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The Flash (1987) (Single Issues) #164-176
The Flash Omnibus, Volume 1
The first in a series of hardcover volumes that collect all of the bestselling issues of THE FLASH written by comics superstar Geoff Johns.
Collects THE FLASH #164-176, THE FLASH: OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1, THE FLASH: IRON HEIGHTS and THE FLASH SECRET FILES #3!
In this volume, Wally West finds himself without his super speed in a darker, mirror version of Keystone City. Can a powerless Flash defeat Captain Cold and Mirror Master to save the city he loves? Plus, the Flash is shocked to learn that a strange cult is killing all the people he has ever rescued. Featuring art by fan-favorites Ethan Van Sciver, Scott Kolins and more!
Collects THE FLASH #164-176, THE FLASH: OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1, THE FLASH: IRON HEIGHTS and THE FLASH SECRET FILES #3!
448 pages, Hardcover
First published May 24, 2011
4 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Johns
2,710 books2,407 followersGeoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 13, 2015
I've been searching & searching for a Flash title that would just WOW! me for a while now. And since I really liked what Johns did with Aquaman, I thought this might be the place to start. I mean, I already really love Barry Allen's character, so all this needed was a mindlessly fun plot.
Johns can do mindless fun, so this should have been an easy win, right?
Well, yes and no.
Having ordered this online from my library, I didn't read the jacket. This Flash isn't Barry Allen. This one is Wally West. You know, Kid Flash?
Only he's all grown up, and this title takes place during the time that Barry is "dead" from the Crisis on Infinite Earth event.
Or one of those Crisis events, at any rate...
Doesn't matter. At this point, Barry is dead, and Wally has taken up the mantle of Flash.
R.I.P., Barry! Well, see you in a few years...
Evidently, Wally was a playa , and even though he's married now, his ex-girlfriends are popping up all over the place.
He's dated both cops & supervillains, so it makes for some interesting tabloid-like reading. Hell, fury, & women scorned!
But do Maury Povichish moments make for good reading in a superhero comic?
Heh. Do you even have to ask me that? Of course they do!
So, between the baby drama & his psychotic superpowered ex with the multiple personality disorder, this was a pretty fun read.
There's also a few storylines thrown in about rogues that I didn't even know existed.
For example, some guy who misunderstood what Wally told him as Kid Flash, has now become an Off-With-Their-Head like villain in another (medieval) dimension. He tricks Mirror Master & Captain Cold into helping him hijack Central City. And then you get a Rogues-Flash team-up when they try to fix things.
I will say this for the the Flash, he has the best Rogues.
They may be goofy as hell, but you still gotta love 'em!
This isn't, by any means, something that I would recommend to everyone. However, if you really want to catch up on some older volumes of Flash, but don't want to start digging through Silver Age stuff, then this might be a nice alternative.
Just remember. Wally...not Barry.
June 24, 2019
Auch nach dem zweiten Lesedurchgang kann ich diesem Run nichts abgewinnen. An der Artwork nerven mich die Grimassen, die Flash durchgängig zieht (hat er ein neues Gebiss, das er aller Welt zeigen will?), und die Handlung finde ich auch eher absurd als abgedreht im positiven Sinne.
July 28, 2024
This volume collects #164-176; The Flash Our Worlds at War #1; The Flash Iron Heights and the Flash Secret Files #3.
This omnibus was good. The first half is better than the second. The first half has Flash in an alternate universe and he needs the help of two rouges, Captain Cold and Mirror master, to make it back home. This part was good. I also liked the Angel Unzueta art style-it worked well for this story.
had that been the main focus then this would have been a 4 star comic, but sadly both the story quality and the art style of Scott Koling are not up to par with the first half. In this half- Flash fights a variety of rouges from Magenta to Weather Wizard. These stories weren't awful just ok.
Not a bad omnibus but I was hoping it would be better.
This omnibus was good. The first half is better than the second. The first half has Flash in an alternate universe and he needs the help of two rouges, Captain Cold and Mirror master, to make it back home. This part was good. I also liked the Angel Unzueta art style-it worked well for this story.
had that been the main focus then this would have been a 4 star comic, but sadly both the story quality and the art style of Scott Koling are not up to par with the first half. In this half- Flash fights a variety of rouges from Magenta to Weather Wizard. These stories weren't awful just ok.
Not a bad omnibus but I was hoping it would be better.
December 10, 2011
"Broken Looking Glass" starts us off with mediocre creative overall. It's not nearly as creaky and overdone as Johns' work on The Avengers - the plotting is almost kinetic when things are moving - but it still grinds to a halt to explain (rather than show) what happened. It's not unlike reading Asimov, Clancy or Crichton - they just can't help to show you in excruciating detail how clever smart they are as people, rather than entertain as writers.
I'm told Johns is very highly sought after these days, so I'm assuming he sheds this amateur habit and gets more "show" than "tell" (and his work on 52 seems to bear that out). So I'm sticking with his stuff to see how it improves.
The storyline is inventive, and Johns certainly tries hard to put his stamp on Wally West. Nice covers, but the art (while well-executed) is awfully cartooney.
"Blood Will Run" is an interesting story (albeit with some different but also cartoony art). There's drama, old sins come back to haunt Wally, some supernatural angles, and a sense of dread. But there's also some ridiculous grandstanding at the beginning and the end of the story about "regular people, blue collar, I know what they're going through" whinging. That crap has to go, or get a seriously better editor - it sounds perfectly staged monologue that's completely at odds with the pacing and staging if this comic or any other (except maybe a turgid Alan Moore ego trip). Am I supposed to believe that this isn't Geoff Johns trying desperately to reach back to "blue collar roots" he probably doesn't even have? It sure sounds like how someone who's never lived it would over-dramatize the scene.
