Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Flash #242
DC Comics
Peyer & Williams II

Flash left off last issue rescuing the frozen Inertia from the burning Flash museum. We don’t know what happened to any of that as this issue fails to mention it. What it does cover is Flash’s daughter, Iris, and her rapid growth problem. The issue really doesn’t have much more than that in it and that’s a shame.

The issue starts with Iris returning to her mother in her thirties. Before any of this has a chance to sink in, Flash races off to find the little monkey and the thing that Spin was using to control everyone’s emotions.

This part of the comic gives you insight into what the origin is of this creature who was so powerful and yet, used by Spin. The ending is interesting.

Flash then takes the little monkey back to the gorilla world. He brings his whole family along in hopes that the king gorilla will us his healing power on Iris, who is now in her forties. The gorilla king gives an interesting answer and before you know it, in walks a villain to spoil the party.

That’s the whole issue and it doesn’t really satisfy as well as it recaps. Questions abound come from this whole arc. What happened to Flash’s money troubles? Where are his JLA friends to help out with his kid? Why isn’t the boy aging? Why not freeze her in time until you find a cure? Not to mention the missing Inertia from the previous issue. Five issues into the arc and you really don’t have a villain who hangs around more than a couple of pages. This issue and arc are just all over the place. It’s very frustrating.

The artwork is also all over the place. Sure, Flash looks great, but his kids and wife are so inconsistent. Iris still looks like a child with puffy cheeks when she is supposed to be 40. Some of the characters don’t even have their eyes colored. They appear as just white voids. I was very disappointed with the art in this issue.

So if you liked Spin and his little man behind the curtain then you will have some fun reading his warped origin. If you like the kids and the concept of them growing up fast and having changing powers then you will like a good portion of this issue as well. If you like villains and plots and a lot of action then you are out of luck for this issue.

I happened to like the origin story, but the rest of this comic was really off the mark for me. I am really scratching my head with this title and this arc. I just can’t get the vibe on this thing.

2.5 out of 5 geek goggles


Flash #242