If you’re coming off of The Flash #755, you’d know Barry just defeated an unbeatable villain by teaming up with his worst enemy. He had to do it, but now he’s got a whole new threat to worry about. Reverse-Flash is putting a team together, and in issue #756, the “Reverse-Flash Family” story arc kicks off. Just look at the cover and you can see the danger Barry and his friends are in.
If you like heist films, you’ll probably dig Josh Williamson and Christian Duce’s start to the story arc. It breaks between Barry making tough decisions in the wake of helping Reverse-Flash come back from death only to kill, while Reverse-Flash zips around preparing a team of villains to stop Barry Allen for good. What I just described pretty much explains it all, so don’t expect a story that’s super complex, but I do love how Williamson writes Reverse-Flash. He must be a delight to write, since his evil grin and way with words as he tempts Flash’s greatest villains are fun to read.
He’s speedy!
Credit: DC Comics
There is certainly a surprise or two in the narrative, though. If you’ve been reading Williamson’s epic run on Flash you’ll be giddy to see all the villains that pop up (especially on the last page), and it only enhances the excitement for how Barry could ever outmatch this team. Similar to the last story arc, Williamson is writing what feels like an event-caliber story within the confines of this issue itself.
The art by Duce, with colors by Luis Guerrero, is excellent, especially in the villain scenes. Reverse-Flash looks great, with superb energy effects throughout. The weight of what Barry has done is written all over his face no matter the scene, which helps convey the incredible pressure on Barry to keep his friends and family safe. Also, there’s something rattling in Barry’s head that is revealed, aided by the attention to his utter frustration and near exhaustion over it all. Duce doesn’t let you forget for a second.
This is a good setup issue for the story arc. I can’t say it was terribly surprising — it flows about as you’d expect with very few surprises, but it’s getting the work done so that the epic battle can take place later.
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