Amid all the dross of Flashpoint tie-ins, Jeff Lemire's Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown stood out like a bolt of lightning. It felt like a Bronze Age comic done in modern times. It also seemed like a backdoor pilot for this post-reboot title, which is half-true: Many of the characters from that book have carried over into this one, but it's a very modern book -- sometimes in cool ways, but sometimes to the point of cliche. First the cool things: Lemire's playing around with some wacky, wacky ideas, from the miniaturized base in a flying snow globe to S.H.A.D.E.'s 24-hour disposable minions. The book moves at a brisk pace and we get to the action really fast. Now, the cons. I could go the rest of my life without another zany "meet your new partner!" "I work alone!" gag straight out of a buddy-cop movie. Or the "I'm estranged from my ex-wife but now I have to work with her" trope. It doesn't feel fresh or original, which surprises me, because Jeff Lemire has a good track record of fresh and original twists in his first issues, even Superboy. I'm curious to see where it goes, so I'll stick around a while longer. Maybe where Frankenstein is concerned, creative lightning can strike twice.