Okay. Flashpoint #5. The final issue of DC’s absolutely ginormous event mini-series. And boy, did they go out with a bang. But let’s start with my (brief) thoughts on the first four issues of Flaspoint. They were very good. Just … very good. They definitely kept me interested the entire time, but not enough to say it was my favorite book of the month or anything. Sometimes the dialogue felt forced and sometimes the art was a little wonky, but overall, everything worked. After four very good issues, #5 was pretty great, if only for the epic scale of it all. And the fact that it actually pulled at my heart strings for once. It was incredibly emotional and just a tad shocking - just what I love in a comic. Shocking. It was what they were going for, and what I thought they achieved. I for one never would have expected this whole mess to be Barry’s fault. He’s always depicted as this perfect hero, never doing anything wrong, yet here he is, screwing with time, destroying the world. But it still works. That’s what’s so amazing about it. We can sympathize with him, because who wouldn’t go back and save their mother from a fate she was never supposed encounter? It works, and that’s what matters. And here is where I flail over the badassery of Dr. Thomas Wayne. We do see a great deal of him throughout Flashpoint, but excluding his brutality it’s hard to see a difference between his Batman and Bruce’s. But he’s still pretty damn cool, so I like him. A lot. Bruce would never have been able to kill a man, even one as twisted as Thawne. If Thomas hadn’t been wearing the cowl, everyone basically would’ve been doomed. So bravo, Dr. Wayne. I salute you and your love for your son, because that’s what drives you and that is amazing. The rest of the battle is basically just showcasing different characters, and that was cool and all, but let’s get to the good stuff. Barry and his mother. A relationship I don’t think we’ve ever really seen before, a relationship that is just a bit cheesy and unrealistic, but a relationship that is beautiful all the same. I love how Johns brings back the idea of the lightning rod that he first introduced in The Flash: Rebirth, even if it is a bit changed. But the best part of this scene is how heroic Barry’s mother is. She accepted Barry’s wacko story and was willing to sacrifice her own life to save millions of others. Most people would beg to be saved, but not her. If she had told Barry to save her, he would’ve, and probably messed the world up even more than he already had. But she didn’t. She’s the real hero of the series. Then there are two Barry Allens. I’m not even going to go into that. And now to the whole point of Flashpoint! I don’t know how anyone else feels about how they handled creating the new DCU, but I think they did a pretty good job. Three divergent timelines? Okay. Merging them? Works for me. It’s a solution that makes sense and allows DC to change or keep whatever they want in their whole line of 52 #1s. I love the art on the double splash that explains the timelines. It’s a great way to exhibit both new and old characters that will be appearing in the new line up, in crazy new costumes or not. I also love Barry’s running sequence thing, especially how he seems to fade in the middle. It’s a great way to show how he’s changed too, how he’s also a part of this new merged timeline. Kudos to Kubert! And the final scene with Bruce? Perfection. Nothing more, nothing less. Normally I’d say “bitch please, Batman doesn’t cry”, but he most certainly does when he reads a letter from his long dead father. And the subtlety of him taking off his cowl! It’s Bruce reading this letter. Not Batman, the Dark Knight, not even Bruce Wayne, the playboy. Just Bruce. A perfect ending to a great issue. Overall, Flaspoint #5 was one of my favorite issues of the month. It was a great ending to a mini-series that definitely wasn’t weak, but wasn’t all that strong either. The art was consistent (except when Zoom was missing a leg) and the writing was just short of brilliant. It was an end of an era, but also a great start to DC’s hopefully bright future.