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The Flash (2016)
The Flash: Year One
THE SCARLET SPEEDSTER'S ORIGIN STARTS HERE! Barry Allen is stuck in place. As a forensic scientist for the Central City police, it's his job to catch criminals after they've committed their crimes. It's like he's lost the race before he even leaves the starting line. Then one night lightning strikes--and everything changes. Electrocuted and doused in chemicals, Barry emerges from a coma with the force of incredible speed humming in his very atoms. He's faster than bullets, faster than sound, faster than anyone can imagine. And he'd better be. Because even as Barry learns how to harness his incredible new powers, a new breed of criminal is stalking Central City. Some can slow him to a standstill. Others can freeze him in place. Still others run so hot and so fast he can't see them coming. The race is on for one of the DC Universe's most iconic superheroes to become the legend he is destined to be. Collects The Flash #70-75
152 pages, Paperback
First published November 19, 2019
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321 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
January 28, 2020
Eh.
2.5 stars
The Flash origin is retold again and this time his nemesis is The Turtle. <--not kidding
And once again, time travel plays a huge role in the overall plot. <--shocking, I know
It was underwhelming.
Not terrible. Not unreadable.
Just very underwhelming.
I think if you're a fan of The Flash (like me) you'll feel compelled to read this. I mean, I usually feel the need to read all of the Year One stuff anyway, but that may not be how everyone feels.
Anyway.
The Turtle + Time Travel = You Decide
2.5 stars
The Flash origin is retold again and this time his nemesis is The Turtle. <--not kidding
And once again, time travel plays a huge role in the overall plot. <--shocking, I know
It was underwhelming.
Not terrible. Not unreadable.
Just very underwhelming.
I think if you're a fan of The Flash (like me) you'll feel compelled to read this. I mean, I usually feel the need to read all of the Year One stuff anyway, but that may not be how everyone feels.
Anyway.
The Turtle + Time Travel = You Decide
February 14, 2020
Williamson expands The Flash's first year. I will give Williamson kudos for making Barry's foe in this, The Turtle, since that's who Barry first fought back in Showcase #4. Of course back then, he was just a guy in a green turtleneck.
I'm not a fan of more time travel in The Flash which almost seems a crutch for The Flash as this point. But for what it is, it's a decent story. Howard Porter is really knocking it out of the park on the art chores. I like how his art is evolving.
I'm not a fan of more time travel in The Flash which almost seems a crutch for The Flash as this point. But for what it is, it's a decent story. Howard Porter is really knocking it out of the park on the art chores. I like how his art is evolving.
January 7, 2020
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
Every hero’s journey begins somewhere. Whether it’s in a dark alley or in a spacecraft, these individuals are launched on an endeavour that is beyond their wildest imagination as they take upon themselves new responsibilities that put the safety of the world before their own. While some choose to walk this path, proud and honoured to serve a greater good, others learn their lesson the hard way, through adversity and challenges. And so, how did the world’s fastest man alive come to be? It is thanks to writer Joshua Williamson (Nailbiter, The Flash) and artist Howard Porter (JLA) that fans are given the opportunity to discover a brand-new origin story for the Scarlet Speedster, a story that will transform him into the hero that will inspire countless lives and cities as he streaks his way across towns, countries, and universes.
What is The Flash: Year One about? Forensic scientist for the Central City police, Barry Allen routinely helps solve cases after the fact, once the crime is committed and while the culprit is either in custody or in the wild. His job places him in a tough position where his ability to reduce crime is never immediate or tangible as he remains behind the scenes. It’s after being struck by lightning in his laboratory, doused in chemicals, that his life changes forever. He now possesses incredible speed surging from the depths of his atoms which allows him to run faster than anything imaginable. Collecting The Flash issues #70-75, this origin story explores the Scarlet Speedster’s journey to becoming Central City’s greatest hero as he not only discovers who he is destined to be but also faces an evil adversary bound to become an archnemesis with his ability to slow The Flash down to a standstill.
Here’s why this story arc works quite well as it crystallizes into a cohesive whole by the end of the graphic novel. Writer Joshua Williamson utilizes the best elements of Barry Allen’s lore to infuse this story with spark and dazzle. From his various abilities and his lack of control over them to the myriad of key figures that shape his life for the better, there’s a lot of elements packed into this adventure. And that’s where everything doesn’t hum at the same frequency. In the optics that this story arc is meant to be a Year One episode, an origin story for Barry Allen as The Flash, there were way too many ideas in store for a hero in the making. For an accustomed fan, this will undoubtedly seem slightly ambitious, leaving the impression that there’s barely any room left after this story for new discoveries or further development of the character or the world. For a newcomer, this will, however, be exciting as it lays out in the open almost all of The Flash’s secret weapons.
