Future State is off to a solid start as the Flash navigates a future without the Speed Force while searching for an evil Wally West channeling his best Eobard Thawne impression. Read Full Review

FUTURE STATE: THE FLASH #1 is incredibly well-paced"packed with action yet easy to follow. Read Full Review

While it isn't the brightest future you'd want for the Flash Family, it is a compelling story that I want to see more of...... mostly so I can understand the things that led up to this point I was dropped into, but the art is amazing and the characters feel right, which is pretty solid all by itself but you also get some cool action and a Barry Allen who's done taking any shit by the end. Read Full Review

Overall, though, while this issue is exciting, it's best described as grim from the start to the finish. Barry is essentially trying to decide if he can still save his surrogate son or if he has to kill him, and the signs aren't looking good. It's a rather depressing topic executed well, and it's odd that so far it's Batman of all the big franchises that seems to have the most hope for its hero's legacy in this event. Read Full Review

This title may have served better as a Tale from the Dark Multiverse rather than the Future State line, however it's still a fun read and you'll definitely be left wanting to further explore this world. Read Full Review

Future State: The Flash #1 is a solid story arc for an ongoing series. It feels like one of those fill-in stories in between bigger arcs that lasts a few issues. The comic doesn't blow me away, or excite me, but it's still a good read that's entertaining. Read Full Review

Wally West is a murderer…or is he? Barry won't believe it and even without the Speed Force, he's going to find a way to save the former Kid Flash, even if that means losing everything. It's a dark time for the Flash Family. Read Full Review

Despite incredible art,Future State - The Flash #1 is a messy comic storywise. Overreliance on expositional dialogue and a lack of exploring the world it's set in leaves a comic readers will be struggling to remember. Additionally, for a comic that's supposed to be set in the future, there's nothing to actually make it feel as though it's anything other than the present. Read Full Review

As a standalone Flash story, this debut works well, especially in the art department. Vietti's story, while ordinary, captures the characters' voices and tone. Eaglesham's art paired with Mike Aityeh's colors remains the strongest aspect of the issue. They give the book its own pop-sci-fi sensibility that lends itself to the narrative. However, when one places the issue within the broader scope of the DC Universe, it unfortunately falls short. Read Full Review

Dale Eaglesham's art is great. There is a classic look and feel to the art that I enjoyed. Read Full Review

Even Dale Eaglesham's artwork can't save this issue, which is dire, joyless and doesn't go anywhere. In other words, it's everything a Flash comic shouldn't be, though it does look good. Read Full Review

As an adventure comic it succeeds, but readers have to hope the creative team has enough time to craft a story that pays off in the end. Read Full Review

Perhaps future issues will make better use of the many, many elements used here, but this initial chapter needs a spit shine. Read Full Review

Future State: The Flash #1 is disappointing. While tackling very interesting ideas, the events happen so fast that the reader is left disjointed. Some huge events occur but arent quite given justice within the page. Barry himself is well-written, but some of those around him behave strangely. Each member of the Flash Family has a unique personality, and that isn't present here. The issue is so bleak its hard to get through. The art is good, but it's not got the power to carry the issue by itself. A poor start to the new series, it's hard to see where the series will be taken next. Read Full Review

Are you a Flash fan? If so, make sure you've read the best Flash stories of all time. Read Full Review

Vietti manages to do a step worse than HIC making for a dismal and bleak read. This is a future that few Flash fans will want to see become a reality and is a major step backwards for one of the flagship DC characters in this new era. Read Full Review

This was my first Flash comic. Since I’m not invested in the flash family I wasn’t upset like many readers are. I found it to be a fun, thrilling read.

Prior to diving into a mostly negative review, I'd like to mention at the outset that this issue isn't terrible. The story is competent, the art is decent and in line with most books using DC's house style. If this was my first experience with The Flash I can't say I'd dislike the issue. Every comic is someone's first and I try to keep that in mind when I'm reading a comic or posting a review. I can see a portion of the audience really enjoying this comic for what it is and maybe even seeing it as a great start to a two-part story. I also would like to mention that this was also my stance on the Wally West depiction in Tom King's Heroes In Crisis. I saw that series as a legit character assassination but If you didn't have much experience with the character It probably wasn't a big deal. Heroes in Crisis was still a crappy series but you probably didn't lose sleep over Wally's fall from grace.


