The Flash #28: DC K.O. – Round 6: Talkin’ Bout My Generation

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.

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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.