To accompany this origin story is a superbly colourful and explosive artwork. Despite minor facial design flaws that distract you from the excellent movement mechanisms utilized to display The Flash’s abilities, this story arc contains very electric and exciting visuals. The roughness of the penciling unleashed amidst Barry Allen’s high-paced and chaotic learning curve offers readers a stimulating experience that never slows down. The emotional depth of the iconic hero is properly conveyed in his journey of discovery and is felt through the character’s mannerisms and behaviours. Although he’s almost forced into a destiny, making you doubt in his free will, the artwork exposes the hero’s rapid growth as a hero and illustrates his confidence through trial and error. Leave it to the colouring to juice this story with life, verging on psychedelic but not quite, while still capturing the joyful nature of Barry Allen in the middle of his heroic plight.
The Flash: Year One is a dazzling and slightly ambitious exploration of a forensic scientist’s journey to becoming Central City’s greatest hero.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
September 3, 2022
As origin stories go, The Flash: Year One does a very good job at introducing the character of Barry Allen to new readers. It establishes his backstory, what he's fighting for, and some of the key players in his life. However, Williamson goes a little too far with the prose and dialogue which ends up dragging in quite a few places. It does attempt a time travel story (which I've made clear that I'm iffy about), and it mostly succeeds thanks to its simplicity. There isn't an attempt at an overly complicated narrative where the author boosts their ego about how clever they think they are. Whilst Wally still remains my favourite Flash for now, this book has taken me one step closer to being a big Barry fan.
November 3, 2021
THIS ONE WAS SO GOOD!
I loved this whole story! It tells the tale of how Barry got his powers and his first time as the flash and well going into the future and meeting his future self and fighting the turtle and then coming to the present and facing the same foe again and well doing cases and awkward lateness but dates with Iris and how he has to balance his life as a hero and a CSI but what will happen when the turtle of the future and this time team up and will Barry be able to save the present? And what revelations will he have about himself?
Its a great story and I love the way Williamson mixes the old and the new and gives Barry an amazing monologue and just fleshes out the entire past of his and makes Turtle such a great villain with his connections to the still force and showing the relationship that is Iris and Barry and showing how important she is to him and also showing what challenges he will have to face in the future, easter eggs and the last page was perfect! <3
One of the best Flash stories for sure and a better Year one story than most!
I loved this whole story! It tells the tale of how Barry got his powers and his first time as the flash and well going into the future and meeting his future self and fighting the turtle and then coming to the present and facing the same foe again and well doing cases and awkward lateness but dates with Iris and how he has to balance his life as a hero and a CSI but what will happen when the turtle of the future and this time team up and will Barry be able to save the present? And what revelations will he have about himself?
Its a great story and I love the way Williamson mixes the old and the new and gives Barry an amazing monologue and just fleshes out the entire past of his and makes Turtle such a great villain with his connections to the still force and showing the relationship that is Iris and Barry and showing how important she is to him and also showing what challenges he will have to face in the future, easter eggs and the last page was perfect! <3
One of the best Flash stories for sure and a better Year one story than most!
November 16, 2019
Every now and then a DC character gets an origin overhaul. This time around, it's Barry Allen's. Not a lot's changing however - it's mostly just an excuse to take a look back at Barry's first adventure as the Flash, and tie him into the greater Force story that Joshua Williamson is telling by dragging in the Turtle.
It's a solid story, don't get me wrong. Whether it works as a standalone Year One story for new readers, I wouldn't go quite that far. It does help refocus Barry's mindset going forward though, so in the grander scheme of things, if you're already reading Flash, it's worth sticking around for.
Howard Porter's on art, and he's great. The amount of detail the guy rams into his pages borders on ridiculous, and everyone has a stunning amount of weight to them. He's up there with Scott Kolins and Francis Manapul as one of my favourite Flash artists, tbh.
It's a solid story, don't get me wrong. Whether it works as a standalone Year One story for new readers, I wouldn't go quite that far. It does help refocus Barry's mindset going forward though, so in the grander scheme of things, if you're already reading Flash, it's worth sticking around for.