Finally, after keeping this at the top of my library pile for two weeks and never getting past the halfway mark, I had to finally resign myself to the notion that I'd lost interest in this book - in Johns' Flash tales. As much as I believe his reputation today is well-earned, it sure doesn't stand up to my interest level on the shoulders of this series.
Maybe he just improved his craft that much since; or maybe his rep is relative to all the other DC writers' stable - i.e. best of a second-rate bunch. (I hope it's just the former.). I'll look forward to works later than this, but I can't say I'll ever complete the Johns' Flash.
I'm told Johns is very highly sought after these days, so I'm assuming he sheds this amateur habit and gets more "show" than "tell" (and his work on 52 seems to bear that out). So I'm sticking with his stuff to see how it improves.
The storyline is inventive, and Johns certainly tries hard to put his stamp on Wally West. Nice covers, but the art (while well-executed) is awfully cartooney.
"Blood Will Run" is an interesting story (albeit with some different but also cartoony art). There's drama, old sins come back to haunt Wally, some supernatural angles, and a sense of dread. But there's also some ridiculous grandstanding at the beginning and the end of the story about "regular people, blue collar, I know what they're going through" whinging. That crap has to go, or get a seriously better editor - it sounds perfectly staged monologue that's completely at odds with the pacing and staging if this comic or any other (except maybe a turgid Alan Moore ego trip). Am I supposed to believe that this isn't Geoff Johns trying desperately to reach back to "blue collar roots" he probably doesn't even have? It sure sounds like how someone who's never lived it would over-dramatize the scene.
Finally, after keeping this at the top of my library pile for two weeks and never getting past the halfway mark, I had to finally resign myself to the notion that I'd lost interest in this book - in Johns' Flash tales. As much as I believe his reputation today is well-earned, it sure doesn't stand up to my interest level on the shoulders of this series.
Maybe he just improved his craft that much since; or maybe his rep is relative to all the other DC writers' stable - i.e. best of a second-rate bunch. (I hope it's just the former.). I'll look forward to works later than this, but I can't say I'll ever complete the Johns' Flash.
December 29, 2013
The Flash has long been one of my favorite comic characters, but more for his potential than anything else. I remember really enjoying a lot of Mark Waid's stuff back in the '90's, but even though I like Geoff Johns as a writer his 5 year run (see what I did there?) on Flash got by me somehow. So I was happy to get this first omnibus collecting his work.
And it turns out to be very good stuff, mostly. The first arc is the weakest, I'm afraid, and if you came into it completely unfamiliar with Flash you'd be disappointed-- Flash finds himself in a dark alternate reality, powerless, and with help from Rogues Captain Cold and Mirror Master must find his way home. Along the way, for some reason, there's a stop-off in a weird fairy tale world as well. The art, by Angel Unzueta, is cluttered and really overwrought, with Flash constantly grimacing or biting his lower lip, which is kinda odd.
But things really start coming together with the second arc, and the introduction of Scott Kolins on art. Kolins really is amazing on this book. His lines are clean and crisp and the working-class, grimy Keystone City is beautifully detailed. Flash has never looked more sleekly powerful, and all the characters are nicely distinct.
The story: people who's lives have been saved at one time or another by Flash are being murdered by a creepy cult. With the help of some new cast members (mostly Keystone City police and detectives, and a bunch of fine characters they are) Flash races to stop the cult and their leader, Cicada.
After that, there's a very good two-parter featuring Weather Wizard and a mysterious baby, then a pretty unnecessary chapter that ties in to a DC-wide event at the time called Worlds at War (I think), and finally a terrific one-parter that introduces new villain Murmur, and a deadly virus spreading out from the Iron Heights prison.
All in all, some very good stuff, and I'm looking forward to reading the second volume.
And it turns out to be very good stuff, mostly. The first arc is the weakest, I'm afraid, and if you came into it completely unfamiliar with Flash you'd be disappointed-- Flash finds himself in a dark alternate reality, powerless, and with help from Rogues Captain Cold and Mirror Master must find his way home. Along the way, for some reason, there's a stop-off in a weird fairy tale world as well. The art, by Angel Unzueta, is cluttered and really overwrought, with Flash constantly grimacing or biting his lower lip, which is kinda odd.
But things really start coming together with the second arc, and the introduction of Scott Kolins on art. Kolins really is amazing on this book. His lines are clean and crisp and the working-class, grimy Keystone City is beautifully detailed. Flash has never looked more sleekly powerful, and all the characters are nicely distinct.
The story: people who's lives have been saved at one time or another by Flash are being murdered by a creepy cult. With the help of some new cast members (mostly Keystone City police and detectives, and a bunch of fine characters they are) Flash races to stop the cult and their leader, Cicada.
After that, there's a very good two-parter featuring Weather Wizard and a mysterious baby, then a pretty unnecessary chapter that ties in to a DC-wide event at the time called Worlds at War (I think), and finally a terrific one-parter that introduces new villain Murmur, and a deadly virus spreading out from the Iron Heights prison.
All in all, some very good stuff, and I'm looking forward to reading the second volume.
May 31, 2011
Geoff Johns' writing here is a sheer joy to read: his Flash stories are imaginative, well-paced, and full of nuanced, believable characters. His biggest accomplishment here is his work on the Rogues, who - in Johns' hands - become some of the most well-developed and human-seeming villains in the DCU.
