‘Flashpoint Beyond #1’ Review
Written by Geoff Johns, Jeremy Adams, Tim Sheridan | Art by Xermanico, Mikel Janin | Published by DC Comics
Wait a cotton-picking minute. Flashpoint? Wasn’t that all just a well-received set of stories purely thought up to give a decent lead into the New 52? Sure, the Thomas Wayne Batman hung around, but that reality seemed to be firmly in the rear mirror. So why now? It’s almost as though there is a major cinema release coming up, starring The Flash, using some of the elements from Flashpoint in it. Nah, I’m sure that’s completely unrelated. Still, no complaints from me. I’m a Multiverse/ Omniverse type of guy, so any stories using these scenarios and characters is fine by me. Throw in Geoff Johns overseeing things, and I’m golden. This looks promising on paper, so let’s see what we get.
Quick recap time for those who may have forgotten, or those who have come in late. The Flashpoint reality was created by Barry Allen, The Flash, who in attempting to rewrite reality ended up creating a much darker and dangerous one. In this world, Thomas Wayne is Batman, his son Bruce having been murdered, and Aquaman and Wonder Woman are enemies, both at the head of their respective Atlantean and Amazon armies. Superman is Subject 1, deliberately depowered by being kept out of the Sun by the government. It’s a nasty place that never should have existed in the first place, and everyone had thought has been consigned to history. Not so it seems.
The first few pages just set the scene, with Thomas Wayne and Oswald (Penguin) who works for him. This certainly looks like being Thomas’s book, as the central narrative thrust seems to be Thomas’s quest to find out who wanted Barry Allen dead. It was an assassin sent by Aquaman, so he’s the first person to call upon, though someone asked him to do it. It won’t be a social call of course. This Arthur Curry is a bloodthirsty despot, and this Batman shoots to kill. Something’s got to give. Just to confirm this Aquaman’s a nasty piece of work, he’s currently got Wonder Woman tied up with her own lasso, planning to drown her. Batman takes care of that. He has no love for Diana, who’s as bloodthirsty as Arthur, but needs the lasso, so a deal is struck.
The confrontation between Batman and Aquaman is interesting, feeling very much like the Rorschach/ Ozymandias scene in Watchmen, so much so it must be intentional. Aquaman has all the swagger, Batman out of his depth but keeping back his ace. It does seem that Arthur never sent the assassin after Barry though, which makes it seem as though Thomas was intentionally guided this way, hopefully to die at Arthur’s hands. Arthur, though, in a very Game of Thrones way, ends up on the business end of a trident wielded by Diana, and his brief reign as Emperor is over. Diana is now the big power, and Thomas Wayne wisely takes himself away while he can. A little epilogue with our Bruce Wayne Batman throws up some interesting developments too.
If you think you know where this is all going, I’m guessing you’re mistaken.
There is a real vibe running through this book, firstly with echoes of Watchmen, and more prominently the feel of the recent Doomsday Clock storyline, no surprise I suppose with Johns involved. Throw in the title of this being ‘the Clockwork Killer’, and the use of clock motifs throughout, well you get the picture. There’s also a wealth of Easter eggs throughout the book, with nods to this realities incarnations of characters like Amanda Waller and Green Arrow among others. The writers do a very nice job setting up an intriguing starting point, and showing us very quickly that there are events taking place on several levels. The art throughout is perfect, mainly conventional panels and layouts, which again I am assuming is deliberate, to capture a certain feel. It’s paced very nicely too.
So, a great first issue. A new story is created by building on the bones of an old one. Familiar faces but unfamiliar behaviours, victories that may be defeats in disguise, and heroes who are possibly the worst villains.
Reality used to be a friend of mine. Flashpoint‘s changed all that. Again.