World of Flashpoint #2
Written by Rex Ogle
Art by Eduardo Francisco and Stefani Renee
It’s funny, I actually had a review for the first issue almost done before a crash wiped it out, never got around to rewriting it, but it was favorable. World of Flashpoint is more or less exactly the mini that I came in expecting at its core, but beyond that it does a great job of exploring its title. Writer Rex Ogle uses Traci 13, a character that I have quite honestly no care or affinity for, as his lead and that actually opens up quite a few things story-wise that he might not get out of a more well known character. Without any expectations for Traci, or previous knowledge of how she would act, nothing feels out of character.
Last issue showed us her origin, with her mother and siblings dying when Europe was flooded while she was able to teleport her father to safety. Now, Traci is pretty hardcore into the whole magic scene complete with a 13 branded on her head, scars on the side of her face, and a mentor named Madame Xanadu. She’s also privy, after last issue, to the knowledge that her father and the rest of the H.I.V.E. Council intend to use a satellite for purposes of mass destruction to stop the Atlantis/Themyscria war…though a few hundred million would likely die at the same time. It becomes Traci’s job to save all of those potential victims, the collateral damage of taking out the aggressors. That is, if she can really understand what she’s supposed to do.
What follows from there is a trip around the globe as Traci follows tarot cards and meets faces familiar to we the readers. It isn’t just an excuse to show off “where are they now” moments, it also quite literally shows us the World that is Flashpoint. Traci’s journeys take her from Japan, to South America, to Africa, Australia, and even Antarctica before she finally makes a stop in the U.S. Each stop has a long standing DC character for her to interact with, and for us readers to see the differences in. They are actually quite inspired, and I thought the use of T.O. Morrow and the Red Tornado’s in Japan was incredibly cool. Traci is under the assumption that she is being taken to these places to recruit people to help her, but she doesn’t assemble a team here. Rather, she learns from the different places she winds up…whether or not she learns the right things remains to be seen, but then again, if the point was to show us the various places in the world? Mission accomplished.
In what has become a recurring theme, I am in no way familiar with the artist of this book. At first I was more than a little bit wary of all the creative teams made up of creators I hadn’t heard of, but as far as breaking a new artist in to working at DC there are far worse ways to go. Eduardo Francisco gets a nice showcase in this issue as he gets to show off redesigns for several DC mainstays, and he does a great job of it. The issue looks really good, and Traci especially looks great. At the same time, if the main character, who is on every page, didn’t look good, I’d have to thrash this. Thankfully though she isn’t the only thing that looks good in this issue, and I have to note some things I like; like the Red Tornados. Sure, they are essentially the same thing, but the visual of all of them over Japan was sweet, and I think they look better without capes. I also like the design on Nat Irons, Nazi Fighter, and found her cybernetic arm to be a nice touch to remind characters just who she is supposed to be without beating us over the head with it. I would really like to see Eduardo get more work from DC going forward.
When Flashpoint first started coming out we were treated to a map to show us what the world was like in this new universe, and that map was debuted in title with the first issue of this mini. The first issue did a fine job of showing us where Traci was based out of, but this issue truly lives up to the name “World of Flashpoint”. We see Nazi run South America, and the Tornado’s of Japan. Traci visits a gorilla controlled Africa, and runs into a familiar warrior in Australia. Now, having seen the world itself, she has to be the one to save it. Rex Ogle used two issues to make me care more about Traci 13 than I imagined to be possible, I’m actually lamenting that when the universe gets put back how it was that this version of Traci won’t be around anymore, hell, that we might not have any version of her for a bit. Then again…Traci has been slightly aware of the way things were, With any luck Tony Bedard will tap her as a supporting character in Blue Beetle, as the only thing I knew about her prior to this is that she was Jaime’s girlfriend.
Don’t be turned off by the D-list lead character, the editor writing the book, or the artist you may not have heard of; World of Flashpoint is one of the gems of the event, and definitely worth your time to check out.
Overall?
8.5/10
