Jay Garrick: The Flash #2: It’s Hard Being A Dad!

Jay Garrick: The Flash #2 picks up with Judy Garrick, The Boom’s, reintroduction to the world she has been apart from since she disappeared. Jay struggles to understand why his past is slowly returning to his memory while Joan pressures him to let Judy live the life that she had been missing. Meanwhile, Judy and Stargirl go on a fun trip to the mall in order to help reintegrate her back into society, but are interrupted by an attack from Ro-Bear who is on a secret mission to capture Judy.

The first issue of Jay Garrick: The Flash was very focused on Judy, so it’s nice to see Jay Garrick: The Flash #2 shift focus back over to Jay, highlighting his feelings about the situation. This issue also feels a lot more connected to the other, New Goldman Age stories, displaying the possibilities of multifaceted storytelling. The flashback aspects also help establish this series in continuity by giving the entire Justice Society of America a new foundation that connects their histories to one another. The links to Alan Scott: The Green Lantern and Wesley Dodds: The Sandman are not extreme; however, there is a definitive line of communication between these creators that help keep this world whole.

Diego Olortegui’s art here feels like a mix between Todd Nauck’s art on Stargirl and The Lost Children and a Golden Age sensibility. This makes the flashback sequences feel authentic while the modern day stuff feels genuinely modern. The only detriment to the modern day storyline is the fact that these creators felt it was appropriate to help introduce Judy to the modern world by bringing her to a mall. If this was the 1990’s or the early 2000’s that would make a lot of sense. But seeing a mall that is full of people while two teenagers enjoy a shopping spree really feels like a detachment from the world we live in. Segments like this really date books like Ultimate Spider-Man so it’s bizarre to see something like this in a book coming out in late 2023.

Where Olortegui’s art and Luis Guerrero’s colors truly shine are in the action sequences, especially in the flashbacks where Jay goes all out with his powers. One double page splash sees him springing across the enemy base while tearing through enemies and then using his powers to create a whirlwind to push them out of the base in order to make way for the rest of the Justice Society of America. The amount of specific detail in this spread is outstanding, fully displaying the often downplayed abilities of Jay Garrick.