Flash: Rebirth #3

Cover.
A Flash/Superman race! Two of the DCU's biggest names have superspeed as part of their arsenal of tricks, so a natural question for fans to ask is, "Who's faster?" Numerous creators over the years have attempted to answer that very question. I point you again to the fantastic Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning for a rundown of races past.

Page 1.
Panel 1.
Here we are in Abra Kadabra's hideout. Although we don't actually see him, he is most likely the offpanel speaker. I'm not sure who the second magician he is talking to is.

We last saw Kadabra in issue #1. He was holding the Barry puppet and the Wally, Jay, and Bart puppets were hanging from the ceiling. They've now all been unceremoniously dumped on the ground.

Kadabra first used puppets in Flash (Vol. 1) #133, in which he actually turned Barry into a puppet! Barry ended up defeating the magician, while still in puppet form no less, in front of a crowd of spectators who had come to see Kadabra perform.

In the background, we see lots of classic magic tricks. For example, sawing a lady in half (I can't quite make out what's in the box -- hopefully not half a lady!), pulling a rabbit out of a hat, a guillotine, and many cards scattered on the floor.

Panel 2.
"There isn't room in this century for the both of us." This is a nod to the fact that Kadabra hails from the 64th century.

Panel 4.
Poor Barry-puppet. Kadabra himself was seriously burned by an exploding car in Flash (Vol. 2) #23 (which incidentally also featured characters get turned into puppets). In his subsequent appearances (at least until recently), he was horribly scarred from the incident.

Page 2.
Panel 1.
Here, Jesse Chambers/Liberty Belle looks at statues of her parents, Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle. Off-panel, and seen in the next few panels, is her husband, Rick Tyler/Hourman. Johnny died in Impluse #11, and the first Liberty Belle was last seen leading a tour of the Liberty Bell in Justice Society of America #4.

Panel 4.
Jesse's connection to the Speed Force weakened when she lent Wally her powers so that he could defeat Zoom, back in Flash (Vol. 2) #200.

Page 3.
Panel 2.
And here we have Johnny speaking to Jesse from the Speed Force. This is actually a glimpse of a scene from later in this issue.

Page 4.
Panel 1.
We return to Fallville, Iowa, where we left Wally and Barry at the end of last issue.

Barry claims to recognize "some" of the heroes seen here, and "a lot" of them are new to him. Let's see! (Barry's death was published in 1985, so we'll use that as a guide.)

Recognizes:
Green Lantern (Alan Scott): The JLA and JSA had regular teamups over the years. Check.
Superman: Duh.
Wonder Woman: Duh.
Wildcat: JSA
Jay: Duh.
Wally: Duh. Even though Barry's in a black costume and there wouldn't really be any confusion, it's interesting that Wally was drawn sans cowl.

Maybe:
Metamorpho: First appeared in 1964. Metamorpho has long been associated with the Outsiders. Although they're a more behind-the-scenes group than the League, they've probably crossed paths.
Sandman: First appeared in 1941. Was the Golden Age Sandman's sidekick, so they probably would've met. However, Barry probably hasn't seen him in his current costume.
Black Lightning: First appeared in 1977. Also an Outsider for much of the time Barry was alive. New haircut and costume might prevent Barry from recognizing him.

New to Barry:
Doctor Midnite: First appeared in 1999.
Mister Terrific: First appeared in 1997.

Stargirl: First appeared in 1999.

I wonder who designed the tech they're using to isolate Barry. I'd like to think that Tina McGee was involved -- she's certainly the most qualified to be dealing with Speed Force-related matters. Jay's responsible for most of the techno-babble on the next page, so it seems he also had a hand in it. He is a scientist after all!

Panel 2.
Check out the big black hand, apparently composed of Speed Force energy, that comes up to meet with Wally's on the other side of the glass. Freaky!

Page 5.
Panel 1.
Wally's 20th birthday party occured in the pages of Flash (Vol. 2) #1, which likely took place less than a year (comic book time) after Barry's death, so we can assume Wally was 19 the last time they hung out. There's not a lot of guys who grow 4 inches after they're 19. However, Barry's exact words are "the last time I really spent time with him". This may refer to a point earlier in Wally's Kid Flash career

Panel 2.
"I feel guilty." There we go with that theme again.

Panel 3.
"Jay always wanted to be a father." Jay explains his short-lived experience as a father in JSA #25. Joan was unable to have children, so they adopted a son. However, he died of pneumonia after only two weeks.

Page 6.
Panel 3.
Bart certainly has had a strong connection to the Speed Force in the past. In fact, during his stint as the Flash in the pages of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, Bart was the Speed Force!

Page 7.
Panel 2.
A recurring theme during Mark Waid's run on the Flash was Wally using his love for Linda as a guide back home after a brush with the Speed Force. I can think of at least four times this happened, after the Zero Hour miniseries and the "Terminal Velocity", "Dead Heat", and "Chain Lightning" storylines in Flash.

Panels 3-5.
Notice the art in these three panels is basically the same. Iris's hand only appears in the final two, and the Speed Force energy gets progressively wilder.

Page 8.
Panel 1.
Flashback time.
This is probably Barry and Iris's first date, the one Iris tried to set up in last issue's flashback. (It probably was rescheduled since Barry got hit by lightning and all). I doubt Barry would have continued calling her "Miss West" after they'd gone out a few times!

