Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Back when Flash's defining characteristic was "gross."


I mentioned buying the first issue of this mini-series of the racks back in 1991, but only got the second at a recent show: War of the Gods #2, "The Holy Wars" Story and layouts by George Perez, additional layouts by Russell Braun, finishes by Cynthia Martin and Romeo Tanghal.

Even though this is the second issue, it's chapter 13, since each crossover issue counted as a chapter. (We checked out a Hawkworld chapter a bit back.) So I'm more than a little vague what's going on here, but that may also be because some of the titles being crossed over with were in weird places as well. For example, Captain Atom #57 was a tie-in--and that book's final issue, which seems to defeat the purpose of a crossover to drive up sales--but was also a tie-in with Armageddon 2001 #2, and seemed to be indicating the Captain was breaking bad. (Hopefully, we'll check out that issue at the end of the year!) There was a panel where Dove worries about the missing Hawk, who would turn up...to kill her, in the aforementioned Armageddon 2001 #2, although that was a late change and isn't foreshadowed here. Similarly, the Martin-Stein Firestorm (who had been lost in space a year or two prior) had returned; a panel checks in with the Justice Society of America, who had been trapped in Limbo fighting Ragnarok for several years; still another hints at the return of the Metal Men.

The rate I'm going, I'll probably read #4 in 2063. Still, if it's the big finish, there's something to look forward to.

3 comments:

SallyP said...

I am assuming this was Wally and not Barry. I love Wally, but he did have a certain... crassness to him. Not up to Guy Gardener standards, but still...!

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

That is Wally, and he really was back then, but in his defense he was a young, single guy back then. Remember his crushes on Power Girl and I think Crimson Fox? Hell, issue 50, when Kilg%re's repairing him, and he has that fantasy spank bank dream about all those chicks? Good times.
And this really does kinda foreshadow Captain Atom's heel turn doesn't it? This probably allowed smart fans to connect two and two with the mysterious Monarch and that more than anything is what blew the future almost reveal.

googum said...

I was going to mention, what started with some writers as perfectly normal for his age interest in sex, turned into straight-up pervo under other writers...