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Jun 10, 2023
About as great an anniversary issue as you could ask for. Instead of having stories by random, untalented creators with no association to the character, they pulled out the big guns for this one. A great sendoff for Jeremy Adams.
Also, I enjoyed Spurrier’s story more than I expected. I’m cautiously optimistic it will be decent. He can be a decent writer. I haven’t liked much of his recent stuff because the X-Office in general is shit right now.
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Jun 13, 2023
Adams goes out with a Bang. Considering issues like these (multiple short stories by many authors), are rarely good, it is impressive to see that 4/5 are great.
Breakdown- Adams 10/10
Waid- 10/10
Johns- 9/10 (Niches but if you like/know of Zoom its great)
Williamson- 9/10 (look maybe its a bit mooshy and cheap but I like the sweetness)
Spurrier- 5/10- Not reassuring for where the series goes from here.
Art- All great but Nauck just knocks it out of the part again. Guy is amazing and one of the best artists out there right now. Just lovely.
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Jun 07, 2023
A great anthology from several Flash creative teams, past, present, and future. The Adams story is great and I kind of would have liked to see this whole issue given to ending his run, but oh well. Mark Waid’s story is easily the best of the five, followed then by a touching story from Joshua Williamson that is more about his time with Barry than it is about Wally. Geoff Johns’s is also not about Wally at all, and I guess is a set up for something in the future, who knows. I still enjoyed it. The final story from the new creative team was certainly darker than the others, which I have mixed feelings about, but it also had some really creative art and lettering.
All of these work really well as a whole, even if some are stronger than
others. I’d give Adams’s part a 9.5 and Waid’s a 10, and though that makes up less than half of this issue, they make it worth the price. more
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Jun 09, 2023
An all-star line-up of Flash writers and artists return for a largely successful extra-sized anniversary issue.
The outgoing creative team of Adams and Pasarin kick things off with a fun tale of a group of villains trading Flash stories. This was a strong start to the issue and reminded me a lot of a certain episode of Batman: The Animated Series.
Up next are Waid and Nauck, with a story focusing on Impulse which takes place during his 90s run. This was far and away the highlight of the issue. The chemistry between Wally, Bart and Max Mercury is fantastic and perfectly captured in both the writing and the art. Honestly, if this was the entire issue I'd be giving it a 10.
Sadly the following stories from Williamson and Johns don't l
and quite as well and form the weakest stretch of the issue. Williamson's section is sweet but ultimately ends up feeling rather insubstantial, while Johns's is essentially just a recap of a certain character's history. Fortunately, both stories are redeemed somewhat by great art from Di Giandomenico and Kolins.
Things wrap up with Spurrier and Deodato Jr who tease their upcoming run which introduces aspects of cosmic horror. This was considerably darker in tone than the rest of the issue and I'm still not entirely sold on the cosmic horror premise, but with that said I did enjoy this short preview for it was.
On the whole this was an entertaining read. Great art throughout and the strength of the Waid/Nauck story in particular make this an easy issue to recommend. more
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Nov 08, 2023
Nice annual with some great short stories. Adam’s story is the standout but Waids impulse story is up there too.
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Jun 07, 2023
For me, Johns had the worst story, followed by Joshua Williamson, Adams, Spurier, and Waid at the top.
Before going into detail, I want to say, that in general, this was a great anniversary issue, even the worst were not so bad(maybe only Johns), everything was quite good. My biggest critique is leaving Bill Messner Loebs out of the issue and bringing Williamson, who wrote like one issue about Wally. But that does not have to do much with the comics. In general, it's a nice variety of stories.