Panel 4.
This is an homage to Showcase #4. One of Barry's first feats of superspeed was a similar save when a waitress spilled her tray in the diner he ate at after his accident.

Page 9.
Panel 1.
Sigh. Another pre-tied bowtie. Barry better learn to tie his own soon!

Panel 2.
A slight nod to Barry's future career wearing red all the time!

Panel 3.
"Thank you." Although this is certainly a line from the flashback, Barry is also thanking Iris for giving him the strength to do what he is about to do.

Page 10.
Panel 1.
When I first read this page, I was really worried that Iris was caught in the blast. But fortunately, that's Wally carrying her to safety down at the bottom of the panel.

Page 12.
Panel 2.
"Dr. Caulder" is certainly Niles Caulder, brilliant scientist and founder of the Doom Patrol.

Panel 4.
In the previous panel, Barry commanded Hal to release him. Did Hal obey? Or did Barry just vibrate through a Green Lantern construct?

Panel 5.
Great pose. Barry's ready for a race, and crouches down like he's about to run the 100m at the Olympics.

Page 13.
Panel 2.
Notice the black on Barry's costume is beginning to peel away.

Page 14.
Panel 1.
And here we go, a Flash/Superman race, just like the cover promised!

Page 15.
Panel 1.
J'onn J'onzz died in Final Crisis #1, Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman) died in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #50, and Bruce Wayne (Batman...) died in Final Crisis #7.

Panel 2.
Barry and Clark run up the side of the Daily Planet building!

Panel 4.
Best. Line. Ever. I literally laughed out loud when I read this and the following panel, where Barry leaves Clark in the dust.

Page 16.
Panel 3.
Over the next few pages, we literally see Barry's life flash in front of his eyes.

Here, we have a scene from issue #1 of this very miniseries, when Barry leaves the Flash Museum. In the original scene, Barry was wearing a red shirt, and Hal's line was "Late? Late for what?", so a teeny bit different.

Panel 4.
Barry's first post-resurrection appearance, from Final Crisis #2. He's chasing a god-bullet backwards through time.

Page 17.
Panel 1.
Barry's trial, from the final year or so of his series, when he had been arrested for the manslaughter of Professor Zoom. The speaker is District Attorney Anton Slater. One of the jurors, not seen here, is Nathan Newbury, who was actually host to the psychic essence of Iris!

Panel 2.
Barry's friends and frequent collaborators. We already know Hal and Jay. The man in the purple is Ralph Dibny, aka Elongated Man. He actually first appeared in Barry's own title, in Flash #112. He died in 52, but lives on as a ghost detective.

Panel 3.
Wally's secret origin from Flash (Vol. 1) #110! Ethan Van Sciver did his research here - this is exactly the outfit Wally was wearing in the original scene. Many modern retellings show Wally wearing a t-shirt, e.g., The Life Story of the Flash.

Panel 4.
Barry and Iris kiss. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a particular scene we've seen before. Interesting, the umbrella over their heads echoes the Green Lantern construct umbrella which sheltered Iris a few pages ago.

Panel 5.
The first date, from a few pages back.

Page 18.
Panel 1.
The Accident. Showcase #4.

Panel 3.
We saw this scene last issue in a flashback. Then, we saw it from the side, seeing both Iris and Barry's faces. Now we see just Iris, just like Barry would have remembered. Nice touch.

Panel 5.
Barry's obsession with his mother's murder case was hinted at last issue for being one of the primary driving forces behind his choice in career.

Panel 7.
Barry visits his dad in prison.

Panel 8.
Dr. Allen is taken away. We saw this scene in flashback in issue #1 of this miniseries.

Barry forgets Iris's name! This has also happened to Wally during brushes with the Speed Force. In Flash (Vol. 2) #115, he was stranded in the 27th century after the "Dead Heat" storyline. The Flash of that era, John Fox, helped him out by reminding Wally, as Linda's name had been recorded in history. Ironically, a future version of Fox was, in that very same issue, back in the 20th century putting the moves on Linda while Wally was away!

Page 19.
Panel 2.
Another scene from the Rebirth #1 flashback.

Panel 3.
Barry's birth. We were given a pretty indepth look at the events of that night in Flash (Vol. 2) #144. The doctor was Asa Gilmore, and he was drunk. One other woman, Charlene Thawne, was also in labor the same night, and Gilmore accidentally killed the baby. Nora Allen, however, had delivered twins. In his state, Gilmore decided it was only fair to split the babies between the two couples, claiming to the Allens that one twin had been stillborn. This twin, Malcolm Thawne, grew up to become Cobalt Blue.

Panel 6.
Barry struggles to remember even his own name. This happened to Wally as well in the aforementioned Flash #115.

Page 20.
Panel 1.
It's interesting that, despite struggling to remember his own and his wife's names, Barry instantly recognizes Golden Age speedsters Johnny Quick and Max Mercury! I suspect this was done mostly for the benefit of the readers who might not recognize these two characters.

Barry probably didn't have much, if any, interaction with either of them while they were alive. Possibly Johnny, but Max was either jumping through time or selling subway tokens during much of Barry's career. I guess if dead speedsters can hang out in the Speed Force, they would've gotten to know each other.

