The Flash #20
Anthony Bergamini
Recap
The moon has become a battleground in the war to end all wars. On one side: Wally West. And Wally West. And Wally West. Using his newfound powerset gained after the Justice League’s battle with Darkseid, he’s split himself hundreds of times, into an army of TEMPS, as Wally keeps going while spreading himself thinner and thinner. On the other side: Eclipso, reborn in a terrifying new form. After razing Skartaris, he’s built a new army, and taken control of the Moon, in his quest to replace Darkseid as the ultimate expression of existential evil. But, Eclipso isn't the only one attempting the fill the void left by Darkseid's death, as the Temp Wally on the Watchtower with the Justice League is fast learning...
Review
The Flash #20 starts a new arc, “Bad Moon Rising,” built off of the conclusion of the previous arc that saw Eclipso rise to power in an attempt to take over for the deceased Darkseid. For those up to date on the ongoing adventures of the Fastest Man Alive, this is likely going to be the strangest issue of the comic that you have read this far. The Flash #20 essentially picks up with the events of the previous arc two hours later, although because the moon is under extreme time dilation because of Eclipso’s new, Speed-Force God powers, it feels like years have gone by for Wally West. When the issue introduces him, Wally is in a new, slick black costume without a mask, acting as a war general against Eclipso’s forces, with the soldiers in his army consisting of copies of himself that he calls “shards.” The generals of his army are other Flash characters, like Wallace West and Judy Garrick. So… yeah, this issue definitely takes a turn for the surreal.
Normally, when a book is called “inconsistent,” it’s because of dramatic art shifts or stories that are constantly interrupted by events related to major publishing initiatives. In The Flash’s case, the book is all over the place and inconsistent because that ultimately is the grand scheme of writer Si Spurrier. In this case, inconsistent is not being used as a negative term, with the book genuinely feeling exciting at every turn because it jumps between different narrative formats just as quickly as its titular character would imply. This keeps the book fresh and new every issue, with The Flash #20 being yet another example of the crazy kinds of storytelling that come along with this run on the character.
The Flash #20 itself is structured around Wally and his shards explaining the current situation to one of Mister Terrific’s T-Spheres, going through copious amounts of exposition quickly as artist Vasco Georgiev draws all of the necessary context of the adventure. While exposition normally can come across as frustrating and can take readers out of a story, the way that Spurrier uses it here and mixes it with Georgiev’s depiction of events is spectacular. Spurrier enfuses a lot of humor into the tale by using the T-Sphere as the character who really doesn’t understand what is going on as the action behind it unfolds in a way that defies all logic. It really is something to behold on the page and makes for an exciting and hilarious read.
Final Thoughts
The Flash #20 is a start to a new story arc that completely shifts the narrative structure of the book in a bold, but delightful way.
The Flash #20: A War on the Moon
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
