DC Comics collects two fast-paced tales by Grant Morrison (BATMAN, FINAL CRISIS) and Mark Millar (CIVIL WAR, FANTASTIC FOUR, THE ULTIMATES), two of comics' greatest storytellers.
First, in the story "Human Race," a powerful alien entity called Krakkl amuses himself by pitting the fastest beings in the universe against one another in races through space and time, with the racers' homeworlds at stake. Then, a powerful being called Black Flash arrives on the scene - and wherever he appears, a super-speedster dies!
Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
It’s best to start this review with a confession: the Flash has never been one of my favorite superheroes. This had everything to do with his power, which is typically reducible to “runs fast.” Compared to superheroes with superhuman strength who could fly, or who possessed a ring that allowed them to make energy constructs with their mind, or who were simply expert combatants who fought crime with gadgetry, such a superpower seemed uninspiring from a storytelling perspective. After all, how many variations could writers apply to the “races to the scene, dodges bullets, and knocks out the bad guy with a punch” formula?
Over time, I realized that such a judgment was facile. I credit the Justice League cartoon series from the early 2000s for exposing me to the potential of a character who, possessed of super speed, could heal quickly, be in multiple places at once, and even their molecules to phase through matter. This pointed me to the ways in which writers have imaginatively envisioned the Flash’s power set over the years, which has made him a far more versatile character than the limited power set might imply. Since then, I have given his comics more of a chance, which is what brought me to this pair of tales.
This collection contains what are regarded as two of the all-time greatest Flash stories. In the first of these, Wally West finds himself in a race with his imaginary childhood friend for the survival of Earth. Yes, you read that correctly, and while the premise sounds too wacky to succeed the writing duo of dual legends Grant Morrison and Mark Millar somehow make it work. Millar is solo for the next one, which introduces the figure of the Back Flash (essentially the god of death for speedsters) to the DC Universe and who forces Wally to come to terms with the pain of loss. They're both enjoyable stories, and are worth seeking out for the elements that make the Flash such a popular character.
And yet reading them brought my prejudices against the character back to life. Because for all of the turns the plots take and for all of the complications the characters face, the Flash resolves everything in the end just by figuring out how to run fast enough to fix it. Yes, I know that's his power and his shtick, but after coming to the character with an appreciation for what is possible with such abilities, the idea that every problem can be solved with a superpowered sprint feels unimaginative. These certainly won’t be the last Flash stories I read, but the reminder of why I prefer so many others means that it will be a while before I give another one a try.
I have not read many stories involving the Flash apart from when he appears as part of the Justice League. I picked this one up because it was written by the normally excellent Scottish writers Grant Morrison and Mark Millar.
The book consists of 3 stories. In the first, The Human Race (Flash 136 - 138) written by Morrison and Millar, the Flash finds himself in a race against his (so he thought) imaginary childhood friend for survival of Earth. In the second, The Black Flash (Flash 139 - 141) written by Millar, Wally West has decided to propose to Linda Park but before he can she is killed in his place. The Flash must overcome guilt, grief, the loss of his powers and death twice if he is to have a happy ending. The final story is from Secret Origins #50. It is called Flash of Two Worlds and was written by Morrison to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Flash. It is a short (16 page) story and consists of boy's recollection of the day he met the Flash.
I went into this one hoping for great things from Morrison and Millar but came away disappointed - the stories certainly are not going to rank amongst my favourites by this pair. Of the two main stories the Black Flash one is probably the best as Wally examines his attitudes to the superhero community when mourning the death of Linda. But my favourite is the short, charming Secret Origins story by Morrison where he plays it straight and keeps the weirdness to a minimum. The art in this volume is by a variety of pencillers and inkers (8 in all) and is pretty standard comic book fare without ever being brilliant.
This collection, which contains two story arcs, is exactly 50% great. I was a big fan of the first volume of Morrison & Millar's Flash (Emergency Stop), and the first storyline in this followup felt right on par with the ones in that book.
In it, a bunch of gigantic, hyper-powerful, 4th-dimensional aliens show up and demand that Earth provide someone to race for their betting pleasure, or they'll destroy the planet. Naturally, Wally West steps up. The premise has shades of the "Get Schwifty" episode of Rick & Morty, which I found kind of funny in retrospect. I almost wondered if some of the R&M writers had read this (though I'm sure there are plenty of similar stories out there to be inspired by).
In any case, what follows is a footrace fueled by a bunch of high-concept, lightspeed sci-fi nonsense that feels very Morrison-y, while still sticking to what tends to make The Flash great: abject, unfiltered heroism and positivity. The stakes continue to raise in a way where you have no idea how Wally's gonna get out of this one, and his ultimate solution is surprising and genuinely put a smile on my face.