Page 21.
Panel 1.
3x2(9yz)4a is the formula Johnny (and Jesse) used to access the Speed Force (although it wasn't until his death that Johnny finally admitted that the Speed Force even existed).

As an aspiring mathematician, it has always bugged me that this "formula" is not an equation (there isn't a "=" anywhere). And couldn't you simplify it to 216axyz?

This, by the way, is the scene Jesse sees at the beginning of the issue.

Panel 4.
It's interesting that Johnny's last words concern his wife. As Jesse mentioned earlier, they separated long ago. Plus, isn't he already dead? Can you die a speedster death, get sent to the Speed Force, and then die a real death once there?

Panel 6.
Hmmm, "Professor"... I wonder who the big bad is?

Page 22.
Panel 1.
And here he is. Eobard Thawne, aka Professor Adrian Zoom, aka the Reverse-Flash. Most of his appearances since his death at Barry's hands have been younger versions (for instance, "Return of Barry Allen" occured, from Zoom's perspective, before he even met Barry). However, I'm inclined to think that this is post-killed-by-Barry Zoom, and he was also sent to the Speed Force after his death.

Notice that Zoom's carrying a lighting-bolt spear, just like the murder weapon seen at the beginning of the first issue!

Also, Max isn't disintegrating like Johnny is, even though he clearly touched Barry on the last page.

See you next issue!

Flash: Rebirth #2

Cover.
The cover is an homage to to the cover of the classic Showcase #4, the debut of Barry Allen, and according to many comic book historians, the issue that began the Silver Age of comics. That cover also featured Barry Allen jumping out of a filmstrip. However, the previous frames all consisted of Barry in different poses. Here, we have a much more macabre look at skeleton-like versions of other speedsters. From the front, we have Wally West (despite the similarity in costumes, you can always tell the difference between him and Barry by the belt -- Barry's is horizontal, Wally's is V-shaped when you look at it from the front), Jay Garrick, Jesse Chambers/Liberty Belle, and Bart Allen/Kid Flash. Their skeleton-like appearances echos the manner in which Barry died during Crisis on Infinite Earths. While he ran superfast circle's around the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, he body quickly wasted away into nothing, turning from healthy young man to skeleton to just a costume.

Page 1.
Panel 1.
Here we are back in Gorilla City, briefly seen in one panel last issue. A gorilla, presumably Nnamdi, their king (his father, Solovar, like to rock the red capes as well), paints a Flash-themed mural. The center figure is Barry. Clockwise from the lower left hand corner, we have Bart, Wally, Iris/Irey West, Jai West, Jay, and Savitar (seen turned to dust last issue). What is the black lightning that Nnamdi's painting?

Panel 6.
Savitar's getting loads of the black paint. Perhaps to signify his current status as dead? And the black lightning is emanating from Barry. Very curious...

Page 2.
Panel 1.
Savitar's fortress. As far as I can recall, this is the first time that Savitar has been linked to the Balkan region. If I recall, during Dead Heat, the storyline in which Savitar first appeared and was the big bad, Waid called him a pilot for a third world nation during the Cold War, which would indicate an Eastern Bloc nation. Looking at the intersection of these nations with those on the Balkan Peninisula, one might guess we're in the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, or perhaps some made-up-for-the-DCU nation like Pokolistan. Interestingly, the name Savitar itself was adopted from Savitr, a Hindu god.

I'm pretty sure "riding the lightning" was a phrase that cropped up around the time of Dead Heat, probably spoken by Savitar himself, or perhaps his counterpart amonst the good guys, Max Mercury. It has been adopted by the web's premiere Flash fansite, Those Who Ride the Lightning.

Panel 2.
Ivana Christina Borodin Molotova, aka Christina Alexandrova, was originally a member of Blue Trinity, a group of Soviet speedsters who fought Wally during one of his earliest adventures after Barry's death. She's traded allegiances several times. For a while she was allied with Vandal Savage, then teamed up with Wally as Lady Flash, then fell in with Kobra and eventually Savitar.

The "fifth force" must be the Speed Force. She mentions the other four: strong, weak, electromagnetism, and graviation.

Look at all of Savitar's acolytes watching her from the balconies.

Page 3.
Panel 2.
So long, acolytes.

Page 4.
Panel 1.
Savitar's mask, lying in the dirt. We now rejoin Barry immediately following the events of last issue.

Panel 2.
We'll periodically be going back to Nnamdi's mural. Savitar is now totally black.

Page 5.
Panel 1.
Barry left Hal at the Flash Museum last issue.

Panel 2.
Savitar's mask surviving parallels what happened with Barry's death in Crisis. As I mentioned earlier, Barry's costume survived while the rest of him was turned to dust.

Panel 4.
Johns is really playing up the whole "Barry's a cop" angle with all this lingo.

Page 6.
Panel 1.
One of the many cool tricks that Flashes can pull off is running on water. Their feet move so fast, they don't have time to sink.

Barry gives us a really good summary of the differences between his return and Hal's.

Page 7.
Panels 1 & 2.
Here Barry notices the similarities between what he is currently seeing and his memory of the moment before he learned of his mother's murder (seen in flashback last issue).

