The Flash 20: Time Heist Paperback
by Jeremy Adams (Author), Oclair Albert (Illustrator), Serg Acuna (Illustrator), Tom Derenick (Illustrator), Will Robson (Illustrator)
As Jeremy Adams’ run on the Flash ends, I am reminded of what annoys me about mainstream comics; while it has its benefits, a writer’s vision on a character is suddenly either cut short or forced to be crammed into a single arc in order for them to be shifted to a different project by editorial mandate.
This has happened before with other writers such as Jeff Lemire, Joshua Williamson and Geoff Johns; which makes it utterly frustrating as it leaves storylines incomplete while they were heading towards a specific direction.
This certainly seems to be the case here; this unconventionally short volume for a trade paperback, while clearly fun and condensing what is very clearly meant to be a multi-arc story, stops the momentum deep in its tracks and brings the story to such an anticlimax that I cannot help but feel disappointed. But it isn’t without its good sides.
As always, Adams humanises his characters on such a level that one cannot but help wish they would spend more time sitting with them to have a meaningful conversation with them; I am particularly fond of the way he writes Wally, Ace and Linda West.
When Ace was first introduced to the Flash comics, he was first intended to be the New 52 version of Wally but with such a personality change that he was downright unrecognisable; while Josh Williamson had ventured to differentiate the two on some level, the fact that Adams sits with both characters and puts them together for a longer enough time allows the reader to treat them both as completely separate characters. Wally is the family man who is torn between still being young at heart and a fun – but responsible – father. Ace is the teenager who had to raise himself due to soured family dynamics that was forced to mature before his time; how these play off of each other, particularly in the short main story of this book, is something I have truly enjoyed reading.
Which brings me to what the story is about; while at first glance it seems to be a superficial rehash of the Geoff Johns’ “Zoom” arc in that a West baby’s existence is under threat as soon as he is born, it does continue in the subtextual direction I had predicted in the previous arc but does so at such a speed that it needs contemplating before actually realising. This is very indicative of editorial mandate, which is a shame as Adams seems talented at keeping subtext not hijacking the main story as so many writers are doing these days; it would have been truly fun to watch the narrative develop more, but, alas, Adams had been shifted to the main event comic Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (which I had reviewed elsewhere) bringing the arc to a premature close – all the more distracting when the Flash himself admits this saying “but this is a story for another time” in the closing moments of some time travelling shenanigans that occur way too fast at a way too awkwardly written ending.
Here’s to hoping they learn from their mistakes and bring on a writer that does not scrap where this was heading altogether, while bringing their own voice to the table.
Which, admittedly, is a skill in itself.
