The Flash #6: We Should Have Guessed It

The Flash #6 concludes the first arc of the series with a bang, revealing who is behind the strange occurrences and bizarre happenings in Wally West’s life. Throughout this series, Wally’s life has been flipped all topsy-turvy with his powers fluxuating to allow him to travel between dimensions and his personal life seeing the introduction of a new child. Until now, this has all appeared to be because of the effects the speed force have had on the greater universe, but as Wally teams up with Barry for the first time in a while, he starts to see that more may be wrong than he actually knows.

With strange, interdimensional occurrences, bizarre power surges, and villain’s powers highlighted to a previously unforeseen level, this version of The Flash story has been unlike anything fans have seen before. Writer Si Spurrier took on this book with a clear vision and it all pays off with the final reveal at the end of the issue. Much like his work over at Marvel with the X-Men, it is clear that Spurrier had this idea planned out from the beginning, with the slow burn of events leading up to the revelation here that acts like icing on top of the cake. Long time fans of The Flash will likely see this coming from a mile away, but there is no doubt that this clear, methodical planning is bound to pay off even further down the road.

The best way to describe this series so far is weird, which is clearly the intention. Artist Mike Deodato Jr truly embraces that, filling each page with a panel layout design like fans have never seen before. As bizarre and far reaching as the story is, the art just takes things to a whole new level, giving The Flash series something it’s never seen before. For fans of the prior, more traditional runs of The Flash, this may all be too jarring, but almost everyone should applaud DC and this creative team for taking such a drastic take on this character and this world and making it a mainstream title. DC is often criticized for playing it too safe, but this run of the Scarlet Speedster’s is a prime example of when it pays off to take a chance on something new.

There is no doubt that Deodato’s art would not look nearly as good if not for the colors from Trish Mulvihill, who gives each page a dynamic flair. When Wally brings Linda into a different dimension, the dynamic colors from Mulvihill really pop and show the power that color has in this series. A theme here is the tampering of Wally’s powers from an unforeseen force, and Mulvihill adds to that mystery in a strong way by giving the different parts of this new ability a flair that is unlike anything seen before in a Flash series.

Rounding out the creative team is Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, the best letterer in comics today. No other letterer sees the level of dynamic work put into every single part of speech like Hassan. Each bubble is given a dynamic change that makes it unique to that character and that idea alone. This is truly an example of a master craftsman at work, with the lettering holding equal weight to every other aspect of the series.