TV’s The Flash – Waiting for the Future Flash To Arrive

Please check out this blog post from our friend Blaine Pardoe on where The Flash is headed in its final three episodes of the season!

Notes From The Bunker

Run Barry…run! 

First off – The Flash is one of the best superhero series to be put on TV since the first season of Heroes (we won’t talk about the following seasons for obvious reasons).  The Flash has done something rare, it is captured the intricate “feel” of the comic book and brought it to a mainstream audience without cheapening itself along the way.  It has given us homages to the 1980’s TV series while bringing the Rogues Gallery of villains to the screen.  The series of a stunning hit – a fantastic mix of special effects, solid writing, and the hint of bigger things to come.

More importantly, it has given us a larger story arc of the Reverse Flash who has, from the first episode on, been manipulating Barry Allen and his cohorts.  The Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne) is an uber-villain from the DC universe, the kind of criminal worthy…

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Discussion – The Man in the Yellow Suit, Part 4

What follows contains spoilers from season 1 of THE FLASH.

If The Flash did all the running, why is it that *I* feel like I’m out of breath??  Episode 17, “Tricksters,” was another amazing episode while Episode 18, “All Star Team Up,” was more of a filler.  I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how great it was to see Mark Hamill reprise his Trickster role.  “I am your father”?   The writers probably wet themselves when they realized that opportunity was available.

Now, let’s talk Reverse Flash!  First, to the Prediction Tracker:

• Wells is Eobard Thawne – Status: Confirmed Correct
• Barry and Thawne fight “through time” which ends with Thawne stranded in the past – Status: Confirmed Correct 
• Thawne needs Barry’s power to get back to his time – Status: Confirmed Correct 
• Wells is not really his name – as a time traveler, he chose H. Wells as a reference to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine  –  Status: Confirmed Incorrect (It was a reference to HG Wells but by the writers themselves, not Thawne) 
• Thawne’s “dead” wife (named Tess Morgan) is really Dr. Tina McGee of Mercury Labs – Status: 99% Incorrect  (Not 100% sure, but we’ve seen enough to say this is extremely unlikely) 
• Dr. Wells / Thawne caused the anomaly on purpose – Status: Inconclusive 
• Barry will somehow become the very anomaly that causes the STAR Labs particle accelerator to melt down. – Status: Inconclusive 
• From the night Nora Allen was killed forward, everything Thawne did he did for one reason:  To create the Flash – Status: Inconclusive 
• Barry will study the pictures from the mirror and “change” how he fights Thawne – Status: Inconclusive 

Now, lets head get to the good stuff.

Is Wells really Thawne? Not quite. 

Thawne isn’t REALLY Wells.  Using future tech, he ambushed Wells, absorbed Wells thoughts, memories, and mannerisms which killed the actual body of Wells.  While his body does look, sound and act like Wells he does remain Thawne inside. Because so much of Wells is apparently still in there, it’s safe to assume they will try to find a way to get him out.  If only we had a device which could safely split apart two beings sharing the same physical body….

Oh that’s right. WE DO HAVE THAT DEVICE! The tachyon device Wells/Thawne turned into a quantum splicer to save Firestorm does exactly that!  At some point in the near future I expect to see Barry get this device onto Wells/Thawne’s chest, split the two of them apart and save Dr. Wells.

This is a superhero show and over and above everything else, superheroes save people. Wells was Barry’s hero. Wells is Ray Palmer’s hero.  From a story perspective it’s difficult to see STAR Labs continue with him gone and if he remains Thawne that’s what will happen.  Barry knowing that Wells is evil and murdered his mother – but still working with Wells – can’t go on forever.  Week by week this tension has built.  It’s only a matter of time before it comes to a head and Barry confronts Wells/Thawne with the truth.  When that happens either Wells has to be saved or the whole “team working at STAR Labs” dynamic is destroyed.

When Barry discovers that his hero was actually the victim of a heinous crime – a crime committed by the man who killed his mother –Barry will go to any length to save him.  This is a terrific story to tell.  It also keeps Tom Cavanaugh on the show as a regular (Dr. Wells) rather than a here-and-there villain (Thawne / Reverse Flash) which is another tremendous plus.

Lastly, we KNOW this split takes place because it already has. Wait…what?

I’m going to need to re-watch Back to the Future II.

This piece is a touch confusing. I’m not Doc Brown and I don’t have a chalkboard but I’ll do my best

I’ll start this with a question:  If Barry fought Reverse Flash right now – this week in the present time line – and Barry unmasked him what would Reverse Flash’s face look like? It’d look like Harrison Wells.

We’ve seen that when Thawne takes off his mask he looks like Thawne and not Wells. That means when he and Barry started fighting he already looked like Thawne.  But as we determined above if the fight took place now he’d look like Wells.  That means at some point before that fight starts they must be split apart else when Thawne removed his cowl he’d still have looked like Wells.

