Written by Sterling Gates
Illustrated by Oliver NomeFLASH FACT! Where is he? Or should we say when?
After a bit of time on the sidelines, Sterling Gates is back to give us the closest thing that we will probably get to the highly-anticipated (at least by me and Matt) Speed Force team book that we were promised a while back. Hey, at least it’s something. Am I glad that Gates is back, or should he be benched for a little while longer? Follow the cut to find out.
When you hear anybody say that a certain writer writes their comics as a fan, there are two very different connotations that they could mean. The first, and upsettingly most common meaning, is that the writer is filled with nostalgia for the days when they first started reading comics, and tries their best to make comics that remind them of the good ol’ days – whenever they may be. On the other hand, if one means it in a good way, it’s typically to imply that the writer is such a fan of the characters and the history behind them that they know what makes them so great, and how to build on that in a way that is simultaneously new and exciting and respectful of the characters’ history. Obviously, one can see why a writer that is more like the former could easily believe that they fall under that latter category, and that’s why I get antsy when any writer – no matter how good they are – announces that they will be working on a classic DC or Marvel character and then talks about how big a fan of the character they are.
Don’t worry, though. Sterling Gates is the good kind.
Anyone who has read a bit of Flash comics in their day can tell from this first issue that Gates is a huge fan of Mark Waid’s seminal work on the title. That being said, he doesn’t rely on borrowing plot hooks and such from Waid’s run, like a lesser writer might; rather, Gates has clearly given much thought to why Waid’s run (and other writers’ work) was as great as it was: What sort of stories make the Flash and Kid Flash enjoyable to read? How are these stories best told? What defines Bart Allen? Then, rather than just regurgitating what other writers have done again and again, Gates gets to the corse of these questions and taken them in a fresh new direction. It’s what he does. Just look at his Supergirl run. We’re only one issue in, and already given a great picture of who Bart Allen is as a character, an engaging plot hook, and more than a few twists and turns to assure us that this isn’t the same old story that we’ve heard before. Sure, it requires a bit of familiarity with Flashpoint and Johns’ most recent run on The Flash, but considering this is a tie-in that is kind of a given. I’ve said again and again that Gates writes great superhero comics that avoid retreading familiar ground, and the first issue of this miniseries seems to promise that this story is going to be another hit from DC’s most underused writer.
Oliver Nome is not a name that I’m familiar with. A relative newcomer to the industry, Nome’s style isn’t one that I necessarily care for. It’s not that it’s particularly bad – in fact, it honestly fits this story quite well – but it just isn’t up my alley. That’s fine, though. After the big artist boom of the 90s, a lot of comic fans seem to think that style is the most important quality to consider when talking about artistic quality (back in the 90s, it certainly wasn’t anatomy!). That’s not correct when you’re talking comics, though – well, as correct as something subjective can be. We’re talking about sequential art here, and “sequential” is the key word in that term. I can deal with a style that I don’t really enjoy if the artist knows how to present images in a manner that reads easily. Nome does just that. There’s no reason for me to give much of a damn about the stylization because each panel leads to the next in such a smooth manner. Sure, it’s not the best art I’ve seen in that field, but the fact that Nome obviously put a lot of thought towards it gives him a large amount of points in my book.
Continued belowMy only complaint with this issue has nothing to do with either the writing or the illustrating. If you have a copy, open up to the title page spread. Look at the logo and the credits. Now move your eye up and ever so slightly to the left. See that? Let me explain for those of you who don’t have the issue yet: up above the fancier, stylized credits are those same credits in a basic font. And nobody noticed this? The same thing happened in an issue of The Flash a few months back. Just this week, there were lettering errors in this, Gates of Gotham, and The Search for Swamp Thing (though the last one was a very, very minor typo). Then, of course, there was the infamous word balloon mixup in the third arc of Batman & Robin about a year ago. Doesn’t DC have people called editors that are supposed to catch this sort of thing? Sure, DC fixes this sort of thing in the trades, but I’m tired of singles being used as rough drafts and trades being the more polished product. As such, as solid as this first issue was, I feel obligated to tell you to wait for the trade. Write to DC and make a big stink about it. Yes, mistakes happen, but three times in one week? That’s just the result of negligence. DC needs to know that this is not okay, and – as always – we vote with out dollar.
I feel particularly sorry for Gates and Nome that their editor didn’t think that their work wasn’t worth the cursory glance that it would have taken to notice such a glaring mistake. Sure, one might think that it’s not that big of a deal from a reader’s perspective, but I think it’s flat-out offensive to the creators that it happens to. And when it happens to a favorite creator of mine? You’re damn right I’m going to be ticked.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – It’s solid, but see above and wait for trade.
