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Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

DC1st: Flash/Superman #1

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 8, 2002

Cover date: July 2002

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Rick Burchett
Inker: Prentis Rollins

"Speeding Bullets"

Reviewed by: Neal Bailey (baileyn@cc.wwu.edu)

Note: These events take place before "Crossfire" in the Flash continuity. For you Superman fans who don't read the Flash often, like me, this means sometime after Superman got his black S, because he sports it in this issue.

Officer Zolomon speaks with the Pied Piper in his cell, mostly light banter about music. Pied Piper manages to knock the Officer out.

Zolomon wakes up, and Piper is still there. He asks to see Amnesia victim number 2. He asks to go to the Pipeline.

He goes to see Abra Kadabra, whose cell is full of mad ravings. Mostly: "Who Am I?"

Zolomon speaks to him with a guard present this time, and the guard mentions Houdini. Abra remembers who he is, says Abra Kadabra, and is freed. Apparently, his power is based in future technology which makes the seemingly magical occur.

Stopping to taunt the guards, he kills one of them. The Top applauds from a nearby cell.

Zolomon says that he is not afraid of Kadabra, and Kadabra says that he will see Zolomon in the future, leaving him unhurt.

Flash and Golden Age Flash (The book is uncertain as to whether this is in the future or not) race towards Metropolis. They talk about how Golden Age Flash is losing his wife. He doesn't know how to take it.

They stop at a nearby bookstore to pick up a book Jay (Golden Age Flash) has reserved for his wife. It is a book from her childhood.

The books start going magical and crazy-like, and Abra Kadabra appears.

Kadabra, after light banter, unleashes angry, homicidal rabbits on the Flash (current). Superman enters, and stops them.

Abra points his wand at current Flash, turning him suddenly old. Kadabra says that he has less than five minutes to live, then starts his feet pumping.

He sets Jay and Superman side by side and tells them they must race to catch current Flash, and whoever touches him first dies, but saves him. Get it? They do, and they begin to race.

Superman and Jay fight over who gets to touch Flash. (That just sounds bad. I don't know. It's what's happening. Really.) They eventually catch up, and Jay uses Superman's momentum and rockets ahead.

Abra Kadabra uses his magic and Jay's speed to send them to the 64th century. There Jay touches Flash first, and gets very old, very fast.

Flash realizes that there are nanites causing this, and vibrates Jay while Superman blasts the nanites with heat vision.

Abra Kadabra, at a future installment of Steelworks, gets more magic technology. He tries out some fire, which Superman blows out. Abra Kadabra turns him into a puppet. He turns Jay into a turtle.

From a table, Abra Kadabra picks up a Fourth Dimensional Chaos sphere, which he intends to use to steal the life force of everyone across five hundred miles and fifty two centuries.

Flash uses a mirror to reflect the beam, which traps Kadabra into the sphere. Apparently, there were only five hundred beams to reflect, to steal the life force from everyone across five hundred miles and fifty two centuries, and it was easy for Flash to accomplish.

That night, the two Flashes put Kadabra into a cell.

When they leave, Pied Piper fashions a whistle, calls some rats, and prepares to escape.

Story - 1: Lame. Really, really lame. I mean, I understand the nostalgia value of characters like Abra Kadabra, who I seem to recall from older issues I've read, but some of this stuff was just campy. 60's Batman campy. I said it already in my review. A beam that can steal the life force of everyone across five hundred miles and fifty two centuries fires only five hundred beams. Ah. I see. And nanites that make you old, something that is not instantly reversible, is instantly reversed on removal of the nanites. Ah. And for some reason, Abra needs Flash to time travel. I see. And Pied Piper has something to do with this? Maybe in Flash continuity, but were the readers ever clued in? No.

And the gimmick of the thing, that this is the first meeting of the Golden Age Flash and Superaman, doesn't even pan out. It's like "Last Laugh", where we were promised the death of Joker, but he didn't die. Here, we are promised the first meeting of Superman and Flash. We get the first race, perhaps, as the cover suggests, instead. Misleading, and just off. I expected to see the first meeting, and some early continuity. Instead, we have black S Superman in an event that occurred less than a year ago in real life continuity. That stinks of Bree.

At least Lobo was entertaining.

Art - 3: All right. Nothing that special. Just decent. Nothing really stood out, and there were a couple of unnecessary splash pages. The Abra Kadabra stuff was neat, but didn't really make any sense. That's a plot point, but it still jaded the art for me. I'm not so fond of the grim look, but it floats some people's boats. This was just all around average stuff.

Cover Art - 1: Lame, just like the Lobo cover. I mean, really. It's all dark, and broody, and grim. Ooooh. Very Frank Miller, guys. But just plain silly looking. Besides, see if you notice what I did. Look at Superman. He's CHEATING! That man is not even touching the ground. Jay wins by default, and the issue hasn't even started. FEH!

Mild Mannered Reviews

2002

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

DC1st: Flash/Superman #1

Mild Mannered Reviews

2002

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