The art is excellent and enjoyable, but not nearly as beautiful as Francis Manapul's recent work on The Flash book.
The stories themselves are absolutely wonderful. This Omnibus contains a number of story arcs (some of which are not fully resolved here), including a reality-hopping tale which starts each chapter with a quote from Lewis Carroll, a four-part thriller involving a Flash-worshipping cult, a battle with a newly powerful Weather Wizard for the life of a mysterious baby, and a somewhat gruesome encounter with Murmur in Iron Heights prison.
All-in-all a very enjoyable collection. DC just needs to figure out how to make an Omnibus with high production quality, but at least they're finally making Omnibuses.
The art is excellent and enjoyable, but not nearly as beautiful as Francis Manapul's recent work on The Flash book.
The stories themselves are absolutely wonderful. This Omnibus contains a number of story arcs (some of which are not fully resolved here), including a reality-hopping tale which starts each chapter with a quote from Lewis Carroll, a four-part thriller involving a Flash-worshipping cult, a battle with a newly powerful Weather Wizard for the life of a mysterious baby, and a somewhat gruesome encounter with Murmur in Iron Heights prison.
All-in-all a very enjoyable collection. DC just needs to figure out how to make an Omnibus with high production quality, but at least they're finally making Omnibuses.
July 22, 2016
This is the Wally West/Flash that I like! This graphic novel combines several consecutive issues of the comic that center on some classic Flash-style story telling. First Flash is forced to work with Mirror Master and Captain Cold, next someone is killing people who have formerly been saved by the Flash, and finally a viral outbreak at Iron Heights Prison is investigated. These newer stories rely heavily on the metaphysical Speed Force mumbo jumbo that turns me off a little, I'm old school and prefer good old fashioned fast running and just vibrating through stuff, but still these are great reads.
April 7, 2015
So I have never been a big fan of the Flash, but I was never a big fan of Green Lantern until Johns came along and injected it with a sense of ridiculous and childish grandiosity, like some Red Bull-fueled mix of J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Bay. So I was eagerly hoping that maybe he had done something similar with Flash, especially since it all got the Omnibus treatment.
(Note that it's being a little generous to call this an Omnibus--it's about 430 pages, and only 16 comics and a few special features. It is oversized, and the art looks great, but the list price of $75 is ridiculously high. That's the same list as the brilliant Planetary omnibus, which contains 27 issues and is 860 pages, and is 100 times better. For that matter, the eagerly-anticipated Saga hardcover contains 18 issues at 500 pages, and lists at only $50. So DC is getting a bit gr$$dy here.)
Anyway, I was pretty disappointed. This is all pretty mediocre comics stuff. There are some good moments, some bad moments, and a LOT of incredibly standard moments. The main problem is the unbearable cheesiness of Flash's villains, like Mirror Master and Weather Wizard. Comparing these to Batman's should-be-equally-cheesy villains, like Joker or Riddler, the difference is immediately apparent: no one has done anything to update these characters, to imbue them with any real menace, gravitas, or even humanity. They're still just cardboard-cutout four-color villains. Later in the volume, Johns does introduce some new villains with promise. Murmur is nice and creepy, but he isn't really a match for Flash in any way. Cicada also has some promise, but what could have made a nice, sinister villain-in-the-shadows for half a dozen issues is all handled in half that length, and mostly with punching. There's just no villains worth fighting here.
In comparing this to GL, it's clear than Johns certainly hasn't picked up any subtlety in the intervening years, but he has learned a lot about giving villains actual motivations and significance. And, ultimately, I think I'm just much more willing to put up with ridiculous stuff when it fundamentally involves aliens flying around in space than when it fundamentally just involves a guy that runs fast. (Although, to be fair, according to this volume, Flash can do a lot of other poorly-defined and nonsensical things.)
Anyway, I was hoping I'd start to like this character, since we've got an actual TV show starting up soon. But I'm still unconvinced that this character has anything to interest me, the Discerning Reader.
(Note that it's being a little generous to call this an Omnibus--it's about 430 pages, and only 16 comics and a few special features. It is oversized, and the art looks great, but the list price of $75 is ridiculously high. That's the same list as the brilliant Planetary omnibus, which contains 27 issues and is 860 pages, and is 100 times better. For that matter, the eagerly-anticipated Saga hardcover contains 18 issues at 500 pages, and lists at only $50. So DC is getting a bit gr$$dy here.)
Anyway, I was pretty disappointed. This is all pretty mediocre comics stuff. There are some good moments, some bad moments, and a LOT of incredibly standard moments. The main problem is the unbearable cheesiness of Flash's villains, like Mirror Master and Weather Wizard. Comparing these to Batman's should-be-equally-cheesy villains, like Joker or Riddler, the difference is immediately apparent: no one has done anything to update these characters, to imbue them with any real menace, gravitas, or even humanity. They're still just cardboard-cutout four-color villains. Later in the volume, Johns does introduce some new villains with promise. Murmur is nice and creepy, but he isn't really a match for Flash in any way. Cicada also has some promise, but what could have made a nice, sinister villain-in-the-shadows for half a dozen issues is all handled in half that length, and mostly with punching. There's just no villains worth fighting here.
In comparing this to GL, it's clear than Johns certainly hasn't picked up any subtlety in the intervening years, but he has learned a lot about giving villains actual motivations and significance. And, ultimately, I think I'm just much more willing to put up with ridiculous stuff when it fundamentally involves aliens flying around in space than when it fundamentally just involves a guy that runs fast. (Although, to be fair, according to this volume, Flash can do a lot of other poorly-defined and nonsensical things.)