Panel 3.
"Iris's home"? It's interesting that Barry isn't referring to it as "his" home yet.

Panel 4.
My life "flashes" before my eyes? Argh. Unforunately, this isn't the only bad pun this issue!

Another extended flashback to Barry's past. This time, we get a glimpse at Barry's life at work, pre-Flash.

Panel 5.
Lieutentant Frye will eventually become Captain Frye. We'll see his present day self in a little bit. The blond woman on the right is Patty Spivot, a recurring character from Barry's series. Interestingly, she looks almost identical to Angela Margolin, who worked in Barry's lab after his death, and was the love interest of Walter West, an alternate-universe version of Wally. The other scientists are Desmond (possibly Albert Desmond, aka Dr. Alchemy?) and Forrest, possibly a relative of Wally's friend Chunk?

I have a secret wish that Julio Mendez, Barry's colleague from the Flash tv series, will show up one of these days in the comics.

Page 8.
Panel 1.
Barry's slowness/lateness explained! He's just methodical. That's why he's always late for the dates with Iris, right?

Panel 2.
The "Slowest Man Alive" was the nickname of Barry's very first foe, Turtle Man.

Panel 6.
And here it is, the Secret Origin of Barry Allen's bowtie. I must say that I've lost some respect for Barry now that I know his bowties are clip-ons.

Page 9.
Panel 4.
Sam Scudder will eventually become the Mirror Master. It's interesting that his M.O. of using mirrors already had been adopted prior to his donning of the green and yellow costume.

Page 10.
Panel 1.
Barry Allen, meet Iris West. As I mentioned in my annotations last issue, she was originally a reporter for the Picture News. Changing this to the Central Citizen seems like a rather pointless retcon.

Page 11.
Panel 1.
Here we get a little bit more on the Allen parents retcon. So Henry is dead as well, before his son becomes the Flash, contrary to his several Silver Age appearances, after his son becomes the Flash. Argh.

Panel 7.
Many of the streets in Central and Keystone Cities seem to be named after famous Flash creators of yesteryear. Here we learn that there's some street with normal-sounding names as well.

Page 12.
Panels 3 & 4.
Despite all the other retcons, at least the Allen parents get to keep their names. And Henry his occupation!

Panel 7.
Is this the split-second before the lightning strikes Barry, granting him superspeed? Or is it just foreshadowing?

Page 13.
Panel 1.
Back to the present. Barry finally enters "Iris's home".

Panel 2.
Here's now-Captain Frye with Iris. Interestingly, Frye looks a good deal older than he did in the flashback, whereas Iris looks about the same. As I mentioned last time, Iris has a good 20-30 years more aging on the rest of the cast, due to her time spent in the future. I suppose that's the wonders of the 30th century medicine?

Another common Flash trick -- moving so fast that folks can't see you. But wouldn't they feel the wind that Barry creates in his wake?

Panel 3.
There's been a couple reflections so far this issue. Barry's face in Savitar's mask a few pages back was another. Mirror Master, anyone?

Panel 5.
Costume ring!

Panel 6.
"Somewhere warm." I would imagine that the Speed Force is probably pretty warm, what with all the lightning and speed energy everywhere.

Page 14.
Panel 1.
That's because he hasn't, Captain Frye.

Panel 2.
Frye is presumably referring to the events in the opening pages of last issue.

Panel 3.
"Up to speed"? Groan.

Panel 4.
I wonder what crime Barry supposedly witnessed in his doctored Witness Protection files?

Panel 6.
Many fans and creators have referred to Barry as a saint since his death in Crisis, often claiming this was the very reason he should never be brought back.

Page 15.
Panel 1.
Henry Allen, sans moustache. I'm not sure which annoys me more, all these retcons concerning him and his wife or his lack of facial hair!

Panel 2.
Barry killing Professor Zoom to save his bride-to-be, Fiona Webb. This is actually the event that sparked the disappearance of police scientist Barry Allen, even before his death as the Flash.

Panel 4.
"Flash facts" often showed up in Barry's Silver Age adventures, giving mini science facts to explain what was happening in the Scarlet Speedster's adventures.

Page 16.
Panel 1.
Back to Nnamdi's mural.

Panel 2.
From left: Hourman, Jesse, Mr. Terrific, Dr. Mid-Nite (the team doctor, hence why he's examining Jay), Jay, Joan, Green Lantern, and Stargirl.

Panel 3.
One might assume that the length and severity of the seizures have something to do with connection to the Speed Force. As mentioned, Jesse is only slightly connected, whereas Bart actually was the living embodiment of the Speed Force not too long ago, right before his death in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive.

Panel 4.
From left: Robin, Bart. Interesting, neither are currently on the Teen Titans roster.

Panel 6.
From left: Starfire, Red Arrow, Beast Boy, Linda, Jai, Irey/Iris, a miscolored Donna Troy?, Cyborg, and Raven.

Page 17.
Panel 1.
Gotta love Wally and Barry running alongside each other.

I wouldn't say the science of speed is completely unknown. There certainly have been numerous minds studying it. Tina and Jerry McGee, Conrad Bortz, and Valerie Perez all come to mind.

