Review: THE FLASH #769
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artists: David Lafuente, Brandon Peterson
Colours: Mike Atiyeh, Luis Guerrero
Letters: Steve Wands
Reviewed By: Derek McNeil
Summary
The Flash #769: After an accident pushes Wally West into the time stream, the former Kid Flash lands in the body of his onetime partner, Impulse. Now sprinting through the 30th century side by side with the mysterious (and, yeah, ridiculous) Gold Beetle, Wally must uncover what’s causing the destructive explosions that keep propelling him through time and the bodies of other speedsters.
Positives
In The Flash #769, Wally has found himself inhabiting Bart Allen in the future, while Barry, Mister Terrific, and Green Arrow are trying to figure out what’s going on in the present day. The concept of Wally’s mind jumping into the bodies of speedsters at different points in the timestream reminds me a lot of Quantum Leap. Also, as mysterious entity (the Speed Force) is causing Wally’s journey through time, using him to fix problems in each era he visits.
Jeremy Adams brings back Gold Beetle, a character he introduced in Future State: Black Adam. This heroine is a successor to two heroic legacies: Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. And she is every bit the offbeat character you would expect an amalgamation of those two heroes to be.
Most notably, she has the braininess of Ted Kord and the impulsiveness of Michael Jon Carter. You can tell that she’s smart, as she quickly figures out what’s going on with Wally without having it spelled out for her. I expect that we’ll be seeing more of her at some point, as she reveals that from her perspective, this isn’t the first time she’s met Wally.
Positives Cont.
IÂ like that she is accompanied by a counterpart to Skeets, appropriately named “Beets”. And the fact that her beetle-shaped ship is the opposite of the Tardis in that it’s smaller on the inside. I love the humour that Gold Beetle adds to the story, and I would be quite happy to see more of her.
I thought it was a clever idea using a time capsule as a method to get a device from the present to Wally in the future. It makes sense that with all the times Barry and Wally have travelled in time that they keep a time capsule with useful items they can access in any future era. And it’s fitting that they’ve disguised the capsule as a bust of Jay Garrick.
Speaking of Jay, when Wally leaps out of Impulse at the end of the issue and into Jay. We can tell it’s the World War II era, as he’s mere feet away from Adolf Hitler himself. Also, standing beside him is the Golden Age Ray. I wonder if there will be any other Golden Age heroes guest-starring next issue. And it’ll be a treat seeing Jay in his prime tackling the Third Reich.
The artwork of David Lafuente and Brandon Peterson is on point as well. I like how one draws the present sequences while the other draws the future sequences. It serves to give each era its own distinctive feel. Also, I love seeing how Wally appears as himself, but in the clothing of the body he inhabits – again like Quantum Leap. The rendering of Wally wearing Bart’s Impulse suit is expertly done.
Negatives
No complaints from me. I’m enjoying this romp through time. I haven’t spotted anything to give me concern so far. Maybe Adams is borrowing a bit too much from Quantum Leap. But I don’t expect that it’s just for this story arc. And anyways, it was an amazing show that was cancelled too soon, so I quite love that Adams is paying tribute to it.
Verdict
It’s inevitable that any new writer on The Flash is going to suffer comparison to greats like Mark Waid or Joshua Williamson. The Flash #769 shows that Jeremy Adams could potentially meet the high standard set by previous writers of The Flash.