Howard Porter's on art, and he's great. The amount of detail the guy rams into his pages borders on ridiculous, and everyone has a stunning amount of weight to them. He's up there with Scott Kolins and Francis Manapul as one of my favourite Flash artists, tbh.
January 3, 2020
Flash Year one is Barry's first year as flash. While some parts are amazing, mostly him learning his powers and going through a rough time in some spots, the second half of this is him going into the future and seeing what COULD be. So basically this book is one big "how to stop a terrible future" from happening.
It feels kind of odd as a year one story. Too much for flash to go through so early in his time. I think this story is better served much later. Saying that, the art is great and there's some funny and exciting moments. While I don't think this is a must read I still had a good time reading it. A solid 3 out of 5.
It feels kind of odd as a year one story. Too much for flash to go through so early in his time. I think this story is better served much later. Saying that, the art is great and there's some funny and exciting moments. While I don't think this is a must read I still had a good time reading it. A solid 3 out of 5.
April 7, 2021
Ahh I loved this! Joshua Williamson rewrote Barry Allen's origin story, as we're still learning about the new forces introduced in the stories prior to this publication.
We read about Barry Allen's transformation to The Flash and all about how it happened and how he turned into the hero we love and know now. The story is set right before the lightning event that gave Barry his speed powers and we get to see how he starts dating Iris West. After Barry wakes up from the coma (which he fell into after he got hit by lightning), he accidentally runs into the future and sees himself many many years later. Central City has been taken over by The Turtle, who is The Flash's first big foe! Barry's future self tries to tell him that he can't fight the future and needs to go back to his old time. As he helps Barry find his way back, he gets caught by the Turtle himself though. And as we know, our loved Barry doesn't lose Hope in trying to save his city and fights the Turtle in his own timeline.
The artwork is amazing, the writing is spectacular and all in all I really loved this! This was a great reminder of where Barry's origin story comes from and a great take on it. I am also glad, that for once, Barry doesn't seem to have messed up the timelines, which at this point is a big surprise!
We read about Barry Allen's transformation to The Flash and all about how it happened and how he turned into the hero we love and know now. The story is set right before the lightning event that gave Barry his speed powers and we get to see how he starts dating Iris West. After Barry wakes up from the coma (which he fell into after he got hit by lightning), he accidentally runs into the future and sees himself many many years later. Central City has been taken over by The Turtle, who is The Flash's first big foe! Barry's future self tries to tell him that he can't fight the future and needs to go back to his old time. As he helps Barry find his way back, he gets caught by the Turtle himself though. And as we know, our loved Barry doesn't lose Hope in trying to save his city and fights the Turtle in his own timeline.
The artwork is amazing, the writing is spectacular and all in all I really loved this! This was a great reminder of where Barry's origin story comes from and a great take on it. I am also glad, that for once, Barry doesn't seem to have messed up the timelines, which at this point is a big surprise!
August 29, 2023
Fazia muito tempo que não lia quadrinhos e não lia nada de Flash, então acompanhar a partir dessa edição foi ótimo.
Aqui mostra, como o nome já diz, o primeiro ano do Barry como Flash. Eu não sou tão fã de histórias de introdução, principalmente de heróis que já sei o que acontece, mas aqui foi divertido acompanhar um pouco do Flash no comecinho, meio irresponsável.
A história é muito simples, mas apresenta elementos interessantes. Por exemplo, eu não conhecia o vilão Tartaruga, creio que nunca ouvi falar dele, mas até que curti o papel dele na história. A trama de viagem no tempo achei interessante também.
Os desenhos deixaram um pouco a desejar, não é um dos melhores na maioria das vezes, mas teve momento de página dupla, ou página inteira, que ficaram muito fodas. Facilmente virariam papel de parede. HAHA
Agora, estou animado para o que vem por aí. Feliz que voltei a ler meu herói preferido! ❤️⚡
Aqui mostra, como o nome já diz, o primeiro ano do Barry como Flash. Eu não sou tão fã de histórias de introdução, principalmente de heróis que já sei o que acontece, mas aqui foi divertido acompanhar um pouco do Flash no comecinho, meio irresponsável.
A história é muito simples, mas apresenta elementos interessantes. Por exemplo, eu não conhecia o vilão Tartaruga, creio que nunca ouvi falar dele, mas até que curti o papel dele na história. A trama de viagem no tempo achei interessante também.