Page 18.
Panel 2.
Black Flash and the Black Racer are just two different personifications of Death seen in the DCU. Here Wally confirms that they are in fact one and the same, as the Black Racer version was what we saw during the events he is mentioning from Final Crisis.

Panel 5.
Lightning strikes right as Wally says Max's name. Foreshadowing? (I hope!)

Page 19.
Panel 2.
Wally's suit is made up of solidified Speed Force energy. It always bugs me when it gets ripped like this.

Panel 5.
Notice Barry's hand on Wally's shoulder? More on that in a bit.

Page 20.
Panel 3.
I suppose this confirms that every one of Savitar's acolytes died at the beginning of this issue, not just the couple we saw kick the bucket.

Panel 4.
Barry touches Christina. A few panels later, she is dead. He touched Savitar last issue and he died. But when he touched Wally, nothing. What gives? Does the Speed Force distinguish between good and evil?

Page 21.
Panel 6.
Is the pain Wally is fighting through only from Christina pwning him? Or is some of it coming from Barry as well?

Page 22.
Panel 2.
Why waste all that perfectly good red and yellow paint just to paint over it, Nnamdi? And how do you know so much?

See you next issue!

Flash: Rebirth #1

Welcome to my annotations for the first issue of Flash: Rebirth! Most of the links point to the appropriate article at the DC Database Project, a great DC Universe wiki, where a good number of the Flash articles happen to have been written by yours truly. Let's dive right in...

Page 1.
Panel 1. Keystone City, Kansas and Central City, Missouri lie across a river from each other (presumably the Missouri, although Mayfair Games's Atlas of the DC Universe lists it as the Mississippi, which does not border Kansas in the real world). We are likely looking at Central City from Keystone, given the smokestacks in the foreground. Both are key locations in the Flash mythos, as three Flashes have called Keystone home, and another operated in Central City.

The narrator on the first page is likely a character we will meet in the next few pages.

Panel 3. The Central City Police crime lab. This is where the second Flash, Barry Allen, received his powers in a lab accident. Notice that the cabinet on the left is nearly empty.

The narrator is going on about Barry's morality and how he saw a clear distinction between good and evil, guilt and innocence. Contrast this with the conversation between the two police scientists over the next few panels. The one on the left appears to share Barry's view (as well as taste in hairstyles!), while the one on the right is ready to blur that line to get the job done.

Page 2
Panel 3. "Blue Valley" is presumably Blue Valley, Nebraska, hometown of Wally West, Barry's sidekick who became the third Flash after his death.

Panel 4."This is how Central City works. You hurry up and get it done." Has the city taken on the personality of its hero?

A third character enters the lab. This is probably the narrator.

Page 3.
Panel 1. Ow. The lightning bolt spearhead looks like the insignia of the original Flash, Jay Garrick, as well as the one shared by the many members of the Marvel Family.

Page 4.
Panel 2. Remember the empty cabinet?

Panel 4. Ninhydrin is used to detect fingerprints. Not surprising that it's found in a crime lab.

Page 5.
Panel 2. 6:03. I'm not sure if this time has any significance to the Flash mythos. According to Mark Waid's The Life Story of the Flash, Barry's lab accident happened around 6:12 or so.

Pages 6-7.
Panel 1. Kaboom. Presumably, the narrator/lightning-spear-guy moved precisely the right chemicals onto the empty cabinet in order to duplicate Barry's accident. If so, this is at least the third time someone has gained superspeed this way, as Wally also received his powers in this manner. How did he know that the lightning would strike precisely at that moment? Is he a time traveler? Weather expert?

Page 8.
Panel 2. Here's the river again. It looks like we're seeing a different bridge than the one on Page 1.

Panel 3. Gorilla City, Africa. Home to a race of highly evolved gorillas. Barry Allen was the first human to learn of its existence, way back in The Flash #106. The gorilla in the cape is likely Nnamdi, the current ruler.

Panel 5. The Rogues. Here we see Captain Cold, the Trickster, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, and Heat Wave. They were last seen starring in Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge.

Panel 6. The parade float on the left is an homage to the classic cover of The Flash #123, which contained the first meeting of Barry and Jay. The parade float in the middle is an homage to the cover of this very issue!

The reporter/narrator is Linda Park-West, Wally's wife.

Page 9.
Panel 1. The Flash Museum. According to the Linda's broadcast on the previous page, we're clearly in Central City. However, at one point (late in Geoff Johns's storied run on Wally's series, if I recall), the Museum was destroyed and rebuilt in Keystone. I suppose the Central City version was rebuilt eventually. You can never have too many Flash Museums, right?

Panel 2. Abra Kadabra, 64th century criminal whose technology is so advanced it looks like magic to us lowly 21st century residents. Turning people into puppets is one of his common M.O.s.

Panel 3. Hrm, who's that guy with the blond crewcut? Note that Barry's face will be obscured for a while, until the big reveal.

Panel 4. Doctor Alchemy. Al Desmond, who uses the Philosopher's Stone to transmute the elements. He also uses a ray gun to do the same thing as Mister Element. Who is he pretending to talk to? Based on the newspaper article he is reading, one would guess that his imaginary conversation partner is Barry. However, I can't imagine Al would expect Barry to forget him, unless he has some real self esteem issues. And who's "her"? I have one theory, which I'll come back to later.

