Comic Recap/Thoughts: The Flash Volume 1: Lightning Strikes Twice

Welcome to the next installment of my comic book journey through DC's Rebirth. Today I will be recapping and discussing The Flash Volume 1: Lightning Strikes Twice. This collected volume includes issues #1-8 and The Flash: Rebirth #1. This is going to be a long post since we are covering nine issues. I will try to keep it a reasonable length, but no promises. 

The Flash: Rebirth #1: We start at the scene of a crime. Two cops are speculating over the body. It is a woman and her young son saw the murder. He claims it was a monster. They assume it was the husband. Barry is standing in the doorway. (The artist did a cool trick where his shadow looks like the outline of The Flash.) He cautions the cops to not jump to conclusions. The detective apologizes and Barry quickly forgives him. His boss, Director Singh, does not think Barry should be working this case. Singh is worried he will make it too personal, but Barry disagrees claiming that if someone like him had handled his mother's murder it wouldn't have taken 15 years to solve. 

Singh gives up the fight and instead invites Barry over for dinner. Barry sees a flash of Wally yelling his name. Singh asks if Barry is okay. Now a flash of a speedster in white. Barry is shaken and as he turns to look at Singh, he instead sees Zoom (A villain who wears yellow, the exact reverse of The Flash's outfit. He also killed Barry's mom) Barry almost turns into the Flash to attack the vision of Zoom, but pulls it together before he does. Singh again wants him to just go home but Barry waves him off.

We get a recap of how Barry became the Flash. Working in his lab, gets hit by lightning, and then takes a dive into a shelf of chemicals. He was in a coma for a while and when he woke up he could access the Speed Force. He isn't sure why he is having visions, but does admit that maybe the crime being like his mother's is triggering him. It was Zoom who traveled back in time and killed her, framing Barry's father. But now Zoom is defeated and Barry's father is free. 

Later we see Barry in fact talking to his father about the case he is working on. He asks his dad what he thinks, but is really just trying to vent. Barry admits to him about the visions he has been having. Barry thinks the Speed Force is trying to warn him. They discuss if the Speed Force is sentient. Turns out all the agencies decided no one is allowed to study the Speed Force. Papa Allen suggests maybe Barry slow down. Instead of doing that we get a montage of Barry working in the lab, doing Flash things, and trying to have a social life. 

Now we see the return of Wally (Older Titan Wally) from Barry's perspective. At first he thinks it is just a vision because he doesn't know who he is, but we get to see Barry pull Wally back. (You'll never guess what? A recap of who Wally is.) We do get a little bit more info about Flashpoint and how Wally thinks that it wasn't Flashpoint that created the problems in the timeline.  Wally thinks that they are being watched. Barry figures the Speed Force wasn't warning him, it was trying to help him remember. 

Barry wants to tell Iris and starts running off. Wally tries to stop him. Iris is doing some journalism stuff. Barry calls Iris a friend and Wally is confused, but does manage to stop him before he gets to her. Wally says he is not ready to tell Iris yet. Wally tells Barry about how his wife (Linda) didn't remember him and he's worried Iris will have forgotten him too.  Wally wants to look up his old Titan pals first. Barry tells Wally he is not Kid Flash anymore and he should maybe update his outfit. Wally and Barry go their separate ways and man these guys love each other. 

Barry runs to Gotham to visit his pall Batman. Bruce tells Barry about a man made of lightning that he didn't know, popping into the cave. As Wally was leaving the cave he embedded a button with a smiley face and splash of blood, into the wall. Bruce had thought it was from the Joker, but once Barry explains about Wally and the missing time, the two figure out they are working on the same case. (Look...there are a lot of clues happening here. Letter from Bruce's dad that Barry gave him after Flashpoint, a button with a smiley face, and the blood that looks like the hand of a clock.) They both decide to keep all this to themselves for now. 

We end this issue with the two detectives talking about their case. The husband confessed to killing his wife. They both agree that Barry is good at his job, but sometimes he makes mistakes. (I want to note that we see the outline of a speedster listening to this conversation, but the color makes me think it is Zoom or some other baddy...dun dun dun.)