Os desenhos deixaram um pouco a desejar, não é um dos melhores na maioria das vezes, mas teve momento de página dupla, ou página inteira, que ficaram muito fodas. Facilmente virariam papel de parede. HAHA
Agora, estou animado para o que vem por aí. Feliz que voltei a ler meu herói preferido! ❤️⚡
May 10, 2020
Super origin Flashe, tohle jsem nečekal, že bude tak dobrý.
January 1, 2020
We get another year one story and this time it’s Flash’s turn and it’s pretty good, but it’s bigger purpose is to tie in the turtle with Joshua Williamson’s bigger force story.
The story is really cool, it’s Barry learning to adapt to his new powers and learning how to be hopeful and more optimistic as he faces more obstacles as the flash and Barry Allen. The whole time loop thing with future Flash and Turtle is really interesting and makes for a good story. I started to not enjoy as much in the end though because I felt it was dragged on a bit.
The art is being illustrated by Howard Porter again and he doesn’t disappoint, his art is so detailed and exciting it makes the story even more awesome and Hi-Fi’s colouring compliments his art a bunch.
Overall, really good.
The story is really cool, it’s Barry learning to adapt to his new powers and learning how to be hopeful and more optimistic as he faces more obstacles as the flash and Barry Allen. The whole time loop thing with future Flash and Turtle is really interesting and makes for a good story. I started to not enjoy as much in the end though because I felt it was dragged on a bit.
The art is being illustrated by Howard Porter again and he doesn’t disappoint, his art is so detailed and exciting it makes the story even more awesome and Hi-Fi’s colouring compliments his art a bunch.
Overall, really good.
February 6, 2020
Basic Plot: A re-telling of how the Flash got his powers and came to be the hero we all know and love, then a connection to the Year of the Villain overstory.
Solid art throughout, and a good story. I like how everything tied together from beginning to end. Seeing Barry and Iris come together was sweet, and seeing how Barry gained his sense of optimism gave me some very needed hope. The tie in to the current overplot ought to help me make some more connections between the various stories. A solid book.
Solid art throughout, and a good story. I like how everything tied together from beginning to end. Seeing Barry and Iris come together was sweet, and seeing how Barry gained his sense of optimism gave me some very needed hope. The tie in to the current overplot ought to help me make some more connections between the various stories. A solid book.
August 2, 2020
Antes de ler este quadrinho eu pensei: "Uau que empolgante, um ano um do Flash!". Vão investigar mais sobre o porque de um raio acertar ele e explicar mais o funcionamento de seus poderes! Ledo engano. Apesar de ter a cena da capa, emblemática, de Barry Allen gastando diversos tênis devido à fricção com o solo, a empolgação fica por aí mesmo. Joshua Williamson, o roteirista, acaba envolvendo Barry em uma viagem no tempo em que encontra o seu "eu futuro" em um porvir dominado pelo seu primeiríssimo inimigo, o Tartaruga, que tem o poder de desacelerar o tempo. O Tartaruga aqui apresenta um visual "cool e descolado" no mau sentido. A história e o enredo são bastante clichés e usam bastante de lugares comuns de viagens no tempo. Logo eu lembrei porque não quis acompanhar a fase renascimento do Flash. Além disso, os desenhos de Howard Porter não são mais os mesmos desde que ele literalmente perdeu a mão que costumava desenhar e teve de reaprender a trabalhar com a outra. O esforço é louvável, mas não lembra a fase LJA com Grant Morrison. Acho que, no final das contas, Flash: Ano Um é um dos mais fracos "anos um" que a DC Comics já colocou nas prateleiras.
March 5, 2020
It feels somewhat weird to use Flash: Year One to tell a "Days of Future Past" story, but nonetheless it nicely dovetails, both into Flash's actual origin (because it focuses on the Turtle) and into the modern-day Flash run (because the Slow Force has become important).
Unfortunately, there's only one element that feels strongly like it's "Year One" material, and that's the story of Barry's early relationship with Iris. Fortunately, that's charming and enjoyable. The Turtle story itself is good enough, if a little too fighty, and a little short on the explanation on how the time loop breaks.
3.5 stars, really.
Unfortunately, there's only one element that feels strongly like it's "Year One" material, and that's the story of Barry's early relationship with Iris. Fortunately, that's charming and enjoyable. The Turtle story itself is good enough, if a little too fighty, and a little short on the explanation on how the time loop breaks.