Page 10.
Panel 2. The Justice Society of America. From the left, Hourman, Wildcat, Cyclone, Doctor Mid-Nite (and Charlie the owl!), Ma Hunkel, Mister Terrific, Jay, Green Lantern, Citizen Steel, Liberty Belle, Damage, and Stargirl. In addition to Jay, Liberty Belle is also very connected to the Flash mythos. Her real name is Jesse Chambers, and her father was the late Johnny Chambers, who was a speedster known as Johnny Quick. In the past, Jesse operated under the alias Jesse Quick. She and her father played important roles in the classic Mark Waid-penned storylines Terminal Velocity and Dead Heat, the latter featuring Johnny's final race.

Panel 3. Wildcat is referring to the post-Crisis on Inifinite Earths version of the classic "Flash of Two Worlds" storyline from the aforementioned The Flash #123. In the original story, Barry lived on Earth-1 and Jay lived on Earth-2, and Keystone was never frozen in time. However, the first Crisis erased these different Earths, and so Jay had operated on the same Earth as Barry. To accomodate their first meeting, a new version was published (I believe in Secret Origins #50, but I was introduced to it by The Life Story of the Flash), which is the version Wildcat and Jay talk about here.

Page 11.
Panel 1. Another homage to that The Flash #123 cover. It's an important issue in the history of the Flash, if you couldn't tell already! Notice that we still haven't seen Barry's face.

Jay certainly ran faster than the speed of sound many times in his Golden Age adventures. (Flash blogger Kelson Vibber discussed this very point in this excellent post.) Personally, I think his statements here are a metaphor for how Barry's appearance reinvigorated his life rather than a retcon.

Panel 4. Barry actually called Jay by his first name during their first meeting. From page 11, panel 4 (hrm, same as this panel...) of The Flash #123: "And I'd like to give you a hand, Jay! As long as I'm here, I'll join forces with you--and help solve the crimes!" How's that for a coincidence?

Hmm, they're talking about Wally. I wonder what he's up to...

Page 12.
Panel 1. Oh hey, it's Wally!

Panel 2. The Titans (plus Wally's kids.) From the left: Jai West, Iris West, Raven, Wally, Red Arrow, Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Nightwing, Cyborg, Starfire. Many of the Titans were sidekicks to the heroes of Barry's generation.

Notice the pinata the kids are playing with. As they say on the next page, it is of Gorilla Grodd, another Flash villain. He hails from Gorilla City, mentioned above.

I can't recall Iris being referred to as "Irey" before. My guess is that her namesake/great-aunt Iris Allen will be appearing more frequently since Barry's back, so this is an attempt to reduce confusion between the two characters.

Page 13.
Panel 4. Wally describes the twins' powers to Red Arrow. They are twins, despite the fact that "Irey" (I don't think I'll be able to get used to that!) looks older. They were born only about a year or so ago, comic book time, but aged very rapidly due to their inherited superspeed. The rapid aging was cured at the end of Tom Peyer's recent "Fast Money" arc.

Panel 5. Why does Wally look so bummed out about raising his kids?

"Bart" refers to Bart Allen, Barry's grandson from the 30th century. Whuhh? Quickie version: Iris (Barry's wife, not Irey) was born in the 30th century. She died, but her birth parents resurrected her. She brought Barry to the future with her, where they spent a month together before he went off and got himself killed. She got pregnant and bore twins (more twins?!). One of them was Don Allen, whose son was Bart. Iris brought Bart back to the present when he was aging too rapidly (sound familiar?) for Wally to fix. Bart spent a couple years as Impulse, and then changed his codename to Kid Flash.

Despite what Wally says here, he didn't spend that much time training Bart. Much of that was done by time-hopping speedster Max Mercury, and later Jay after Max's disappearance/possible death.

Page 14.
Panel 1. Hey, it's Bart! Fancy that, after those other characters were just talking about him! Bart actually was aged approximately 4 years from 16ish to 20ish (while chronologically being only 5ish -- see above rapid aging thing) during the events of Infinite Crisis. After sitting around depressed for a year, he eventually donned the red tights and operated as the Flash for a few months, before he got himself killed by the Rogues. Recently, he reappeared in the pages of Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds. The exact nature of his resurrection/de-aging and subsequent return to the present remain unknown, although presumably we will find out in future issues of Lo3W.

Panel 2. The Teen Titans. The modern day versions of the folks we saw on the previous two pages. There's a few more of them, but apparently most are in Central City. From the left, Robin (does anyone not know who he is?), Bart, and Wonder Girl.

Panel 3. Why is Bart so pissy about his grandpa coming back?

Panel 6. My guess: he misses Max. While Barry may be his biological grandfather, Max actually played that role in Bart's life. They lived together in Manchester, Alabama for most of the run of the Impulse series, where Max posed as Bart's uncled and trained him to be a hero. Max's body was possessed by Jay's enemy Rival, and then the series was cancelled before everything could be resolved. It's since been shown that Max went to the Speed Force. I'll let Barry explain what that is when we get to it a few pages from now.