Lightning Strikes Twice Part One: Deus Ex Machina: Several years ago, on the night of the storm, Barry is talking with a cop friend, August Heart. Barry is working on his mother's murder case and this guy asks if he could take a look at his brother's murder. Right as August is leaving Barry gets hit by the lightning. August takes care of him. 

Today, the Flash is busy saving the day. He stops a tornado and offers to rebuild, but they thank him and send him on his way. He rushes back to a crime scene, coming in late. (Like usual, kind of a running joke.) Singh is telling Barry that the vic is a S.T.A.R. Labs guard. Barry is already thinking a million things. August walks in pointing out that Barry isn't listening, but not to worry, no one cares more about Justice than Barry. Looks like August has been promoted to Detective. Barry impresses August by pointing out this was not a simple robbery. They both think something hinky is up, but August has to run, he drew the short straw on escort duty for a S.T.A.R. Labs transport. (I am sure nothing bad is going to happen to the transport.) 

Barry is teasing him about being late, only to realize he is late for a lunch with Iris and Wally. (young Wally) Another lab tech named Kristen says she will cover for him. She gives him a hard time about him not noticing her or that she was promoted. Barry is having a rough day. Barry Flashes (Can I use Flash as a verb?) to the coffee shop and again says he is sorry for being late. More teasing, Iris asks about the crime scene. (Journalists always got to ask all the questions.) Barry wont talk about it, but does vent that he has been feeling overwhelmed, he wishes he could do more. Iris points out that sometimes when you try to do everything you end up doing nothing. Barry appreciates Iris's friendship. Wally scoffs and the two of them get real defensive. 

Many police vehicles go rushing by. Wally looks at a very detailed instant police report. There is a fire on Fourth and shocker, the S.T.A.R. Labs transport is under attack. Barry excuses himself. The Flash is fast, but even he can't be in two places at once. Doesn't mean he isn't going to try. The apartment is on the way. There are two scenes happening at the same time. Flash is pulling people out of the fire. August is in a shootout with some mercenaries who work for someone named Dr. Carver. The apartment is going up fast and Barry is taking longer than he thought to get everyone out. August offers himself as a hostage, while trying to talk the robbers down. These robbers/killers have a spiral looking symbol on their chests. August recognizes it from his brother's murder scene. Barry is saving the last two kids. (Love the kids' PJs.)

The group is called Black Hole. Bad guy shoots. Flash is running as fast as he can. Right as August is about to get shot, he gets hit by lightning. Wally thinks about when he was hit by the lightning, his life flashed before his eyes. We see a moving lightning man take out the shooter. The moving lightning man is August. 

Lightning Strikes Twice Part Two: Thunderstruck! We start at S.T.A.R. Labs. Flash is trying to give August a lesson in being a speedster. Guess no one saw August get hit by lightning and thanks to getting hit by lightning his gunshot wound healed fast (Or maybe he didn't get hit, unclear). Flash makes it look easy, but August is struggling with even the basics. He is a good investigator though and he knows the Flash is Barry. They discuss the importance of alter egos and protecting people. August waves him off and instead suggests burgers.

Cut to the young Wally West. He is also training in the art of Speed Force. His powers are in flux, so he is enjoying them while he has them. We find out Iris doesn't know Wally has these powers. (Maybe no one does?)

Speaking of Iris. She is at the S.T.A.R. Labs break in trying to get some info from the police. One tells her off the record, that some scientists got fired and maybe she should look into that. As she's walking away a guard (Not a cop, but dressed like an overly armored cop) is not happy she was asking questions. 

At Central City PD headquarters, August and Barry are eating while chatting about how Barry learned how to be the Flash. Kristen the lab tech walks in letting them know they did all they could, but there is nothing tying the Black Hole group to the break in. She gives Barry the list of items stolen. He wants to go back to the crime scene and see if they missed any evidence. August asks why they need evidence. He wants to go full rogue and Barry is not happy about it. They fight about it and August asks him if he wouldn't have saved his mother if he had the chance. (Ouch right in the heart. Hmmm...not sure about this August guy). 

