Spoiler Warning!
I haven’t written up any issues of Flashpoint so far. Frankly, I haven’t been able to muster the energy. On the whole, it has been a disappointment. But not one worth ranting about. Flashpoint to date has been a pretty trite alternate universe story padded out to five issues (and dozens of tie-ins) when the story could have been told in 2-3 issues tops.
With my general dislike of Flashpoint in mind, the final issue is easily the best. It does everything the book needs to do in order to conclude the story and set up the new status quo going forward. I still feel like this would have been more appropriate as a straight-forward Flash story than a universe-altering line-wide event, but putting that aside Flashpoint #5 is reasonably well executed.
Essentially, all hell is breaking loose as the various factions of the Flashpoint Universe go to all-out war. Johns highlights a few characters here and there, but mostly the action is focused on Barry, Zoom and Batman.
Aside from completing the story beats necessary to set up a new DCU, Flashpoint #5 delivers a few cool moments. And I’m about to spoil them, so turn back now if you don’t want to be spoiled.
Early on, Zoom starts monologuing. Turns out, he didn’t create the Flashpoint Universe. Barry did. Barry tried to save his mother which somehow created this alternate timeline.
Exactly how the dominoes fell is never explained. And I think the story as a whole would have been better served if this revelation had happened at the end of act one instead of the beginning of the finale. Then we could have taken some time to explore how Barry’s decision created a chain of events that lead to Aquaman becoming a bloodthirsty tyrant.
But the revelation was unexpected. And any surprise is welcome.
Another cool moment, during the battle Superman shows up an turns the tide of battle. Barry looks up and says “I knew it.” In any universe, you can always count on Superman. It was the kind of fan-boy moment that Johns excels at.
Later, Zoom is still monologuing. For a guy who is so fast, you’d think he’d get more done and spend less time gloating. Zoom’s gloat to action ration is way out of whack. As he’s boasting about how Barry can never hurt him, the Thomas Wayne Batman impales him from behind. Again, a pretty cool surprise and one totally in character for this version of Batman.
Of course, Barry finally makes his way back in time and stops himself from altering the timeline to begin with. There’s a two-page spread of comics mumbo jumbo that indicates that multiple timelines are being smooshed together. Barry might as well have hit a big ol’ “retcon” button. But this is comics. The explanation is adequate by super hero comic book standards.
When Barry returns, he meets up with Bruce/Batman in the Batcave. They are now wearing their new universe costumes. Barry explains what happened although Bruce seems to have figured most of it out already. Bruce tells Barry that if he had the power, he’d be tempted to do the same thing. Barry reveals that he remembers his Flashpoint life.
What’s unclear to me is whether or not any of them realize that the new universe has been altered. Barry indicates that as far as he knows, everything is back to normal. Neither seems to notice their costumes are different. So I guess they will think that Flashpoint was something that happened, but without consequences.
The final moment (and probably the coolest) is when Barry delivers a message to Bruce from his dad. Yeah, that will get you a little misty. That Geoff Johns. He’s a manipulative bastard.
If I’m judging Flashpoint as a whole, I still think it was a disaster. But this issue is about as good as one could have hoped for given the mess that preceded it. It’s Geoff Johns’ at his best in a storyline that often represented the writer at his worst.
Check out Cal Cleary’s Weekly Round-Up of the DCnU
What I am struggling with the most as a connection point. Is how in Flashpoint #5 does Flash and Batman recognize each other, but when you get to Justice League #1. Batman, Superman and Lantern don’t know each other. Maybe I am just missing the connection between Flashpoint and Justice League.
That’s because Justice League #1 takes place 5 years before Flashpoint #5. I’m sure that creates some kind of timeloop that would give me a headache.
I’m still stuck wondering how the Flashpoint timeline got so messed up to begin with. Originally, Barry’s mom was alive. Zoom killed her which had absolutely no effects on the timeline whatsoever. Barry stops him from changing the timeline and then the timeline goes absolutely haywire.
Somehow, Barry stopping Zoom from altering the timeline changed things in WW2. Huh?????
Then Barry stops himsef from stopping Zoom and it completely changes everything again making it so the JSA never existed on this earth.
Wha?????
I’m just gonna go with it. Hopefully no one decides to revisit the mess that was Flashpoint.
I guess the only answer we’re getting is Zoom’s line: Flash’s actions were like a bullet through a windshield, shattering History when hitting it while pulling the entire Speed Force on him.
Yeah, and I’m willing to roll with that answer. Not because it makes sense but because I would rather just move on.
Like Inti Carrizo-Ortiz said, the fact that Barry pulled the Speed Force into himself to change time and stop Zoom is probably why his altering of time was so severe. This most likely led to Jay Garrick never accessing the Speed Force, thus the JSA isn’t as effective, causing the Government to have to create the Creature Commandos to make up for the fact that no Metahumans were willing to assist during the War, and snowballing from there.
It’s comics, so I’ll buy it
Justice League #1 is set 5 years in the new DCU’s past.
I guess, since originally Barry’s mom was alive, it was Zoom’s lie to say that stopping the killing created the Flashpoint reality. Instead, leaving his mom dead, it’s what created the new DCnU reality.
Confusing but good nonetheless
Flashpoint was pure garbage!! What a complete mess! It was so stupid and so poorly laid out that they just dragged the dumb thing way to long. I agree 2 books TOPS! But 5 books with all those stupid tie ins. Ridiculous!
DC once again shows the world how fucked up they truly are. DC deserves to fall for putting out such garbage.
Batman knows it all? HOW!??!?! It is no wonder why DC is in the toilet for putting out such crappy books for years.
lol
How do you really feel?
Flashpoint either needed to be shorter, with less scope, or a lot longer with a lot more depth and improvement to its internal logic and consistency.
As mentioned above, the story is full of plot holes (how did anything any human did affect the trajectory of Kal-El’s rocket). But as Lebeau says, you kind of just need to roll with it or wither in agony.
To me, #5 felt a little rushed and the climax a bit puzzling (the epilogue with Bruce in the Batcave was pretty good). At least it’s over. Hahaha.
My vote would be for shorter with less scope. It seems to me the story was intended to be a Flash story that would allow for a few continuity tweaks (because Johns can’t help himself). And it would have worked on that level. But they clearly amped it up and turned it into the big, bloated thing it became. If they had taken the time to raise the level of execution, it might have worked as a universe-altering event. But as Cal pointed out in his weekly recap, FP was just plain lazy. So what we got was Johns at his worst. Lots of padding that centers around “kewl” fan-boi moments and a rushed finish that doesn’t so much resolve the story as sweep it under the rug and set up the next big thing.
Fortunately, it’s over and we can forget about it along with almost everyone in the DCU.
Some people seem to love it and some people seem to hate it, I just thought Flashpoint made no sense at the end…but isn’t that the fun in comics? Maybe not? But it’s cool that DC is doing The New 52, and a lot of the new titles are pretty good. My favorite is Animal Man, such a great last page. We just posted a video on the transition, Flashpoint 5 and new the new JL: