One Minute War part 1 Review/Discussion (Flash #790)

[sifighter]

You know it’s kind of weird to me this isn’t labeled under Dawn of DC, maybe they’re waiting for the ending of this arc with a new status quo or just to have it hit issue 800. Because this is the start of a big story arc for Flash and Jeremy Adams, no crossovers or events interrupting, he’s even getting his own one minute war one-shot. It’s all just one big story arc effecting the Flash family and this is the opening act.

If you’re unaware to what this is about the premise is simple. We have some alien invaders called The Fraction who cull and conquer worlds who somehow have the power to freeze time and then go about carrying out their conquest. What they didn’t expect though is that earth is home to about a dozen speedsters who aren’t effected by the time freeze thanks to the speed force, don’t worry they still have some running powers it’s not like they are normal people.

With this issue we meet our revisit our cast and where they are in life. Wally is having a bbq, Jays at a bar thinking of lost friends, Max Mercury is thinking of running off into the future, Jessie and her husband Rick (Hourman) are superheroing, Ace is arguing with Bart Allen about Kid Flash business, and Barry and Iris are talking about their life together. It’s all set up as we establish where our characters are at until an armada hits the earth like a literal ton of bricks and establishes its base. Then things are on.

There is a possible character death but if I’m honest I’m not buying it. Hard to tell lifeless death when literally everyone who is not Flash related can’t move you know. It’s a good hook for the first part but I’m not sure if I believe.

But overall I think it’s a good start, they got you into the heads of the characters we will be following, and I am interested in learning about who these aliens are and how they can just freeze time.

[Will Evans]

Some things I was confused on.
spoilers:

From Jay and Jesse’s internal monologue, are Joan Garrick and Libby Lawrence already dead? Iris already raised Dawn and Don on the future right? Why is she so adamant on more kids with Barry? Did that get retcon out? It couldn’t have or else Bart wouldn’t exist.

end of spoilers

[sifighter]

Some things I was confused on.
spoilers:

From Jay and Jesse’s internal monologue, are Joan Garrick and Libby Lawrence already dead? Iris already raised Dawn and Don on the future right? Why is she so adamant on more kids with Barry? Did that get retcon out? It couldn’t have or else Bart wouldn’t exist.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

1. Hard to tell with Jay and Jessie. 2. Future stuff was altered in Williamson’s run I believe that Dawn and Don are from not too far in the future. 3. Bart’s weird because past stories have indicated his presence in the past and reality altering may make it he’s no longer from the actual future of these characters.

end of spoilers

[Factor]

All in all, it was a good issue and I like that Flash has a new epic event and that so many speedster will get roles. Some things did bother me a bit about the issue though. A lot of times DC’s continuity got in the way of the story for me.

1) Why is the original Liberty Belle implied to be dead (as if she’s never met Jessie’s husband)? AFAIK Pre-Flashpoint she was still alive and did meet Rick.
In fact, since Jessie is now going by Jessie Quick again, I was hoping Libby would suit up again as Liberty Belle. It seems they only let the old white men continue to be active.

2) Are Barry and Iris really not married anymore? I’m getting so confused at DC picking and choosing what to keep from Pre-FP or not. If Wally’s entire Pre-FP continuity is back in play, it makes no sense that Barry’s isn’t. They should just ignore the New 52 status and move on with them as a married couple.

3) The coloring is all over the place. Hour Man looks terrible in red and suddenly Jay is blond? I’m sure editors could have paid more attention to the first issue of a major arc like this.

Finally, I fully expect the ending to be a red-erring. Or at least I hope so. It would add nothing worthwhile to the franchise.

[SanityOrMadness]

Did that get retcon out? It couldn’t have or else Bart wouldn’t exist.

Bart has a thing where he's immune to timeline changes, IIRC. (Which gets really weird since his backstory didn't exist until AFTER Zero Hour, but he debuted BEFORE....)

Are Barry and Iris really not married anymore? I’m getting so confused at DC picking and choosing what to keep from Pre-FP or not. If Wally’s entire Pre-FP continuity is back in play, it makes no sense that Barry’s isn’t.

I mean, Iris apparently remembered pre-FP in full as of Williamson's run. She even calls out what happened on her wedding day (to Barry) when Thawne showed up. But Rebirth is kinda the problem... it seems like then-present-day Rebirth is close to fully "in"*, but Barry & Iris weren't even in a relationship until near the end of Williamson's run - if you say they were married all along, do we retcon out Meena entirely? Was Barry cheating on Iris? Were they separated (heading for divorce?) before reconciling later?