For the record, I love time travel stuff and this makes my head hurt.  But mark it down – at some point soon Harrison Wells and Eobard Thawne will no longer share the same body. Wells will go back to being the guy who was Barry’s and Ray Palmer’s hero, Tina McGee’s friend etc…and Thawne..well…who knows what will happen to him but we can hope it’s nothing good.

Errata 

In “All Star Team Up” Cisco was able to see a future that didn’t happen.  There are several possible explanations for this in Flash lore including (but not limited to):

• Cisco being able to access visions from alternate dimensions a’la Gardner Fox from Flash of Two Worlds. Recall that Earth-2 heroes were comic book heroes on Earth-1.  Fox claimed that the authors of the comics on Earth-1 came up with their stories by “viewing” the real-life events of Earth-2.  This is very similar to what’s happening to Cisco

Status:  EXTREMELY Unlikely But Very Cool If They Do 

Both time lines still “exist” but are separated by extremely close vibrational frequencies to which Cisco is sensitive allowing him to see the other time line(what with him eventually becoming Vibe)

Status: Possible

The time lines are converging and Cisco is just the first to pick up on it because the event of his death at the hands of Reverse Flash is so traumatic.

Status: Possible 

When Thawne talks to Gideon on the night where he loses his powers Gideon says (and I quote here): “Your latest time jump against The Flash caused a massive drain on your powers…”

I don’t know what a time-jump is exactly but I’ll hazard a guess it means Thawne goes back into the past to change something in hopes of defeating the Flash.

That said there are two words which stick out to me: latest and against.  Latest implies he’s done this at least once before.  Against implies the Flash has also time jumped in an effort to stop him.

What does this mean?  I think it means coming seasons will contain a LOT of Flash vs. Reverse Flash time travel.  It also means I should probably stock up on Advil because as I said above while I love time travel it does make my head hurt.

What is it with the liquid in this town?

It’s always flying up and out of things.

Or is it?  Is it always?

Moments before Barry is struck by the lightning bolt the liquid chemicals in his beakers begin to float up out of them.

Moments before Flash and Reverse Flash begin fighting in Barry’s childhood home the water floats up out of child-Barry’s fish tank and Nora’s wine glass

We are never given a reason why this happens and are left to infer that this odd behavior was caused by the presence of the Flash and the Reverse Flash fighting at such high speeds.  However, the Flash has been running all over Central City and we’ve not seen liquid have that reaction in other cases.  I suspect this means something else is at play.

I think the floating liquid is the result of a “time ripple” – a before (or after) effect of something  in the time stream having been changed.  Like Deja-vu in the Matrix indicating the Machines changed something, once explained, the “liquid floating up means something’s changed” be a solid tip off to the audience.

Open Questions: 

1. Why does Thawne hate Barry? What is his motivation for time travelling from the 25th century to meet the Flash in the first place?
2. Thawne says Wells changes history in 2020 and he needs “it to happen a little sooner”.  I don’t know exactly what he means by this.  I assume this means Wells somehow creates the Flash in 2020 (perhaps the particle accelerator accident occurs then too, perhaps not) but Thawne can’t / doesn’t want to wait that long for the Speed Force to be created.  So the questions are:
3. If Thawne doesn’t become Wells would Barry still become the Flash?
4. Would the powered Rogues have become the villains they became?

Remember, the premise the show has set is that powers are somehow related to what was happening / what they were doing when they were hit by the particle accelerator explosion.  They would likely not have been in the same place / doing the same thing in 2020. Would the Mist still be getting executed in 2020?  Would Girder have fallen into that vat of molten steel? Would the Mardon’s be caught in a tremendous storm?  Just a thought with which to end this post!

The next episode is titled “Who is Harrison Wells”.  Honestly, I can’t wait !

–  Vrin

Review – Batman, Vol. 4: Zero Year-Secret City [No Spoilers]

So I’m getting tired of the Joker, I think.

I thought Death of the Family was a great Joker story–it was deep, and like Court of Owls before it, it shows Scott Snyder’s incredible knowledge and understanding of the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne. It was a welcome arc at the time, as New 52 hadn’t seen the Joker since Detective Comics #1, which was also quite good.

This time around, it gets a bit redundant. In Zero Year-Secret City, we get the story of the first days of Batman in Gotham City, which again, is a welcome story for a skilled writer to tell, but what we get comes off as strained, forced, and ultimately redundant. This is, I think, because we get not just Batman’s origin story, but also that of the Joker’s. And the problem that comes with that is the problem that has faced theBatman mythos since a certain movie came out in 2008:

Is this Batman’s story, or is this the Joker’s story?

I honestly can’t tell which anymore. There is so much focus on the Joker in this collection, in his numerous monologues, and Bruce Wayne and Alfred spend so much time talkingabout the Joker, that the development of the character of Batman really takes a backseat to the Joker’s grandstanding. The force ofThe Dark Knight, and what it did for the popularity of an already very popular character, has reached a break point, in that a talented, knowledgeable writer is now churning out issues that use Batman to develop the Joker. Death of the Family knocked it out of the park–especially in Batman #17–but all the revisiting of those ideas and the underscoring of how this story is structured makes Batman tired for the first time under Snyder’s supervision.

