- Written by Van Jensen
- Art by Gus Vazquez & Joe Eisma
- Colours by Guy Major
- Cover by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Alex Sinclair
The Flash’s world is in utter chaos: he’s wanted by the police, headed by his adoptive father. His enemies, The Rogues, have been deputized to take him in. And it couldn’t be a worse time for The Riddler to stake his claim as the most dangerous man in Central City!
Pickup your copy of ‘The Flash’ #51 @ Comixology now!
‘The Flash’ comics have been making some interesting creative choices recently. Choices which have really kept the comics separate from the TV series. Where fans have lobbied complaints at ‘Green Arrow’ comics for pandering to audiences of the TV series ‘The Flash’ has not.
The most recent arc which has led us to ‘Under the Gun’ (the sub-title of this issue) has seen a mysterious foe bring together the rogues of ‘The Flash’ to rally against him. At the close of issue #51 that foe was unveiled as The Riddler.
I have now caught up with the whole of New 52 ‘The Flash’ and it seems an unusual choice to bring The Riddler in to his world but ‘Under the Gun’ does a good job of explaining it. The Riddler is simply curious how to defeat a man who is faster than a speeding bullet, borrowing a line from another DC Comics hero.
With Rebirth fast approaching ‘The Flash’ has to quickly wrap up its storyline by the close of issue #52 so there’s a lot to get through in twenty-four pages. ‘Under the Gun’ runs fast throughout, pardon the pun. It very quickly contextualises Riddler and moves the rogues gang out of the way to get Barry in a position to setup the final issue of the arc.
The threat level in ‘Under the Gun’ is high with Riddler having cornered Flash and leaving him with very few options on how to save his friends and family but there’s little time for to take in what you are reading as the story quickly moves to the next beat. But that’s not to say this isn’t a story worth reading, I like seeing a hero confronted by the villain of another as it can often breathe new life in to both characters.
With Riddler coming off the back of his breakout performance in the arc ‘Zero Year’ in Batman comics his profile is high so it makes sense to pit him against another hero who is currently riding his in popularity.
The closing panels of the issue setup what should make for an interesting albeit not action packed conclusion to the pre-Rebirth run of ‘The Flash’.
Where the story falls down a little in ‘Under the Gun’ the artwork exceeds expectations. Throughout New 52 ‘The Flash’ has been a visually challenging book, with travel through the speed force to different dimensions and locales across the globe. It undoubtedly offers artists a chance to go a bit crazy in comparison to other lines in the DC Comics universe.
‘Under the Gun’ features quite a basic setting for a ‘The Flash’ comic but offers artists Vasuez and Eisma a chance to really focus on the character designs rather than losing them in an expansive environment. I really like their take on Riddler as well as how they draw Flash. Faces remain consistent which we will know can be a real pain in multi-artist comics so there’s very little drawback to reading this issue.
‘Under the Gun’ is an enjoyable read but I can’t help but feel the story is being wrapped up overly quickly to make way for Rebirth.
3 stars
