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As a precursor to “The New 52” line of DC Comics, Flashpoint, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Andy Kubert, delivers an action-packed “what-if” story of The Flash set in a war-torn Earth.
The Story
Flashpoint begins with Barry Allen waking up at his desk in the Central City Police Department, where Barry rushes downstairs after receiving word that there is a shoot-out happening nearby. Realizing that he doesn’t have his ring containing his suit or his super-speed, Barry trips and is helped by none other than his mother, Nora. Barry knows something suspicious is happening around him, so he seeks the help of Batman.
Meanwhile, Batman, who looks more grizzled than usual, finishes subduing a criminal and throws them off a rooftop, where Cyborg catches them and confronts Batman. Cyborg, who is seeking Batman’s support for the “revolution,” invites many familiar DC faces, via hologram, to join in on the conversation. Without Batman’s help in this effort, everyone gets cold feet towards the revolution against Wonder Woman and Aquaman, who, in this reality, are fighting each other in order for control of the Earth.
Barry makes his way to Wayne Manor in hopes of finding Bruce for guidance. While Barry explores the Batcave, Batman suddenly makes his appearance and reveals that he isn’t Bruce but is, in fact, Thomas Wayne. Dr. Wayne, reluctant to believe Barry’s side of the story, begins assaulting Barry until he mentions Aquaman and Wonder Woman’s tyrannical and oppressive rule. From there, Barry begins to explain himself, the Reverse Flash, who Barry believes to be behind this entire alternate timeline, and his own reality. Batman seems to be interested in the fact that Barry can change the course of history and decides to aid Barry in his efforts.
All while the events of Wayne Manor are happening, in Paris, a swashbuckling Deathstroke and his pirate crew travel through the overwhelmingly flooded city aboard a ship, later encountering and executed by Aquaman, who already claimed the land as his own. In London, which is part of New Themyscira, a fearless Steve Trevor is attempting to traverse the land while being chased by none other than Wonder Woman, who eventually apprehends Trevor, demanding answers using the Lasso of Truth. Trevor reveals that he was tasked by Lois Lane to gather intel and bring it back to the Resistance so that they could learn the motives of Wonder Woman’s forces and stage an uprising against her.
The Return Of The Flash
Back in Wayne Manor, Barry and Batman finish constructing a device similar to an electric chair to help Barry regain his superspeed. Barry is certain that this process would work, so they initiate the sequence, waiting for lightning to strike on the chair and infuse the correct chemicals in Barry’s system. Fortunately for Barry, lightning strikes on him, and the chemicals are infused, but the aftermath left Barry peeled off his skin and without his powers.
After regaining consciousness under Dr. Wayne’s care, Barry is determined to keep trying, saying that all he needed was a bigger bolt. They head outside, and wouldn’t you know it, a much larger, more deadly bolt of lightning strikes Barry off the balcony of the second floor, leaving Batman to leap off and grab him. As they plummet down, Barry miraculously regains his powers and saves the both of them before hitting the ground.
After another check-up with Dr. Wayne, Barry confirms that he is alright and creates a new suit for himself with the materials that were in Wayne Manor, ready to tackle his next plan of action: finding Superman.
The Search For The Man Of Steel
With the help of Cyborg, Batman and Barry research a little more into “Project Superman,” a highly classified government project that involves the experimentation and abuse of Superman. With the powers of Barry, Cyborg, and Batman combined, they’re able to storm the secure government facility in which Superman is being held, discovering that Superman has never seen any sunlight at all, leaving his body to be quite slender and pale. After breaking through a few walls, the four of them manage to escape the facility where Superman finally gets to see the light of day… and then flees. I think Batman’s unsettling appearance and commanding tone was enough to scare poor Superman away.
Call To Action
Having almost been apprehended by the soldiers of the facility, the socially-awkward Element Woman swoops in to save the trio, to which Barry is grateful and wishes to recruit her in their effort. All of a sudden, Barry’s memories begin to fade from his original timeline. The only person Barry thinks of to go to is the Shazam Family, who possess the ability to summon bolts of lightning to transform. Billy Batson calls upon a lightning strike, and upon hitting both him and Barry, his mind is flooded with memories of Shazam from Barry’s original timeline.
After regaining consciousness, trying to explain himself to Billy, Barry’s explanation is interrupted by a news story on TV, covering the death of Hal Jordan. This timeline’s Hal served as a fighter pilot, who was dubbed “highball,” especially after attempting to attack the Amazons. Upon hearing this, Barry knew that the end of the world was near, so he rushes into the kitchen, where he exchanges with Batman and, eventually, the rest of the household. They all, then and there, decide to face Aquaman and Wonder Woman head-on as the two advance towards each other for war.
