Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge


By Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, Dan Panosian & Doug Hazlewood (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2334-2

During the first decade of the 21st century DC and Marvel were obsessed with vast company-wide crossover events presumably to boost – or maybe simply sustain – dwindling sales.

The company that had invented Big Bombastic Crisis stories seemingly went bonkers mid-decade and propagated one Extreme Extinction Event after another, all with attendant crossovers, specials and miniseries until they could only promise to end it all with one Final Crisis.

We didn’t believe them of course, but there were some great stories amidst the constant proliferating armada of monthly Armageddons…

The concept of speedsters has been intrinsic to all of DC’s superhero comics since the revival of the Flash jumpstarted the Silver Age and created a whole new style of storytelling.

There had been earlier cyclonic champions such as Jay Garrick, who debuted as the very first Scarlet Speedster in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) and as “The Fastest Man Alive” wowed readers for over a decade before changing tastes benched him and most of his ilk in 1951.

The entire mystery man genre was subsequently revived (and exponentially expanded to overarching prominence) in 1956 when Julie Schwartz oversaw the creation of police scientist Barry Allen who became the second hero to run with the concept in Showcase #4.

The Silver Age Flash, whose example ushered in a new and seemingly unstoppable era of costumed crusaders, died heroically during Crisis on Infinite Earths (which rationalised and standardised the entire continuity in 1985-1986) and was promptly succeeded by his sidekick Kid Flash.

Of course Allen later returned from the dead – but doesn’t everyone?

Kid Flash Wally West struggled at first to fill the boots of his predecessor, but persevered and eventually overcame, becoming the greatest to own the name. After many amazing adventures he married his beloved Linda Park, but just as happiness seemed certain they both disappeared in the reality-bending chaos of the Infinite Crisis…

In the slow build up to Final Crisis and by way of all those other “end-of-everything” multi-part mega-sagas, Bart Allen had finally acceded to the crimson mantle. Introduced as the impetuous unruly Impulse, Barry Allen’s grandson had come hot-footed from the 30th century to join the pantheon, and had matured through a career as the second Kid Flash to finally become the third hero to wear the family costume.

Keep up: he’s technically the fourth Flash since Garrick was the first speedster to use the name, albeit in a different outfit and originally on a completely different Earth.

However, as Bart was quickly adapting to his new role in Los Angeles, studying to be a cop and forensic scientist like his grandpa with a procession of old Rogues and new villains complicating matters, he was utterly unaware that his evil clone Inertia (no, seriously) was assembling an army of his predecessors’ enemies for an all-out attack.

They succeeded too well. Although the Rogues were looking for glory and payback, they had no idea they were being manipulated by the pre-meditating Inertia into actually murdering the kid.

After the brief death of Bart Allen (he too was soon resurrected) Wally and Linda returned in a spectacular blaze of glory accompanied by their two children, somehow grown into teens over the course of a few months and already heroes in waiting…

And that’s just that’s background to this collection featuring the staggering finale to a years-long saga as much about the unique band of villains associated with the Twin Cities as the ever-imperilled Fastest Men Alive…

Published as a supplemental sidebar to the Big Show of 2008, Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge was a 3-part miniseries by old allies Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins which followed the paths of Rogues Gallery veterans Captain Cold, Heat Wave and Weather Wizard plus relative newcomer the second Mirror Master as they came to terms with the repercussions of their infamous, if involuntary, act of murder.

To fill out the admittedly brief page count this collection also includes the contents of The Flash volume 2, issues #182 and #197 from 2002 and 2003: two key, Rogue-heavy episodes which provided chilling insight into the minds of the utterly compelling bad guys…

It all begins with the fugitive villains returning to their Central City hideout only to find the place infested with petty thugs led by Axel Walker, the new upstart Trickster. It’s a whole new world now. Many of their former comrades – as well as much of the Underworld’s super-powered elite – have signed up to the cause of overarching new villain Libra: a man you just don’t say no to.

A relative newcomer, Libra has compelled such heavies as Lex Luthor and Gorilla Grodd to join his monumental league of villains and espouses the adoption of a religion of Evil. He has already killed the Martian Manhunter and expects the Rogues to sign up to his cause.

Never one to be pushed, Captain Cold did say no and now he and his trusted comrades are hunted by heroes and villains alike.

Routing Walker’s thugs, the fugitives grudgingly accept the new Trickster into their ranks, but can’t stomach the kid’s crowing over Flash’s murder.

Cold has no scruples over killing but he has never committed homicide for fun. If it isn’t for profit or vengeance or to make a point, it isn’t worth the trouble and for people like the Rogues there’s always an alternative.

Moreover, Cold really resents the attention and grief Inertia has brought down on them all by slaying a speedster but most of all, he really, really, really hates being a vicious little thug’s patsy…

With everybody hunting them Cold and his companions are looking for a way to bring things back to “normal”, but are unaware that they are also being targeted by reformed Rogue Pied Piper who has his own warped reasons to confront them…

When Cold again refuses Libra’s demand to join or die, it is the final straw for the Prophet of Evil, who is the covert herald of an invasion by forces far beyond human ken.  Libra decides to remove the obstinate obstacles and make a very public point…

Meanwhile, Wally West has beaten and horrifically incarcerated Bart’s killer, but Inertia has been subsequently released by the ultimate enemy of all Speedsters. Hunter Zolomon was an FBI profiler who went mad and, patterning himself on old Rogue Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash, determined to make heroes “better” by torturing them with savage personal tragedy and heartbreak.

Now his latest scheme involves converting the psychotic Inertia into his own protégé, Kid Zoom…

The hard-pressed Rogues also have Inertia in mind, and Captain Cold decides the best way to make things right again is to execute the kid who is the root cause of all their current problems…

Libra quickly moves to the head of his “to-do” list, though, when the Herald of Apokolips makes an example of Paul Gambi, the tailor and armourer who has armed and equipped the Rogues throughout their criminal careers. Libra has the old man tortured by cheap imitations of the Rogues, intending them to become their replacements in his League of Evil, but the upstarts are no match for the real thing who also know a thing or two about sending a murderous message…

As Zoom continues his awful education of Kid Zoom, Libra makes more mistakes by targeting Cold’s despised father and abducting the Weather Wizard’s son, precipitating a crisis of faith with devastating repercussions for the planet and all reality…

All paths coincide when another dead Flash returns, and the Rogues score their greatest triumph whilst making one more hugely selfish misjudgement which will only become apparent in the traumatic days to come…

This turbulent tome then concludes with a brace of insightful character histories. ‘Absolute Zero’ (inked by Dan Panosian) revealed the traumatic story of career criminal Len Snart and the outcome when, as Captain Cold, he avenged the murder of his sister Lisa, affording us all a look at the early life which made him such a cold-hearted killer (first seen in Flash #182), whilst Kolins & Hazlewood collaborated on #197’s ‘Rogue Profile: Zoom’ wherein Hunter Zolomon’s cruel fate was fully revealed.

Once the FBI’s hotshot star profiler, an innocent mistake unleashed horrific consequences for Hunter’s loved ones. Years later whilst seeking redemption, he compounded his personal tragedy and became the time-bending sociopath Zoom whose mission was to make his best friend Wally West a better hero through the white-hot crucible of personal tragedy…

Dark, gritty and spectacularly potent, this tale can simply be read as a satisfactory conclusion to the hyper-extended Rogue War saga in the Flash, rather than as an adjunct to the Final Crisis, but whatever your reasons for enjoying this powerful Fights ‘n’ Tights drama, this is a book no dyed-in-the-crimson-wool Flash-fan should miss.
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