The Flash #795 // Review
Jesse Quick needs to pick up an old mantle if she’s going to help the rest of her team defeat a sinister alien invasion. It won’t be easy, but she and her family have a lot going for them, including a massive pull on the Speed Force Einsteinian physics in Flash #795. Writer Jeremy Adams balances interpersonal drama with weird speedster action in an issue drawn by Fernando Pasarin, Roger Cruz, and George Kambadais. Embellishment comes courtesy of inkers Oclair Albert and Wellington Diaz and colorists Matt Herms and Luis Guerrero. The “One-Minute War” story reaches its final issue in a compelling moment of dramatic action.
They’ve got an idea. There’s the Speed Force. There’s the speed of light. There’s the idea of moving back in time. Somehow, it’s all going to work, but only if everything works out perfectly with a hell of a lot of variables in place. It’s okay, though: this is the Flash Family. They have all had to deal with a lot of danger in their lives. They’re looking to save the world. They’re all going to have to do it together. And if all goes well, they just might save the life of a dead Flash in the process.
Adams is alternating between the scenes of planning and scenes in which the plan is being executed. It’s a time-honored tradition that’s worked for heist movies and prison break stories and...a hell of a lot of other things. It’s really too bad that Adams doesn’t have more of an opportunity to explore the format in greater depth. If he had allowed the idea a bit more of a chance to develop, it might have been a good framing device for the entire “One-Minute War” storyline. It’s okay, though. As it is, there’s a huge amount going on with every member of the ensemble, and Adams is doing a fabulous job of giving everyone seemingly equal time on the page.
The art team for this issue is huge. Given the number of artists working on Flash #795, it’s pretty remarkable that it comes across looking as well-integrated as it does. The style is sharply consistent throughout. The action feels fluid. The drama feels weighty. There might not be a whole lot of sinister danger going on, but Adams hasn’t allowed for a whole lot of depth for the villains. The multi-issue “One-Minute War” storyline has largely been about the Flash Family, and they look really, really good in the penultimate issue of the story.
The interaction between the Speed Force and Einsteinian physics has always been at least a little tenuous. Exactly what it is that Adams is doing here is a little silly, but the drama in the ensemble holds it all together remarkably well, even in the absence of any menace on the part of the villains. Given everything that Flash #795 has to contend with, it’s kind of impressively coherent.