So Johns. Lately, Johns developed a very decompressed style of writing. His best work for me is characterized by just page-turners, fully fleshed characters, and a constant inspiration behind everything, sadly lately a lot of that is lacking eve
n in his JSA titles(I actually enjoy those, but still can't be compared with his old JSA), but especially here. Seeing him write a flash villain and especially Hunter Zolomon is normal for one to get excited, but here the idea is paper thin it feels like he tries to justify a decision by the editorial more than anything and honestly, I don't get much out of it. No new ground explored really and no plot really, even for 5 pages. And it's so wordy, with mostly exposition it breaks the flows Scott Kolins sets and the art is the best thing about the story. I guess they wanted to make new audiences with Hunter, but even if that's the case, that's not the presentation, because if I was a new reader I was going to be both confused and not interested because I can do pretty much the same thing by reading his wiki, which is sad because he is a good character. But again Kollins art is great, it's even more refined and still carries the energy, associated with him and he just knows how to set up a moment and that can be seen here. This story is like 5.
As I said Williamson should not be here, even tho his story is actually good, and used his experience writing Barry well here. He even wrote it better than he did in his run for the most part and I think that is because Barry works better in limited spaces, when you see him and Iris in their best light. Here Barry is calmer, more stable, and not much of a talker, but always with a smile on his head and that's why when he is sad it hits. Again it rehashes old ideas and some fundamental ones, which are so ingrained into Wally, that there is no real reason to hear those things again, but that's Williamson usually, fan pleaser, not much more. But it's a heartwarming story, which should the huge appreciation Wally has for Barry and Iris, with some really calm vibes, hitting all the right emotional notes. While that is mostly done with narration again, here it goes really well with art, both complementing each other, for a difference from Johns story. Also, the other side of the relationship is very well presented. It's normal for Wally to be more direct in expressing his love, but Barry is way more introverted, so everything with him is coming from the art, so this way we get great contrast between the narration and the pages. Especially in the way it's presented why he sees Wally as a son. This story is 8
Adams actually wrote an amazing story. It retains his sweet light and naive humor, while finally again has art that's not rushed. My only complaint really is how villains had pretty much the same voice from the beginning and also not much character, it was not confusing or anything just felt not like real people that much and made the story a little bit blander, especially when that did not fit the story. But again the story is extremely funny and shows a great outsider's perspective. Again a fairly simple story, built around one idea, which is an especially good way to build a short story, showing the contrast between Wally smiling and being nice and the villains that are terrified of him, almost like he does not understand how much of powerhouse he is and his effect on his enemies. Mordu as the biggest hitter was the highlight, especially the fear and humiliation, he suffered through. The comedic chemistry and timing Pasarin and Adams developed during their run comes in a perfect form here and sells a lot of those funny moments. There is something to Pasarin's more realistic art drawing those silly expressions and moments because the humor it's just silly and aware of how childish it can be, which makes it really sweet. In general, the way Adams wrote Wally is really sweet, which is the total opposite of the next writer. this I feel is like 8.5.
The difference between Spurrier and Adams is literally Night and Day. Adams wrote Wally consistently like a simple man, without delving too much into his psyche like Messner Loebs, but also without some of his flaws, here Wally is way more complex with changing thoughts, always on the move, trying to balance it all. It's anxiety-inducing and that's shown well. What it's obvious from the start is that he has a vision. His Wally is somewhat colder in his words, more analytical, constantly thinking, seeing more of his doubts, which he kinda tries to leave behind, in general, he is trying to focus on one thing, but he's constantly distracted. That's a nice base for him as a character and I like how we only get some hints about all that. There is definitely some feeling of distance, of not knowing the full picture, again a huge contrast with Adams. Aside from that, the story takes a lot of interesting decisions with lettering, and art, and even the monologuing has a more distant, more typewritten vibe adding to the fogginess of the story actually. But definitely, every one of those small decisions serves well here. Ofc we see the mystery, the cosmic horror Wally tries to ignore, which is inescapable.-9
Waid is in great form these days. Firstly I love that the story focuses on impulse, especially in this era of Impulse. A very fun story, focusing on the dynamics between him, Wally, and Max, with a slightly more animated twist than his og flash run. But the foundation is still there. Wally does not trust impulse and because of his immaturity, brashness and just being impatient, he really does not treat Bart kindly. I always loved their dynamic and saw the potential for being more extreme, like here, which is also reminding me of PAD's young justice. Every one of the 3 characters is fully alive, every word coming from their mouths feels true. Todd Nauck at his most expressive here also adds to that. Truly everything is great here, every panel counts, every panel serves its function and the characters' actions speak on a deeper level of who they are. It feels classic, when reading it, I feel like this is as essential as those characters get. Just nobody can write Wally as multidimensionally as Wade did and still does.9.5 more
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Jun 12, 2023
honestly an emotional and satisfying conclusion to Jeremy Adams Flash run, and it has great writers. Simon spurrier's writing doesn't gel with me, but I can confidently say that Jeremy Adams run on Flash is right up there with Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and Joshua Williamson.
