The artwork is fantastic with very creative uses of typography. High marks ★★★★☆.The story is not as clear. Stuff happens. Barry is concerned about it. But I never cared. ★★☆☆☆ The problems of the story were centered around the Speed Force—that nebulous world that gave Barry his powers, but which also came into being when Barry became the Flash. It has been a long time since I read a Flash comic, so the Speed Force was new to me. It was introduced in the 90s. I found it to be a banal concept, but, boy, have the writers embraced it. All DC speedsters are connected to it. In their zeal to create continuity, they saddled The Flash with a turd of a concept. ItThe a Speed Force is both a sentient life force and a location—a dessert topping and a floor wax!. It makes Barry in essence almost God-like, especially when he implements speed thinking, but he still seems to solve problems with his fists while experiencing flashbacks and lots of feelings. Barry is boring. Instead of exploring what it is like to be the fastest man on Earth, the story delved into metaphysical/quasi-religious themes, especially when introducing the sentient Simians of Gorilla City. Time and again I found myself laughing at the story, but the quality art and design kept me engaged. Great start to my Flash craze going that just just started this month. Haven't really read or known too much about the Barry Allen character. What started me reading this series was that I'm a huge Arrow fan and heard that CW was going to make Flash its own spin-off series. So far I haven't been disappointed. If anything I've enjoyed not only what I've see but read in the flash comics. A lot happens in just about every issue that you read. Had to go search around to find Issue 0 after I started reading the first 1-8 issues. As I watched the pilot episode a few weeks back I did some digging and found the issue that help paint a clearer picture as to what happened to Barry parents when he was a kid. Without spoiling anything about what happens in the first eight or nine issues (if you count 0). Barry gets involved with a freak lighting accident that grants him incredible speed that allows him to travel at amazing speeds. Along with this great power he has to be careful not to take a chunk of whatever he sucks into the vortexes he creates during one of his speed blowouts. This power Barry has is more powerful than he could ever imagine and with that he has a responsibility not only to himself but to his city. This is a great easy to read novel of comics for anyone looking to jump in THE FLASH series with both feet. Not sure if this series is a complete reference to the TV series on CW, but I will come back to reread this as a slight reference source.
What do You think about Flash, Bd. 1: Licht Aus (2014)?
I give this a 3.5/5. The ending was enough for me to pick up volume 2 though.
—fam
