Flash 1: Move Forward

I grew up with Wally West being more the Flash than Barry Allen, so I was a little skeptical that I would like Barry becoming the Flash again. After reading The Flash Vol. 1, I'm also a Barry fan now. The first volume of The Flash has two stories. The first deals with Manuel, an old friend of Barrys who he thought died years ago. Manuel now has the ability to create more versions of himself by chopping off limbs, and those limbs grow into clones of himself. After the clones realize they have a short life expectancy, they hunt for Manuel figuring he is the key to keeping them alive since he is the original version of them all. Barry has to help his friend, while keeping his identity a secret from him, and his partner/girlfriend Patty Spivot. The second story in this volume deals with Captain Cold, who blames the Flash for the possible death of his sister, who can't be operated on because of a citywide blackout caused by The Flash. Captain Cold can now generate his cold blast through his hands, and doesn't need his cold guns anymore. That is a big change from the original character from before, making him now some sort of super powered human instead of a regular villain like before. I'm ok with the change, but would like a reason as to why, which this book didn't seem to give. Overall, i'm liking Barry coming back as The Flash, but I hope Wally West gets to come back at some point and isn't just forgotten. There's room for more than one speedster in the DC Universe. I recommend this volume of The Flash to anyone who is a fan of the character, even if they didn't grow up with Barry being in the costume.

Francis Manapul's artwork in his stint with The Flash is amazing. This is what good quality comics should look like. I can't sing enough praise for how beautiful he's made all these panels and how adept he is at conveying a story through pictures. I highly recommend this for the artwork alone.Pair that with Brian Buccellato's writing and this book is a real winner.Admittedly, for The Flash purist this book may be a little hard to take as it is a reinventing of the character, and while many of the classic characters are present their relationships to one another are different. Personally, I don't have any issue with this as I enjoy seeing new writer/artist put their own spin on the mythos of classic characters such as The Flash. When executed well, as it's done here, it keeps the characters fresh and relevant.Incidentally, if you've never read or heard of The Flash before or are new to his comics this is an excellent jumping on point and I would encourage you to pick this up. It won't disappoint.

With any comic reboot, we all either get excited or nervous when we hear about who writes and draws what comics. In case of the DC New 52, news of The Flash team was in the camp of nervousness for fans. Francis Manapul, who's made a name for himself doing some exquisite art work with Geoff Johns in Flash Vol. 1: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues! (Flash (Graphic Novels)) and The Flash Vol. 2: The Road to Flashpoint (Flash (Graphic Novels))--as well as his colorist Brian Buccellato--were announced as co-writers and artist. Two artists with no prior writing credits? That makes anyone nervous. So how do these two do taking on an A-list character and filling in the shoes that Geoff Johns filled? Pretty darn impressed, if you ask me.THE FLASH VOL.1: MOVE FORWARD collects issues #1-8 and is divided into two separate stories. Issues 1-5 deal with Barry Allen, crime scene investigator, enjoying his date with fellow police blood analyze, Patty Spivot. Upon visiting a science exhibition, the place gets attacked by an organization by the named Mob Rules. After the attack, one of the dead assailants is an odd friend of Barry's named Manuel, who Barry hasn't seen in years. Barry investigates into it, but Manuel (alive somehow) finds Barry and is trying to get away from some people. Come to find out, these people are hundreds of people that look just like Manuel! And issues 6-8 deal with an old Rouge enemy Leonard Snart, AKA Captain Cold, wanting revenge on the Flash. How will the Flash deal with these situations? You'll just have to read for yourself.From the get-go, probably the biggest thing Manapul and Buccellato do is the bold move of establishing themselves as new writers and artist by just about wiping most of the Flashes past continuity. This makes the Flash one of the most accessible books for new readers in the New 52, unlike Barry's first comeback in The Flash: Rebirth. Flash has one of the more convoluted plots in comics pre-52 with all the time travel and various Flashes running about. But thankfully, all of the excess baggage is not here. No Wally West, Jay Garrick, Jesse Chambers, Johnny Quick, or Max Mercury. Heck, not even Bart Allen is mentioned at all, even if he's in the current Teen Titans. There are a few nods to old fans I won't mention, but this is for new fans, that will immediately know who Barry is and where he stands, without much story problems.Manapul and Buccellato show they can write an engaging book, equal parts likeable in characters and art narrative. Barry isn't like most super-heroes. He's not arrogant, he doesn't talk his opponents to death, and he thinks about his actions. He may not be the most exciting character, but with the splash panels of Barry doing some amazing feats like using the speed-force to predict the future, or vibrate an entire airplane(!); you can't help but like Barry and be wowed by what he can do. Further character work with Manuel, Patty, Iris, and Captain Cold are pretty well developed. It's actually the prime chunk of the narrative, and both writers pull it off quite well.And art? Let's just say this is up there as one of the best drawn books in the entire New 52. Manapul is to become one of the definitive Flash artists in the future. He has a great Silver-Age touch in his art, and yet has a great sense of art narrative that is some of the best layouts in the New 52. The creative places where the credits are named per-issues are just fun and makes you wish more artists were like this. So art is top-notch. No complaints there.But there are a few complaints for this collection. One of which I already stated: most of the Flash legacy is wiped away. Again, not all of it, since both writers have said they intend to hopefully include those past elements further down the line, but most of it (for now) is gone. This might infuriate old fans, who love older Flashes (Wally West fans, I'm like you. I miss him too). The other problem is that both writers put so much effort into characterization of Manuel and other sub characters, Flash feels a little like a secondary character--which feels a little weird for his own comic. And third, is the cliffhanger ending. Regardless of where this book ended, either it be issue 6, 7, or 8 in case; it doesn't make the trade feel complete either way. It's no big deal, but that is strange considering that regardless of what issue would of ended, the book would not have felt complete either way.Regardless, THE FLASH VOL.1: MOVE FORWARD is one of better New 52 books that lives up to the characters title as the big name character the Flash is. It's an excellent book for new readers and shows old Flash readers that Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato have the chops to make a great series. Grade A-art, pretty good characterization, and some little surprises to come with the inevitable return of the Rouges in Vol.2, The Flash is worth the ride...and everyone is fast enough to tag along.

Once I heard the news that DC decided to bring Young Justice (TV show) back I decided that I really wanted to support the company any way I could. So I decided to buy and check out a number of comics that had characters from the show to learn more about them. I love the art style of the new 52, at least the style used in the first four Volumes of The Flash. The later volumes still look nice, but the anime like style to the earlier ones were far more enjoyable to me. Thought the story doesn't start with Barry's origin it was still a good read that I could get into after a few pages and have been reading the whole 52 run of this series. I will probably even pick up his Rebirth comics after I get through more of the other comics that I have already bought.

While the story nothing groundbreaking it is still fun. That being said, it’s the artwork that really shines. Beautiful pencils with vibrant colors.