I have made no secret that Heroes in Crisis #8 is the worst comic book I have ever read in my life.
After the horrible debacle of that book, after Tom King wiped his nose with Wally West, and after the fan response has been overwhelming negative, DC had a choice: either double down on making Wally a villain or immediately being unraveling the travesty of what King wrote.
Luckily DC chose the latter.
I know that I often complain that storylines are disregarded by the next writer. But Heroes in Crisis is the exception. None of the characters in that book were written with any sense of continuity to who they were. Wally was the worst example, but characters like Booster Gold sounded nothing like who they were meant to be.
Writer Scott Lobdell had his task set out for him with Flash Forward. Wally is currently serving a prison term for the crimes he committed in Heroes in Crisis. I was worried that this new mini-series would be a complete angst-fest. And Lobdell takes the bull by the horns and tackles Wally's sense of guilt. In prison, he is surrounded by his former enemies. Some try to kill him. But others want him to stay alive because his living with his guilt is a worse punishment.
Luckily, this is only the set up. While in his cell, a cosmic being named Tempus Fuginaut (who I believe was created for the recent comic book Sideways) comes to Wally and tells him that he is needed for a mission to save the multiverse. At first, Wally is reluctant, but what follows is a fun adventure.
Freed from the shackles of Tom King, Wally runs with excitement and cheer. Lobdell does not ignore Heroes in Crisis, but this story feels much more in line with the Wally written by Mark Waid and Geoff Johns. This story is also very much a classic Flash/Multiverse story. We get re-introduced to the "President Superman" universe and all of the exciting characters there. And the last page of the second issue had my jaw on the floor.
What Lobdell gets and what King does not is that comic book readers have a relationship with these characters. The affection we feel for them is internalized like friendship. Lobdell gets this and helps us spend time with our friend again. Artists Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund make the story pop with dynamic action and big splashes of character and color.
Reading this book feels like waking up from a bad dream. And I cannot wait for the next issue.
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