3.5 stars, really.
August 4, 2021
Meh.
Esta historia pudo ser tantas cosas y simplemente no lo fue.
Es la primer historia de origen que leo y hace que tenga 0 ganas de leer más sobre el personaje en cuestión.
Esta historia pudo ser tantas cosas y simplemente no lo fue.
Es la primer historia de origen que leo y hace que tenga 0 ganas de leer más sobre el personaje en cuestión.
June 2, 2023
I abandoned Joshua Williamson's The Flash following Volume 8, but borrowed this one from my local library mainly because it seemed to promise a definitive and dynamic origin story for The Flash. The title "Year One" in DC comics has immense significance following Batman: Year One. In my mind at least, the addition of Year One to a major superhero title has the connotation of a story that is legendary, definitive, and creatively adventurous - that revolutionizes a beloved character with a daring origin story. Having this expectation, I was quite keen to read The Flash's Year One story. AAAAANNNNNDDDD, I was disappointed.
First of all, Howard Porter's art was very, very good. The only issue I had with the art really was the faces as the Porter's drawings of faces weren't quite right. The organisation of the panels was also really, really well done. I also really liked how Williamson presented the Flash villain The Turtle as an antithesis of the Flash. .
However, my usual complaints with Williamson's writing remain. Unfortunately, this book served as a painful reminder of why I stopped reading Williamson's Flash run. Why did I stop reading Williamson's the Flash? Firstly, Williamson writes the Flash like a soap opera. The Flash is in love with Iris, then he breaks up with her, then he is back with her, then she needs his help, then he needs her help, ad infinitum. Williamson, if you are reading this, I really don't care. Relationships and love and all that is not why I read the Flash nor why I was even drawn to reading Flash comics in the first place. Pretty much everything I have read with Barry Allen so far has been like this and I am not impressed one bit. I'm really looking forward to reading more of Mark Waid's run on Wally West as the Flash with the hope that Wally West's stories are not going to revolve around melodramatic relationship fiascos like Barry Allen's has. I came here to read the Flash, not some superhero Days of Our Lives-esque crap. My second issue with Williamson's writing is that he gives Flash villains the lamest backstories ever. I don't know if Flash's villains just naturally have had lame backstories since the very beginning to the present. If that is the case, then I'll give Williamson a pass as he clearly is trying to make lemonade out of lemons. If, as I suspect, this is not the case, then Williamson is, quite frankly, a terrible writer. My last, but most egregious, issue with Williamson's writing is how he writes action, especially the use of superpowers. I've seen this in some of his other work like the Dark Horse Comics reboot of Captain Midnight . Williamson takes a character with an interesting powerset, then completely abandons depicting the use of that powerset in interesting ways for the good ol' energy blasts. In Williamson's run, the Flash ends up running around the place while the villain fires off energy blasts haphazardly. The villain's endgame is usually pretty simplistic: build a skytower that ends all of existence or just start destroying things in their immediate vicinity randomly. As you can imagine, this is just as exciting as when I saw it happen the last 100 times. And, you can bet that both the Flash and the villain are shouting random, meaningless sentences at each other all the while this is happening. The Flash shouts something generically hopeful, his villain shouts something generically foreboding. Fantastic writing! The Flash has an interesting powerset, yet Williamson reduces him to just running around the place with no apparent goal. Just run around the place and maybe defeat the villain somehow. As I said above, Williamson introduces an interesting depiction of the Turtle that is a believable challenge to the Flash. After showing off the Turtle's unique abilities in the first battle between the hero and the villain, Williamson then just reduces the Turtle to pretty much firing energy blasts around the place which I guess will slow time down somehow or something????? Ultimately, this is just tiresome and lazy writing. One more gripe I had with Williamson's writing in this story is the sheer amount of text. Hold off on the text! Please! It's excessive. You'll have this really dramatic thing happening in the story, but you can't just flow with it and go from panel to panel because you have to painstakingly read every. single. speech bubble of text in the scene. If you want a specific instance,
Maybe my high expectations of the story ruined the experience of it. But, seeing "Year One" in the title of a major DC character is certainly going to bring some sort of expectation of quality. And, this story clearly lacked that quality. The Flash: Year One could have been the definitive origin story for the Flash. But, Williamson's story, script, and overall quality of writing squashed this story's potential. Personally, while Porter's art was certainly very good, I don't think that Porter's art was the right art for a superhero "Year One" story. David Mazzuchelli's art for Batman: Year One is awesome; I don't expect a Year One Flash story to have Mazzuchelli style art, but I would hope that such a story would have art that complements the Flash just as well as Mazzuchelli's complemented Batman. I wish this story hadn't been called Year One because it doesn't do justice to the history of Year One DC stories and might impact on future writers attempting to craft something just as special as Batman: Year One but for the Flash. I would love to see a Flash: Year One story. Unfortunately, this wasn't it.