Anyway, I was hoping I'd start to like this character, since we've got an actual TV show starting up soon. But I'm still unconvinced that this character has anything to interest me, the Discerning Reader.
February 13, 2025
The Speed of Myth: A Review of The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus, Volume 1
Superhero comics, at their best, are not merely power fantasies, but modern mythology, chronicles of men and women whose abilities are secondary to the ideas they embody. No hero exemplifies this more than The Flash, a character whose entire existence is predicated on momentum, on the inexorable forward motion of time itself.
But The Flash, particularly Wally West, has always been about something more profound than speed.
He is a character about legacy, about the impossible weight of living up to a predecessor, about how one carries on a myth that existed before them and will, inevitably, continue beyond them.
It is this central thematic truth that makes The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus, Volume 1—collecting The Flash #164-191, The Flash: Iron Heights, The Flash: Our Worlds at War, and relevant tie-in issues—one of the most significant superhero runs of the modern era.
This is not merely a revitalization of The Flash.
It is a masterclass in character-driven storytelling, a blueprint for how to take a long-running legacy hero and make his story feel fresh, vital, and mythic once again.
The Challenge: Wally West, A Hero in the Shadow of Legends
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Flash franchise was at a crossroads.
Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, had died in Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), a sacrificial moment that defined DC’s post-Crisis continuity.
Wally West, his successor, had spent over a decade struggling to step out of Barry’s shadow, transitioning from brash kid sidekick to self-assured adult hero.
Yet, by the late ‘90s, Wally’s character arc felt directionless—a hero who had reached the top but had nowhere left to grow.
Enter Geoff Johns, then a rising star at DC Comics, fresh off of his successful work on JSA.
Johns understood something fundamental about Wally West:
He was not a hero defined by tragedy, like Batman.
He was not a god among mortals, like Superman.
He was not a tortured antihero, like Hal Jordan would become.
Wally West was the most human of DC’s great icons, a man who had earned his place not by destiny, but by sheer effort.
And in Johns’ hands, Wally’s story became not one of struggling to escape Barry Allen’s shadow, but of finally embracing what it meant to be The Flash.
The Art: The Visual Language of Speed and Impact
A hero whose defining trait is speed presents an artistic challenge:
How do you convey motion in a static medium?
Johns’ run benefits from some of the finest Flash artists of the modern era, each of whom brings a different but complementary visual philosophy to speed, action, and kinetic energy.
Scott Kolins, the defining artist of this run, crafts a world that is hyper-detailed yet fluid, his pages filled with streaks of motion, wind effects, and the visual chaos of a speedster moving faster than the eye can follow.
Ethan Van Sciver, in The Flash: Iron Heights, brings a horror-inflected grotesqueness, particularly in his redesigns of classic villains, making Keystone’s rogues gallery feel more sinister, more monstrous, more dangerous than ever before.
Angel Unzueta and Rick Burchett, in various fill-in issues, keep the momentum going with a style that is clear, kinetic, and explosively dynamic.
Where previous Flash artists often blurred motion, Kolins and Van Sciver make every moment sharp, distinct, immediate. Their version of Wally West’s world is one of constant energy, where movement is perpetual and the world bends around the Flash rather than the other way around.
This is not just good superhero art.
This is superhero art with intent, designed to make the reader feel the momentum, the friction, the sheer impossibility of a man who can outrun physics itself.
The Themes: Legacy, Responsibility, and the Weight of a Hero’s Name
If Johns’ Green Lantern was about redemption and fear, his Flash is about legacy and responsibility—not just in the abstract, but in the most personal way possible.
Wally West: A Man Finally Becoming The Flash
Johns does not rewrite Wally’s past.
Instead, he fully embraces it, using it to tell a story that is not about self-doubt, but about self-realization.
Wally is not haunted by Barry Allen, but he is defined by the idea of what Barry stood for.
He is not an insecure sidekick trying to fill someone else’s boots, but a man realizing that being The Flash is not about being Barry Allen—it is about being the best version of himself.
One of the most brilliant moments in this run is when Wally West realizes that he was never meant to be the next Barry Allen.
He was meant to be the first Wally West.
And in that realization, he stops being a legacy character and starts being the definitive Flash of his era.
The Rogues: Crime Lords, Not Just Costumed Crooks
One of Johns’ most enduring contributions to The Flash mythos is his reinvention of the Rogues.
Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, and Trickster—once viewed as gimmicky, second-tier villains—are transformed into organized crime figures, complete with their own code, internal power struggles, and deadly professionalism.
Cold, in particular, becomes one of the most fascinating villains in modern comics—a man who doesn’t want to rule the world, just control his city, and who sees himself as a working-class thief rather than a psychopath.
The result?
The Rogues become not just a set of random villains, but an institution, making Keystone City feel like a real place, filled with criminals who have their own rules, ambitions, and grudges.
Keystone and Central City: The Flash’s Gotham and Metropolis
Johns also does something crucial for the Flash mythos:
He makes Keystone and Central City matter.
Where Metropolis is a city of tomorrow, and Gotham is a city of shadows, Keystone becomes a blue-collar, working-class city, where crime is organized, ruthless, and always present.
The Flash is not just a hero who protects a city. He is a hero who understands its people, who lives among them, who is deeply woven into its fabric.
This is how you build a mythology that lasts—by making the setting as important as the hero himself.
Final Verdict: One of the Greatest Superhero Runs Ever Written
Few superhero comics can claim to have defined an era of a character, but The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus, Volume 1 does exactly that.
