Professor Zoom continues his plan to destroy the image of The Flash so completely, that when he finally does kill him, no one will remember his name and the great evil Zoom believes he will become will be erased from history. Barry is now forced to do everything in his power to save his father as Zoom’s grip on his life continues to tighten.

A large part of the Flash’s identity is based on the idea of family and this arc in no different. While Henry Allen sits a captive of Zoom, Barry rushes to save the father he never truly knew, in the hope of recreating the family he never truly had. At the same time, Barry finds himself trying to create another family where he is a father figure to a young Wally West, hoping to help him avoid the trauma he experienced growing up without a father. This is the heart of the issue and it is done very well. There is a sense of love between these three characters, making every move by Zoom and his allies to crush the Flash feel even more impactful. Ironically enough though, the most mature out of the three is Wally West, as he must be leveled headed to help Barry from being too irrational about how to save his father.

Although, the issue does falter in terms of the execution of Zoom’s plan. The story essentially boils down to framing the Flash for an unforgivable crime but, they attempt to do this by incriminating him in broad daylight with the entire city watching. It is hard to believe all of Central City would fail to notice that the villains are not the cause of everything when they are screaming in the middle of downtown.

The art is also a mixed bag of quality. This all stems from the design choice to make every single panel angled as if the page is shattered glass. It works very well during the action scenes when the Flash is moving. The style creates a great sense of chaotic motion which is what one would expect when moving as quickly as the fastest man alive. The problem is, these same angled panels do not work in the slower, more conversation driven scenes. They lead to a lot of wasted blank space on the page and, many times, do not fit the mood of the scene occurring on them.

Overall, this is a fine buildup issue that has enough interesting parts to make the coming finale a worthwhile read.

Story: Robert Venditti, Van Jensen Art: Brett Booth
Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read