First of all, Howard Porter's art was very, very good. The only issue I had with the art really was the faces as the Porter's drawings of faces weren't quite right. The organisation of the panels was also really, really well done. I also really liked how Williamson presented the Flash villain The Turtle as an antithesis of the Flash. .
However, my usual complaints with Williamson's writing remain. Unfortunately, this book served as a painful reminder of why I stopped reading Williamson's Flash run. Why did I stop reading Williamson's the Flash? Firstly, Williamson writes the Flash like a soap opera. The Flash is in love with Iris, then he breaks up with her, then he is back with her, then she needs his help, then he needs her help, ad infinitum. Williamson, if you are reading this, I really don't care. Relationships and love and all that is not why I read the Flash nor why I was even drawn to reading Flash comics in the first place. Pretty much everything I have read with Barry Allen so far has been like this and I am not impressed one bit. I'm really looking forward to reading more of Mark Waid's run on Wally West as the Flash with the hope that Wally West's stories are not going to revolve around melodramatic relationship fiascos like Barry Allen's has. I came here to read the Flash, not some superhero Days of Our Lives-esque crap. My second issue with Williamson's writing is that he gives Flash villains the lamest backstories ever. I don't know if Flash's villains just naturally have had lame backstories since the very beginning to the present. If that is the case, then I'll give Williamson a pass as he clearly is trying to make lemonade out of lemons. If, as I suspect, this is not the case, then Williamson is, quite frankly, a terrible writer. My last, but most egregious, issue with Williamson's writing is how he writes action, especially the use of superpowers. I've seen this in some of his other work like the Dark Horse Comics reboot of Captain Midnight . Williamson takes a character with an interesting powerset, then completely abandons depicting the use of that powerset in interesting ways for the good ol' energy blasts. In Williamson's run, the Flash ends up running around the place while the villain fires off energy blasts haphazardly. The villain's endgame is usually pretty simplistic: build a skytower that ends all of existence or just start destroying things in their immediate vicinity randomly. As you can imagine, this is just as exciting as when I saw it happen the last 100 times. And, you can bet that both the Flash and the villain are shouting random, meaningless sentences at each other all the while this is happening. The Flash shouts something generically hopeful, his villain shouts something generically foreboding. Fantastic writing! The Flash has an interesting powerset, yet Williamson reduces him to just running around the place with no apparent goal. Just run around the place and maybe defeat the villain somehow. As I said above, Williamson introduces an interesting depiction of the Turtle that is a believable challenge to the Flash. After showing off the Turtle's unique abilities in the first battle between the hero and the villain, Williamson then just reduces the Turtle to pretty much firing energy blasts around the place which I guess will slow time down somehow or something????? Ultimately, this is just tiresome and lazy writing. One more gripe I had with Williamson's writing in this story is the sheer amount of text. Hold off on the text! Please! It's excessive. You'll have this really dramatic thing happening in the story, but you can't just flow with it and go from panel to panel because you have to painstakingly read every. single. speech bubble of text in the scene. If you want a specific instance,
Maybe my high expectations of the story ruined the experience of it. But, seeing "Year One" in the title of a major DC character is certainly going to bring some sort of expectation of quality. And, this story clearly lacked that quality. The Flash: Year One could have been the definitive origin story for the Flash. But, Williamson's story, script, and overall quality of writing squashed this story's potential. Personally, while Porter's art was certainly very good, I don't think that Porter's art was the right art for a superhero "Year One" story. David Mazzuchelli's art for Batman: Year One is awesome; I don't expect a Year One Flash story to have Mazzuchelli style art, but I would hope that such a story would have art that complements the Flash just as well as Mazzuchelli's complemented Batman. I wish this story hadn't been called Year One because it doesn't do justice to the history of Year One DC stories and might impact on future writers attempting to craft something just as special as Batman: Year One but for the Flash. I would love to see a Flash: Year One story. Unfortunately, this wasn't it.
