by tonydoug wright

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1, Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo (Writers), Ken Lashley (Artist)

I should have stopped reading The Flash when Geoff Johns gave up his position as writer to work on The Green Lantern, but being a fan of The Scarlet Speedster, I decided to stay true to the series and see what DC had in store for my beloved Flash. Unfortunately, it has been one letdown after another and the latest issue by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, former writers for The Flash TV show, only adds to my disillusionment.

The first issue, titled Lightning in a Bottle, focuses on Bart Allen (a.k.a. The Kid Flash) who has aged four years in a short amount of time. Bart is living with a male chauvinistic pig named Griffin and both men work for a car manufacturing company that is in the middle of a major labor strike. Apparently, the company is being terrorized by a saboteur who may or may not be involved with the labor strike. Also, Bart has been experiencing vivid nightmares about his days of being the Kid Flash, which ties in with the issues main question of “Who will be the next Flash?”

Overall, this is not an exciting start to a new Flash series because Bilson and DeMeo’s have delivered a lackluster issue that seems to go nowhere. Are comic book readers willing to accept Bart Allen as the new Flash or will DC put Wally West back in the scarlet uniform? Hopefully, someone will step in and save The Flash series.

Daredevil #86, Ed Brubaker (Writer), Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano (Artists)

Daredevil readers have been waiting for the moment when Matt Murdock makes his escape from prison, and writer Ed Brubaker has begun the process with issue #86. As heir to the Daredevil series, Brubaker has dropped issue after issue of action-packed and pulse-pounding stories that have included the murder of Foggy Nelson, the incarceration of The Punisher, and a reluctant alliance between Murdock and Wilson Fisk (a.k.a. The Kingpin).

Issue #86 is part five of The Devil in Cell Block D series, but Brubaker should have taken a Sly Stone approach and named the series There’s a Riot Goin’ On, because Murdock, Kingpin, Bullseye, and The Punisher are in the middle of a full-blown prison riot, which was started to take out Murdock and The Kingpin. The alliance between the two is tested and everything comes to a head when Murdock refuses to be associated with the likes of The Kingpin and Bullseye.

Readers of Daredevil should be excited that Brubaker has begun the great escape for Matt Murdock. Not only do we have Murdock planning his departure from prison but he is joining up with The Punisher to do so. Apparently, everything is coming to a close for Murdock’s time in jail or maybe Brubaker is teasing us for a major twist.

Loveless #8, Brian Azzarello (Writer), Danijel Zezelj (Artist)

Loveless has been on my “must read” list for some time now, but I have been somewhat reluctant to read the story because as a historian I get a tad bit too nit-picky when it comes to period pieces. I want to enjoy a story, not dispute the types of rifles or pistols being fired or tactics used by the soldiers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of Azzarello’s 100 Bullets but I was not sure if I was ready for a Civil War era gritty crime drama. Issue #8 was my first introduction to the series and I was not disappointed.

The story follows a man named Wes Cutter who served for the Confederacy during the war but later becomes a sheriff for a town called Blackwater. Cutter’s nemesis is a man named Jeremiah Trotter, a Yankee, who apparently took his land. There is definitely some tension between the two characters and apparently Cutter also is bitter about a relationship with a woman named Ruth.

A good way to describe Loveless is that it is a spaghetti western written by Quentin Tarantino. The Civil War flashbacks are exciting but the dialogue is more True Romance than say, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Azzarello has taken a risk by writing a comic book that is set during the 1860s-1870s but the risk paid off.