Page 15.
Panel 1. So much for character A mentioning character B in the last panel of one page, and then character B then appearing in the first panel of the next page. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Here we have the aforementioned Iris West Allen, i.e. Barry's wife, not Irey. She looks a lot younger than she did in her last major appearances (in Bart's shortlived solo series Flash: The Fastest Man Alive.) I guess this makes sense, as presumably she'll be getting back together with Barry, and he's probably mid-30s-ish. Chronologically, however, Iris has a good 25-30 years on Barry. Even though it's only been a few years since Barry died for most of the characters, it's been a lot longer for Iris, as she spent all that time in the 30th century raising her twins.

Panel 2. Why does Iris have framed copies of the Central Citizen? She was a journalist for the Picture News, and presumably the two are competing newspapers. The top one refers to Murmur, a serial killer who Barry helped capture before he became the Flash, by testifying in his capacity as a police scientist at the trial. The second of course refers to Mister Element, mentioned above.

The older lady mixing a bowl of something is Joan Garrick, Jay's wife. She's been around since the very beginning, appearing as his girlfriend Joan Williams in Flash Comics #1. Although she and Jay are chronologically pushing 90, both of them are 50-60ish due to several magical encounters the JSA has had over the years. Plus however many years Keystone City spent frozen in time (what Wildcat and Jay were talking about a few pages back) probably didn't hurt. As far as I know, this is Iris's dog's first appearance.

Panel 5. According to Kelson's great site, Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning, Captain Darryl Frye was Barry's boss during the later issues of his series. It's good to see that he's still around these days. One would assume that the murder refers to the events in the opening scene of this issue. Shouldn't it be murders, unless one of the two scientists survived?

Page 16.
Panel 1. And here he is, the man of the hour, Barry Allen! We finally get to see his face.

Notice how practically every single person on the next few pages is talking on their cell phone, texting, or playing a handheld game. This sets us Barry's conversation on the next page nicely.

Panel 2. Dexter Myles is the curator of the Flash Museum and longtime friend of the Flashes.

Page 17.
Panel 1. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814 and Barry's best friend. He's also a pilot, hence the jacket. The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force, which is why Barry refers to him as a "cop". A few years ago, Hal got his own "Rebirth" treatment from the same creative team in Green Lantern: Rebirth. He had been turned into a villain, died saving Earth, and then became the Spectre for a while before finally being reborn and returned to his roots as a hero. That green glowy thing on his finger is his power ring, which lets him do all the cool stuff Green Lanterns do. We also get a glimpse at Barry's ring, where he keeps his costume. Inside the ring, the costume is miniaturized, but when the ring opens and the costume comes in contact with the air, it expands until it's Barry-sized.

Did Barry change shirts at superspeed? It was white on the previous page!

Panel 4. Hal is a notorious lady's man. His main squeeze over the years has been Carol Ferris, although currently he's also seeing a fellow Air Force pilot nicknamed "Cowgirl".

Barry wore bow ties in his Silver Age adventures. A lot. I wonder what he means by saying they "weren't my fault"?

Panel 6. Parallax is the embodiment of fear that possessed Hal during his villain days. He did some crazy stuff, like destroying the Green Lantern Corps and teaming up with Extant to try to remake history (Zero Hour).

Ollie refers to Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow. He's also great friends with Hal, but always butted heads with Barry. Idealogically, they were at opposite ends of the spectrum. Ollie was your typical left-wing political activist from the Pacific Northwest while Barry was the conservative family-values God-fearing Midwesterner. (For more on Ollie, flip back a few pages to Red Arrow's comments about his mentor -- that's him.)

The kid Hal refers to is the second Speedy, Mia Dearden. The first was Roy Harper, later known as Arsenal, and now as Red Arrow, who we've already met.

Page 18.
Panel 1. "The Brave and the Bold" refers of course to the team-up book. Specifically, there was a Hal/Barry team-up miniseries a few years back with the same title.

On this page, Barry describes the Speed Force, where all speedsters get their powers.

Panel 2. The images Barry and Hal zip by are covers from Wally's series. From the left, #16 , #6, #111 (featuring Savitar -- more on him later), #197, and #141 (featuring Black Flash -- more on him later too).

Notice how Barry's image is all distorted as he runs fast. I read in an interview where Ethan Van Sciver said he was coming up with new ways to draw speed for this series. This must be one of them!

Panel 3. Barry talks about his death. He had been captured by the Anti-Monitor, the big bad of Crisis on Infinite Earths. He escaped and ran crazy fast circles around an anti-matter cannon that was poised to destroy all reality, so fast that he merged with the Speed Force and died. But the cannon was destroyed, and all reality was saved. Yay Barry!

The statues in this exhibit are of villains incarcerated in Iron Heights prison, hence the big sign. From left, Girder, Murmur (mentioned above), Double Down, and Fallout. I'm not sure who the pink guy with the yellow shirt is.

Incidentally, Flash: Iron Heights, which introduced the prison and a few of these characters, was also a Johns/Van Sciver collaboration, and their only Flash-related one together prior to this. (Johns of course wrote a slew of Flash issues, and Van Sciver was the regular penciller on Impulse for a while.)

Page 19.
Panel 1. Hal talks about Barry's return in Final Crisis. Barry and Wally chased a god-killing bullet backwards through time, leading the Black Racer to Darkseid to stomp in his face, as Hal so eloquently put it.