*On Wally, Rebirth is kinda tricky, because you have the whole thing where he was never The Flash, because he got thrown into the Speed Force by Kadabra while still Kid Flash. So how does that work? Do you retcon it so that it happened circa Flashpoint as far as the DCU goes, and Wally was in his 2009 suit not his Kid Flash suit? What about Lazarus Contract - that Past Titans lineup fighting Deathstroke seems to have been overwritten by the NTT again. If that never happened, half of Priest's Deathstroke run falls apart, including Ace being on the Defiance "not-Titans" team... etc, etc. It's a whole house of cards.

[Will Evans]

So is Iris a West by blood now? As opposed to her being an adopted baby who comes from a 1,000 years in the future?

[ZuLuLu]

That is a good opening to this arc, looking forward to seeing where this story goes.


Bart and Ace's interaction was fun, even though it was brief I feel like a Kid Flash and Impulse book would not be a bad idea.

[Mantis-Ray]

So thats how this war will work.

The Fraction activate some kind of Speed Force field in mass meaning the only people who can stop them are people who can already use the Speed Force.

[Grandmaster_J]

Ace and Bart can carry this whole arc for me and I'd be fine

[Refrax5]

That is a good opening to this arc, looking forward to seeing where this story goes.


Bart and Ace's interaction was fun, even though it was brief I feel like a Kid Flash and Impulse book would not be a bad idea.

Yeah, I really loved their interaction.

[Stanlos]

Bart has a thing where he's immune to timeline changes, IIRC. (Which gets really weird since his backstory didn't exist until AFTER Zero Hour, but he debuted BEFORE....)



I mean, Iris apparently remembered pre-FP in full as of Williamson's run. She even calls out what happened on her wedding day (to Barry) when Thawne showed up. But Rebirth is kinda the problem... it seems like then-present-day Rebirth is close to fully "in"*, but Barry & Iris weren't even in a relationship until near the end of Williamson's run - if you say they were married all along, do we retcon out Meena entirely? Was Barry cheating on Iris? Were they separated (heading for divorce?) before reconciling later?

*On Wally, Rebirth is kinda tricky, because you have the whole thing where he was never The Flash, because he got thrown into the Speed Force by Kadabra while still Kid Flash. So how does that work? Do you retcon it so that it happened circa Flashpoint as far as the DCU goes, and Wally was in his 2009 suit not his Kid Flash suit? What about Lazarus Contract - that Past Titans lineup fighting Deathstroke seems to have been overwritten by the NTT again. If that never happened, half of Priest's Deathstroke run falls apart, including Ace being on the Defiance "not-Titans" team... etc, etc. It's a whole house of cards.

Wow

At this point the Flash is just a slot on the League for me. A person in a red suit who runs.

I really don't get what is happening at DC.

And what is up with Wallace now?

[sifighter]

Wow

At this point the Flash is just a slot on the League for me. A person in a red suit who runs.

I really don't get what is happening at DC.

And what is up with Wallace now?

Wallace is having a bit of a spat with Bart. See Wallace was trying to do super heroics and catch the bad guys when Impulse cut in and did the job for him. And then they get into a bit of an argument about Bart possibly being jealous he’s not Kid Flash anymore when the freaking alien ship drops from the sky and arguments over.

If you meant what’s going on with him, Adams has taken an approach of trying to make Wallace and Wally more family and trying to connect with each other as cousins. Sometimes that means Wallace saves the day while Wally is with the family. There’s a whole issue on it, it’s fun.

[Frontier]

Wallace is having a bit of a spat with Bart. See Wallace was trying to do super heroics and catch the bad guys when Impulse cut in and did the job for him. And then they get into a bit of an argument about Bart possibly being jealous he’s not Kid Flash anymore when the freaking alien ship drops from the sky and arguments over.

If you meant what’s going on with him, Adams has taken an approach of trying to make Wallace and Wally more family and trying to connect with each other as cousins. Sometimes that means Wallace saves the day while Wally is with the family. There’s a whole issue on it, it’s fun.

Yeah, that's about how I expected these two to bounce off each other.

[Stanlos]

Wallace is having a bit of a spat with Bart. See Wallace was trying to do super heroics and catch the bad guys when Impulse cut in and did the job for him. And then they get into a bit of an argument about Bart possibly being jealous he’s not Kid Flash anymore when the freaking alien ship drops from the sky and arguments over.

If you meant what’s going on with him, Adams has taken an approach of trying to make Wallace and Wally more family and trying to connect with each other as cousins. Sometimes that means Wallace saves the day while Wally is with the family. There’s a whole issue on it, it’s fun.

Thanks for the update! I am glad to see what looks like something akin to Waid's run when there was a Flash family. Is Max Mercury also still around by chance?

Another question is are we still stuck with the Lantern like rainbow of forces

[Stanlos]

Never mind the force question. I just saw in the Lazarus thread the mention of the still force so we are indeed stuck with that bit of ... awesomeness