August 17, 2025
A great introduction to the character for new fans. This shows Barry not only as the great hero he is, but as much as he doubts himself. He is as much of a hero as he is a normal human being. This comic explores his fears as well as —to some extent— what he hopes to be in the future.
This was a fast paced story, it keeps the readers on edge, while following Barry’s —also— fast paced brain. Mostly it comprises a big summary into who Barry is and what is powers are. Although the pace is good, it did at times felt rushed, we didn’t need to get all the information on one go. Such as, why is Barry knowing all these things about his powers in the first issue? He knows how to phase, yet he can’t properly stop when running.
There’s a lot of repetition, which works fine, —most of the times— its used to establish who Barry is in relation to his past. But at times it just feels like it’s there to pill panels instead of the story. Barry is first shown as hopeless, he is a pessimist and can’t see any brightness in central city at all. He is traumtized and cannot get past it until he gets these powers. Future Flash, seems to be a vibrant version of the Barry we know. He works as an anchor in the story, he’s there to remind Barry of who he truly is, and helped him set himself as the hero he is.
This was a fast paced story, it keeps the readers on edge, while following Barry’s —also— fast paced brain. Mostly it comprises a big summary into who Barry is and what is powers are. Although the pace is good, it did at times felt rushed, we didn’t need to get all the information on one go. Such as, why is Barry knowing all these things about his powers in the first issue? He knows how to phase, yet he can’t properly stop when running.
There’s a lot of repetition, which works fine, —most of the times— its used to establish who Barry is in relation to his past. But at times it just feels like it’s there to pill panels instead of the story. Barry is first shown as hopeless, he is a pessimist and can’t see any brightness in central city at all. He is traumtized and cannot get past it until he gets these powers. Future Flash, seems to be a vibrant version of the Barry we know. He works as an anchor in the story, he’s there to remind Barry of who he truly is, and helped him set himself as the hero he is.
February 19, 2024
I wanted to know more about the Flash, so started here. It seems DC have produced a number of Year One stories since the original Batman one by Frank Miller, and this was pretty fun. I really knew nothing about Flash before reading a couple of his books recently, but knowing he plays a part in Batman's Rebirth era stories I decided to check some of his books out. This was pretty cool.
April 27, 2025
The Flash: Year One
Struck by lightning, CSI Officer Barry Allen becomes the Flash - the fastest man alive. Right from the beginning though, he triggers a temporal paradox where he meets his future self and goes head to head with the Turtle.
A fun origin story, with plenty of heart and a great dynamic. Brighter than the preceding doom laden collection.
Struck by lightning, CSI Officer Barry Allen becomes the Flash - the fastest man alive. Right from the beginning though, he triggers a temporal paradox where he meets his future self and goes head to head with the Turtle.
A fun origin story, with plenty of heart and a great dynamic. Brighter than the preceding doom laden collection.
August 14, 2022
It’s ok, it’s just time travel stories never seem to convince me and the artwork was… disappointing. It’s inconsistent, often with weird anatomy and Barry looks like Austin Butler. Truly, it was only saved by the coloring and the one page panels or full spreads.
September 2, 2025
I'm a big fan of the Year One comics, and this story does a fantastic job of expanding The Flash’s origin. I’ve never been a huge Flash fan, but this really changed that. It gave me a deeper appreciation for his character and made me want to explore more of his story.
December 30, 2019
[Read in single issues]
August 11, 2020
3.5 Rounded up. A fun little retake on the Flash's origin that tries to reconcile the New52, Rebirth, and pre-crisis timelines.
March 7, 2021
Excellent, awesome beginning!
September 29, 2022
There's something comforting about reading a fresh take on a story we already know. I really liked this. The art is beautiful and the story is good. I also like Barry's rookie costume.
4.5 stars.
4.5 stars.
July 20, 2025
Buena introducción del Flash de Barry Allen para nuevos lectores. Aunque no soy muy fan de las historias de "como evitar que suceda un futuro terrible" es un libro divertido
September 8, 2025
My first introduction to Flash. I really enjoyed it!
June 29, 2024
3,5/5 ⭐️
August 5, 2025
watching the Superman movie made me realize i need to get into comics lol, hence the Flash.
August 7, 2025
first graphic novel, this was a cool experience
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