It is, without question, one of the greatest Flash runs ever written, a story that takes Wally West from “the guy who replaced Barry Allen” to “The Flash” in his own right.
Johns does not just write superhero stories.
He writes stories about heroes, about what it means to carry a legacy, about what it means to live in the shadow of something greater and still find your own way forward.
And that, ultimately, is what makes this volume essential reading.
Because some heroes run.
But The Flash?
The Flash moves forward.
As well he should.
Superhero comics, at their best, are not merely power fantasies, but modern mythology, chronicles of men and women whose abilities are secondary to the ideas they embody. No hero exemplifies this more than The Flash, a character whose entire existence is predicated on momentum, on the inexorable forward motion of time itself.
But The Flash, particularly Wally West, has always been about something more profound than speed.
He is a character about legacy, about the impossible weight of living up to a predecessor, about how one carries on a myth that existed before them and will, inevitably, continue beyond them.
It is this central thematic truth that makes The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus, Volume 1—collecting The Flash #164-191, The Flash: Iron Heights, The Flash: Our Worlds at War, and relevant tie-in issues—one of the most significant superhero runs of the modern era.
This is not merely a revitalization of The Flash.
It is a masterclass in character-driven storytelling, a blueprint for how to take a long-running legacy hero and make his story feel fresh, vital, and mythic once again.
The Challenge: Wally West, A Hero in the Shadow of Legends
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Flash franchise was at a crossroads.
Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, had died in Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), a sacrificial moment that defined DC’s post-Crisis continuity.
Wally West, his successor, had spent over a decade struggling to step out of Barry’s shadow, transitioning from brash kid sidekick to self-assured adult hero.
Yet, by the late ‘90s, Wally’s character arc felt directionless—a hero who had reached the top but had nowhere left to grow.
Enter Geoff Johns, then a rising star at DC Comics, fresh off of his successful work on JSA.
Johns understood something fundamental about Wally West:
He was not a hero defined by tragedy, like Batman.
He was not a god among mortals, like Superman.
He was not a tortured antihero, like Hal Jordan would become.
Wally West was the most human of DC’s great icons, a man who had earned his place not by destiny, but by sheer effort.
And in Johns’ hands, Wally’s story became not one of struggling to escape Barry Allen’s shadow, but of finally embracing what it meant to be The Flash.
The Art: The Visual Language of Speed and Impact
A hero whose defining trait is speed presents an artistic challenge:
How do you convey motion in a static medium?
Johns’ run benefits from some of the finest Flash artists of the modern era, each of whom brings a different but complementary visual philosophy to speed, action, and kinetic energy.
Scott Kolins, the defining artist of this run, crafts a world that is hyper-detailed yet fluid, his pages filled with streaks of motion, wind effects, and the visual chaos of a speedster moving faster than the eye can follow.
Ethan Van Sciver, in The Flash: Iron Heights, brings a horror-inflected grotesqueness, particularly in his redesigns of classic villains, making Keystone’s rogues gallery feel more sinister, more monstrous, more dangerous than ever before.
Angel Unzueta and Rick Burchett, in various fill-in issues, keep the momentum going with a style that is clear, kinetic, and explosively dynamic.
Where previous Flash artists often blurred motion, Kolins and Van Sciver make every moment sharp, distinct, immediate. Their version of Wally West’s world is one of constant energy, where movement is perpetual and the world bends around the Flash rather than the other way around.
This is not just good superhero art.
This is superhero art with intent, designed to make the reader feel the momentum, the friction, the sheer impossibility of a man who can outrun physics itself.
The Themes: Legacy, Responsibility, and the Weight of a Hero’s Name
If Johns’ Green Lantern was about redemption and fear, his Flash is about legacy and responsibility—not just in the abstract, but in the most personal way possible.
Wally West: A Man Finally Becoming The Flash
Johns does not rewrite Wally’s past.
Instead, he fully embraces it, using it to tell a story that is not about self-doubt, but about self-realization.
Wally is not haunted by Barry Allen, but he is defined by the idea of what Barry stood for.
He is not an insecure sidekick trying to fill someone else’s boots, but a man realizing that being The Flash is not about being Barry Allen—it is about being the best version of himself.
One of the most brilliant moments in this run is when Wally West realizes that he was never meant to be the next Barry Allen.
He was meant to be the first Wally West.
And in that realization, he stops being a legacy character and starts being the definitive Flash of his era.
The Rogues: Crime Lords, Not Just Costumed Crooks
One of Johns’ most enduring contributions to The Flash mythos is his reinvention of the Rogues.
Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, and Trickster—once viewed as gimmicky, second-tier villains—are transformed into organized crime figures, complete with their own code, internal power struggles, and deadly professionalism.
Cold, in particular, becomes one of the most fascinating villains in modern comics—a man who doesn’t want to rule the world, just control his city, and who sees himself as a working-class thief rather than a psychopath.
The result?
The Rogues become not just a set of random villains, but an institution, making Keystone City feel like a real place, filled with criminals who have their own rules, ambitions, and grudges.
Keystone and Central City: The Flash’s Gotham and Metropolis
Johns also does something crucial for the Flash mythos:
He makes Keystone and Central City matter.
Where Metropolis is a city of tomorrow, and Gotham is a city of shadows, Keystone becomes a blue-collar, working-class city, where crime is organized, ruthless, and always present.
The Flash is not just a hero who protects a city. He is a hero who understands its people, who lives among them, who is deeply woven into its fabric.