Wally is probably the only Flash that many comic readers know. He's been a staple in comics for decades and Is the version of the character I have the most experience with. When I started reading comics Barry Allen had been long dead. I didn't really read DC comics in the '90s but I did have a few issues of Mark Waid's run on the character and Wally West always stood out as one of DC's finest. He's my favorite DC character next to Batman and Wonder Woman and I know a lot of other people feel the same way about him. Wally's been featured in hundreds of comics so It's bewildering to me that in the past few years DC has gone out of the way to destroy this character and his legacy with fans.


In "Heroes in Crisis" the big twist was that Wally West was the Sanctuary killer and that his endgame was an attempted suicide (Yikes). The twist didn't really make sense to fans of the character and turned many readers against Tom King. Tom was already on a downward slide as a result of questionable decisions made during his run on Batman. I'm told that Scott Lobdell did a lot to rehab the character in his "Flash Forward" Mini-Series. Unfortunately with Future State, the assassination of Wally West's legacy continues.


The comic opens with tragedy as it is revealed that Wally has stolen part of the Speed Force from members of the Flash Family and was also responsible for the death of Kid Flash. To accommodate for the loss and even the odds against Wally. Barry Allen assembles a team of speedsters to obtain the weapons of the Flash Rogues gallery. The team launches a raid on "The Calculator" in order to obtain his Thinking Cap. The heroes obtain the cap but one of the speedsters is killed in the process.


After the loss, we're told that the plan is to modify the Thinking cap to allow the team to locate Wally within the Speedforce. The team does manage to find Wally but the plan goes horribly wrong and yet another speedster is killed in the process.


If you're totally disconnected from Wally's history, this is simply a pretty dark and morbid Flash comic. If you're a fan of Wally West this is another giant Fuck you to his fanbase. It's always a bitter pill to see a beloved hero turned into a twisted psychopath and this seems to happen to Wally on a semi-regular basis.


Rating this issue below a "7" wouldn't be fair to the creative team. The story is pretty dark and disturbing in spots and as a fan of horror, I can appreciate what Brandon Vietti is going for. I just wish that Wally West wasn't constantly being used for these sorts of stories. I'll try to dial back the criticism when I get to Future State: The Flash #2 but I had to get the feelings off of my chest. What DC has done with him has been a total disservice and I hope they figure it out before they damage the legacy of this character even further.

Rating: 7.5/10 more

I'm not a fan of the Flash series, maybe that's why I liked it. Good drama, much much drama, I just do not understand why now Wally makes evil or rather poor is cursed since Heroes in Crisis.

Little action, intense drama and the best that came out of this Future State kickoff week.

I don't mind stories where characters go bad - it's comic books, they will get back to their original state eventually. What I don't like is the stories where characters don't act like them fucking selves for no reason. While my score is quite generous, it's mainly due to the story being somewhat interesting if you pretend you haven't read a story starring Wally West for the past couple years, and the art was alright as well.

" Can't even save myself from the darkness."
- BARRY ALLEN

Good art, but not much else.

Brandon Vietti was a writer on the Young Justice cartoon and a bunch of animated movies, including DC’s own direct to video LEGO offerings, and that weird Scooby-Doo/WrestleMania you’ve probably seen in the discount bins at Dollar General. This is his first attempt at comic books and it’s not the best first impression.

The biggest problem is that he’s using Wally West as the main villain of the story. Once again, Wally has been overtaken by some sort of evil entity within the speed force and he’s killing off heroes around the globe. After Tom King’s disastrous “Heroes In Crisis,” DC has tried very hard to redeem Wally West and it feels so stale to go back to that well again.

Vietti also seems to over-rely on the Flash tropes. Hearing Barry say “Flash Facts,” mention his ring recorder, name-drop just about every member of his Rogue’s Gallery and their weapon, and list off all the speedsters of the DCU just felt like too much crammed into one issue. I applaud Vietti for doing his homework and taking notes, but this feels more like a student trying to hit the word count on a term paper by listing every fact and spelling out every reference to fill space.

