Flashpoint Beyond #0: The Edge of Glory

I thought that Flashpoint Earth didn’t exist anymore, unfortunately so did Thomas Wayne. Reading this issue reminds me how much fun the original Flashpoint miniseries was. It was more than an Elseworlds story because this was a lot more fleshed out than a one-shot special. It also seemed more important, because it was the in-continuity DC Earth, but Barry had gone back in time and changed things, so this is reality, just way different. This issue is almost a love letter to that series, with Johns picking up where he kind of left off. Everything on the Flashpoint Earth is just like we left it, but things just kept moving forward instead of it turning into the Earth that came after. Johns takes us back there, to a world that is dark, depressing, and just generally not an enjoyable place to be, and gives us a Batman tale that has him trying to figure out why things haven’t changed and just who is to blame for it still being there. We get more twisted versions of characters, and more locations that have significant changes to them, but at its heart, this story is a really good Batman mystery comic that sets off a series that I really look forward to reading. Johns has been gone from comics for a while and that’s a shame because his writing is as crisp and clear as it ever was. Each character has a different and distinct voice, and the story being told is both entertaining and cerebral. More than just a summer popcorn mini-series, I can’t wait to see where this series goes. 

Legendary artist Eduardo Risso is the perfect choice for this issue because he drew the three-issue Flashpoint: Batman mini-series, and he’s the one who really gave the Flashpoint version of Gotham its personality, look, and mood. It’s nice to see him return to this world, as it makes this book even more “legit” because you have both the mind that came up with it, and the hand that created it. Fantastic art, I know Risso isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and normally he’s not mine, but he totally wins me over with this issue.