I haven't read a Flash book lately and thought an annual would be a good starting point, but it seems I was wrong this time. While the story can be understood easily without any prior knowledge of the character, a lot of details are not clear and hard to follow (How many flashes can there be???). Despite this, the connection between the 3 main protagonists is well established. The story is well made and eady to follow and the art is very detailed and not confusing even in the most action packed sequences. What bugs me though, is that the conflict that seems to spark the much advertised "flash War" is defused so quickly and easily that the "prelude" part of it all is almost far-fetched. In the end, it's still a good Wally West story with enough to keep the reader interested. more

A interesting first issue overall, with a good balance of action and context. The story is not the most original as a LOT a movies and comics have treaded the ground of the retired assassin turned family woman/man whose past comes back to haunt her/him. Its connection to the events in Metal are literally non existing so it's a warning for those expecting it as shown on the cover. Honor's metahuman power is cool, but I doubt it can be sustainable in the long run and looks like an idea that is great in a production meeting, but not for an ongoing series on the long run. Luckily, her overall assassin's skills amd badassness more than compensate for the gimmicky power. I'm curious about what's next for the upcoming issues and this first one does a good job at keeping my interest high enough to care for now. more

First of all, the timing of it was very well thought off considering how the last Detective ended. It's a very sad and tragic story that puts even more humanity in Clayface's backstory. He was always a great villain and the moral ambiguity they injected in him these past years is brought to a point where it's not clear what he is anymore. Hero, villain, martyr, victim? It could be a problem, but it ends up being a good thing as Basil himself must be asking these questions too about who he is. The writing is top notch and the art is great. More so in the depictions of Basil after the accident, which is fittingly gruesome and repulsive. more

After Detective Comics' issue #973, most notably its cliffhanger, it feels logical and natural to see Clayface in the limelight. His new origin story portrays him as a more human, complex character, while rthe general tone of his backstory and not retconning it for the sake of retconning it (like Mr. Freeze in New 52, but about him later).
To a degree, this change reminded me of Harvey Bullock from Geoff Johns' Batman: Earth One, who was fleshed out for once, and served as a tragic hero we emphatize with during the span of the comic. Same here - Basil has his own personality, and by no means feels like just a bad guy. His story unfolds, and while we all know the outcome of it, it still feels emotional and engaging.
Similarly to aforementioned Mr. Freeze, Clayface is portrayed as a tragic antihero, who can't be called evil, but his decisions (mistakes) shaped him into something monstrous, at least at first glance. We're offered an insight into his childhood, life as an actor, warm relationship with Glory Griffin, and finally, a gruesome (both literally and figuratively) transition into a monster.
At the end of the book, you can't stop feeling sad for him, as well as for Glory, who long time readers may remember as Mudface. It's a tragic tale, connecting to possibly tragic outcome of the last issue of Detective Comics. We'll see about that.
One thing is certain for now - it's as good as it is sad. more

started good, then jarring artist change like 5 pages in, and weak shoe-horned ending. How did she defeat the phoenix? She talked it down saying she needs to be given the chance to live, blablabla.
I mean it was still an OK issue, just such a weak resolution. The interaction between Logan and Jean was A+ though.

I'm really starting to lose my patience with this. I was so hyped that they revisited Sakaar and that Greg Pak was helming it, but it's just bad issues after bad issues. This acr is now too far gone to be redeemded and I keep this little hope inside of me that they won't mess up World War Hulk II this bad, but my faith is not at its highest. Waiting 6 weeks for an extra long and boring fight between Cho and Odinson is just absurd. How long is this damn gauntlet anyway? And this metaphor about how holding the wheel? It's just taking readers for dumbasses. We KNOW about the struggle the Hulk has inside, it has always been like that and was at the core and EVERY Hulk story so far. Don't overexplain it and get on with the story already. Banner must come back because Amadeus is just booooring. more

It's a pretty consistent event thus far and this issue makes no exception. Being a weekly series, it would be easy to have weaker and slower issues, but they are all action packed and plenty of cliff hangers. It's time they start having REAL consequences though as every time they make the readers fear that a character may die of that an event might change the whole status quo, they end up stepping back and leave things unclear. This could get old after 16 issues, but it keeps us at the edge of our seat for now. Larraz is really bringing this to another level visually with detailed art and action that feels alive and intense. more

As much as the whole event was great and fresh when it was at its peak, it now feels like the long run isn't doing any service to the story. It looks like Snyder wanted to feature every single character of the DC universe in it and now realizes that it happened, but while putting the sotry progression on the back burner with only one issue left. I find it hard to imagine how all of this will be resolved in one single issue and I fear it will ultimately fall flat just like other events in the comic book world. This being said, it's stil a good book. The art is gorgeous and Capullo is firing on all cylinders and feels at home in the grotesque and absurd. It's also much more frantic and fast paced than #4 which was very text heavy. With the news about Snyder doing the JL soon, it's a nice preview of what he could do to put some life back into a series that is dying the the minutes. The finale better be as epic as advertise because there is a LOT of work to be done for the Justice League! more