There's beats in this issue that I like. But as a whole ... well I'll save total thoughts for the Run itself in a "King Run" talk. But this issue?
He did what they all seem like they can't resist anymore. He got to the last issue and he told the events of the CLIMAX of the story in flashback. Negating, neutering, killing, any build-up, momentum, shock or page-turning surprise it might have had. Look, I get that we're Batman readers and we know that "BATMAN WINS" on the last page. Stories aren't exactly original stories ... but you hope they have enough twists, turns, cool moments, genuine surprises, occasional shockers or bombshells, canon tweaks, continuity gems unearthed, or whatever, to get you to the endzone.
And he couldn't resist doing it. Cutting his own feet off right before the landing.
Grant Morrison did this at the end of Batman, Incorporated. Now, I LIKE how he framed the device in that issue (Inc # 13) because of the callback to Batman # 1 and the sitdown with Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon talking about the mysterious Batman. But I still believe it negated its own build-up of momentum by jumping to "AFTER IT ALL WENT DOWN, HERE, LET ME TELL YOU HOW IT ENDED".
King's does even worse than this because it jumps ahead in time to give you the "I'm fine, we're all fine, let me tell you how it ended" (giving a vibe of telling how a story ends rather than showing it end). But then within THAT the chronology of events jumps around, and in typical King form, he explains none of the mechanics of even how a character got from Point A to Point B. Look folks, Claire is okay, that Secret Files short story counts, she was insane five minutes ago but now she and Bruce are joking around! And look, I understand that King's McGuffin is PSYCHO PIRATE. And if you have ANY questions about the story hurdles, logic leaps or plot holes ... PSYCHO PIRATE.
But yeah, you know, this isn't a novel. Art with graphics - art with imagery - comics, folks - while they do well and dandy with flashbacks, are an art-form that moves the eye along the page a specific way. And therefore have a real "forward momentum" as you read, similar to a movie. So they don't have the leisure time that a Novel has to really dive into chronological, out-of-sequence storytelling. There's exceptions to every rule and flashbacks, history lessons, jumps, are more than welcome ... when used as flourish or device in an otherwise fairly Straightforward Story. I pine for a Straightforward Story Plot with an actual A to B to C sequential story to go with the sequential art ... maybe then all the implied "how they got to places" would actually kind of be apparent.
Now that said! I've ranted a fair amount about the bad form of using a sequence-break jump-ahead/jump-back issue to end your story. And I stand by that vehemently because it's just a flashy dumb trick that doesn't actually contribute anything of value to your comic book story arc. Also, you know, no actual resolution to Psycho Pirate whatsoever.
But there was things I liked!
Bruce Wayne at a bar with Kite Man just watching football was quite nice. Bane unceremoniously dumping the bad plot point of Batman's "You're Not My Dad" was actually kind of funny. Bane is alive ... uh, because. But that's okay. Frankly I think going in I suspected "Bane will be fine, Flashpoint Batman won't be, so why bother at all with this charade?" But it's funny to laugh out loud at that realization. Catwoman was quite fine, especially once we jumped to them just hanging out on roofs at night, bantering and punching Z-Listers and then smashing their way all the way home, where Isis the cat now presumably prowls Wayne Manor and catches and eats bats on the regular. Bruce admitting that he had the boys over and he actually made tea and sandwiches only to be interrupted by a bat-signal was a shockingly good scene.