Flashpoint Catch Up 2 - Flashpoint 1

Ok so after reading Booster Gold 44 it’s onto Flashpoint 1.  The flagship mega event title and to be fair I read this comic after catching up on X-men: Schism, Spider Island and Fear Itself (that’s right 3 events from Marvel in one summer) so I might have been suffering from event fatigue.

Flashpoint is a Flash headlined mega event and the Flash here is Barry Allen or though not quite the Flash we know and the comic does set out where he has found himself and how he deals with it.  We get some more exposition on the state of the world with Aquaman and Wonder Woman feuding in Europe and we see Cyborg get some real attention as he appears to be the main hero of this world.  The comic stumble along quite merrily until we get to the end and an absolutely great twist which just as my attention span was waning makes me want to read Flashpoint 2 very soon.  However a quick check of the reading list shows I have about 20 tie ins to get through before that issue and I haven’t even bought half of them yet.

Flashpoint 1 gives a lot of questions and not many answers.  The main protagonists in this story whilst seemingly in different situations don’t seem too different to how they are in the normal DCU (or old DCU depending on if they’ve changed at all in the new DCnU).  Flashpoint does a good job of establishing a few major players, fleshing out the apocalyptic world the heroes now inhabit and dangles just enough carrot for me to want to read more.  It’s not by any means a great comic though; it comes across as trying to much and achieving too little.

I love alternative world comics.  It gives a chance for writers and artists to really cut loose on established characters and imprint their own vision.  However what we get here are basically the same people with one notable exception just in a different scenario.  The art is good and solid and has the mega summer event feel to it.  Andy Kubert (a top name artist) aided by Sandra Hope and Alex Sinclair on inks and pens deliver a sparkly beautiful if shallow comic that will please many and disappoint few.

To sum it up for me this is a Geoff Johns comic and I love his work, especially on Green Lantern, JSA and Booster Gold but Johns Flash has always left me cold and bored.  Although slightly more interesting in this story due to the Elseworld vibe I still put the comic down feeling very unsatisfied save for a very good ending.