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Apr 26, 2010 Web Exclusive By Kyle Lemmon

The debut issue of Geoff Johns’ new Flash series draws most of its dramatic energy from a murder case that the resurrected Bary Allen must solve. Under the cover of having been in witness protection, he returns to the Central City Police Department’s crime lab. No sooner than he does, a mysterious man drops dead in the street wearing a Mirror Master uniform. The relaunched Silver Age hero finally feels fresh for once, and Adventure Comics artist Francis Manapul keeps the art as obliging as Johns’ dialogue. Even Allen’s romantic relationship with Iris gets a fresh coat of paint.

Colorist Brian Buccellato (Adventure Comics, Highlander) and letterer Nick J. Napolitano (52, Blackest Night, Booster Gold) mirror the fast-paced and colorful tone quite well. The Flash: Rebirth may have bogged down its Professor Zoom action panels with unnecessary exposition and monologues, but this issue steamrolls to the juicy stuff: The Rogues. (Spoilers: Well, they’re not exactly The Rogues you know, but a similar group from the 25th century that go by the name, “The Renegades.” The members include futuristic versions of Captain Cold [Commander Cold? Really?], Heat Wave, Mirror Master, The Top, The Trickster, and Weather Wizard. They are simple twists on an old Flash plotline, that work fairly well as the final splash tease.)

Despite the excitement of actually reading a good Flash comic, Manapu and Buccellato sometimes have a hard go at drawing/coloring gritty crime scenes. They nail down the cute breakfast meet-up panels with Iris, and Allen’s reunion with Forrest at Central City PD’s Cold Case office. It’s particularly humorous when Allen’s boss introduces him as his “Golden Boy” to the rest of the police scientists. They’ve got the joviality and pace down. Unfortunately, Mirror Master’s murder scene is a little too bright and cartoony. It doesn’t possess the dramatic weight that it should have. Aside from that, the issue is quite enjoyable. For instance, the beginning chase scene is almost pitch-perfect.

Johns makes the Allen homecoming much more self-congratulatory and affable than Hal Jordan’s bittersweet return to his Green Lantern post a few years back. Come to think of it, that was the main problem with The Flash: Rebirth. It read more like a pensive version of Green Lantern: Rebirth and didn’t mesh with The Flash character and mythos. Johns switched gears at just the right time. Issue #1 is a fairly quick read that might hook you into the rest of the series. The disappointing Flash comics of the last decade are slowly being left in the dust. Twenty-three years after his noble death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry Allen is back and ready for a good fight. (www.geoffjohns.com / www.dccomics.com)

Author rating: 6/10