DC Comics reviews for 12/13/17

The Flash #36

Joshua Williamson seems to have a newfound confidence. Initially on his writing gig run on The Flash, he established new lanes so as not to disturb the established continuity too much. Issue #36 was a strong indicator that Williamson is completely comfortable with the character with a willingness now to revisit newly created characters and fold them into the old guard.

Williamson is at his best here as he reinforces Barry Allen is a detective as well as a superhero and he loves cracking a good mystery. There’s some fun teases of previous mysteries that I’m optimistic Williamson revisits at some point maybe just as stories for the next annual. They’re too good to be casually mentioned and never referenced again.

Now, Flash has a doozy following the death of a Rogue in Iron Heights prison. The Rogue in question isn’t an A-lister, but one who had such an interesting premise I wish Williamson worked him in earlier.

I don’t want to spoil too many details, but this arc already looks promising with the new scheme underway and a potential new member of The Rogues.

Howard Porter is back as the artist this issue. Porter’s work is crammed with so much detail, but he never lets it get overwhelming. The panels really serve to create a lush environment and Hi-Fi’s color work is sharp.

This is a strong kickoff to a new Flash arc and an ideal jumping on point for new readers ready to run a lap with this consistently strong title.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10