Kid Flash Lost #1
Written by Sterling Gates
Art by Oliver Nome and Trevor Scott
The return of Bart Allen in a solo book, even a mini, and written by former Supergirl writer (and at one point supposed Kid Flash writer) Sterling Gates, whose presence I’ve greatly missed since he left the Girl of Steel. This is a selling point for me, heck, this made this into one of my most anticipated Flashpoint tie ins! I figured if Sterling hits a home run here then we might have a chance at a Kid Flash solo series…this before the relaunch announcement promised to redefine just who Kid Flash is, obviously. So what’s the deal with it? Bart makes for the third character to be aware of the changes by the nature of still being himself, but does it make for a good story?
During the last few issues of Flash we saw Hot Pursuit, an alternate reality version of Barry Allen, show up and accuse Bart of being a time anomaly in need of elimination. The anomaly wound up being Zoom, and Hot Pursuit died along the way, but this spins from that. The issue winds up with Hot Pursuit getting ripped from the present by way of chronal-evac before the focus shifts to Bart. Bart in an endless race against his verbally abusive Grandpa Barry. Barry hitting on all of Bart’s issues and doubts while he chases after him trying to figure out what’s wrong. It’s during a random stop that he finally looks past the abuse of Barry to see that…nothing here is right. There are nice nods to small moments of continuity, as well as something that I had actually forgot even happened to Bart, and then we get to find out some heavy heavy truths.
Like that Bart is in the year 3011, and just what the world looks like then. And that there is no Speed Force, which means he’s just a kid in a spandex costume in a not so friendly future. On top of that, he’s a prisoner of a pretty well known despot…and he’s not the only one, Hot Pursuit is there as well! Only now he’s a chick! Yeah, that spoiler is on the house. And the future…it’s a disturbing place. Now, Hot Pursuits identity I’ve been wrestling over how to bring to you, as while it’s a spoiler, it’s something I really want to go on a review worthy rant of. Decision?
The new Hot Pursuit is Patty Spivot. Yes, that’s right, “Who?” The chick that Johns brought back in Flash, from Barry’s pre-Grey’s lifetime supporting cast, who the assumed fan knowledge and understanding and nostalgia just didn’t come through for. It wasn’t enough for her to get shoe horned into a book instead of characters fans wanted to read when it was Flash, but now she’s Hot Pursuit with a super speed motorcycle. And why? Because apparently while helping to clean up the Central City Police Lab after Zoom tore through it, she took Hot Pursuit’s gear (rewind to the beginning of the issue and it makes a bit more sense now). So now Patty wasn’t brought back for the sake of bringing back a character nobody was clamoring for or cared about it. She was brought back so she could be Hot Pursuit and give people a reason to care. Well, jury is out on this one, but seeing her in this issue created a sour taste as it stirred the memories of the final craptastic issues of Flash.
Oliver Nome joins the list of Flashpoint creators that needed to be googled to be spoken about, which puts him with Eddie Nunez as artists who are coming to us fresh from DC Universe Online. My first thoughts are that I would have loved to seen his work on Teen Titans, as Kid Flash actually looks like a teenager. Some of the faces look a little odd, mainly in the nose area, but other than that I like the way this book looks. The apocalyptic future looks like something out of a horror movie even with pink stasis bubbles everywhere. I’m looking forward to seeing if Nome gets better as this mini moves on.
At the end of the day this wasn’t a phenomenal issue, and on first read it wasn’t even that good, but a day later and two reads through and I can sort of see where Sterling is taking this book. Bart is an anomaly who we already know is coming out of Flashpoint with a new look and who know what else; which means this mini series could either be the swansong of the Bart Allen we’ve known for the last almost twenty years, or it could wind up being the connection between past and future. The use of Patty in this book is my biggest groan, while the readily apparent movie references made me grin. It’s not perfect, but I enjoyed it.
Overall?
6/10