This is how you build a mythology that lasts—by making the setting as important as the hero himself.
Final Verdict: One of the Greatest Superhero Runs Ever Written
Few superhero comics can claim to have defined an era of a character, but The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus, Volume 1 does exactly that.
It is, without question, one of the greatest Flash runs ever written, a story that takes Wally West from “the guy who replaced Barry Allen” to “The Flash” in his own right.
Johns does not just write superhero stories.
He writes stories about heroes, about what it means to carry a legacy, about what it means to live in the shadow of something greater and still find your own way forward.
And that, ultimately, is what makes this volume essential reading.
Because some heroes run.
But The Flash?
The Flash moves forward.
As well he should.
March 17, 2024
First Flash comics I’ve ever read! Maybe these were not the best issues to start with but I just never really got a handle on Wally’s character beyond “superhero who’s trying to balance a home life” which seems pretty basic
November 23, 2016
Writing the review today!
September 15, 2025
More hits than misses. Love the focus and world building of central and Keystone, down to the hockey matches we have to be watching in between most of the conflicts. We can go higher- but John’s really bows how to plant you in a scene
August 9, 2021
Geoff Johns has always made me interested in some of the most bland thoughtless characters I never thought a second about before reading his take on them.
This book features of course our Flash Wally West but just as much we are introduced to several classic villains and some new once like the ever colorful Rogues.
This book features of course our Flash Wally West but just as much we are introduced to several classic villains and some new once like the ever colorful Rogues.
May 23, 2017
The Flash Omnibus is an uneven read with moments of the brilliance that is yet to come in the series.
Geoff John's hasn't hit his groove yet and the writing is uneven. It opens with a terribly boring alternate realty story which if I'd read first I would have given up on the run. Then it moves to an interesting tale of a murder cult that is hunting down people Flash has saved and hits a high note with a great Weather Wizard story. There are a few forgettable one off tales and then it finishes strong with the introduction of Hunter Zolomon.
The Weather Wizard tale is when we start to see the potential of what is to come. The villains are more fleshed out than in the past with inner conflicts and more dimensions to them than ever before. Wally is set up as the definitive blue collar super hero, carving a unique space for him in the DCU and Flash's supporting cast comes into their own with their own motives and conflicts. These features will be built on in the future and will be what makes this one of the best comic runs of its time.
The art is inconstant. Scott Kolins knocks it out of the park with every issue. His clean and unique art will become the poster child for the run. Ethan Van Sciver's unique style is present here but not perfected. His later work on Green Lantern is far stronger than this. Angel Unzueta's art opens the book and is almost unbearable. Wally grits his teeth and overreacts in every scene he's in. It was painful getting through his issues.
Overall it's not the best book but it leads into much greater stories to come and is worth the time just to get to the better stuff. It's also fun to see Geoff John's earlier work before his style has become so set in stone.
Geoff John's hasn't hit his groove yet and the writing is uneven. It opens with a terribly boring alternate realty story which if I'd read first I would have given up on the run. Then it moves to an interesting tale of a murder cult that is hunting down people Flash has saved and hits a high note with a great Weather Wizard story. There are a few forgettable one off tales and then it finishes strong with the introduction of Hunter Zolomon.
The Weather Wizard tale is when we start to see the potential of what is to come. The villains are more fleshed out than in the past with inner conflicts and more dimensions to them than ever before. Wally is set up as the definitive blue collar super hero, carving a unique space for him in the DCU and Flash's supporting cast comes into their own with their own motives and conflicts. These features will be built on in the future and will be what makes this one of the best comic runs of its time.
The art is inconstant. Scott Kolins knocks it out of the park with every issue. His clean and unique art will become the poster child for the run. Ethan Van Sciver's unique style is present here but not perfected. His later work on Green Lantern is far stronger than this. Angel Unzueta's art opens the book and is almost unbearable. Wally grits his teeth and overreacts in every scene he's in. It was painful getting through his issues.
Overall it's not the best book but it leads into much greater stories to come and is worth the time just to get to the better stuff. It's also fun to see Geoff John's earlier work before his style has become so set in stone.
March 3, 2013
With only being introduced to the comic book worlds of Marvel and DC only a year or so ago, I spent most of my time getting up-to-date on on the more "mainstream" characters. Batman, Superman, X-Men and some other various titles were in my hands and read within days. With most of their best stories already on my bookshelf, I decided to go for a lesser character in the DC universe, The Flash.
Hearing that Geoff John's run in the early 2000's on the Flash was impeccable, I decided to pony up for the omnibus' that DC was printing.
The first few story arcs were okay. Nothing too special and nothing that would ultimately stick with me after finishing this book. The artwork is average and the plots were obvious with only one twist that I couldn't see coming from a mile away.
Then came the one issue that took this book from a 1* to a 2*. Iron Heights, illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver. Dark and gritty, this takes the reader through a dark and mysterious prison that has been infected by a mysterious pathogen and of course, only Wally West can save the day! If this were a standalone issue in my collection, it would of been 5*.
I was about 3/4 through the entire tome when I got to the arc "Time On Target" where a war vetern in a coma becomes a huge god-like persona known as The Black Racer.
Okay, cool, whatever. He looks like a giant knight with a huge staff and weird looking boots.
Except those aren't boots... they're skis.
Yeah, I've had enough of this book, too bad I bought the 2nd omnibus. I'm praying to the Comic Book God that it's better.
2/5 stars
Hearing that Geoff John's run in the early 2000's on the Flash was impeccable, I decided to pony up for the omnibus' that DC was printing.
