FLASH REBIRTH #5 (OF 6)

Review by: Desaad

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Avg Rating: 4.3
 
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Size: pages
Price: 2.99

This review contains spoilers, click here to read

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. Hmm, interesting arguments especially concerning strong lead in to an on-going and this story is rather dense if you view it as an intro to the serial.

    However the repeating oneself point leaves scratching my head. Most artists do repeat themselves. It’s a style they can be recognized by and it’s a good career move to have a consistent output. How many writers, directors, or musicians do you know that do something utterly different, completely reinvents themselves each output. Not many. An dn ot many do it successfully. You can’t fault an artist for having a recognizable style/approach to his craft.

    Now, you mention that Barry seems to feel alone but without any particular reason. Then you mention Johns lost the opportunity to explore the warped world view a speedster. I think you just convinced yourself to ignore the obvious there. Barry’s distorted world-view is directly responsible for his feeling alone. He even dorectly mentions that a speedsters weakness is having to slow down for everyone else.

    Good review, thanks for contributing to the discussion!

  2. Good review. I think there’s something to JJ’s criticism of your criticism, but on the other hand I think other writers can repeat themselves without us noticing/complaining because the work still seems fresh. I’m not sure that’s the case with Johns. I don’t think many people would have a problem if Flash Rebirth were a lot like Green Lantern Rebirth AND it was just as inventive, cool, fun, seemingly necessary, etc etc etc whatever. I could easily imagine people saying "Flash Rebirth is the same formula–but it still works as well as ever!" Lots of artists/authors repeat motifs–that’s what sorta gives them a particular style, yeah–but from what I can tell it seems like Johns is more or less RELYING on that style, going through the motions to an extent, to get this series out.

    What do I know, though. I’m not even reading this anymore. 🙂 Probably pick it up in trade ESPECIALLY if people keep comparing it to the tedium of Lo3W (which I LIKED).

  3. @Jumping Jupiter – My issue with Johns ‘repeating himself’ isn’t that he’s playing with the same THEMES that he regularly does, it’s that he’s boiled this down into a FORMULA. The events, and the sequence in which they occur, the nature of the reveals…it’s almost exact mirror. Consider — the hero feels that something has been off with him, that he’s changed somehow. He thinks he’s to blame, that he just doesn’t fit. Then at the end of the 4th issue of the series, his arch nemesis, his antithesis, reveals himself and lets it be known that he’s responsible for a great deal of the crap in his life. The heroes comrades in arms rally to his side and together they combat this big threat.

    Which Rebirth am I describing there? 

    Yeah, someone like Morrison likes to play with metatextual commentary, but not only is that not all he does (all of his work has layer upon layer of subtext and meaning) and the structures and focuses of his stories are different almost every time. Guys like Robinson or Rucka have very definite *styles* as well, but they don’t just re-use characters and story outlines. I’m fine with exploring certain themes across multiple works, in multiple contexts, but there has to be a variation in the manner in which they are explored. For what it’s worth, I think Millar is guilty of the Johns-style storytelling as well.

    Now I don’t necessarily think it’s fair to assume that Barry’s very sudden alienation stems from being out of sync from reality. I think that would be a really fun, very interesting tact to take on what being a Flash means, especially if it’s explored with any real depth or intelligence, but that throwaway line doesn’t feel like it’s endeavoring to do that. And maybe that’s just me, but I don’t think Hal felt aliennated from society, either. I think it’s just a reoccuring aspect of Johns’ characters — this need for someone else to complete them. Hawkman needed Kendra, the JSA needed each other, Hal needs the Corps, the Flash needs his family (and especially Iris), Booster needed Ted Kord, Black Adam needed Isis….It’s something he likes about his characters, which I don’t have a problem with, but I think the psychology of a Flash is something that is absolutely ripe to be explored. Waid made Wally an everyman, a fine tact, but you can do stuff that is so much more…out there. 

     And Flapjaxx — I totally agree that part of my problem with Johns is that I’ve just become overexposed to him. He’s done so much work with so many of my favorite characters, and I’ve ENJOYED a lot of that work, but you just start to see the cracks. It’s bound to happen with any creator, really, but sometimes they go beyond that. I recently went back and read almost the entirity of my Ellis collection, going back to his very earliest work for Marvel, DC, Wildstorm, etc and going up to now…and I love him, but he’s incredibly repetitive. 

     

  4. You make very fair and reasonable points. In my review I point out that the goals of this mini are great. I’m betting Johns is prioritizing and we’ll get more of what you desire in an on-going.

    Great discussion.

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