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Jun 22, 2023
This was a nice way to cap off the current Flash run before moving to Spurrier & Deodato Jr.'s new run in September.I'll start by talking about each story. The opening story with Adams & Pasarin was just fun, which is the perfect way for their last story on this run to be. Adams's run has just been fun and heartfelt throughout, and I really enjoyed this. I have my gripes with Pasarin's art, but the story of the villains complaining about Wally is just great. Humor has been one of the best aspects of this series. I'd give this an 8.5. Next, Waid & Nauck have a faster paced story, but still enjoyable. Wally constantly getting frustrated with Bart was pretty funny, as was Bart being in his own world at times. I don't have much to say about thi
s one, but it was enjoyable. I'd give it an 8.0. Next, we had my favorite story of the issue from Williamson & Giandomenico. The art here was good, but what really sticks out is reading how important Barry and Iris are to Wally in regards to his upbringing and, basically, who he is as a person. I just really enjoyed this and I would give it a 9.0. Unfortunately, the quality dropped significantly as we moved onto the next story from Johns & Kolins, which was my least favorite of the issue. I don't really see the point of this issue having a whole story about Hunter Zolomon. I was hoping it would at least be interesting, but it was pretty much a re-telling of his origin. I don't know, I just wasn't a big fan of this story and I think the best part of this was the artwork. I would give it a 6.0. Finally, we got the prelude of the upcoming series from Spurrier and Deodato. With there apparently being a bit of a tonal shift from Adams's run to Spurrier's, I wasn't sure how I felt about this new run. While I did enjoy this story's writing and artwork, I'm still not entirely sold on this new storyline. I like the way Wally is written and I think, as another user pointed out in their review, that his narration is very anxiety-inducing (in a good way). Wally is my favorite Flash, and I really hope the potential Spurrier & Deodato show here is realized with the new run. I'd give this last story an 8.0. Averaged out, this comes out to a 7.9 that I would definitely round up by 0.1 for a solid 8.0 overall. more
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Jul 05, 2023
Really liked Adam's "Almost Got 'Im" story for a fun one shot but really wish he had a stronger finish to his fantastic run and devastated that it's come to a close. The Bart story was great but the Spurrier story further increases my concern with him replacing Adam's as his writing style is a terrible fit for these characters.
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May 07, 2024
Johns didn't get the memo. The story rolling into Si Spurrier's run did not convince me of it, but I'm excited to give it a try.
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Jun 05, 2023
I don’t know how to rate this one . The first few stories were 10s . The preview of f the new creators was unreadable crap. So I think a 6
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Jun 06, 2023
Don't Come to Central City: 4
"Flash is terrifying because unlike Superman, he's very fast, no crime is too small for his attention and he encourages you to be your best self, and unlike Batman he's relentless." And apparently the Joker — who's regularly affirmed as being clever as the Batman — came at the Flash with the single least Flash-proof plan imaginable. Awful.
The Max in the Mirror: 9
Waid & Nauck doing Impulse was really the main thing that led me to read this, and I was not disappointed. This is the wit, heart, intelligence and charm that I come to Flash looking for
Flash Family: 7
It's fine, as far as filler goes
Blitz Back: 5
As thrilling as a Wikipedia page
Between Love & You: 8
Not convinced that cosmic h
orror isn't kind of an arbitrary choice for the Flash, but Spurrier & Deodato do it well with a wonderfully creative engagement with panel boundaries, and I'll always prefer someone taking a big swing and potentially missing to something safe and predictable. We'll see how I feel when the first issue drops, but this is a promising enough teaser.
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