The first few story arcs were okay. Nothing too special and nothing that would ultimately stick with me after finishing this book. The artwork is average and the plots were obvious with only one twist that I couldn't see coming from a mile away.
Then came the one issue that took this book from a 1* to a 2*. Iron Heights, illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver. Dark and gritty, this takes the reader through a dark and mysterious prison that has been infected by a mysterious pathogen and of course, only Wally West can save the day! If this were a standalone issue in my collection, it would of been 5*.
I was about 3/4 through the entire tome when I got to the arc "Time On Target" where a war vetern in a coma becomes a huge god-like persona known as The Black Racer.
Okay, cool, whatever. He looks like a giant knight with a huge staff and weird looking boots.
Except those aren't boots... they're skis.
Yeah, I've had enough of this book, too bad I bought the 2nd omnibus. I'm praying to the Comic Book God that it's better.
2/5 stars
December 11, 2017
I have very mixed feelings about this book – and at over 430 pages and hard-bound, this is definitely a book! I liked the character of the Flash when I was growing up. Marvel Comics didn’t really have the same kind of super-powered hero. They had fast heroes, but nothing like the Flash. But, in the DC universe, the Flash was still a 2nd / 3rd tier hero to me. Well behind Batman and Superman (1st tier) and many others (like Green Lantern) (2nd tier).
Anyway, in this story we have the creation arch for the re-boot of the whole of the DC universe. The Flash breaks the dimensional barrier and splits the universe into 52 different versions. This means the DC universe has a virtually unlimited number of options in re-writing all of its heroes with new endings to all of the old stories. While I don’t think this is actually “practical”, it is theoretically possible with an internally consistent universe logic.
Now, why MY mixed feelings? Mostly because the book is divided up by two artists, one of whom I like (about 1/3rd of the book) and one I don’t really care for (the other 2/3rd). Had I paid the full, retail price for this book, I would not have been a happy camper. Between the bad drawing and the jumping around in the story (kind of embedded universes), the story suffers and I was left feeling, who are these people and why should I care about them? In the end, I didn’t really, which was too bad.
Will I keep reading The Flash? Yeah, as long as they’re being supplied by my son for free, but I don’t think I’d ever actually pay for them – particularly if the book has the bad artist.
Bottom line: weak recommendation.
Anyway, in this story we have the creation arch for the re-boot of the whole of the DC universe. The Flash breaks the dimensional barrier and splits the universe into 52 different versions. This means the DC universe has a virtually unlimited number of options in re-writing all of its heroes with new endings to all of the old stories. While I don’t think this is actually “practical”, it is theoretically possible with an internally consistent universe logic.
Now, why MY mixed feelings? Mostly because the book is divided up by two artists, one of whom I like (about 1/3rd of the book) and one I don’t really care for (the other 2/3rd). Had I paid the full, retail price for this book, I would not have been a happy camper. Between the bad drawing and the jumping around in the story (kind of embedded universes), the story suffers and I was left feeling, who are these people and why should I care about them? In the end, I didn’t really, which was too bad.
Will I keep reading The Flash? Yeah, as long as they’re being supplied by my son for free, but I don’t think I’d ever actually pay for them – particularly if the book has the bad artist.
Bottom line: weak recommendation.
September 1, 2020
It's kind of incredible that I'm sitting down to write this review having just finished this book, and I can't remember basically anything about it. I know Johns is often held up as one of DC's finest writers (thanks largely, I think, to his Green Lantern run, which I haven't gotten to yet), but his early work has yet to really do much for me. Between this, JSA, Stars and STRIPE and Day of Judgment, nothing really sticks in my mind. His M.O. in these early years seems to be to cram every issue full of plot and exposition, while very lightly paying lip service to character development without actually doing much of it. It unfortunately adds up to a bunch of very forgettable stories that don't build to a cohesive whole.
But, despite that, these books are still generally very readable. There's the occasional giant blocks of text that slow everything down without adding much, but generally these are pretty brisk. He's also paired up with some great artists here. I love Ethan Van Sciver's work, which pairs perfectly with the darker storyline of "Flash: Iron Heights," and Scott Kolins is great at adding a sense of speed to a character that is, duh, the fastest man alive.
But, overall, there just isn't much to grab onto here. There's some very minor subplots involving some Keystone cops (nice) that feel like they might be going somewhere a little bigger and more character-focused than the sci-fi ridiculousness Johns has served up so far, but I don't yet believe there will be much of a payoff to those stories. Holding out hope the next volume is better!
But, despite that, these books are still generally very readable. There's the occasional giant blocks of text that slow everything down without adding much, but generally these are pretty brisk. He's also paired up with some great artists here. I love Ethan Van Sciver's work, which pairs perfectly with the darker storyline of "Flash: Iron Heights," and Scott Kolins is great at adding a sense of speed to a character that is, duh, the fastest man alive.
But, overall, there just isn't much to grab onto here. There's some very minor subplots involving some Keystone cops (nice) that feel like they might be going somewhere a little bigger and more character-focused than the sci-fi ridiculousness Johns has served up so far, but I don't yet believe there will be much of a payoff to those stories. Holding out hope the next volume is better!
February 23, 2020
Recupero ambizioso, specialmente con l'incertezza che aleggia sulla direzione editoriale di RW Lion di questi tempi. Johns dal canto suo è uno di quegli scritto che anche se non colpisce il centro al primo colpo, riesce comunque a tenerti incollato alla pagina senza deluderti. La sua take su un personaggio di cui fondamentalmente conosco l'essenziale, è appagante nel suo continuo alternarsi tra azione e riflessione. Sono certo che 'il meglio ha da venì' e anche Johns lo ha reso chiaro nel seminare indizzi lungo tutto il primo story-arc. Quello che all'appararenza è solo una sequela di avventure random, ad un'analisi più approfondita si rivela essere l'entree meglio confenzionato co cui presentare Flash ai lettori novizi come me.
