Comic Books

FLASHPOINT #5 (OF 5)

FLASH FACT: The war between the Amazons and the Atlantians has arrived. The battle between Diana of Themyscira and Emperor Aquaman will tear this world apart – unless The Flash can fix it!

Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by ANDY KUBERT and SANDRA HOPE
Covers by ANDY KUBERT and SANDRA HOPE
Black and white variant covers by ANDY KUBERT
Variant cover by RAGS MORALES

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 1.1%
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Avg Rating: 3.7
 
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  1. How many pages will this be? I feel like they need 100 to explain the whole thing and start the new Universe.

  2. Considering the production time scale available, I assume this is the same length as the last issue. This is going to end abruptly and be less than satisfying.

  3. They would almost be better off if they got to around page 25 and just said, “You know what? Forget this. Read Justice League # 1 and get over it.”

    I really don’t see how they’re going to wrap up the Flashpoint story AND lay the groundwork for a new universe in one (approximately 40 pp?) issue.

  4. They don’t need 100 pages, just one – the last one. The last page of FLASHPOINT #5 will be the most (if not only) relevant page of comics DC has published this summer. The rest means little to nothing now, unless they ever return to this continuity.

  5. Y’know, whether or not this story “mattered” is not an issue. The question is whether or not this is a good story to read when all is said and done. Has it been a fun ride?

    The answer, unfortunately, is no. At least, in my humble.

    Reboot me real good, Barry. Retcon this whole mess out of our collective minds.

  6. Only good thing to come out of Flashpoint, so far, has been the Batman side series with Azzarello & Risso. So Amazing!

  7. I’ve had a ton of fun on this. The art and story have been really fun. I love comics!

  8. I was initially turned off to the whole idea of flashpoint, but because I’m a knucklehead and a glutton for punishment my disinterest didn’t take over my need to keep picking up because I like to have full runs…and if I pick it up, well than I have to read it right?! So, that being said, I have (somewhat) enjoyed flashpoint thus far…not necessarily so hard to follow as it is to actually endure. I like the idea of all of it, but there are so many twists and turns to get to the BIG finish…honestly I just want it to be over with so we can get on with the new DCU.

  9. If I recall, it’s more or less been said the last 2 pages of Flashpoint establish what creates the new DCU. So… that’s ~30 story pages left over?

    • I agree with you, Prax. I have nothing against those people who’ve been loving the FLASHPOINT event and crossover titles. But for my time and money, it hasn’t been worth much at all; not since they announced the Nu52 reboot was coming. Continuity means a lot to me, I’m not at all ashamed to say that. And I just don’t get all these bashers who claim to hate continuity year in and year out. Superhero comic books at DC and Marvel are engines of *serialized storytelling* – they are built on continuity. “Elseworld” and “What If?” tales were fun now and then – but there’s a big reason the big two publishers don’t count on them to bring in profits.

    • The problem is when continuity gets in the way of a good story. There’s a difference between respecting continuity and being a slave to it. For me, I want my stories to reflect and sync up with the continuity that works or fits, and to ignore all the shitty stories that don’t matter. That’s what really enthuses me about the relaunch. DC claims they will keep what works and throw out the rest.

    • Thanks, but neither of these points have anything to do with what I said.

      @Rusty “All the shitty stories that don’t matter” is an incredibly subjective thing. No one person’s conception of that is going to line up with another. Continuity is often cited as a stumbling block to storytelling, but more often than not it’s bad storytelling that’s to blame and not the continuity. It’s hard to write in continuity within something. We should be encourage people to write better stories instead of saying “If something doesn’t fit, just do you own thing.”

    • I was replying more to BionicDave than your original comment, so sorry. Yes, it is subjective. I don’t think there’s any way to objectively decide what should or shouldn’t be ‘canon.’ We’re talking about pretend, make-believe worlds here. You could make the argument that nothing is in continuity because these universes do not actually exist.

      I agree that people should write better stories, but I also believe that some writers are prohibited from telling the best stories because they are constrained by continuity. Some of the most critically acclaimed work at the Big 2 have been stories in their own little pockets of continuity. Secret Six, DnA’s Marvel Cosmic, Power Girl, etc. Even books like Daredevil and FF might acknowledge or nod to continuity, but Waid isn’t bound and gagged by it.

  10. After reading the preview pages for this issue I don’t have much confidence that this story will be wrapped up in a satisfying way. Perhaps I’m too hard on time travel stories. I don’t know. Regardless, I’m excited to read it because it’s the end of an era.

    As far as what creates the New 52 era, I don’t much care. They have a world established where pretty much any wild idea would do the trick. I don’t even need a reason. Just bring it on.

