The Flash (Barry Allen) In A Nutshell: The Life Story Of The Flash Is A Fair Graphic Novel.

The Good: Decent overall story, Good primer for the character
The Bad: Glosses over virtually everything, Does not actually provide what the book is supposed to be (in universe), Average-at-best artwork
The Basics: The graphic novel that is supposed to be Iris Allen’s biography of Barry Allen, The Life Story Of The Flash is not all that it is in the regular story of the Flash, but it is a decent primer for those looking to get into the character.


As many of my loyal readers know, this is my Flash Year. I am working my way, as best I can, through the library of Flash graphic novels. I have discovered, by and large, I am a fan of the Wally West version of the Flash. In reading the many books that possess West, I have encountered the whole Speedster family and the reclusive Iris Allen, Wally’s aunt. Iris Allen went to the distant future and wrote a biography of her husband, entitled The Life Story Of The Flash. The Life Story Of The Flash is now available as a free-standing graphic novel.

Unfortunately, The Life Story Of The Flash is not all that it is cracked up to be. In-universe, The Life Story Of The Flash becomes a tool used by a few different villains to try to destroy Wally West and it becomes so dangerous that the copy that made it back through the timeline has to be destroyed. The Life Story Of The Flash does not contain anything that could be used to actually help any of the villains!

Written by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, but credited to Iris Allen, The Life Story Of The Flash is a simple, direct biography of Barry Allen, with minimal additional artwork. Over seventeen chapters, Iris Allen uses a first-person narrative to explain the life of Barry Allen. From his boyhood obsession with the Jay Garrick version of the Flash to the time that Barry and Iris spent living together in the future, the broad strokes of Barry Allen are painted. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of The Life Story Of The Flash is one of the few stories I did not know about before reading the biography.

Apparently, at some point, Iris Allen is “killed” by Professor Zoom. The Reverse Flash is a favorite villain of mine and that his murder of Iris is what led to the trial of Barry Allen was very interesting. Of course, in The Life Story Of The Flash the story is glossed over in five pages and that is one of the weaknesses of The Life Story Of The Flash. This book is just a series of Flash vignettes that mention the character, but never find the character’s voice. Instead, Iris Allen tells the story of Barry Allen without Barry Allen ever actually having a richness of his own. Sure, he is a superhero, but in The Life Story Of The Flash, it is a bland form of superheroism.

The Life Story Of The Flash mentions the big events in the Barry Allen storyline: how he became the Flash, how he met Iris, how he took on the Rogues, how he and Iris went to the future, and how the Flash gave his life to stop the Anti-Monitor. The Life Story Of The Flash hits all of the major events, including how Barry Allen and Jay Garrick met.

The artwork in The Life Story Of The Flash is minimal and not terribly impressive. Much of the book is prose and “Iris Allen” tells the story in a very straightforward way. What panels of artwork there are tend to be used to simply illustrate the key events of the book, without ever truly trying to get the full depth and flavor of the moments. Even at its best, the artwork in The Life Story Of The Flash does not have a great sense of movement, especially between panels.

The Life Story Of The Flash is, at best, a primer for those looking to read The Flash graphic novels. But outside generating enthusiasm for the further reading, there is not truly enough to The Life Story Of The Flash to enthusiastically recommend it.

For other Flash graphic novels, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Born To Run
The Return Of Barry Allen
Terminal Velocity
Dead Heat
Race Against Time
Emergency Stop
The Human Race
Blood Will Run
Blitz
The Secret Of Barry Allen
Flash: Rebirth

4.5/10

For other graphic novels, be sure to check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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A Mediocre Adventure, Flash: Race Against Time Wanders

The Good: Continuity, General character development
The Bad: Unremarkable artwork, Plot ultimately adds up to nothing.
The Basics: Even if Flash: Race Against Time is supposed to be about the journey, as opposed to the destination, it holds up less well now.


I can understand (theoretically) the inclination against long story arcs in comic books. But given that graphic novels – which anthologize monthly comic books – have become an important media industry, it seems strange that so many of the comic book companies seem to fear long story arcs. I write this as I consider Flash: Race Against Time because upon finishing it, my dominant thought was, “this would have been better if it was longer and fleshed out enough to make me care.” Unfortunately, it was not and I did not, despite liking some of the elements of the story.

