Flash in this story at all? The only constructive thing he did was catch that vial. Seriously, that's it. Here's a quick re-write: Batman does not drop the vial and never gets the Flash involved in this story, and we don't have to suffer with a Flash that doesn't act like the Flash.

Heroes that don't act like heroes. The first was Superman, who declined to join Flash in helping Batman fight Bane. Why didn't he go there? Flash new who Bane was, so Superman surely must have, as well. I guess he figured an exhausted Flash and a beat-up Batman would be enough to take down Bane. He was right, but he still should have helped. Our next unheroic moment comes from both Batman and Flash. Batman shoves Bane off the cliff and the two heroes just sit there and watch the bad guy wash away with the tide. Yes, we know Bane wouldn't die from such a fall, and Batman says, "He'll be back," but isn't it the heroes' responsibility to apprehend the villain and lock them up so they won't come back and cause more harm? Just knocking him off a cliff and hoping he survives doesn't cut it.

What was Bane thinking? Now, I only read half of this story arc, so I might be missing the finer details to Bane's plan, but what was the point of him creating an antidote to his new and improved venom? Just in case he got tired of being stronger and smarter? And speaking of being smarter, all he did was mindlessly beat the crap out of Batman while delivering long-winded, rambling speeches. Yeah, are you sure this venom actually made you smarter? I mean, it made him strong enough to jump to the top of a lighthouse (a bit of a stretch for me), but it didn't make him smart enough to realize he could have conceivably thrown Batman into the sea from the lighthouse. Instead, he wasted a lot of time dragging him down the stairs and holding him over his head on the edge of the cliff. At that point, he was just asking for Batman to beat him. I also have no idea how Batman got that antidote, but I'm going to give Paul Jenkins the benefit of a doubt and assume he answered this in his last issue on this title, #8.

Over-sexualized art. Finch flirted with crossing this line in earlier issues, but here I felt he went out of his way to throw in some eye candy for his 13-year-old male fans. Poison Ivy was naked for no apparent reason, then we got nice, big shots of White Rabbit and Jai taking a bath. And after Jai got out of the tub, she wrapped herself in a tiny towel, that barely covered the important parts. I find this kind of tactic to be off-putting and it takes me out of the story. It's just like a great movie that has a random and unnecessary sex scene. The story should be interesting enough without having to resort to such practices.

Final score: 1 out of 10

Next time: I'm quickly approaching my 50th post on this blog, which I plan to celebrate with something special. But before I get to that, I will review the brief, yet interesting hallucination of the Flash in Resurrection Man #12.