Iris calls interrupting the tension. She is actually looking for August, she asks to meet up. Right as they agree to a time, she is kidnapped. Dr. Carver of course wants her brought to him. Barry rushes off, but Iris is actually doing pretty good at getting away on her own. She jumps out of the back of the van right into the Flash's arms. After he is sure Iris is safe, he chases after the bad guys. They shoot at him with a large gun. Flash goes down and is in a fair amount of pain.

August comes running up in a fun sort of homemade outfit. Looks like August has suddenly gotten much better at his powers and he quickly takes down the bad guys. It also seems that August's presence recharged the Flash and created some kind of connection. (Weird he didn't feel that before during training?) 

Iris walks back up, says thanks for the save but that she can take care of herself. She turns to August and asks who he is supposed to be. He says he is the Flash's new partner. Barry admits he likes the sound of that. Suddenly a huge storm rolls in. It is another Speed Force storm and this time the lightning hits a lot of people, including young Wally. We end the issue with a lot of lightning people running around.

Lightning Strikes Twice Part Three: Speed City: We start with Flash recapping that there are a lot of new speedsters. We see three of the new speedsters robbing a bank. Flash claims when he first got his powers it never occurred to him to use them for personal gain. (Except that one time...you know...when he did.) Anyway, Flash and August stop the criminals, making some pretty quippy jokes while doing so. 

A newscaster is covering the story and we see The Rogues (Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, ect.) having a drink at a pub. They figure they should maybe leave town for a while. 

Barry notices that he is not as fast as he used to be, he assumes it is a result of sharing the Speed Force. They take the criminals to Iron Heights. It reads like inner monolog, but I think he is telling August the story of his mother's death at the hands of Professor Zoom. Iron Heights is where Zoom is now. August says if it was him, he would have killed Zoom. (Hmmm....still finding it hard to trust this guy.) August figures that Black Hole is responsible for the Speed Force storm. Dude is obsessed with the group because he thinks they know more about his brother's murder. Barry thinks they need to follow the evidence. A guard at Iron Heights promises the place is secure and that all the rest of the speedsters are at the new S.T.A.R. labs training center. This is news to Barry. 

At S.T.A.R. Labs we see a lot of people in fun blue suits doing various speedy things. We meet the lovely Dr. Meena Dhawan. She is some kind of uber genius who transferred from A.R.G.U.S (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans). No one at this lab is as fast as the Flash yet. She asks who August is, but he hasn't chosen a name yet. (He is still in his homemade costume). Flash wants to make sure that S.T.A.R Labs isn't planning to turn the new speedsters into a bunch of lab rats, but the good doctor promises that is not her goal. She also reveals that she is a speedster. August wants to get back to investigating Black Hole, but Dr. Dhawan points out that most people didn't want these powers. She believes that the Flash was the lightning rod for the Speed Force storm. So this is kind of his responsibility. Some people with powers don't want to leave their homes and need his help. August offers to cover the city while Flash and Meena go help people.   

At the Central City crime lab we find Iris and young Wally popping in on Singh. Iris is trying to get information on Black Hole. Wally zooms around speed looking at things. Iris tricks Singh into telling her that Black Hole is made up of ex S.T.A.R Lab employees. Wally is upset that no one told him Iris was almost kidnapped. He asks what he would do if anything happened to her, she promises nothing will. He says okay and gives her the file on Black Hole that he 'borrowed'. The file says that Black Hole was experimenting on the Speed Force. 

Barry and Meena are out on the town. She has a power he doesn't, she can sense the Speed Force in others. She also tells him that a lot of people are taking to their powers differently. They stop at the house of a young girl named Avery, who is stuck in overdrive. Flash is very cute in the way he helps her get her powers under control. He invites her back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Next stop after that is back to Iron Heights. Flash wants to help the criminal speedsters too. 

