The Flash #70 - DC Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Howard Porter
Colors by Hi-Fi
Have you every taught yourself to do something? Odd are you have, at least in some small part. One thing you probably learned is that, teach yourself to do something that you have never done before has varying results. It's Barry Allen's turn to learn his craft once again in Issue 70 of The Flash this week.
I'm sure you see "Year One" and think you know what to expect from the first part of this arc. To a degree you're right, there are some familiar beats here. You will also get the same Barry Allen that you remember from when Williamson first started on The Flash. One thing we do get is a very nice moment between Barry and his mom, that really plays a role in Barry's state of mind in the story. It's also weird to see (minor spoiler alert) August as a member of the Central City PD again, knowing what we know now. The biggest difference in the story actually comes at the end. That final page tells you that this is not going to be your typical "Year One" story.
First thing I can say is, this book gave me a Future's End flashback that I wasn't expecting. It's not exact at all, but that's what it reminded me of. This book was everything that I expected it to be, with just the right amount of twists. I have always loved the raw emotional feel of Williamson's Flash stories, and it really works well for this Year One arc. It doesn't feel like a re-telling of a classic story that we remember. It feels like a different vision from a great story teller. It doesn't hurt that you have someone like Howard Porter to bring this to life. Every page turn is like a shot of adrenaline, with everything just jumping right off of the page. Great artists come up big in big moments, and believe me, Porter breathes new life into these classic Flash moments. I say classic, but it's clear from that final hook that we're headed for uncharted territory. I'd say I want to run to the future for Issue 2, but we all know how dangerous that is...don't we?
RATING: PULL / BUY