L'unico appunto che mi permetto di fare in una fase così embrionale della gestione è solamente rivolto a Scott Kolins, il cui tratto, forse a colpa di una colorazione troppo slavata, mal si sposa con una narrazione che richiede un approccio più realistico e meno 'cartoonesco'.
L'edizione di RW è essenziale, al limite dello spoglio. Priva di qualsiasi approfondimento o commento a contorno, non un must ma dal un volume di questa fascia di prezzo pretenderei qualcosa di più. Polemica sterile...lo so, il vento sta per cambiare, anche se devo ancora capire se in meglio o in peggio.
L'unico appunto che mi permetto di fare in una fase così embrionale della gestione è solamente rivolto a Scott Kolins, il cui tratto, forse a colpa di una colorazione troppo slavata, mal si sposa con una narrazione che richiede un approccio più realistico e meno 'cartoonesco'.
L'edizione di RW è essenziale, al limite dello spoglio. Priva di qualsiasi approfondimento o commento a contorno, non un must ma dal un volume di questa fascia di prezzo pretenderei qualcosa di più. Polemica sterile...lo so, il vento sta per cambiare, anche se devo ancora capire se in meglio o in peggio.
January 18, 2021
Se vi piace il "The Flash" della CW, allora vi piacerà anche la gestione di Geoff Johns. Perché il network che trasmette tutt'ora la serie tv ha letto le storie, e poi ha deciso di copiaEHM, volevo dire, "ispirarsi" in tutto e per tutto a quanto letto, portando tutto in tv (con qualche cambiamento, avverto). Al di là di dell'importanza che queste storie hanno per la serie tv, la gestione di Johns sul Velocista Scarlatto rappresenta tutto il meglio che si può volere da una serie. Trame a lungo respiro, segreti, personaggi carismatici, dubbi, amori, tradimenti, drammi, difficoltà, vittorie, sconfitte, nemici grandiosi e cuore. Tanto, tanto di quel cuore, che farà sciogliere il vostro. E poi, c'è anche presentata una delle migliori intese tra disegnatore e scrittore viste negli ultimi anni: Scott Kolins e Johns sembravano leggersi nel pensiero, ad una certa.
June 8, 2011
Geoff Johns is one of the best superhero writers out there. And this collects the first arcs of one of his very first titles The Flash, I have never fully read his original Flash run. It was slightly disappointing. The art was very cluttered and the writing wasn't as crisp as I was used to with his work. I understand that he was still new at the time. It did get better as it went. "Wonderland" was a boring arc and hard to follow. "Blood Will Run" was better but still lacks something. The two shot Weather Wizard arc and the Iron Heights one shot really stood out. Also shame on you DC for including a tie-in issue with no explanation to what is happening.
March 29, 2018
Having not read any Flash since I was child and not much Geoff Johns, this was a fun jump back into the character. I never read much Wally West Flash (always preferred the original characters to carry the mantle of their respective super hero), but I understand how many people think of Wally as their favorite Flash. He's fun and cocky and still concerned about filling Barry's shoes. Omnibus 1 was definitely good enough to get me to read Omnibus 2 and like many great writers, Johns finds his stride the further into the story he goes.
March 31, 2020
Geoff Johns is the author that made me realize DC Comics could be cool. Here, his epic Flash run begins and its a delight. The opening arc seems less like Johns but after that its full steam ahead. He starts by reintroducing the Rogues, creating new supporting cast members, and relishing in subplots. He is joined by Scott Kollins on art for most of the collection. Kollins work fits the Flash so well. Overall, this is a great jumping on point for readers that will impress new and old readers.
November 28, 2014
This is a great omnibus, given that it's published by DC. The binding is glued but the gutter loss isn't bad at all. As far as content, Geoff Johns did an amazing job with Wally West. The stories are all imaginative, fun, and engaging. His characterizations are top-notch, but the real gems in this book are the Rogues. I highly recommend this omnibus, as well as the other two volumes. Trust me, the Rogues are awesome!
April 30, 2019
I think of Johns run on The Flash as one of my favorite in all of comics but going back to the beginning it really takes a while for Johns to find his way which keeps this from being a 5 star review. That said, once we get past the clunky "Lightning" story arch and Scott Kolins takes over artistically the series took on the emotional weight and overall quality I remember from the early part of the century and it is fun to watch Johns become the writer I think of so fondly.
January 11, 2012
Well I have to say I enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed Geoff Johns but the art left me a little cold. The stories introduce several new rogues, something that was definitely needed, but the art detracted from the story. If I were to rate this like Ifanboy I'd say the story was a 4.5 and the art a 3.5 so I'm splitting it down the middle. If you are a Flash fan I'd say its a must read.
November 19, 2014
Let's put it this way: I finished this in a matter of 8 hours. Great building up for an ongoing story. The only flaw I had was with not knowing the entire DC ongoing universe at the time this was being published.
January 22, 2016
Wally is mah boy, and Geoff Johns' is one of the greatest runs that kid ever had, no pun intended.
December 8, 2016
I haven't read much Flash, but this isn't bad. I prefer the Barry Allen Flash to the Wally West Flash, but this is still a pretty good read.
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