The story itself is interesting, so I’ll give him credit for that. Wally’s attacks have removed the speed force from everyone except himself, leading the world to believe that The Flash and other speed-enabled heroes have been kidnapped and locked away by the oppressive government (much like in The Next Batman, how we got here isn’t really explained) and the Flash Family have turned to collecting the weapons of the Rogues to fight on and try to help Wally. After creating a device to help them contact Wally through the speed force, they discover that an evil entity claiming to be Famine of the Apocalypse has taken control of Wally’s body and Wally’s true essence is trapped inside his mind. After losing another member of the Flash Family in the battle, Barry wonders if he can save Wally, or if he should just end him.

The art by Dan Eaglesham is a little stiff and awkward at times. There are moments where I’m not sure who a character is when only their face is shown, until reading the word balloons reveals their identity. At times, the panel layouts get a little confusing and it can get tough to tell which panel comes next or in which order the narration boxes are meant to be read. The colors from Mike Atiyeh are often too concerned with highlights and ignore adding the shadows and contrasts needed to make figures and objects stand out and appear set apart. The final page, which shows Barry’s workshop full of weapons he’s confiscated and considering using against Wally, is so devoid of needed weight and shadow that the objects feel as if they were stickers peeled out of an activity book and placed on an empty table scene. I wish someone had given then book a quick glance over before sending it to print. It’s not terrible, but it could be so much better.

Luckily this series isn’t bogged down by DC’s need to add any back-up stories and inflate the cover price, so you’ll just pay the standard $3.99 for this. It’s not the worst thing you’ll see in Future State, but it’s not great either. If Vietti is expected to write more comics for DC in the future, he needs someone with a little more experience standing over his shoulder to iron out the kinks. Maybe DC shouldn’t have fired all of those editors after all.

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Read this as a parody comic and it works a lot better.

Pretty much everything I don't want the Flash to be.

You have got to be kidding me... after reading page after page of Death Metal forcing the word 'hope' into my skull, this is the byproduct? Hey, remember when Tom King made Wally a killer and no one was happy? How about we don't do that again.

Jokes aside, this was pathetic.

For some dumb reason, I thought since Dan Didio left that Wally would start getting better treatment. Nope because guess what? Wally's evil again, wow haven't seen that before. It's such a fall from grace for a character who literally carried the name and mantle for over 2 decades with some of the best runs in comic book history to just get shafted by the company due to one writer's love for Barry Allen. Many people, myself included, grew up on Wally West Flash not only in comics, but in the animated series. That Flash was Wally West! It's just frustrating to see.

...At least the art was pretty good?

One of the main reasons DCEU is so loathed and ridiculed is not that it just goes against the source material and tries to change it completely, mold it into something that its directors would personally like, but because it never improves. Its directors don't learn their lessons and are allowed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again with no consequences other than box office failures and poor reception. And now, clearly, DC Comics does the same too, doubling down on things that were univerally rejected. Enter evil Wally West. Again. I can already imagine Dan Didio sitting in an armchar, drinking a beer and giggling, knowing DC's editorial is stupid enough to continue what he, himself, became infamous for.

And look - I don't have anything aganst creators taking characters wherever they want, especially if it's merely a short lived elseworld comic like this one. I do, however, have a lot against telling an awful, hollow story, especially when its writer has hardcore experience with DC animation. What the hell happened here? This is embarrassing! How is it possible someone with such rich resume came up with this cheap nonsense? How did he manage to write something so empty, emotionless, despite featuring at least two scenes that normally would be considered to be very, very heavy and impactful on the main cast, especially Barry himself?

What a sad excuse for a comic... more

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SenpaifenixJäger - Jan 12, 2021

Personally I liked it, maybe because it is the first issue I read, however I give you the reason for DC's attitude about the characters, he always wants quick money and forgets quality.

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Trash that can't decide whether he wants to recap the Flash's characters or dump once more on a Wally West. Mindscape travel? What? I don't get this issue or the decisions that went into publishing it. Art mostly okay from Eaglesham.

What's the fucking point?

Garbage, complete and total garbage. If you're a fan of the Flash series or Wally West they basically wipe their backsides with your preferences. DC should hang their heads in shame over this.