Friday, May 19, 2017

Flash #22

      This issue wraps up the four-part crossover with The Flash and The Batman as they explore the mystery behind "The Button," which somehow links the DC Universe to the Watchmen series.

   Sadly, the series leaves the heroes still completely in the dark, and their brief visit to the Flashpoint Universe was just an exercise in frustration.

   The issue picks up with Barry and Bruce chasing the Reverse-Flash across time and reality - the villain hopes to find the power who has changed DC's reality (but he's not going to like the answer he finds).

   The heroes arrive moments later, and they meet a different surprise guest star, who I won't name except to say that, as a long-time reader, I was very happy indeed to see him.

   This series really just accomplishes one thing: it sets up this fall's big event from DC, which is being called Doomsday Clock.

   It is interesting to note a couple of things about this series: it seems to be bringing back the concept of Hypertime (which I'm not sure I ever understood, except that it's another way of saying "Alternate Earths"); and, as others have noted, it's interesting that there was so much bitterness about the Beyond Watchmen series, and almost none to this reworking of the series to bring it into the DC Universe (which seems like a much more harsh treatment of the concepts created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons).

   You never know what's going to tick off the fans!

Grade: B

---------------------

 

3 comments:

El Vox said...

I never understood the bitterness over Beyond Watchman. I enjoyed it myself. Some of the stories were better than others, but the same is true for any comic. I heard one guy exclaim on a podcast that to him it came off as fan fiction. I wanted to say: Hello, you know X-Men isn't written by Kirby & Lee anymore and Superman isn't still made by Siegel and Shuster anymore, and so on, right? So I can't see the complaint.

Chuck said...

I agree. I could sympathize more with Moore if the Watchmen characters were truly original, but they're almost all taken directly from Charlton's heroes - and certainly Moore didn't hesitate to make major changes to the characters he wrote that were created by others (Captain Britain, Marvelman, Swamp Thing). I mean, I'm sorry he's upset, but he doesn't have much of a foundation to base his outrage on.

Kevin Findley said...

Moore doesn't need a foundation, he has his pack of rabid fandogs.