April 2011 - Super Powered Fiction

I wanted to like Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues. Geoff Johns wrote an amazing run of the Wally West version of the character. Francis Manapul drew some excellent issues of Legion of Super-Heroes during Jim Shooter’s run on the title.

Together, they didn’t impress me with the opening arc of the new Barry Allen Flash series. The basic plot revolves around a future group of Rogues that are now cops. They have traveled back to the current time period to arrest the Flash for a crime he didn’t commit. Meanwhile, the current Rogues are also plotting their own revenge on the Flash.

Of course, things get more complicated than that, all while turning Barry’s return to his forensic science career in to something from a bad CSI rerun. And unfortunately that’s where so many of the problems with the return of Barry Allen in his own book have their origin. Nothing about this story marks it as needing Barry to be the star, accept for the several painful references to the CBS crime series.

Instead of establishing why we should care about the new Flash over the one that most fans have been familiar with for the past 20 years, we just get a Wally story with a bit of William Petersen thrown in to the lead.

That being said, I’m sure Barry Allen fans will be glad to see their lead back and in a solid tale. For them, this collection is Recommended. For everyone else, proceed with caution.

On the other hand, Batman: The Widening Gyre seems much better than many critics gave it credit. Don’t get me wrong: the story is no Dark Knight Returns. It’s not even a Batman & Son. But it is a solid Batman tale that connects several seventies Batman stories with later Batman fiction.

The story basically marks the return of the classic Englehart/Rogers character of Silver St. Cloud. It follows shortly after the events of that classic team’s last storyline together, Batman: Dark Detective, as Silver returns back to Batman’s life ready to start a romance with him.

The comic alternates between the tale of their new love affair and the tale of Batman meeting a new agent for good in Gotham, a mysterious hero known as Baphomet. Through frequent flashbacks, the story studies Batman’s relationship with other members of the extended Bat-family as he grows closer to the new vigilante in town.

Somewhat off-putting throughout the story is Kevin Smith’s love of potty humor. Most egregious is certainly the “revelation” that during one key scene of Batman: Year One, Batman in fact wetted himself. But Smith’s desire to make everyone seem willing to talk frankly about their sex life pops up a little too often and seems very out of character for Batman.

Still, the bits are often easily ignored, and with them out of the way, The Widening Gyre isn’t a bad story by any means. Walt Flanagan and Art Thibert bring solid art to the project that helps carry the weak spots of Smith’s story through with ease. My only complaint on this end is the somewhat off model Tim Drake, but again it’s easily ignored by all but the strictest continuity hounds.

Where the story does grow irksome is the reality that it isn’t the end of the story by any means. In fact, the comic itself ends on a huge cliffhanger, a set up for yet another series by Smith and Flanagan.

Still, the story isn’t a bad little Bat-tale, and comes Mildly Recommended.