All the alarms start going off. A guard tells them Flash's partner is already there. Flash rushes to the cell only to find the three criminal speedsters are dead and August is unconscious. August wakes up and tells Flash that someone vibrated through the walls. Someone who is calling himself Godspeed. Godspeed killed them all by using the Speed Force as a weapon. 

Lightning Strikes Twice Part Four: Teamwork: Barry Allen is used to living two lives, one as the forensic scientist working for Central City's crime lab and the other as the Flash. Now he has a third life as the teacher of speedsters. He is teaching all the people how to use the Speed Force, but he is also trying to figure out who killed the three speedster criminals.

Meena asks to talk to Flash in her office. (Note: Huge change in artwork and style at this point. Not bad or anything but it is much more cartoonish now.) Anyway, Meena wants to tell Flash that while he is bonded with the Speed Force on a cellular level, none of the new speedsters are. So maybe this is all temporary. She thinks that Godspeed has figured out how to pull the Speed Force out of people. That if any two speedsters run next to each other the faster of the two can just pull it out of the other. There is flirty banter between the two, but it is interrupted by August, in normal cloths coming in on crutches. (For some reason August is keeping his identity secret? Although Meena knows he has powers.)

August says maybe Barry should go to his actual job before he gets fired. August brought the crime scene results from the prison, there is nothing. (How is there always nothing?) Iris shows up to help though. She has been investigating Dr. Carver and Black Hole. She is giving Flash 24 hours before she breaks the story that Dr. Carver was experimenting on the Speed Force. That they were trying to find a way to weaponize it. Naturally Flash is not happy to hear this and asks if Meena knew anything about it. She claims she didn't. Meena can track the Speed Force so they decide it is time to pay Dr. Carver a visit.      

Dr. Carver is a rough looking dude. Like maybe he got burned really bad? Flash and Meena find them immediately. The tech he is using is not from S.T.A.R. Labs. Ahh, guess Dr. Carver was hit by lightning, it didn't give him powers just a lot of scars. So...he decided to build a suit to steal the Speed Force from the speed storm. It turns him into a tornado monster. Flash tries to ground him like he did Avery but he beyond calming down. 

August shows up with Avery and another of the young speedsters. Flash asks if Dr. Carver is the speedster who attacked him, but August claims to not remember. Flash has a plan, he tells Avery and Scott (Other speedster kid) to clear the area, while the adults take down tornado man. They do the classic arm tornadoes to try to counteract the tornado man. It doesn't work, but all their Speed Force energies are locking together. Flash says they need to steal his speed, but hopefully with the three of them it won't kill the guy. They do just that. It works. Everything is fine? 

Wally West is in his room trying to manifest a super suit. He admits to himself that maybe he needs to train. 

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, August wants to get back to work, seeing if Black Hole had anything to do with his brother's death, so he jets off. Meena and Flash get back to flirting. They share a kiss and Flash decides to tell Meena that he is Barry Allen. 

Lightning Strikes Twice Part Five: Barry Allen's Day Off: Meena is narrating how much she loves being the fastest woman alive. She loves stopping crime and training the other speedsters. Today though, her and Barry are enjoying a day off in Bali. They chat on the beach but only for a moment. He has lunch plans with a friend and she is going to go back to the Speed Force training center. 

Barry is meeting Iris for lunch, she is very surprised that he is on time. She also teases him about looking so happy. She knows that he has got a new gf. Not a gf but they are seeing where things go.

Meena is chatting with August back at S.T.A.R. Labs. He mentions training people to catch bullets and she asks if he is joking. He isn't. He assumes they all want to be superheroes, she points out that, that is crazy they are just trying to help live normal lives. He calls that a waste of powers. At that moment, none other than young Wally shows up at the front door. He is about to leave when Meena stops him. She offers to help teach him. He claims to not have powers. She of course knows that he does. She can track people with the Speed Force, so she calls herself Fast Track. 

