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A review by rhganci
The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward by Brian Buccellato, Francis Manapul
4.0
Being introduced to the Flash mainly through the enthusiasm of friends toward his character and stories, I figured it was time to check him and his corner of the DCU out for myself. I found a city filled with intense bad guys and earnest good guys, modest romances and a LOT of theoretical physics, and now, it seems I'll have to make room for this New 52 Flash on my shelf, because he's my new favorite.
These first eight chapters of the Flash's story mostly--though the reader is not always aware of it--revolve around the Speed Force and its relationship to the Flash's abilities. When we meet him in his first fight with Mob Rule, he's already the Flash, managing relationships and a workplace that is becoming increasingly hostile to his crimefighting and public service activities. The latter surprised me--there's a pretty serious focus on the Flash as a helper of people, and Barry uses that specific word quite a lot to describe his activities as the Flash. The story arcs, about one-and-a-half of them in this first volume, get the reader current with these sorts of matters: who the Flash is, which people are the most important to him, who his chief villains are (there's a very nice page that offers a brief look at the rogues' gallery of Central City without going too in-depth), and where we might be going as he becomes increasingly powerful, with each new step into his relationship with the Speed Force. Some of the plot elements get wrapped up a little quickly for my liking as the first arc closes, and some of the writing seemed a little wooden during the plot's rise, but the cliffhanger in chapter 8 was terrific, abrupt, and engaging--I wasn't ready for the story to be over yet, and while I have the information I need, there's a huge amount of story that I want.
The art style, a watercolor-like color over matte drawings, have an older-world and lighter tone to them than some of the harsher or more motif-like art in the New 52. The facial expressions really stuck out in this volume, especially Barry's--his conflicts become the reader's conflicts, and his urgency is shared with the reader as the action ramps up and dangers beset Central City at each turn. Some of the action sequences (how do you draw someone moving faster than the eye can see, anyway) got a bit difficult to follow, but all in all there's not much that I was looking for that I didn't find in MOVE FORWARD. I'm excited to read more about the Flash in both the Justice League books as well as his own.
These first eight chapters of the Flash's story mostly--though the reader is not always aware of it--revolve around the Speed Force and its relationship to the Flash's abilities. When we meet him in his first fight with Mob Rule, he's already the Flash, managing relationships and a workplace that is becoming increasingly hostile to his crimefighting and public service activities. The latter surprised me--there's a pretty serious focus on the Flash as a helper of people, and Barry uses that specific word quite a lot to describe his activities as the Flash. The story arcs, about one-and-a-half of them in this first volume, get the reader current with these sorts of matters: who the Flash is, which people are the most important to him, who his chief villains are (there's a very nice page that offers a brief look at the rogues' gallery of Central City without going too in-depth), and where we might be going as he becomes increasingly powerful, with each new step into his relationship with the Speed Force. Some of the plot elements get wrapped up a little quickly for my liking as the first arc closes, and some of the writing seemed a little wooden during the plot's rise, but the cliffhanger in chapter 8 was terrific, abrupt, and engaging--I wasn't ready for the story to be over yet, and while I have the information I need, there's a huge amount of story that I want.
The art style, a watercolor-like color over matte drawings, have an older-world and lighter tone to them than some of the harsher or more motif-like art in the New 52. The facial expressions really stuck out in this volume, especially Barry's--his conflicts become the reader's conflicts, and his urgency is shared with the reader as the action ramps up and dangers beset Central City at each turn. Some of the action sequences (how do you draw someone moving faster than the eye can see, anyway) got a bit difficult to follow, but all in all there's not much that I was looking for that I didn't find in MOVE FORWARD. I'm excited to read more about the Flash in both the Justice League books as well as his own.