Panel 4. Bart gets two statues! The red and white one is of his old costume as Impulse. At the end of All-Flash #1, Wally froze Inertia (Bart's evil clone who was the mastermind of his death) in time and placed him in this very room so that he would be forced to look at Bart's image for all eternity. Or, until he got unfrozen, which happened in Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge.

We also see a statue of Weather Wizard sporting Silver Age-era duds. The statue in the glass case in the background might be Tar Pit. In the bottom left there's a Grodd statue.

Panel 6. That's certainly not a smile! It's interesting how both recently resurrected speedsters, Barry and Bart, seem pretty unhappy.

Page 20.
Panel 1. Fallville, Iowa was Barry Allen's hometown. This scene has a very "Ma and Pa Kent find baby Superman's rocket" vibe to it.

Page 21.
Panel 1. Remember when I said more on the Black Flash later? The time has come. This is him. Or was, it looks like. Which is interesting, because the Black Flash is not a living being. He's the part of the Speed Force that represents Death. He appears right before a speedster is about to die ...

Panel 4. ... like the Grim Reaper. Nice timing, Hal!

The implications of Death dying are very interesting. Is that why Barry is alive? If the Death component of the Speed Force is no more, than what is to keep the dead speedsters from coming back? More on this later...

Page 22.
Panel 1. The yellow-clad statue hanging from the ceiling and appearing on the poster in the back is Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash, my personal favorite super-villain. He was a crook from the 25th century who came back to Barry's era to wreak havoc for our favorite speedster. He killed Iris (before she got resurrected in the future...), and almost killed Barry's almost-second wife Fiona Webb before Barry killed him, which spawned the infamous "Trial of the Flash" storyline.

Panel 3. Check out Barry's shadow!

Look at all those villain statues... Okay, let's give this a shot:
Left of Barry/Hal, row 1, from left: Savitar, somebody with red boots, Weather Wizard, the Suit, Kobra, somebody with snakes for hands, perhaps a badly miscolored Speed Demon
row 2, from left: Replicant, Trickster, Razer, Kilg%re, Cobalt Blue
row 3, only visible one is Peek-a-Boo.

Right of Barry/Hal, row 1, from left (if you turn the page upside-down): someone with blue boots, Grodd (probably, although he's wearing more stuff than usual), Golden Glider, the Top, Doctor Alchemy, The Folded Man, Cicada
Row 2, from left: Pied Piper (maybe? based on green boots), the Turtle, a dude with a gun and blue suit, Tar Pit
Row 3, from left: Rainbow Raider, Magenta

Phew! If you know one of the ones I missed, let me know in the comments section and I'll update the list.

Panel 6. We get to see Hal use his ring! And to top it off, it's a nice cheesy Silver-Age-style big hand. Yay!

Page 23.
Panel 2. We get to see Barry's costume ring in action. "I can't be late" is a very interesting thing for Barry to say, as a running gag throughout his adventures was that he was always late for things (especially dates with Iris), creating the irony of the Fastest Man Alive never being on time.

Panel 3. Booomm. Presumably, Barry just hit the sound barrier.

Page 24.
Panel 1. We had to have a splash page of Barry running in costume, right?

Page 25.
Panel 1. Yay, Max gets a shout-out!

Panel 2. Cue the Lost flashback sound.

Page 26.
Panel 4. Hrm. Barry's mother, Nora Allen, was alive and well during his Silver Age adventures. Is this a retcon? Or did she get better? Or is this just some other blond kid named Barry with a crew cut and not Barry Allen at all?

Could Mama Allen be the "her" that Doctor Alchemy was referring to way back at the beginning? Kind of doubtful, since Al Desmond is approximately the same age as Barry and would have been a wee tyke at this point in time, but I figured I'd throw that out there. A few other major "her"s in Barry's life were his three big love interests: Iris, Fiona, and childhood sweetheart Daphne Dean.

There's a Keystone City policeman named Fred Chyre who was a regular in Johns's run on Wally's series. Presumably, this is not him, as we are in Fallville, not Keystone, and Fred Chyre is white, and the policeman carrying little Barry away in the next panel is black. Perhaps they're cousins?

Panel 7. Henry Allen, Barry's pops. He's a doctor, and apparently is in a lot of trouble right now.

Page 28.
Panel 1. Savitar. So if the Black Flash is dead, maybe Barry's not the only one to have escaped the Speed Force. Savitar was the big bad of Waid's Dead Heat storyline, which Barry recounts the story of nice and concisely in two sentences. He was a test pilot (hrm, like Hal) who reached incredible new speeds while flying, thus tapping into the Speed Force.

Panel 3. "He's guilty". It looks like the narrator from Page 1 had Barry down pretty well.

Page 29.
Panel 5. Barry touching Savitar clearly caused some disturbance in the Speed Force. Here we see three other Speed Force-wielders, Wally and the kids, have some sort of crazy reaction.

Page 7. Savitar turns to dust just like the Black Flash did when the kid touched him with the bat a few pages ago. Clearly, there's some sort of connection.

Page 30.
Panel 1. What the hell did you just do, Barry? I suppose we'll have to wait another month to find out. In the other panels, we see all the other major speedsters have the same reaction as Wally and the kids: Bart, Jay, and Jesse.

Please let me know if you have any theories, corrections, or see anything I missed in the comments section!