  11. Here we go…………………

    Just sayin’,

    K

  12. with exception of issue 4, flashpoint has been fucking outstanding! im stoked that they’re creating a new dcu, some of the ideas of old are exactly that, old and dated. i think some of you are scared of change, but change is great and they’re creating a whole new continuity that will be more modern. i mean really, how can we keep the continuity of old, yet be in the modern world. these characters never age, so every now and then, a revamping or a relaunching is necessary, i mean, this isnt the first time this has happened(crisis of infinite earths) otherwise all of our heroes could recall the events of ww2, vietnam and even y2k in the same sentence and yet be 29yrs old and holding. that wouldnt make very much since to me. at least their underwear wont be on the outside of their pants anymore like a 1930’s wrestler, talk about dated

  13. While I’ve enjoyed the epicness of Flashpoint and of course Johns’ way of telling it all, I’m very disappointed in the lack of continuation of the story that left off in the Flash monthly title. There is a great mystery to solve and there hasn’t been much time spent on it throughout. Sure there were other pressing matters like saving the existing world but Reverse Flash has barely been in this thing and I’ve read that his one-shot did little but rehash he last few issues of Flash. Barry Allen is a great detective. I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see it here.

  14. This book was great! Hit the right emotional cues, should be Pick of the Week….

  15. SPOILERS AHEAD

    OK. So I’m confused. When did Barry Allen go back in time to save his mom? Was this in a comic somewhere?

    • I think you just read which comic it was in.

    • Yea, I didn’t like that such a major plot point was handled off-panel. Flash was supposed to be our POV character so for it to turn out that he knew what was going on this whole time while we didn’t makes no sense. I mean if he saved his mom then why was he so confused when he ran into her in Issue 1? Also why would Flash go back in time and change the future? Has he not seen every time travel movie ever?

      My final verdict on Flashpoint is that its a whole bunch of cool ideas wrapped around a bad plot.

    • nukethewhalesagain: Agreed. This seems more like a sequel to Flash: Rebirth than a prologue to a completely new DCU status quo. It totally diminished the stakes of this title, and the reboot that follows it, to have it turn out in the end to be a personal story about Barry.

      Question: Did anyone get who that shrouded cosmic face was supposed to be? Is that a Monitor? Who was that?

  16. I really enjoyed this and hope they release a FlashPoint omnibus that includes some of the more important tie-ins. I felt there could have been more developed in this issue but it was handled pretty well overall. 4/5

  17. FUCKING FANTASTIC!!!!!! it could not have been better. john is the fucking man and so is kubert! BRAVO

  18. oops, i meant johns

  19. for some strange reason DC decided to sell Hustice League #1 through the iPad app, but not this book. So I still have to go to the LCS tonight before I can read JL#1, Fail

  20. I really liked this. Barry’s conversation with his mom was an interesting metaphor for the new 52 transition.

  21. I read this quickly in the car after buying it. I would like to take a more leisurely read, possibly of the whole series since I am sure I have forgotten things. My initial reaction is that it was good – very good. However, it does nothing to explain the new DCU. I expected at least some of that, so this wasn’t what I expected. Much more of a Barry Allen Elseworlds story. Which is not a bad thing, but not a kick-off of a new status quo.

    • I guess in preventing himself from stopping his mother from getting killed, which changed the DCU timeline into the Flashpoint timeline, Flash put things back to where they were before he did that, but it didn’t really go back to normal, it became a whole new timeline in itself, which begs the question, how did Thomas Wayne know the timeline it would go back to still would include Bruce in it? That remains unexplained.

    • Yes, three timelines we mentioned – the original DCU, Flashpoint, and I guess the third is a mix of the two. But I read this very quickly, so I need to give it another round tonight. I’m assuming not everything will be how Barry remembers it once we start seeing the other books. It wouldn’t be any fun if there weren’t any surprises.

      I think Thomas assumed things would be set back to what they were, which would include Bruce alive. Better to write the letter and cover that possibility than to leave things unsaid, as it were.

    • The three universes are DC, Wildstorm, and Vertigo.

    • I agree with rereading the whole series. I think I might try to do that this weekend. I actually really enjoyed Flashpoint as a whole, but the last issue did seem to leave me a little, ehhh. I am pumped about the new 52 and excited to see what they do with everything.

  22. Am I the only one who thought this was not good at all save for some of the art and Batman killing Reverse Flash? I kept groaning through the whole thing. Silly nonsense even by comic book standards.

  23. I kind of enjoyed it but i have to admit this was my first Flashpoint. It did the job i needed and i saw how we get to where we will be in the new line. I did for one moment that Batman was knitting. the first panel when Barry goes to see bruce, i thought he was knitting at his hobby table. It was my own little flash point moment. All became clear thankfully. I am now pretty excited about the future.

  24. This was my first of any of the Flashpoint books. I cried like a little girl! It was great, anyone else have this reaction?

    • i teared up during the letter scene, im human after all. and come to think of it, i dont think i’ve ever teared up while reading a comic. crazy.

  25. Really enjoyed it. It was definitely different than a lot of the events that we’re used to but I thought they hit the landing pretty well. Even got me to choke up a few times.

