Review: The Flash #17

The Flash #17 marks the conclusion to Gorilla Warfare, “The Way Home.” Flash and Gorilla Grodd battle inside the Speed Force, which has become a dream-like dimension containing objects cast off from different time periods. It is also inhabited by Iris West and other castaways from Central City. In Central City, the police and the Rogues engage the gorillas at the football stadium. Darryl Frye unplugs the machine that weaponized the spectators, and Turbine assists the Rogues to remove the psionic amplifiers from the field. With the illusion dismantled, the Army can now see that Central City still stands, and they enter the city and attack the gorillas. The Rogues decide their altruism has its limits, and flee just before the gorillas disembark in their egg-like aircraft. Meanwhile, The Flash defeats Gorilla Grodd handily. In one scene, as Flash literally sweeps Iris off her feet from the path of a temporally displaced wooly mammoth, we can see that the original Flash romantic chemistry is still kicking. Epic flirting like theirs has seldom been depicted so artfully. Using his silver age power of pulling things behind him through forward momentum, The Flash drags a tank holding the missing people through the Speed Force back to Central City,

While the endgame of Gorilla Warfare is satisfying, the epilogue is more so. In it we see the foreshadowing and continuation of not one, but numerous future story lines. Mirror Master is becoming the paterfamilias of the Rogues, not only being the one to try to recruit Turbine, but also going off on Captain Cold, the former big daddy of the Rogues. Dr. Elias returns to his lab with a “back to the old drawing board” sigh, having been handed defeats by both The Flash and The Rogues. Patty sees Barry with Iris and rather than playing for his affections, she jumps up and pierces his tonsils with her tongue. Not really, but it was a great kiss, although better for her than for Iris and her sad-faced boyfriend. Barry, who was presumed dead, is welcomed back to the land of the living by Darryl Frye. As close readers of The Flash know from previous issues, Barry’s paternity is now a gray area, and Darryl might be speaking the literal truth when he claps Barry on the back and calls him son. The final page reveals the return of a villain we haven’t seen since since before the New 52 universe.

Although the cover image (Flash beating his chest over a fallen Grodd) gives a major clue as to the overarching theme of this issue, The Flash isn’t the only one to dominate his opponent in this issue in a primal battle. There are multiple losers and winners. The “Alpha apes” this issue were Flash, Mirror Master, and Patty Spivot, for all dominated their opponents, both on and off the field.

The art is always magnificent in Manapul’s and Buccellato’s The Flash. The comic benefits from the most thoughtful color choices in the DC Universe, and Manapul clearly will never stop innovating. Others have remarked on his monthly tribute to Will Eisner with unforgettable title art images. Some pages , like the first page, resist confinement in panels. Others, like page 4, have panels floating above other panels. On page eight, when Patty guns down a gorilla that had pinned down Darryl, Manapul swipes a trick–Kirbyesque or Sterankoesque, take your pick–and shows the rescue in a panel made of the sound effects themselves. And is anyone else using the color palette that Brian Buccellato is using? This is one comic that is definitely better to buy in print than the digital, because while the line may be crisper on screen, the colors are a little flat compared to the paper comic. Just lay the physical comic next to your HD retina version, and you’ll see Buccellato’s colors pop. A good example is the aforementioned title art which is vibrant with nuanced blues and violets. The best digital rendition tends toward the monotone, and can’t capture the color artistry on the title page to #17:

The Flash is one of the consistently most entertaining titles in the DC Universe. It is also one of the most sharable comics, as it is thus far suited for all ages. While it is rated T for teen on the cover, an articulate tween or younger could handle the comic book violence, and the love triangles at Archie comics are harder to explain to a child than the one in this comic. If you were looking for a good comic to give to that relative or friend who doesn’t get your obsession with comic books, this is a likely candidate. It literally doesn’t look any better than this, and the intricate continuity will have them asking you more questions. Or, if you were simply looking for a good DC comic to add to your pull list, this is it.