Reviewer: Mathan “Wally Would Destroy Wolverine!” Erhardt
Story Title: The Secret of Barry Allen Part One
Written by: Geoff Johns
Penciled by: Howard Porter
Inked by: Livesay
Lettered by: Pat Brosseau
Colored by: James Sinclair
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Publisher: DC Comics
This issue takes place after the events of Identity Crisis #4
Finally we get to see some of the reverberations from Identity Crisis! Wally recounts the events that have occurred in that title while he speeds off to visit with his old friend Nightwing. He gets to San Francisco and he watched the Titans interrogate Monsieur Mallah and the Brain.
Nightwing and Flash have a heart to heart, and Wally confesses that in light of the recent events he needs help finding his estranged wife. That’s probably a good thing, considering the Keystone Police are investigating Wally’s personal life.
At the Watchtower the leaguers who battled Deathstroke are licking their wounds. Wally confronts them about the whole mindwiping incident. Green Arrow suggests that they speak in private. It’s there that Wally confronts his guilt over a selfish act on his part. Ollie tries to assuage Wally’s guilt. Wally goes to see his aunt Iris.
Iris and Wally have a touching conversation about events current and past. Then she tells Wally that Green Arrow has something that Barry left for him. Wally dashes off to find Ollie, who give him a letter. Wally begins to read. To be continued.
Johns is a fantastic writer. Each of his books has such a unique voice that I often forget he writes too many. Case in point; I was marveling at how in character the Titans and Kid Flash were, until I remembered that Geoff writes Teen Titans. This issue really shows how well Geoff has a grasp on Wally’s character. Wally’s thoughts and actions are completely believable. His conversations with Nightwing, Iris, Ollie and even Bart show how human Wally really is. My only qualm is the interlude with the Rogues. Would Ralph even accept flowers from them?
Artistically the book looks great. Porter and Livesay make a great team whose work really compliments each other. They do a really good job of capturing the emotion on Wally’s face, throughout the issue. And that shadow on the last page is a haunting one.