In the Amazon-claimed land of the UK, Team Flash arrives and immediately spring into action against both Aquaman and Wonder Woman. The Flash decides to take Aquaman, and the Shazam Family decides to take Wonder Woman. In the heat of battle, Enchantress turns on the Shazam Family, reverting them to their human states, to which Wonder Woman brutally responds by killing Billy Batson. Barry, overwhelmed with grief, is finally met with the one and only Reverse Flash, who pushes guilt onto Barry for essentially sending a child to his death…
The Finale
The Reverse Flash reveals to Barry that he is, in fact, NOT the villain of this story, but it is actually all Barry’s doing! Apparently, Barry was grieving his mother’s loss hard enough to travel back in time to prevent The Reverse Flash from ever killing his mother, causing Flashpoint to occur. Barry then fights Thawne and gets beaten up until Batman catches The Reverse Flash off-guard and stabs him in the chest, saving Barry. The situation on the battlefield is dire for everyone until The Resistance, led by Lois Lane and Grifter, and Superman arrives.
A heap of explosions causes Batman almost to be killed, and as he is on death’s door, Barry accompanies him to cover, where Wayne gives Barry a letter to give to Bruce in his own timeline. Barry builds up the courage to begin running, faster than he ever could, in order to travel back in time, visiting his mother to say goodbye and prevent his past self from changing the course of history.
Barry ultimately succeeds, waking up at his desk at CCPD (a great callback to the beginning of Flashpoint, might I add) and immediately rushes to the Batcave to greet Batman and explain everything to him. Finally, Barry gives Bruce the letter that Thomas gave to him, keeping Thomas’ promise, leaving Bruce in tears, thus concluding the story of Flashpoint.
The Substance
The writing in Flashpoint is very well done, especially when it comes to capturing the distress and fear of being involved in such a violent reality. Among all of the death, war, and helplessness, some characters, like Barry, who lightens the mood a bit by cracking a joke. This is very important in darker comics like Flashpoint to show that there is at least a little bit of humanity left in that world, revealing a strange sense of optimism.
The dynamic that is set up between Barry and Thomas Wayne was also charming, in a way. Well, maybe not the part where Thomas literally tried breaking all of the bones in Barry’s body, but for the most part, it was amazing to see the evolution of their relationship as Flashpoint progressed, up until Thomas’s presumed death. The interaction between Bruce and Barry at the very end of Flashpoint adds to this relationship when Bruce comments about Barry being “one hell of a messenger,” showing that Barry cares about both Batmans and knows just how much Thomas meant to Bruce and vice versa.
Additionally, characters in Flashpoint who were altered by the timeline change had some incredible writing. Characters like Wonder Woman and Aquaman, who were two of the characters with the most change, were written extremely well as the villains of the story. Such drastic changes in personality and character is always interesting to see because you may be so used to seeing a character one way that when you see them in a different light, it’s captivating and surprising.
Finally, one thing this story did truly amazing on was portraying the consequences of time travel and time alteration. Although time travel doesn’t exist in the real world, Flashpoint offers a keen perspective on it and how it can ultimately be negative for everyone else by having so much selfishness. If anything, Flashpoint is one of the time travel-oriented stories that TERRIFIES me of time travel. Should it ever become a reality?
The Minutiae
Andy Kubert’s art style in Flashpoint is such an interesting art style in many aspects. Kubert captures the human form and proportion extremely well, with examples of this found in the designs of Superman, Batman, and the Shazam Family. Having that versatility between forms is a good thing to have as an artist, especially when capturing different forms for so many different characters. On top of capturing forms well, Kubert has amazing shading skills in his art style.
Each of the characters Kubert drew have impeccable shading, which really helps give the definition of the characters and contribute to their dynamic poses. The character that I believe highlights this technique the best is alternate-universe Batman. Along with such an awesome, red-eyed mask, Batman’s design and character are complimented very much by Kubert’s ability to incorporate both dynamic poses and great shading, making Batman an ultimately amazing character not just visually but also adding to his own character plot as well.
The Verdict
Flashpoint is most definitely a quintessential issue for Flash fans around the world. Not only does Flashpoint offer a great, thought-provoking story, but it also provides a perfect segue into “The New 52” line of comics, highlighting the aftermath of the events of Flashpoint and constructing new narratives for characters we know and love. I’m extremely excited to venture into “The New 52” and how it contributes to the overall DC narrative!