He tells her he is not ready for anyone to know he has powers yet. She reveals who she is. (She had been wearing a mask) She tells him that he can trust her, she works with the Flash. He is in to learn a few tricks. We see a fun training montage. He even has a trick that she can't do, shooting lightning from his hands. 

Nearby some window washers are about to have a bad day as their cables snap. They both run up a building for the first time to try and save the two guys. Turns out super speed does not equal super strength. A couple of arm tornadoes to slow the fall and the day is saved.

Meena is feeling a little down, but Wally thought it was an awesome day. He asks her to keep his powers a secret. She agrees and hopes he will keep meeting her for training. They agree to be partners. 

Iris is teasing Barry about staying for the whole lunch and even being there to pay. He in fact owes her a lot of money. They walk into the police station and Singh is unimpressed with Barry. Guess August has been solving all the cases. Barry thought August was at the Speed Force Center helping train. August seems to be the best at balancing his job and being a superhero. 

Meena gets back to the training center, but it is full of smoke and someone calling for help. Godspeed is there. She rushes in to try and hit Godspeed but she goes right through him. Godspeed starts racing around them, Avery is the only one not trapped. Meena tells her to run and get the Flash. They are still fighting as Avery runs as fast as she can. 

Meanwhile Flash and August are also out running. Talking about being happy and how Barry likes Meena, there is a spark. Avery catches up with them and speed talking tells them that Godspeed is attacking S.T.A.R. Labs. When they get there...everyone is dead and Meena is missing, only her suit remains. 

Lightning Strikes Twice Part Six: Revenge: Central City, a guy is running (at normal speed). Godspeed catches up to him and kills him. At S.T.A.R. Labs Barry is having a pity party. (Too harsh?) August pops in to tell him that Iron Heights is safe and secure. That Carver is still there and that Black Hole without him is nothing. He is upset about no new leads on his brother's case. Barry is not listening, he had spent the morning notifying families. He is hopeful that Meena is still alive. (I think he is hoping she got sucked into the Speed Force.)

August thinks he is in denial and knows he wants revenge, but Barry is looking for Justice! Avery interrupts to tell Flash that Godspeed struck again, queue the news. He wants to know how the press knew the name Godspeed. The remaining speedsters are to blame. (Guess not everyone was training when Godspeed attacked) They are all pretty freaked out and don't want to get killed. Avery calls Flash out on not protecting them. He is wounded and tells August to guard the people. He is off to solve this case. 

Iris is trying to type up a story about Godspeed, but she is interrupted by Barry. She thinks he is there because Meena is dead. (I am pretty sure Iris doesn't know Barry is the Flash, but she knows that Meena was killed?) He is actually looking for her help. She says they will catch Meena's killer. Wally overhears this and is very upset. He lashes out at Barry and storms off. Barry doesn't understand why Wally is so upset or how he knows Meena. He sees Wally start to speed run off. He is shocked that he missed this too. 

Barry goes back up to Iris to ask where Wally might go when he is upset. She says to leave him alone that he will come around. She has to tell him that one of the victims from this morning wasn't a speedster and when Barry sees the name of the person...he freaks out. 

Next we see Barry catching up with August. He tells him about one of Godspeed's victims being a regular human...one named Billy Parks, the man that August suspected of killing his brother. (I am sure this is mentioned earlier and I just missed it, but yeah...I guess a guy named Billy was arrested for murdering August's brother, but was let out.) Barry asks him if he did this. August just sighs claiming that Billy deserved to die. There was no proof, killing him wasn't Justice. They argue morals for a while. August is being a real dick, even talking about Barry's mom. (Way out of line.) Barry punches him right in the face. 

August gives a bad guy speech about being judge, jury, and executioner and not shocking anyone...reveals he is Godspeed. (I do like a good full page shot.) The two of them play catch me if you can. Barry tries to get some information, like why and how. Godspeed claims they (all other speedsters) were wasting their powers, that they could have been heroes like them. Flash points out Godspeed is not a hero. Godspeed is so fast he can be in two places at once.

