The Flash #28
Chad Burdette
Recap
The gloves come off as the greatest superheroes in the universe enter the arena in a thunderous tournament where the stakes are sky-high!
DC Comics News:
- DC K.O. Is Here And It’s Going To Be A KNOCKOUT And Readers Can Get In On The Action
- Sound The Ringside Bell As The DCU Prepares For DC K.O. This Fall
- This December is Fight Month In The DC Universe As The DC K.O. Event Explodes
Heroes will rise. Legends will fall. It’s time for a cosmic throwdown as the Heart of Apokolips has transformed Earth into a hellscape in preparation for the return of Darkseid!
Comic Watch K.O. Reviews:
- DC K.O. #1: The Scene Is Set For A Real Slobber-Knocker Of An Event
- DC K.O. #2: Round 2 – DCU Items Of Power…Gotta Catch Them All!
Fight Month
- DC K.O.: Superman vs. Captain Atom #1: Fight Month Begins With A Predictable Winner And Outcome – Winner: Superman
- DC K.O. ALL FIGHT MONTH: ROUND 2 OF 8 – Aquaman Vs. Hawkman: When Friends become Foes in Aquaman #12 – Winner: Aquaman
- DC K.O. ALL FIGHT MONTH: ROUND 3 OF 8: Wonder Woman vs. Lobo #1: Bracelets & Bastiches!!! – Winner: Wonder Woman
- DC K.O. ALL FIGHT MONTH – Round 4: The Green Vs The Man And Machine in Titans #30 – Winner: Cyborg
- DC K.O. Fight Month – Round 5: Harley Quinn vs. Zatanna #1 – Black Magic WomanWinner: Zatanna
Tie-In Issues
- DC K.O.: Knightfight #1 – The Curse of the Cowl
- DC K.O.: Knightfight #2 – Under The Black Cowl
- The Flash #26: Some Say He’s Impulsive…
- The Flash #27: Caught in the Omega Force
- Superman #31: The Return of Superwoman
- Superman #32: Ready? Fight!
DC K.O. ALL FIGHT MONTH: ROUND 6 OF 8!
It’s the match you never saw coming!
Review
The Flash #28 splits it’s storytelling between the tie-in story that follows Bart’s attempt to “Pull a Barry” and go back into the recent past and stop Darkseid at the All-In Special and Round 6 of the Tournament between The Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick and Green Lantern Guy Gardner. Waid does this is a manner that makes both storylines flow by bookending the issue with the ongoing story arc and giving Jay and Guy some prime real estate for their match.
Round One:
For the first bout, the Heart chooses Jay Garrick’s laboratory, as the Heart tells the two combatants the rules and the stakes. Waid does a great job of showing Garricks thought process of not being a physical match for Guy, and attempting to settle the round using brains rather than brawn, and challenges Guy to a game of checkers. Guy claims to not know how to play checkers and Jay lands the first blow after Guy makes a crack about Wildcat’s recent death in the pages of JSA. The match enda with Guy grabbing the W by cutting Jay in twain.
–
Round Two
For the second round, Jay chooses his Kingdom Come form where he is pure energy and Guy chooses his Red Lantern form which does work out in his favor as Jay focuses all his pent up energy on the Red Ring and overloads it causing Guy to simply atomize. At the beginning of the round it is clear that Jay has become infected with the Omega Energy, making him more willing to fight and teach Guy a lesson.
Round Three:
Guy goes ‘Old School’ and chooses his Warrior persona and Jay, a classic WWII form of his costume. Guy ultimately prevails and advances.
Waid does a solid job of differentiating Jay and Guy and thier overall philosophy on how they approached the tournament. It was also fun to see, as one expects from a comic aficionado such as Waid, the use the different versions of these two characters. There is the nice twist that the titular character, tangentially is not the character to advance. Georgiev’s artwork is kinetic and adds to the story being told.
Final Thoughts
Flash #28 is a solid issue that provides an interesting round 6 between two different characters that is more philosophical then it is physical with some visits from some of two combatants variants while moving the events of the tie-in that have been happening in the ongoing title seamlessly.
The Flash #28
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
