Sunday, July 29, 2012

Finished (Comic Books) - "Flashpoint" - DC Comics

I read the cross-over series "Flashpoint" by DC Comics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashpoint_(comics)), which is kind of a wrap-up on the existing DC Universe, leading into the re-launched "New 52" universe.  "New 52" is a complete company-wide overhaul wherein many series were concluded, and 52 brand-new comic series were launched.  The re-launch allowed for characters to be updated and revised, though bearing strong resemblances to their pre-52 versions - it allowed for clarity of character history and the ability to re-set the past (e.g. Superman has only been around for 5 years, not the 75 years or so anniversary he'd hit in 2014, which, if he was about 25 would make him a centarian).

Flashpoint was based upon the idea that one of The Flash's villians altered history and saved Flash's mother from dying.  The repercussions were profound as it altered the universe enough to avoid the Flash being created, Bruce Wayne (not his parents) was killed in the alley, Superman was captured by the gov't when he crash landed to earth (a similar, excellent storyline published by Marvel Comics involving their Superman clone - Hyperion, called Supreme Power).  Only a few folks remember the pre-Flashpoint universe - Booster Gold and the Flash, and both are slowly losing their connection to the past universe.

Aquaman and Wonder Woman's Amazons were at war with us regular folks, and each other (sinking Western Europe and raising up Great Britain to mountain status).  These fronts provides some magnitude to the story, but I didn't really feel that they "fit" very well in to the storyline - it would have been more contained and powerful to avoid that entire aspect.  The "Atlantis-Amazon" war was interesting, and would have made a nice story, perhaps coming out of either character's own books.

The depiction of Thomas Wayne as Batman and the handling of Superman were both excellent and well worth the reading of the series.  I'd like to seem more of the Wayne family from Flashpoint, perhaps a graphic novel or mini-series.

This was the first use of my iPad as comic-book reader - excellent device, very easy to flip through a series of that type.

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