The Flash #13
Anthony Bergamini
Recap
Barry Allen has been to the ends of the Multiverse and back. Now, he runs into a danger unlike any he's ever encountered, as the fate of not only the Speed Force, but all heroes, hangs in the balance. Barry's Life Story flashes before his eyes as he begins his most important race ever.
Review
The Flash #13 serves as a pseudo conclusion and epilogue to the first major story that started in the Dawn of DC’s The Flash #1. Seeing both Barry Allen and Wally West reunite, The Flash #13 reveals the truth behind all of the strange events of the series, highlighting their impact on the greater DC universe
and mirroring the events of the character’s personal lives. With everything being tied up in a tight little bow, the future of The Flash in DC’s next publishing initiative, All In, is destined to build off of the new lore behind everything in this first story.
So Spurrier was one of the most oddball choices for the writer of The Flash series, but DC really knocked it out of the park. Spurrier concludes his first major story with a bang, proving that he can spin one of the craziest, most off the wall plots sold by any DC writer in the last decade. With the revelations of why these all events occurred, Spurrier ends up tying this all back to the core elements of family and Wally’s true purpose in the universe.
Ramon Perez concludes this arc with a bang, drawing some of the best art from this series, while also making these cosmically powered characters feel more human than ever. Credit needs to go to any artist who is able to easily delineate the differences between Barry and Wally purely through mannerisms. Perez really does a great job in keeping all of the craziness concise and understandable, producing a beautiful, yet completely understandable conclusion, summarizing all the events.
This storyline from The Flash is definitely going to be controversial, telling a story that is as mysterious and complicated as it is full of heart and nuance. There is no wonder that this creative team got a shot at this character, with this feeling like nothing yet produced by the character.
Final Thoughts
The Flash #13 is a beautiful ending to the first story arc that will blow the minds of fans of the greater DC Universe.
The Flash #13: End of the Beginning
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
Gawd, this was an awful ‘ending’ to the worst serial in the history of The Flash, and I managed to get through the Trial of the Flash. I opened this issue, was confronted with more of the meaningless pseudo-poetic captions that have dominated the last few issues, and lost the will to live. For this we lost Jeremy Adams? I’ve enjoyed Simon Spurrier’s work previously but here, and in Hellblazer, he’s fallen in love with his thesaurus and the stories have become unreadable.
I did enjoy your review, though!