  26. The overall plot of Flashpoint was pretty loose but I enjoyed this issue. It had enough emotional punch that I was able to overlook some technical issues by the end. Johns did a good job of ratcheting it up first with the arrival of Superman, then Barry’s talk with his mom and finally the letter scene. The storytelling of the letter scene was particularly good. I liked the tease of some big threat to come. All in all, reading Flashpoint got me more pumped for a new era of DC comics so it did its job.

  27. So, is Barry aware of everything that happened before the reboot? Or is it just the memories of his mom? I though DC said that nobody would remember anything.

  28. While I enjoyed the miniseries for the most part, this final ish did fall quite flat for me. There were many good highlights but bottom line it felt like they glossed over every element that we were waiting anxiously to see. Its hard not to feel like, in spite of the posturing the DC gave us about how permanent this relaunch would be, they are setting up the next major event with the potential to back out and return to the previous continuity.

    We all wanted to see the cause and effects that led up to the Flashpoint events…. instead what we got was something akin to Final Crisis/ Infinite Crisis’ explanation of Superboy Prime distorting reality by punching it.

  29. Who was the mystery talking-head?

    Other than that, I thought it was fairly straight-forward. Barry went back to stop himself, and in doing so, a new timeline started. Enter DCnU

    • I second your question. Should we have known who the mystery talking head was? Someone who either showed up previously in Flashpoint or is some DC character I don’t recognize? Or possibly a mystery to be explored in future stories/the next big crossover? Anyone?

    • I simply assumed that it was a new character/set up for whatever the first big New 52 cross-over event shall be . . . of course, my knowlegde of any DCU is less than complete, so it could very well be someone old I did not recognize . . .

    • I’m very curious. Is it someone new, or could it be someone like Traci 13?

  30. I find this book was much more entertaining if read in the voice, if not simply the tone, of Mr. Tom Katers.

  31. Again Flash Point has been fun the whole summer and thank you DC. This book was action packed and the ending well….. I was not expecting any of that; they wrapped it up nicely. So I guess Barry and Bruce are going to be the new best freinds in the new DC; I like that it makes more sense then Hal n Barry or Cal n Bruce.

    Just sayin’,

    K

  32. While I thought that most of this story was a terrible waste, this issue really delivered nicely, mostly by pushing the nonsense of the Flashpoint World to the side in favor of some actual character moments involving characters that we cared about at all. A great finish to a quite less-than-stellar mini.

  33. Flashpoint was just so condensed. It played like a 5 issue recap with brief moments of inexplicable exposition (the Marvel Family introduction). I really liked that it was leading into a reboot so anything could happen, but why did it mostly have to happen off camera. Cracked me up was all the other mini’s ended with “continued in Flashpoint #5” then are addressed for maybe a panel (the outsider in the team ensemble attack pose & Superboy/man for the 1 panel hitting Aquaman & WW). Glad I read it and hope to see more flushing out maybe as Earth-38.

  34. I was disappointed. A rushed issue in terms of both story and art (possibly the worst art I’ve seen from Kubert). Reading the issue, I assumed that the Barry saving his mom was from the Flash, which I don’t read, leading into Flashpoint, but it seems, no it was simply sprung on us here from left field? Sigh. Was I the only one disappointed that all the Flashpoint plots just sorta get cut off? There’s no attempt at resolving the war, the Resistence, the Outsider, anything. I know that’s kinda the point, but, it did make everything else before it seem more cheap. Really the only character who received any type of closure was Thomas Wayne. And now that it is pointed out, yes, how exactly does the time sequence of the last scene fit in? Maybe Flash and Batman know each other pre-Justice League? Otherwise, how could Barry still recall all this five later, or why would he wait so long to give Bruce the letter?. Something’s not adding up here . . .

    All in all, a flawed execution of a promising concept. Still, this week was just the prelude for me (not that excited about Johns’ Justice League either); the real fun for me starts next week.

    • The sequence at the end of the issue is Barry and Bruce now, in the present. Justice League #1 takes place 5 years ago. Action comics #1 must take place a while before that seeing as how Superman is still gaining control over his powers.

  35. Boy did I feel out of the loop. The series stood on it’s own a lot better the first few issues. Having not read any of the tie-ins since some of the #1’s, I had no clue what was going on for a good 2/3 of this book. Superman and other characters came flying out of nowhere for reasons I didn’t know. There seemed to be conclusions to multiple tie-in side stories that I was not up on. Did not enjoy this issue much at all. If the goal was to leave such a bad taste in my mouth, that I am now really looking forward to the new 52 so as to be rid of that bad taste. Mission accomplished.

  36. I loved this. The scene when Bruce receives the letter from his father and tears up broke my cold dead heart.

  37. @mrlogical Might have been said before but the woman in FP#5 is suposed to be in all new 52 issues. she is in JL#1 Football scene

  38. i think the whole of flashpoint was slightly ill-conceived and quite poorly executed! i’m just glad it’s all over and i’m reeeally looking forward to the new DCU! that said, i’m slightly annoyed that they tied the new universe in with the previous one, i would’ve preferred them to be ignorant of each other, but that’s just a minor annoyance?

  39. This event literally ended with a whimper, not a bang.

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