Then, we get the second story, which is written by Mark Millar alone. And, as much as I didn't want it to be the case, it shows. Millar often writes clunky, run-on dialogue and has nowhere near the conceptual prowess or attention to detail as someone like Morrison, and the second storyline in this book is no exception.
I guess I'll just say I don't really have a way to explain why the second story is bad without going into some small plot detail, so I guess I'll announce SPOILER ALERT BABY:
At the beginning of the story, The Black Flash (AKA Death) makes his presence known, which means someone is going to die (I guess, I only know this because the characters keep saying it out loud). Then a bunch of completely unearned junk happens. The Black Flash is supposedly coming to kill Wally West for some reason, which is never explained. And somehow, because Wally is "late" for something, it ends up killing someone else instead, by accident (how the literal embodiment of Death can make this mistake, I don't know). The guilt Wally feels about not being killed, um, takes away his superpowers? Somehow? Again, unexplained. And then the Black Flash comes for Wally again, while he doesn't have superpowers, and yet Wally outruns him anyway question mark. Then out of nowhere Wally suddenly has powers again (he just kind of decides to?) and then, with superpowers, he is barely able to outrun the Black Flash. Which is it, Millar???
Anyway, the second story is all nonsensical random plot twists with no rules or defined stakes, so I'd say, honestly, skip it. It's a real shame an otherwise excellent run on The Flash was tainted with such a poor final story. The other stuff is definitely worth a read, though!
Concluding Morrison's & Millar's run on FLASH with a batshit insane story of how Flash has to run faster than the spacetime continuum against his boyhood imaginary friend (!) for the amusement of a couple 60-story tall alien gamblers (!). Morrison's never been shy on the mad concepts and this is certainly one of them. All well and done, however, it's still a better story than a lot of his JLA run.
Even though Morrison is billed as the writer of this volume, he eventually falls off from any participating writing duties with the final story in which Mark Millar introduces the Black Flash. So, the Black Flash is apparently the demon entity that comes to claim speedsters when their time is up and they have to die and go join the Speed Force for good. I love this concept. It's equally as absurd as anything else in super-hero comics, but the whole FLASH mythology with the Speed Force is ripe for this kind of wild storytelling.
Wow, DC is digging waaaay back into their archives to sell us some of the earliest works of Morrison and Millar. The stories were interesting, and the art was mostly good. I think if I hadn't known this was reprinted from almost 20 years ago I'd feel better about it. But digging up these books and trying to pass them off as modern works (which I'll claim they did by not mentioning "reprint" or "classic" anywhere on the covers) makes me feel pretty uncharitable.
Morrison crafts a pretty way-out idea in that cross-universe race. Millar does a great job with the story & dialogue in the second storyline, but I gotta say that I didn't like the ending. Commit to a consequence for once in your life.
Two comic book juggernauts collide in this story featuring Wally West! As well as the Flash, the other members of the Justice Legaue make an appearance, as he is made to race across time and space, (even crossing his own timelines causing no end of continuity problems!) and if he stops, the human race is forfeit. Race pitted against race, human versus alien, this really looks at the allegory of the Flash's existence, how he is too busy running to actually live, when he tries to slow down the Black Flash is there pushing him forward. It reflects the incarnations of the Flash across time and space, I wouldn't say that you need to ahve read other graphic novels to follow the plot, it is pretty much a self contained story that reflects the skills of two comic writing supremos.
Grant Morrison, trying -- and succeeding -- in trying to push the adventures of Wally West to their most extreme ever. It works. Scenes that could be ludicrous in the hands of other writers become entertaining and exciting, as The Flash races to the farthest edges of the universe to save humanity, and even to outrun death itself. The art is serviceable, if not outstanding; but it's the story that carries the tale. And then some, baby. And then some...
Okay, so this story is wack, and sadly, I don’t mean that in a good way. I know Morrison is no stranger to writing crazy stuff, but his narrative featuring gambling aliens, fourth dimensions, Wally’s imaginary friends, and the whole world coming together is just ridiculous to me…
The other story in this collection also didn’t impress me. The second narrative explores themes and ideas more to my liking. Death, loss, strength and motivation to carry on… However, I felt the execution of these ideas wasn’t handled very well, and frankly, the art style in this one didn’t much work for me either.
That being said, this graphic novel did give me a number of character moments that I much appreciated (some of which are rather important to the mythos of these characters). I also very much liked the final showdowns of both narratives! So overall, there’s some bad and some good in this book, and I'm giving it an okay rating of 3/5.
P.S. This collection also contains a third, bonus story featuring Barry Allen and Jay Garrick - Flash of Two Worlds. It’s a short, very old-school tale from simpler times, and I was rather indifferent to it. Glad to have read it, though!
