The Flash #228
Publisher: DC Comics
Year Published: 2006
Writer: Joey Cavalieri
Pencils: Val Semeiks
Gems in the Bin is a weekly column where I select a comic book from the $.25 bin at Fanfare Sports and Entertainment in Kalamazoo, Michigan for review. Will I strike gold or will I pay too much for an awful comic that should have been shredded? This week, I am reviewing The Flash #228 from DC Comics.
I am a huge fan of The Flash, and was delighted to find a Flash comic book in the $.25 bin at my local comic book store. The cover for issue #228 is very comical as it shows an angry Flash holding two twin babies in a cemetery while Nightwing is jumping towards someone while throwing some sort of blade in the air. My apologies to the Nightwing fans for not knowing the name of this weapon.
The story involves Wally West trying to locate a device known as The Summoner. His journey takes him from the Flash Museum to a bizarre encounter with the Mirror Master to the S.T.A.R. Labs where The Summoner is in the possession of Cyborg. Once The Flash finds The Summoner, he is transported to a weird cult facility where he loses possession of it to Vandal Savage.
I’m doing my best to write this review knowing that I am reading a comic book that is in the middle of a specific arc. After reading The Flash #228, I was not impressed with the story, nor was I interested in checking out the rest of the issues for that arc. The comic book, in my opinion, suffered from the dreaded expositional dialogue and seemed to put too much plot development in one issue. The encounters with Mirror Master and Vandal Savage could have been broken up into two comics because while both were mildly interesting, they failed to capture my interest. Also, both Mirror Master and Vandal Savage tried too hard to be deep and philosophical and the end result was a barrage of verbiage that led to many sighs from this reader.
The art was pretty good and the panels were well developed. There were two splash pages that were very nice. One was of the Mirror Master being shown in various skyscrapers tormenting The Flash, which was very cool. The other was one of Cyborg at S.T.A.R. Labs, which was good, but not as impressive as the Mirror Master splash.
Overall, this book would have been a more enjoyable read if the author had not crammed so much plot into one issue. The expositional dialogue from The Flash was not necessary and did nothing to advance the plot. If I were to find more Flash comics in the $.25 bin from this author, then I would pass.
RATING: SKIM IT!
———————————
TonyDoug Wright is the owner and head writer at Champion City Comics, a webcomics community, and at The Lost Soul of Rock and Roll, a weekday rock music blog. He is also a proud father and is married to the coolest and most beautiful girl on the planet.