Lightning Strikes Twice Part Seven: No More Speedsters: Godspeed is narrating. His brother was a cop killed in the line of duty. His killer was released. August was hit by lightning and became a speedster. He killed the man he thought killed his brother. Now he is going to teach Barry a lesson. He realized early that he could steal the speed from others. He didn't mean to kill them, but they were criminals, so no big deal. When they beat Carver they managed to not kill him, so he figured he would try again with the speedsters at the training center. He says again that he never meant to kill anyone just wanted their speed. 

Godspeed screams in pain and is pulled back into one person. Holding himself apart for too long hurts I guess. Barry sucker punches him and then runs off, needing time to think. He makes it to S.T.A.R. Labs, Avery tries to help him but he just wants a moment alone. 

At the Central City Courthouse there is a hostage situation. A bunch of guys from Black Hole are demanding that their boss be released. Godspeed shows up and kills three of them and takes the leader to the top of a roof. He asks him about Billy Parks but the guy doesn't know him. He demands to know about Black Hole. 

Barry is sulking at S.T.A.R Labs. Wally shows up and asks him why he isn't doing anything. Barry claims to be healing. Wally says he is going with him to fight Godspeed, that he has to help, that Meena was his friend. Barry tries to talk him out of it, but Wally says he will just go fight Godspeed himself. He runs off and Barry chases him. He asks how Wally got his powers. He has had them for months but they were weak. The storm made them strong again. Wally tells Flash that he couldn't come to him, he didn't want Iris to know about the powers. (Wally doesn't know that Barry is Flash...in case that wasn't clear.) 

Wally wants to be a hero now. He understands that he wants to help and he doesn't need the Flash's permission. Barry agrees and says that Wally gave him an idea on how to beat Godspeed. They run off to get the remaining speedsters. They have to ask them to give up their connections to the Speed Force. Barry thinks that if the people give the powers up willingly they won't die and there needs to be at least two of them doing the taking, to dissipate the negative effects. The plan works. Everyone gives the powers back, most are happy. Avery is disappointed and she will miss being a speedster. 

Godspeed shows up right then attacking. He runs off leading Flash to Iron Heights. He wants to help Barry get revenge on the man who killed his mother...because August is Barry's friend and he wants him to be happy...(Dude is real crazy)

Lightning Strikes Twice Part Eight: Old Friends: A flashback to a few weeks ago...after the storm, Flash and August are having lunch. August doesn't understand how Barry doesn't get rid of his mother's killer. August call's Barry too good to be true. Barry is thinking about this moment as the one he should have known who August was.

Godspeed is on his way to kill Zoom. Flash is not fast enough, he can't seem to catch him, so he is hoping to outsmart him. His plan his is to short-circuit the connection between their Speed Force bond. (The whole Speed Force connection thing is messy and I think they use it the same way other superheroes might use words like quantum or magic, but I will just assume that Barry knows what he is doing.) Anyway, Flash gives Godspeed one heck of a static shock. Godspeed decides he will just have to split again, so one of him can stop Flash and the other can kill Zoom. 

Godspeed thinks Flash is all alone, but who shows up? Wally West of course. (The young one) Wally says, sorry not sorry for showing up. Now the battle is fair. Godspeed says he is still faster, but Flash points out that isn't true when he is split. Flash tells Wally to run, they are going to steal Godspeed's speed. Time for some bargaining. Godspeed says taking the speed could kill him or put him in a coma, would Flash really do that? Wally says yes, for Meena! Flash agrees with Godspeed though. He tells Wally to stop running with him, but before that can happen there is a flash and Godspeed merges back together, yelling in pain. Wally stands over Godspeed in triumph, now wearing a suit that looks like the classic Kid Flash outfit.

