Identity Crisis + Flash: The Secret of Barry Allen Review

[Identity Crisis] ~ {Written by Brad Meltzer}

• Identity Crisis #1 - "Coffin" = And away we go! Coming back to this after so many years was a breath of fresh air. For all the haters this book has, Meltzer and Morales show them up completely with sleek and yet classic art paired with powerful prose. Meltzer does an incredible job of sucking you in; while many dig on the retcons, Meltzer finds a way to stay true to the personalities of these characters, it all feels real. I can't recall a death in the DC universe being this meaningful since Supergirl and Flash during the Crisis, or even the Man of Tomorrow himself. The use of minor characters by Meltzer is excellent as well; Bolt and Calculator on the phone makes the universe seem so big, a commodity that just doesn't seem to exist in today's DC landscape. The foreshadowing is wonderful as well, and I do believe the murder-mystery to be one of the strongest aspects of this story.
• The Flash #213 - "Slow Motion" = So that's why Mirror Master's nose was bleeding! This issue suffered from the same problem I have with most Flash books; any villains besides the classic Rogues and Reverse Flashes are absolute trash. You can try to spin the Turtle to be a foil of Flash as much as you want, but at the end of the day he's still a stupid and boring character. The reveal that Ashley Zolomon didn't die in the crash came as a surprise to me, but the fact that Hunter somehow got out is even more interesting. Howard Porter's art wasn't that great in this, I'm hoping it gets better in time for Rogue War. The Identity Crisis mentions were fun, my only peeve was the discrepancy between how Boomerang looks in this compared to the actual IC book.
• Identity Crisis #2 - "House of Lies" = This is a tough book! As much as I understand the criticisms, everything else is so good! The c-listers and their underworld, the satellite league justifying themselves to the Wally and Kyle, and my boy Pieter Cross gets a sequence! Compared to any Millar or Ennis indulgent edginess, the rape scene done in this book was done as tastefully as one of these scenes can be done. The framing of the Leaguers mentalities at the moment of the mind-wipe makes sense, and I enjoyed the mention of Barry's decision being influenced by the death of Iris West. Merlyn dishing out crap on each of the villains is so much fun, and I'm excited for more of these snippets across the rest of the book.
• Identity Crisis #3 - "Serial Killer" = Super-Brawl! I for one love this fight; a perfect fusion proving and disproving the famous adage, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy...". Ollie breaking Slade's concentration is such a great way to take out the one-eyed assassin, and the quarrel that ensues is hilarious. Meltzer's internal monologue for Ollie is fantastic, and definitely makes me want to check out his Green Arrow run. The manner in which Light's memories are reactivated is wonderful, and I sure as mess spotted the foreshadowing in the flashback discrepancy. Ollie explaining to Wally the justifications for the mind-wipes may create a sense of grimdark infecting the bronze age, poisoned nostalgia, but this stuff makes sense! The clean-up works in the League's continuity! Ollie's line regarding him and Carter's differences is great, that is easily one of my favorite rivalries/friendships in all of comics. The Tim Drake sequence is easily the least interesting, but the set-up makes sense given what happens later in the series. Framing the ending with Jimmy cutting to Jean being "attacked" works flawlessly, and Rags executes every panel with grace and precision.
• Identity Crisis #4 - "Who Benefits?" = Gah damn, it just gets better and better! While the red herrings increase by the page, what gives this book life is how the DC universe responds to the mystery. The sequences with the villains, Batman's increased paranoia, the Slipknot scene, and even Spectre Hal coming down to increase the stakes. We can definitely say that Ollie is secured as our viewpoint character going forward, and I am not complaining whatsoever: he's the perfect fit for the tone of this story. The villain scenes are still my favorites, Meltzer has turned Merlyn and Calculator into some of my favorites.
• The Flash #214 - The Secret of Barry Allen, Part I : "Dear Wally..." = Fantastic issue! Johns was able to balance the run's current plot points alongside the fallout from IC extremely well. Wally's built-up despair has snowballed since Blitz and Ignition, and it spilling into this arc sets us up for some fascinating character exploration alongside this mystery surrounding Barry's letter. I enjoyed the reveal of the League's meeting with Wally from #209, connecting the mind-wipe themes. Once again, Ollie stole this issue and is continuing to steal this whole event with his witty dialogue and engaging pathos as a result of him and the League's sins being found out.
• Identity Crisis #5 - "Father's Day" = Dang! This book is a blast to read, mainly because I can agree with the criticisms while still getting everything I want out of it. You can definitely see the editorial mandates starting to seep into the narrative: Firestorm's random death, Jack Drake pruned to get Tim Drake into the orphan club and give him some pathos. The Boomerang death sticks for me, mainly because I'm eager to learn more about Owen Mercer. That whole sequence was very well put together in my opinion, and even though the image of an obese and disheveled Captain Boomerang busting into the Drake home is pretty jarring, Meltzer and Morales find a way to keep me engaged through every single panel.
