The Need For Speed
Release Date: February 15, 2022
Eclipso is doing his damnedest to try and bring his influence to the entire Multiverse and to do that he's going to be using the heart of Gemworld to reverberate his mind everywhere and that idea is pretty bananas, but it works for me. I just wish that this story felt as epic as it should because here I am caring way more about Jai and Irey West and Irey's new friend Maxine Baker being kidnapped by the Calculator and two-fifths of the Fearsome Five, Mammoth and Shimmer. In the previous issue, in order to overcome their superpowered kidnappers, Irey connected Jai back to the Speed Force, giving the young West boy his super strength once again and the feeling that their father desperately needed their help. Let's jump into this issue and see if the West Family and the daughter of Animal Man can save Gemworld and with it, the rest of the Multiverse. Let's check it out.
Everything that we've been dealing with lately in The Flash comes to a head this issue as we've reached the finale of our Eclipso arc and that means that both our Irey, Jai, and Maxine Baker story and our Wally West vs. Eclipso story come together in an excellent piece of family super-heroics that makes me so excited for when Animal Man and Flash can have regular team-ups because their daughters are BFFs. That being said though, the ending to getting Eclipso back in his glaive and sent back to whatever cosmic hell awaits him did come off a bit forced, and while I can't say that it wasn't completely set up, the way that we achieve two things in this issue calls back to the first arc of this run and doesn't feel like it was actually set up to be something that stuck around, let alone the thing that would save the day here.
Even with the finale battle coming off a tad weak and some answers showing up here that feel like they were more of an add-on than something that was always a part of this story, they were still answers that made sense overall, even if I would have enjoyed a bit more setup for them. So yeah, we get a pseudo-epic conclusion that brings the West kids into the mix which was fun as hell and a cliffhanger that I can't wait to explore further because not only does it mean more West Family Fun, but drama and hijinks that seem like they will lead to some really fun times.
All in all, I really enjoyed the art in this issue and love how the two stories came together, I just wish that the final battle execution had a bit more lead up throughout the story so that it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere and wasn't only the saving point against Eclipso but another plot point that's been lingering in the background. The team-up between Wally and the kids was great though and the majority of the book was a great experience. Now that this main story is concluded though, I can't wait to see where we go forward with things involving what the kids have been through that feels like it will open this book up in great ways.
Bits and Pieces:
Now that the Eclipso threat is over, this book feels like it can get back on track with being the West Family book that I really want it to be, not only with what we saw in the B-plot of this arc but with what we have as our cliffhanger as well. The art was great throughout and adding Maxine Baker to this arc was genius and opens so much going forward.
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