He’s Losing His Children All Over Again In Flash Forward #5
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
Wally West has found his children on a world in the Dark Multiverse and he will do anything to keep them alive this time. Unfortunately, the dark matter consumes them before long. Next, Wally returns to Linda back when Jai and Iris were babies. Even this is taken away from him. The Flash knows that Tempus Fugit must know what is going on and he’s tired of the celestial being keeping secrets from him. He will fight Tempus Fugit if he has to, but the Mobius Chair appears. Only this has the answers which Wally seeks.
Flash Forward #5 finds Wally West faced with the one thing he longs for more than anything else in the Multiverse: his children. Unfortunately for Wally, he’s only seeing them so that they can be taken away from him over and over again. This leads to Flash turning on the only being left who could put his entire trust in Wally West.
It’s another emotional issue, as we watch Wally find Jai, Iris, and Linda taken away from him again. It’s torture for the Fastest Man Alive and the secret behind it all is surprisingly obvious–even if the comic never actually plainly states it until the very end.
That is the one impressive thing about the comic. The explanation for the scenario which torments Wally is obvious for those who’ve been paying attention, but the comic doesn’t hand-feed the mystery to the reader.
Brett Booth once again knocks it out of the park. The man was born to draw the Flash and he has put in some of his best work into this mini-series. He captures the pain, the tender moments, and the cosmic action of Flash Forward in a stunning manner. Norm Rapmund backs Booth up with excellent inkwork and Luis Guerrero gives the book an explosive color palette.
Flash Forward #5 is the stellar penultimate chapter in this Wally West saga. We watch as the Flash is put through hell on repeat and we learn in horror that, even this, is the fault of the Flash. This comic definitely earns a recommendation. Feel free to give it a read.
Flash Forward #5 comes to us from writer Scott Lobdell, artist Brett Booth, inker Norm Rapmund, color artist Luis Guerrero, letterer A Larger World Studio’s Troy Peteri, cover artist Doc Shaner, and variant cover artist Inhyuk Lee.
Final Score: 8.5/10
