Flash Run Riot & Blitz (#192-200) Review

 

Run Riot [#192-196]

• The Flash #192 - "Run Riot, Part I : Awakened" = I audibly said, "Oh Crap", when the gorilla paratroopers descended on Iron Heights. Warden Wolfe has some savage comebacks in this issue, and I'm shaking every time Hunter is on panel since I know the end times are nearing. Wally and Linda are wholesome af, and that also hurts since I know a little bit about how Blitz goes down (screw spoilers honestly). I'm kinda over the usual rogues at this point, but the Doctor Alchemy sequence was so good. Crazy that Wally's hand was broken just by punching the gorilla (speed-force field?) and he gets banged up by Double-down and Tarpit. Blacksmith getting yeeted was hilarious, and Scott Kolins is just murdering on art page after page after page! I'm assuming they will explain how Grodd got out and summoned the gorilla henchmen to jailbreak.
• The Flash #193 - "Run Riot, Part II : On The Run" = This one read super fast. Interesting that they finally decided to give Wolfe some character development. Rip Zolomon's legs, at least he go to have some time without pain before getting mauled. Grodd is so OP not even Fallout's nuclear beams did anything to him.
• The Flash #194 - "Dead or Alive" = What a great issue. The first page was absolutely fantastic; comics 101 on how to grab a reader with an opener. Kolins knocks it out of the park with the depictions of Gorilla City. Nnamdi is pretty goated, and the new/improved incarnation of their society brings a lot to the table. It's fascinating to see Wally at his breaking point, I just recently read Ending Battle, and it seems like Johns enjoys pushing the veil with his favorite heroes. Broken and battered by a barrage of psychic assaults, Wally is forced to make a decision; how far will he go for vengeance? The use of Linda is great too since we just got the reveal of her pregnancy; of course Wally is going to be on edge! The last pages with Zolomon were heartbreaking. The countdown to Blitz begins!
• The Flash #195 - "Off Balance" = This one was okay. I don't care for the Top, and the Linda stuff didn't have any legs to stand on before this issue. The Zolomon stuff makes me sad, and the Peek-A-Boo final page did nothing because I also don't care for her. The most egregious thing in this issue was the shade thrown at ABBA by the Rogues; excited for Flash to whoop them very soon.
• The Flash #196 - "Helpless" = One more Rogue I care very little for. The Zolomon Wally stuff was great as usual, but the title has been meandering lately. I was surprised by the fact that Wally defended Flash killing Zoom, which I'm not a big fan of. Honestly screw Peek-A-Boo, she's an idiot. What could you possibly do that a team of doctors couldn't? I actually enjoyed the Phil Winslade art; reminded me of a Neal Adams or Mike Grell kind of style. With the final sequence at the Flash museum, let's see how believable they make this transition to Zoom.

Blitz [#197-200]

• The Flash #197 - Blitz, Part I : "Rogue Profile: Zoom" = Don't know how I feel about this 180 for Zolomon. The motivation is just stupid, Wally didn't do anything wrong, time travel is dangerous, and the desire to be a villain in order to better the Flash is wonky at best. Johns did the same thing with Batman during Three Jokers, and it was even worse than this seems. The Zolomon backstory was great, and the art by Kolins was unbelievable, but this transition to evil doesn't make much sense to me right now. He even addresses the 180 during the final pages, wondering if the cosmic treadmill accident has caused him to go insane. If that's the case, then I will give this some leeway.
• The Flash #198 - Blitz, Part II : "Rush" = This whole chapter was a calm before the storm. The union of the Flash family is always a pleasure to see, mainly because it's something we lack in today's comics (then again, Jeremy Adams and Williamson have done a great job rebuilding). My jaw dropped when Spectre Hal showed up, the harbinger for tragedy. The Bart stuff is interesting as well, I think it's too early to tell if they're trying to cause a rift between the two. From the little panel time, we can already tell that Zoom is a different kind of rogue: he's not going to waste time, he's efficient, not allowing distractions to his goal. Kolins continues to kill it on art, and I feel that this reads much better together in a binge instead of the chapters standing on their own.
• The Flash #199 - Blitz, Part III : "Into the Fast Lane" = This is something else. Let me first say that Scott Kolins is a mad genius with his art in this issue. Props to him, Doug, Ken, and James; y'all did a stand up job. As much as I don't find the transition from goated left-brain Hunter to psychotic abortionist Zoom, this issue was fantastic. Zoom is threatening, more so than any villain the Flash Family has ever encountered. The fact that no one has been able to touch him yet is crazy. I've only read the Williamson and current Adams run on Flash, but nothing has ever compared to this. He's so fast that he's ripping holes in time, windows into the past and future. The heartlessness of Zoom is appalling, and I'm just so shocked at the fall from grace in such little time. Then again, this is a book about fast people, so maybe those moments in that hospital room were more than an eternity for Zolomon. I enjoyed the power up scene, and I enjoyed the fact that it didn't work (take that CW Flash!). Those final pages were awesome, and I couldn't be more hyped for Flash #200.
• The Flash #200 - Blitz, Part IV : "The Final Race" = Wow. What an issue. The explanation for Hunter's powers was really cool and made the scaling work a lot more substantially, while Jesse giving up her powers for a temporary boost ended up as a competent and unproblematic deus ex, since Jay and Impulse utterly failed last issue. Hunter trapped in suspended animation and forced to watch the death of his father in-law was brutal as hell, but he deserved it after last issue. The second half of the book was easily the standout, with Barry and Hal hitting the cosmic reset and OMD-ing the mess out of the Flash timeline. The art shift was fantastic, and I could not be more excited for this new direction the book is going!