| The Flash #199 "Blitz: The Confrontation" | |
| Rating: 9/10 | New Reader Jump On : Issue 201 |
I recently purchased "The Flash Vol. 2 #322-325" in order to compare one of the earlier encounters with Zoom, The Reverse Flash to the current "Blitz" storyline. It was the story where Barry killed Zoom. It's quite a story, however, Blitz is very much it's own. Johns has given us a story in which we're not sure that Zoom is evil, perhaps just not too sane. This Zoom is faster than Wally, and he is Flash's friend. It's an interesting story. Blitz is very deep. It has lots of action too. Geoff Johns has created a masterpiece of Flash history. This issue takes of right where 198 left off. Zoom confronting Linda on the balcony of Wally & Linda's apartment. Bart (Impulse) is the only one present to help. Imp does his best, but he's no match for the much bigger, much faster, Zoom. Two of my favorite characters from earlier in John's run on The Flash show back up too, Morillo and Chyre. Zoom has left Jay and Wally in the wreckage of the Flash Museum last issue, and that is where they show up this time. With Morillo and Chyre. Zoom arrives with Linda seconds later. Zoom has one small problem, he's overly melodramatic. He keeps delivering teasers and speeches. Then you remember, this isn't the Zoom that Wally fought before, the one that Barry Allen killed. This is the rogue profiler, the man whose eyes so much of this run of The Flash has been told through. Hunter Zoloman is Zoom. We find out in this issue that he still believes himself to be Wally's friend. He thinks he is teaching Wally a much needed lesson. He also appears to be moving at speeds beyond the capabilities of The Flash WITHOUT using the speed force. Given that the accident that set this all in motion involved Barry's Time Treadmill exploding in the Flash Museum while Hunter was attempting to use it, I believe this may have something to do with time travel. I think Hunter may be "skipping" the surface of time like a rock on a pond. Therefore seeming to move faster than The Flash. We don't know for certain yet, however. As I said, all the posturing and speeches make a lot more sense when you remember that this is an angry friend, and not a normal super-villain. Hunter has decided that since Wally wouldn't use the Time Treadmill to go back in time and fix his legs that Wally doesn't understand the kind of loss that Hunter experienced. This is his chance to teach him. So he is trying. He injures Linda so badly that she loses the babies she was pregnant with. Then taunts Wally with that knowledge. AFTER leading him on a "round the world" chase very reminiscent of the one The Reverse Flash (Zoom) leads Barry Allen on in The Flash Vol. 2 #324. That said, the results are somewhat different as in The Flash Vol 2 #324 Barry kills Zoom rather than let him get at Fiona, his fiance, since in their previous encounter Zoom had killed Iris West, Barry's first wife, and Wally's aunt. In this issue Wally is completely outclassed. This new Zoom has the moves to match the original Zoom's confidence. Many of the points in this issue surprised me, such as discovering that Zolomon/Zoom didn't have a normal connection to the speed force, and that Wally wasn't able to keep up with him, yet previously (When Mark Waid was writing the book) he was able to run past the speed of light and cross dimensional barriers. I probably would have rated this book a perfect 10, except for the nagging little things, like how is Zoom outrunning a man who can pass the speed of light? I am confident that that will be answered, however. At any rate, I do not pause to recommend this book, and the entire Blitz story line. I feel it is going to cause changes in The Flash that will still be talked about years from now by fans of DC Comics. I also feel it's taking us on one hell of a great ride to get there. Necris Rex |
