Out this week is The Flash 2022 Annual, celebrating the love between Wally West and Linda Park-West. Writer Jeremy Adams has recently revealed Linda has powers of her own, but what’s a superpower when you can write entire worlds as your day job? In the new annual, experience a story within a story as Wally finally reads his wife’s manuscript and learns some surprising things about her!
Fans of unconventional one-shots should get a lot of entertainment out of The Flash 2022 Annual. Adams not only cleverly reveals a new side to Linda but seeds future stories with a check-in with an essential character on the opening page and a whopper final reveal on the last page. In between those moments is a retelling of Linda’s book as Wally reads it. Clever and intelligent, it’s also highly entertaining, even if the story within the story isn’t canon.
That story is super nerd-fueled. References to Star Trek and Rocketeer are present as Linda’s tale features a hero likely inspired by her husband. Meanwhile, she actually writes a version of herself in the story, which plays out in sometimes romantic and sometimes adventurous ways. Serg Acuña draws the heck out of this tale with a great trashy romance novel cover to start, and plenty of full page splashes along the way. He realizes a space snake while showing off some bubble space floaty technology that leads to quite a kiss. There likely isn’t a trashy romance novel out there like this, and the general outlandish and over-the-top vibe is captured well.
Time to read Linda’s book!
Credit: DC Comics
Adams also uses opportune times to cut away to Wally as he reads. This is a smart way to remind readers what we’re reading is the story he’s reading while also giving us his take on the book. It’s sweet and a way to keep our main hero involved. It’s also endearing to see him proud of his wife and also surprised by the kind of content she’s writing. These two are very in love, and you’ll feel that by the end of the issue.
It’s not clear who is doing the distressed look – maybe it’s Acuña or color artist Matt Herms, but you’ll note the worn-out look in the full-page splash above. This worn texturing continues, helping to remind the reader this is a story within the story.
Annual issues tend to be longer adventures that don’t affect the main story to allow new readers to dive in, making this a unique annual. I’d argue a casual reader might not know what is going on or maybe even care about Linda, but it’s still a fun story whether you’ve read The Flash or not. Confusing, maybe, but still enjoyable from cover to cover. It’s comics like this that are exciting for longtime readers since it takes a chance and does something a little different.
The Flash 2022 Annual is a lot of fun, celebrating trashy romance novels while informing the reader on crucial details about Linda we didn’t know. Add in a whopper of a cliffhanger that’ll change Wally and Linda’s life at the end, and you have yourself a must-buy for super fans of Flash.
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