Long before Bruce Wayne slowly returned to the DC Universe in the Return Of Bruce Wayne story, by progressing through different eras as different incarnations of the Batman, Wally West had a similar journey in Flash: Race Against Time. Just like Batman, in Flash: Race Against Time, Wally West is replaced as the Flash, though in his case it is a time-traveller from the future who steps in. John Fox is an interesting new Flash, but he’s not truly embedded long enough to make the reader care about him. Flash: Race Against Time is a direct sequel to Flash: Dead Heat (reviewed here!) and it is hard to enjoy without having read that book, though the two stories are distinctly different. I actually found I was happier to have read some of the even earlier volumes of Flash books more than Dead Heat to get the most out of the full depth of the events in Flash: Race Against Time.

Following his climactic battle with Savitar, Wally West is lost in time. Thrown into the distant future, Wally is disoriented and hardly amused by the 64th Century where he is treated like a god. Meanwhile, back in the mid-1990s, a new villain, Chillblaine, has emerged to menace Keystone City. Chillblaine is confronted by John Fox, the new Flash, a time-traveler from the 27th Century. Eager to make his mark, Fox makes some rookie mistakes in trying to take down a new villain who is bent on causing a new ice age.

As Fox gets closer to Linda Park, Wally West finds his tether to his time wavering. As he journeys from the 64th Century, to the 30th Century and the 27th Century, he encounters people peripherally related to the various incarnations of the Flash. As he struggles to find his way home, it becomes clear that he is not the only one interfering with the timeline . . .

First, what is worthwhile in Flash: Race Against Time. Early on in the book, Iris Allen is mentioned as missing. That becomes an increasingly important fact and the continuity with Allen’s biography of the Flash from the future is a well-executed concept. Sure, I gripe that it would have made sense for Iris to throw Polaris off by writing a completely false accounting of the future, but given that she is a victim of torture, it is hard to complain. Wally West works pretty well in Flash: Race Against Time as well. The time jumps take a toll on him, but he remains likable and interesting, even if the places he ends up are not particularly compelling. That said, it is pretty neat that Wally West appears to have inspired the Legion Of Super-Heroes in the 31st century!

Linda Park, as a character, works fairly well in Flash: Race Against Time. She seems pretty belligerent over her assumption that Wally knew he was not coming back from the battle with Savitar, but besides that, she is interesting at the very least. Linda Park interacts well with John Fox and she has moments where she actually takes on near-heroic status. John Fox’s costume for the future Flash is pretty cool as well.

Unfortunately, that’s about all that Flash: Race Against Time has going for it. The character of John Fox does not work very well at all. Writer Mark Waid is remarkably sloppy with his characterization. He begins the book vastly more confident and competent than he appears as the book progresses. While he has charisma with flirting with Linda early in Flash: Race Against Time, that spark of character quickly disappears. Moreover, for a character who is getting involved with a woman whose primary issue is her lover lied to her, John Fox is not very smart at all. Because the reader figures out very early on that Fox is keeping truths from Linda, it is only a matter of time before the relationship ends.

The temporal mechanics of Flash: Race Against Time notwithstanding (i.e. how Wally loses his tether when Linda Park loves him after the events of the book, thus ever preventing the tether from being cut), Flash: Race Against Time is put together in a way that is at times obvious and at others disappointingly sloppy. In Dead Heat, there was a visiting time traveler from the future whose character interacted with Impulse. Her character did not really work, so the fact that the book has to devote a few pages to getting rid of her is distracting (though, to be fair, necessary). Having her out of the picture also removes another asset upon whom the heroes could have called for a perspective different from John Fox’s.

The artwork in Flash: Race Against Time is erratic and suffers more from being simplistic than being actually bad. Having read enough graphic novels to know when the art is sloppy as opposed to just a function of the times, Flash: Race Against Time is limited by how comic books were made in the mid-1990s. Even so, it appears Flash: Race Against Time was not the result of DC’s a-team. Many of the panels look like a comic strip and feature a poor sense of movement within and between the panels.

Ultimately, Flash: Race Against Time is the story of how Wally West works his way back to contemporary times after a journey that it is hard to get at all excited about.

For other Flash graphic novels, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Born To Run
The Return Of Barry Allen
Terminal Velocity
Emergency Stop
Blitz
The Secret Of Barry Allen
Flash: Rebirth

4.5/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the books I have read and reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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