By Danny Bilson, Paul DeMeo, Marc Guggenheim, Mark Waid & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1567-5
Collecting issues #7-13 of The Flash – Fastest Man Alive, and portions of All-Flash #1 and DCU Infinite Holiday Special, this volume concludes the super-hero career (at least for the moment) of Bart Allen, grandson of the Silver Age Scarlet Speedster. Carrying directly on from The Flash – the Fastest Man Alive: Lightning in a Bottle (ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1229-2).
The book starts with a heartwarming vignette from the Christmas special entitled ‘Father Christmas’, by Ian Boothby, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Lorenzo Ruggiero before returning to the scheduled hi-jinx from writers Danny Bilson, Paul DeMeo in the two-part ‘Speedquest’.
Bart is adapting to his role as super-hero in Los Angeles, and studying to be a cop/forensic scientist like his grandpa with a procession of old rogues and new villains complicating matters unaware that his evil clone Inertia (no, seriously) is assembling an army of enemies for an all-out attack.
The art is by an impressive assembly line including Ron Adrian, Alex Lei, Rob Lea and Art Thibert, who are joined by Andy Kuhn, Paco Diaz, Tony Daniel, Jonathan Glapion and Marlo Alquiza for the eponymous ‘Full Throttle’, written by Marc Guggenheim. I won’t be too specific about this tense and shocking five part mini-epic as the whole point of these reviews is to get people reading new stuff, but suffice to say that this preliminary to the return of Wally West and tie-in to Countdown to Final Crisis delivers all that it promised and if you’re a fan of super-hero stories you’ll want to see this one.
The book closes with a tale of the returned Mr. West from All-Flash #1 as he tracks down Inertia, written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Karl Kerschl, Ian Churchill, Norm Rapmund, Manuel Garcia, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose and Daniel Acuña.
The figure of the Flash has ever been associated with triumph and tragedy and always with heroism. This is a good solid addition to a tradition that reaches back to the earliest days of comic-books, and may well come to be seen as a singular highpoint.
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