Welcome back. It’s been awhile since we’ve done some reviews and we wanted to get caught up. Today, Rek is going to be reviewing DC’s The Flash issue #70 – #75 (Flash Year One), written by Joshua Williamson and art by Howard Porter.
~~Review~~
Alright, so we’ve finally reached the end of Williamson’s Flash Year One and I feel like I’m at a point where I can properly review it. So, here it goes!
The first thing I got to say is that Joshua Williamson has done an amazing job with Barry Allen throughout his entire run. He truly understands the character and has revitalized his importance to the DC Multiverse. Even in this Year One story, he doesn’t fail to capture Barry’s optimism and heroics. Not to mention, Barry’s origin was done out perfectly in that first issue with his mother.
In fact, throughout Barry’s journey to become a superhero there is this resounding hope Williamson achieves that I would argue feels similar to that of Sam Raimi’s Spiderman. All of the characters that you would expect from Joshua Williamson’s run make an appearance and you watch their friendships grow or fade in the story. The most prominent would be his relationship with Iris West which is, again, done very well.
Honestly, this story arc feels very nostalgic and I enjoyed an nuanced Flash origin story…
However, I have a few problems with it. Mainly, The Turtle. I get it that he was one of the Flash’s first villains but… The Turtle.
Williamson hypes him up in one of the issues, but his character is just, unironically, too slow. Flash is a character whose story relies on its pacing since his character is not only fast, but so is his writing. So, when you throw in a character as slow as the Turtle, it disrupts the flow of your writing and the readers can tell. Some might even get bored, which is my biggest problem with The Turtle. Every scene he is in feels like a slog to read and I’m just not interested. It’s not the story, which is good, but just this bland character being the main villain for the Flash.
Howard Porters’ art is good and I found myself using it to get through a lot of dull parts in the story with the Turtle. It was lively, colorful, and got Barry running off the page!
To conclude, I loved the story at some parts, but the Turtle brings this origin down a peg or two. I hate to say that it read slow since its the Flash, so I’m just not going to say anything.
~~Score~~
Storytelling: 4
(How good is the story? Does it stand up to others?)
Art: 3
(Does it tell the story? Does it work well with the character?)
Importance: 2
(Does this story need to be told? Is it helping the Character?)
Character: 5
(Is the character represented well? Does the writer understand the character?)
Total: 14 / 20
~Rek
~Seppin
SeppinRek 
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