The first story has the Flash racing a thinly disguised Sonic the Hedgehog for the survival of earth and is entirely inoffensive, the only remarkable thing about it being that the resolution feels very much like a test-run for the finale of Morrison’s JLA run, with decidedly weaker results. The second story, with Millar taking over as the sole writer, is extremely idiotic, there’s about ten obvious logical fallacies that I’m too indifferent to list here, there’s some painfully bad stabs at deepness and Millar is already starting on his tic of listing random celebrities and political commentary worthy of a politically disinterested 10 year old.
The Human Race storyline (136-138) I found a bit underwhelming (maybe due it's eerie resemblance to the speed movie), but I found the Black Flash arc very compelling. One of the better flash storylines from the 90s
This is a fun, fast (!) (sorry) read with a lightness of touch that's very endearing, particularly the first story; Wally West defeats a pair of gambling addicted aliens who force him to race for their own amusement by RUNNING REALLY REALLY FAST. The idea is a fun one, although its execution is not quite so great. I could have lived without the whole concept of Krakkl, the cute blue imaginary friend come to life, and the art is pretty mediocre, but really, what's not to like about The Flash running so fast that he leaves the space time continuum behind and reaches TRANS-TIME VELOCITY!?
The second story is a little more melodramatic, though there are moments of humour that keep it from becoming too serious. The two influences are thrown together beautifully in a fantasy sequence, as Wally imagines a perfect future with his girlfriend after she just barely escapes death. It parodies the ridiculous convolutions of comic book plots to perfection, affectionately mocking the medium's use of bizarre plot devices before bringing the reader back down to Earth with a bang, when we realise that she didn't escape at all, and Wally's just deluding himself.
The art is quite stylised, and for my taste almost excessively so. When it works it looks great, but too often the weirdly stretched-looking characters are misproportioned and distracting. Overall though, this was a great read. I'll definitely be picking up the new run of Flash (Reborn) comics to see if the sense of fun remains intact.
Given how much I like other things both Morrison and Millar have written, I came in with my expectations way too high. After a lot of buildup, both stories just kind of ended abruptly, leaving some major plot points unresolved. In the first story, Flash races across the space-time continuum to save the earth as a pawn in a bet between a couple of powerful extraterrestrials. But when Flash outwits them by offering a new bet they can't refuse, the one being clearly says that even if Flash wins, he'll save earth but still have to face a new challenger. The story never comes back to that, and everyone lives happily ever after. It was pretty jarring. In the second story, Flash escapes a death that claims Linda instead. After a showdown with the Black Flash, he races death to the end of time and existence, and then forward through a new Big Bang, only to appear back in the present with Linda alive in his arms. What? How did he accomplish that? We're never told. It's soppy storytelling and unsatisfying. Granted, I haven't read anything before or after this volume, so maybe those threads are picked up later.
The Human Race (136-138). Another bit of Morrison-inspired craziness, as Wally races against his imaginary friend in a contest required by Kirbyesque gods. It's a little too inspired by the various games of the Grandmaster over at Marvel, and it's a little too action oriented, but there are great ideas here and the finale of getting everyone in the world to support Wally has been done a lot since, but never so successfully as what we get here [6+/10].
The Black Flash (139-141). More of what we've come to expect from Morrison and Millar, but this is one of their more polished stories, with a nice addition to the Flash mythos (the Black Flash) who's remained quite evocative over the years. Also, there are plenty of twists and surprises and a strong use of the Flash supporting cast [7/10].
When I saw Morrison and Millar on the cover I had to buy it but was a little disappointed after reading the first story, The Human Race. The second, The Black Flash, deals with the superhero community, death, grief and guilt - even though it sounds a bit depressing I found myself enjoying it more than the first. The third story, Flash of Two Worlds, is very short but probably my favourite and consists of a boy telling about the day he met the Flash. Definitely not the best Flash stories out there and I would not recommend it to someone looking to dive into the character, but still entertaining.
Im not much for intergalactic story lines, but this one is okay. It's a little silly with the childhood imaginary friend made of radio waves that becomes real. But the idea of everyone on Earth running at the same time to help build up the Flash's kinetic power is kind of fun. And my 3 year old was mezmorized by the story when I told it to him.
8 yr old Garfield Logan's book report on the "Flash of Two Worlds" is the only thing of quality in this volume. The other two muli-part stories written by Morrison & Millar really suffer from DC Comics house-style bland-to-wretched art.
Neither Flash books as written by Millar or Morrison are as grand as their more recent material. I did like Pop Mahan's art in this book quite a lot. What ever happened to him? I came across his work via Spy Boy many years ago.
I'm very conflicted. I want to like this. But it's a very odd story as Wally West is forced to race him imaginary childhood best friend in a galactic race held by giant cosmic gamblers (not making it up). Oh and everyone in the world at one point puts on sneakers and runs too!