We go back to the earliest days of The Flash’s career as Joshua Williamson begins his YEAR ONE story arc.
The Flash 70
Written by Joshua Williamson
Pencils and Inks by Howard Porter
Colors by Hi-Fi
Barry Allen, a celebrated crime scene investigator with the Central City Police Department, is hit by lightning in his crime lab. He gets bathed with chemicals and ends up being the fastest man alive.
It’s a pretty simple origin, and it leads to a whole family of speedsters within the DC Comics universe. But before Barry Allen became the forerunner of about a dozen people who could run really fast – and the enemy of one of the best collection of bad guys in comics – he had to learn how to use his speed to get through the day. Joshua Williamson, who’s had the writing duties of THE FLASH since Rebirth kicked off, is exploring these early days with his latest arc.
There’s not really a whole lot of new ground covered here, in the first issue of this arc, but it does a great job of establishing where things are going. Most of the issue is something of a retread, with the aforementioned lightning and chemical bath and learning how to use the speed. It’s the last couple of pages that really set things up, with Barry running so fast in his early days with his abilities that he ends up in the future.
Have I mentioned how much I hate TIME TRAVEL stuff? It’s a little more manageable on a comic book page, I guess…