The Flash #9: Secrets Revealed

The Flash #9 continues the trend of answering a majority of the lingering questions that have plagued this run since the first issue. Many Flash fans have passed on this run after the complexity of the plot kept getting more and more severe; however, The Flash #9 also continues the series’ retribution as many of the lingering answers start flowing out. The issue itself is split up between three main narratives, one following Wally and journey through The Gallery, one following Barry as he attempts to stop whatever evil force has been plaguing him and the rest of the speedsters, and one following the lingering thread of Linda acting crazy that connects to the mysterious group that has been kidnapping/teaming up with the various speedsters.

Si Spurrier is definitely one of those writers that strives when he can let loose, allowing a book’s characters to experience reality altering circumstances, while tying all of it back to the core concepts that make those characters work as well as they do. Because of this, The Flash feels very reminiscent of Spurrier’s recent books within the X-Men universe. Wally’s journey is one of introspection and existential crises, as threats beyond his comprehension seek to break the hero from within. As shown in The Flash #9, it is the grounded characters within Wally’s life that ground the world around him. This is an example of how Spurrier uses the core concepts behind characters as a vehicle to hold the plot right where it logically makes sense, despite the complexities that often confuse the reader. This is all a deliberate way of establishing a long form storytelling that is decompressed and episodic at the same time.

Much of the journey throughout The Flash #9 is Barry fighting back against the forces that seek to take him down, as he attempts to save Wally. This ultimate conflict leads him to a mysterious villain that is controlling Batman’s Justice Buster armor. This is clearly meant to evoke the idea that Batman is someway behind the threat that has been powering up all of The Flash’s rogues. While it doesn’t make much sense that it would be the main continuity Batman here, it would be interesting to see the return of the fan favorite character from the Death Metal series, Red Death. Spurrier may need some serious legwork to explore the character’s motives, but this would be a great way to reintroduce him.

The second biggest mystery in this series has been the mysterious group that seems to want to save and also kill all of the speedsters. This group has been interacting with Bart and Max the most so far, but The Flash #9 sees them arrive to save Linda from the mysterious villain that has been causing her to act so crazy throughout the run.

MAJOR SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

The mysterious group is revealed to be led by a grown up version of Wade, Wally and Linda’s newly born baby, who was last seen as an adult in the “One Minute War” storyline from Jeremy Adam’s run on The Flash. It is absolutely amazing to see Spurrier and company pulling from that run, with the reveal tying this world together in such a wonderful way. Although this series is one of many that is leading up to the Absolute Power event this summer, it will be interesting to see this first major story arc come to a conclusion soon with all of the ways that the creators have tied everything back to what has come before.