August struggles up and starts to run again, still determined to kill Zoom. He is much slower now and Flash quickly grabs and incapacitates him. (Looks like Flash killed him, but the next page he tells us that he just knocked him out.) He picks up August and is going to take him to the prison. Flash asks Wally how he made the suit he is wearing and if he had seen it somewhere before. Wally says no, but that the moment he stopped running (the moment he decided he didn't want to kill Godspeed) a wave of calmness came over him and he was just wearing the outfit. Flash thinks it is because Wally earned it.

Iron Heights, a few days later. Barry Allen goes to visit August. He is visiting under the guise of asking questions about an old mutual case. August says he has no plan to tell anyone Barry's secret. August can still feel the Speed Force and all the people who once had it. We see a shot of most people moving on. Looks like Avery might still have a little connection. August asks why Barry gets to be the one with powers, what makes him the best? Barry doesn't know, but he is going to keep doing his best to help people. 

August says that is B.S. that he did what was best. He killed his brother's killer. He used the powers to get justice. Barry is there to talk about that. He pieced back the file on August's brother and was able to work the evidence. Billy Parks didn't kill August's brother. Barry checked everything and Billy was let go because he had an alibi and his blood didn't match the blood from the scene. He killed the wrong man, but Barry promises to find the actual killer. 

August tells him he won't have time, that it will be just like before. He still has to figure out who started the Speed Force storm. Barry calls that case closed, Dr. Carver did it. August points out he is forgetting what Meena said, that the equipment Carver used wasn't from S.T.A.R. Labs. August claims he knows who the real leader of Black Hole is. He won't tell who it is now...(Ominous) Barry doesn't know what to believe.

Iris is freaking out. Wally is standing in front of her in his new Kid Flash outfit. She knows he idolizes the Flash, but before she can finish, he tells her that she is the one he idolizes. She is brave even without powers. She uses her skills to help people. Flash might be Justice, but she is Truth. She asks why he didn't tell her. He admits he was afraid that she would think he might be like his father. (An evil speedster called Reverse-Flash) She assures him he is not his father and that she will always be there for him.

Later at S.T.A.R. Labs, Kid Flash is training with Flash. Barry is still a little nervous about having a partner again, between one getting killed and one being a villain. He still has a lot of stuff to figure out. Who is the real leader of Black Hole, where is Meena, what happened to the other Wally and how is it connected to the button that Batman has? He needs help and who better than another Wally raised by Iris. Lightning can strike twice.

We end with a ghost looking version of Meena whispering thank you in the Flash's ear and him turning to find no one there. 

Thoughts: This was a few more issues than usual, but we sure covered a lot of ground. This is my first time reading a the Flash as a stand alone character. Most of my knowledge of Flash comes from the Arrowverse tv show, the Justice League type movies, and if he crosses over into the Bat family of comics. I'll start with things I liked. I enjoy Barry and his moral compass. I think he genuinely always wants to do what is best and to help people. I also loved the jokes about him being late, I just appreciate the irony of the fastest man alive always being a little flakey. I am happy that the arrival of past Wally does not mean we are getting rid of young Wally. Do I think it's totally silly? Yes. Am I still okay with it? Also yes.

Things I didn't love. It was super clear from part one that August was going to be a bad guy. I get that they were really trying to hammer home the difference between revenge and justice, but did it need to take eight issues to do it? I do not think so. I did not love the Meena love interest either. Not because I am dead set on an Iris end game, I just didn't get the point of it. She could have just been a nice lady who helped Barry and Wally. Someone who was a friend to both, there did not have to be some romantic aspect. I hate to agree with August but it was hardly the love of the century and again we verge on a fridge/revenge story. It is never cool to kill a lady to encourage a dude to be a better person! 

Moving on, I did like this intro into all things Flash. I am excited to see what happens next with both the Wallys. I do in fact hope that Iris and Barry become a thing. I am real into whatever that button could mean and figure those Rogues will make their way back now that the extra speedsters are gone.

My favorite line of this volume goes to the indomitable Iris West. Poor Barry cannot even get being early right.

Next Week: Action Comics Vol. 1: Path of Doom.

Last Week: The Titans Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West.

Note: All images belong to DC™