• The Flash #215 - The Secret of Barry Allen, Part II : "Reformed" = Wow, I guess I was expecting something completely different. Let's get this over with; I don't care about the Top or whatever happened to his mind as a result of Zee's magic. The hilariously dumb and convoluted silver age lore dump on Roscoe Dillon brought some chuckles, but Barry's plan and execution was absolutely trash. I'm glad they're following up on the Top's scene from #210, but if we could just get to the Rogue War stuff already! The Wally pathos is still great, and the IC snippets were the standouts; let's see Zatanna try to put this rabbit back in the hat!
• JSA #67 - "The Autopsy" = Just wow. This might have been one of the best issues of JSA ever. Dave Gibbons killed this entire issue, though I shouldn't be surprised since he drew the greatest comic book ever. This whole book was a perfect storm: great art, great writing, tie in to a great event, and centered on the best member of the JSA: my boy Pieter Cross. The pacing and splicing of the check-ins with each JSA member were fantastic, but that Wildcat Mirror Master sequence had to be the best. The Power Girl stuff had me a bit confused until I remembered that at the end of the Loeb Supergirl S/B arc they kept Kara in hiding to prevent Darkseid's forces from coming back to kill her. Terrific and Mid-Nite cement their bro-bond (if they haven't already) in this, and I loved Michael going to confront his wife's accidental killer in the midst of all this IC chaos.
• Identity Crisis #6 - "Husbands & Wives" = Aftermath! The sequence with the lost family members of the JLA was fascinating: so much history in each member, a wonderful fusion of Bronze Age and Post-Crisis elements to give each character weight like we've been alongside their struggles and losses for years. There's something about Doctor Light remembering the rape that is extremely unnerving, I'm eager to see how this plays out in the upcoming Teen Titans arc. If I'm not mistaken, this whole event is what spawns the Green Arrow/Deathstroke rivalry that gets folded into the zeitgeist (Arrow) which I think is really cool. Now about that final sequence... GAH DAMN! Meltzer does an insane job of building that tension, and the biggest red herrings of all red herrings is planted, a twist to trick before the twist of the final issue!
• The Flash #216 - The Secret of Barry Allen, Part III : "Spinning" = I'm not sure if it's a result of the heavy hand of editorial, but why do comics require the invasive recap in the first couple of pages? It's kind of hard to get to the plot when there's a giant info dump shouting in your face. As for the twist, I get what Johns is going for, and I will admit that I am intrigued. The idea that this d-list villain used his powers to trick the Flash Rogues Gallery into reforming while maintaining the ability to turn it off at any moment is kinda cool. The classic Rogues may not get personal, but Johns has created the circumstances for Wally's villains (Top, Zoom, Grodd) to get pretty damn personal. It's a lot easier to see now that the Top will in fact be a major player in the Rogue War, given the scene with James Jesse's Rogues framing them as the future victims of the Top. The lovely red herring during the final sequence had me genuinely happy; someone needs a win right now!
• Identity Crisis #7 - "The Hero's Life" = What is most impressive about this final twist is that the set up for Atom being the murder has some perverted sense to it. Atom wanted his wife back, so he engineered this entire crisis to make way for her back into his arms. He leaves the JLA during #214 of the Flash to go set up that attempted murder of Jean Loring, he hires Boomerang, he sends the letter to Lois and the gun to Jack Drake. But it's not him, Ray is a Silver Age darling, nothing could justify him breaking bad, he's untouchable, it couldn't be him... but it could be his wife! Man, this one hurts, but it's supposed to I guess. Like the Arthur Miller quote included in this, Identity Crisis is the death of the Silver Age. It's a tone setter, a prelude for the end of the Post Crisis universe, an appetizer for the comics Dark Age of the 2010's. It hurts, but this book is so damn good that I just might have to keep on chewing. One of the saddest parts is that we won't be seeing Ray Palmer until that horrendous Countdown book (which I may or may not force myself to read in the far future). As for the mind-wipe ramifications, this is exactly what leads into Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the OMAC Project; that final scene with Bruce staring down Wally was perfect, the framing of Wally and the lasso of truth, and I like to think that in that moment he knows.
• The Flash #217 - "Post-Crisis" = WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT LAST PAGE? Jesus Christ, that actually made me audibly gasp. I really enjoyed this issue, great segmentation of Wally/Linda + Digger's funeral + Batman confrontation. The Hunter/Cheetah stuff was fun as well, and it seems like it's setting up the upcoming two part crossover. I do wonder what Bats said to Dick when he joined the Titans, but I was expecting some kind of mention of the mind-wipe stuff to follow up the Identity Crisis threads a little more. Then again, I don't think Bats would go to his face; he's definitely more likely to take other measures...
• The Flash #218 - "Rogue Profile: Heat Wave" = That was fire! I can tell it's hit or miss with these Rogue centered issues based how much I care, but when you get Johns and THE Peter Snejbjerg to do a book on Heat-Wave, you best know I'm going to read the mess out of it. It was so easy to get sucked into Mick's narration, and I love how Johns is able to set him and his motivations apart from the others. I get that the whole gallery has distinct personalities, but you can really tell when Johns hits the mark. The re-framed rivalry between Heat-Wave and Cold sets up an exciting conflict for the upcoming Rogue War, and I'm very interested to see how this and the other threads play out.