Flash: Rebirth (Series Review Thus Far)

I'm currently a student writer for one of the websites at my college. This past semester (which is ALMOST over for me) we had to write a certain amount of blog entries to be featured on the main site. We were free to write about pretty much anything we wanted, so I decided to write a little review of the comic series "Flash: Rebirth" that is ongoing right now and is being written by Geoff Johns.

Keep in mind - this is an article for a college website where I'm trying to explain "comic book logic" to an audience of teachers and other staff at my school, so if it seems weird at parts, you'll have to forgive me.

Anyways, check it out!

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Growing up, I relied on many things to escape the reality around me. I would often get home from school and play a video game for hours, just diving into the experience and taking in all it had to offer. It wasn't that I hated real life around me by any means, but to me, there was so much more that the world had to offer in other forms of entertainment.

I loved playing soccer and being outside with my friends, but if I didn't have things like video games or comics to fall back on, I don't know what I would have done.

The only reason I even say any of this is to explain where I'm coming from. Being 21 years old now and feeling more mature than I ever have in my life, I still love to kick back any time of the day in a comfy chair and just read a good comic book.

One of my favorite super heroes growing up was "The Flash". I'm sure in some way or another you've heard of him -- he was the guy who wore a red outfit with yellow lightning bolts and ran super fast. Well, in current comic book continuity, the Flash is experiencing quite the event. A series known as "The Flash: Rebirth" is taking place withing DC Comics and it's more or less a "reboot" to generate a following in the Flash again by bringing back the comic book character, Barry Allen.

So I'll get you up to speed here :
1. The first person in comics to take the name of Flash was Jay Garrick. He was a guy who wore a metal cap with wings that resembled something that one of the Roman Gods (such as Mercury) may have worn. He could run at super speeds and used his powers to fight crime and do good.
2. The second person to be use the name Flash was Barry Allen. His costume is by far the most popular and is the one you're likely familiar with. Barry was a police scientist who was struck by lightning while working on a case and gained super speed. Like Jay, he used his speed to fight crime and do good and was also friends with other heroes such as the Green Lantern, Superman, Aquaman, and so on. Barry's character was killed off in a massive storyline called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" that happened in 1985.
3. The third person to take up the name of Flash is my favorite, Wally West. Wally was originally Barry's sidekick known as "Kid Flash" and was similar to Robin in the way Robin was Batman's partner. Wally took up the mantle of the Flash after Barry passed on. I was born in 1988, so I grew up reading about Wally West as the Flash.
4. The fourth person to become the Flash is Bart Allen. Bart is actually Barry's grandson from the future (don't ask) and was actually killed while he was using the Flash mantle, yet due to time travel was able to come back from the future AGAIN and has returned as Kid Flash, sidekick to Barry and Wally.

Confused? Don't feel surprised.

Needless to say, the legacy of the hero known as the Flash is quite confusing and not very accessible to the outside world. That is whas the storyline "Flash: Rebith" was designed to solve. A writer for DC known as Geoff Johns had great success by making the Green Lantern series more simplified and accessible to all readers in a series he did called "Green Lantern: Rebirth" a few years ago, so the head decision-makers at DC thought it would be a good idea for him to "fix" the Flash series, if you will.

Basically, Flash: Rebirth is a 6-issue series that would explain how the character Barry Allen has come back to life and how he must deal with living after being dead for so long.

How did Barry come back to life? In a comic book story known as "Final Crisis" that happened in 2008, Barry returned from the future and helped Wally and many others take out a super villain known as Darkseid.

It probably seems very uninviting to the outside world, but to a comic book fan it eventually sinks in.

I actually find the series to have a great concept -- how does someone who has been thought to be dead for SO LONG all of the sudden deal with coming back to life? And someone with SUPER SPEED at that?

Much of the Flash mythology deals with how frustrating it is for someone with super speed to slow down and deal with real life situations, so having to come back to life and deal with others who thought you were dead for so long -- how could anyone handle that?

Thus far, the single issues have been great. As I said before, the writing is done by Geoff Johns and the art is done by Ethan Van Schiver.

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5 of the 6 issues have hit store shelves and more or less, this is what has happened.

We know that Barry Allen, as a child, was a good hearted kid who enjoyed reading comics and spending time with his family. He returned home one day to find that his mother had been murdered, and the police conclude that Barry's father is the culprit. Barry grows up knowing that Barry's father is innocent and dedicates his life to proving this. He becomes a police scientist and gets a reputation for always being late and never leaving on time. The whole concept of a schedule could not be farther from his mind.

We see how Barry got his powers, being struck by lightning near chemicals in the police lab, and get a quick run down of the Flash legacy. As of right now, there are actually 4 living humans who go by the Flash name - Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen (with Bart being KID Flash). All of these characters, along with some other "Speedsters" work together to fight crime and basically be superheroes.

A character known as "Professor Zoom" (with his secret identity being Eobard Thawne) is the main villain in the story, and a super villain at that. I could spend pages talking about his backstory, but basically all you need to know is that he is a sick and twisted character with super speed and is bent on ruining the legacy of the Flash.

I hate to spoil the entire series thus far, but we just found out in the last issue that Zoom is the one responsible for murdering Barry's mother. In other words, Professor Zoom actually TRAVELED BACK IN TIME to murder Barry's mother because of how much he hates Barry Allen.

As issue 6 is not yet out, the story isn't done, and things are not looking good for our heroes. Wally West's son seems to have lost his super powers and Barry Allen's wife, Iris, is the next victim of Zoom. The issue ended with a disturbing panel of Zoom saying "As long as I kill Iris, everything will be alright."

I know how overwhelming and boring this must seem to someone who doesn't read comics but I can't stress enough how important this series is for the character of the Flash. I grew up reading about Wally West, but in recent years sales of the series haven't been great. With Barry Allen back, the series has a real chance to be more accessible to new readers and possibly boost the legacy of the Flash onto the level of someone like Superman or Batman.

Issue 6 is slated to come out just a few days before Christmas of 2009, and I'm really looking forward to the last issue. Even more exciting is that next year a new volume of "The Flash" comic series will start and it has all the potential to be the best volume yet.