In terms of Flashpoint, this is a book that should carry some significance and weight. Unfortunately this is an average at best book that falls woefully short of any expectations I may have had. Abin Sur has either briefly appeared or been mentioned in several Flashbook titles. After the first issue simply served as a vehicle to get Abin Sur to earth, I expected this issue to establish him in the Flashpoint timeline and launch his story forward. Neither of these things really happened.

Adam Schlagman writes the story which moves at a ridiculously fast pace. No relationships are really established and the story never stays in one place long enough to gain your interest. With the exception of one seemingly important conversation at the end of the book, there is nothing here remotely satisfying. The dialogue is sparce and some of it is really poorly written. One particularly bad exhange has Abin Sur stunning Cyborg by saying he is not here to help Earth but then saying “I want to help you and your world” only two sentences later in the same conversation. Everything in the story feels hurried. Even the one meaningful conversation at the end seems to be rushed. There is some good information given here but not enough to save the issue.

The quality of the art falls in line with the quality of the story. The first page sets the tone for the very sub-par artwork. There are times where a character’s expression seem completely out of place with the context of the panel. Also characters like Cyborg and Sinestro are terribly inconsistent both in their look and appearances. The action sequences are poorly rendered and the overall color and tone of the book is unattractive. While there are a few decent panels, overall this wasn’t a very good looking book.

Both the story and the art seems rushed and this book, which should be important, feels poorly conceived. We do get a little bit of new information and the ending does lay out some questions. But this is an issue and a series that can be considered one of the bigger disappointments in the Flashpoint tie-ins.