What results is the weakest collection of Batman comics of the New 52. Snyder made his point about the nature of the relationship between Batman and the Joker expertly , thoroughly, and finally in the previous arc, and to go backward at this point seems the wrong play. There’s a richness to the Bat-verse that seems to be left on the table with each of these huge-concept, Joker-centric story arcs, and while we get a look at the Riddler as a sort of up-and-comer, DC only packages four issues in this collection (#21-24), so that becomes a cliffhanger to a story that has only been marginally developed throughout this particular, scant, and story-redundant trade paperback.

The two strengths of this collection can’t go un-discussed: Greg Capullo is in top form again, lending incredible detail to both the characters (the Zero Year Batsuit is off-the-charts cool) and to Gotham City that this might be the best work he’s done since he took on penciling duties for the book. The other nice surprise was the three backup features included at the end of this collection, in which we get short vignettes about how Bruce learned to do the stone cold things that Batman can do: drive, invent, and fight. There are Russian madmen, South American criminals, and one-eyed Viking queens to help him along, and even though they’re relatively short, Tynion and Snyder make the most of the short pages they have for these shorts and really show us some interesting, new moments from Batman’s in-training years.

Batman will probably always be my favorite comic book character, but I hope to see more focus on Batmanhimself in future volumes after Convergence. Since Volume 5 focuses on finishing the Zero Year event, and Volume 7 will tell yet another six-issue Joker story in Endgame, it might be a while before we get some distance between Batman and his archenemy. But with the rich pool of villains who have gone ignored for the past three-and-a-half years, I hope to see DC’s top creative team take on some of those characters before their run ends. Their work is top-notch, but I think it’ll be more remembered for how it treats the Joker rather than the hero who will always defeat him.

–  Vandal

Book Review – Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne [No Spoilers]

We move steadily towards The Force Awakens with a new answer to an old question: how did Luke Skywalker learn how to make that lightsaber jump off the floor of the Wampa’s cave? While there’s a lot more to Heir to the Jedi than that, it’s one of best the questions at the core of a good story that gives us a sort of midterm progress report on Luke between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

He’s Lieutenant Skywalker when we catch up with him, and the Rebellion is out looking for a place to set up shop. In the meantime, the Rebellion finds itself short on contacts, and short on cash, and short on intel, so Luke gets dispatched on his own to solve all three problems. Thanks to some good plot structure from author Kevin Hearne, the book neither gives Luke too much to do, nor does it read like a three-act play; the solutions to the Rebels’ problems comes through Luke’s ability to relate to new people and new situations.

As the story reads mostly like a manhunt/rescue/fight-and-flight narrative, the locations that Luke visits with his new compatriots aren’t as memorable as Tatooine, Hoth, Bespin, or Dagobah, that really doesn’t undercut the story–Luke is a hero between stages of his development, so the sense of malleability with the setting as the plot moves from station to station doesn’t reduce the quality of the plot in any way. More, they provide a range of challenges to Luke at a point at which learning to grow in the Force toward Jedi-hood seems impossible. The book isn’t all about these worries, but Hearne does a great job of weaving Luke’s thinking into and out of that concern.

The supporting cast is interesting, mainly because of the math-reasoning Givin spy around whom the plot revolves. There’s some great science in this piece of science fiction, and Hearne makes use of his imagination and develops an interesting race of beings that serve an important role in explaining how the Rebel Alliance continued to gain support and power after the destruction of the first Death Star.

All in all, I enjoyed Heir to the Jedi as much as I have each of these first three LSG-approved Star Wars novels, and with the focus on the post-Clone Wars era being the chief work of the LSG, it’s good to see them fitting the pieces together so expertly. It’s been quite a long time since Luke Skywalker went on an adventure quite like this, and Kevin Hearne does a great job of bringing the character and situations back to life in true Star Wars fashion.

–  Vandal

Discussion! ‘The Man in the Yellow Suit’, Part 3

What follows contains spoilers from season 1 of THE FLASH.

Jaw-dropping.

Brain-melting.

Unbelievable.

Holy (deity or curse word of your choice)

These were some of the online reactions to The Flash, Episode 15: “Out of Time”. Before we get started, let me leave a little spoiler space.

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Ok, here we go!

Let’s start with the prediction accuracy tracker:

• Wells is not really his name – as a time traveler, he chose H. Wells as a reference to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine  –  Status: Inconclusive 
• Wells is really Eobard Thawne  – Status: Check
• Barry and Thawne fight “through time” which ends with Thawne stranded in the past – Status:  Inconclusive but likely
• Thawne needs Barry’s power to get back to his time – Status: Check
• Wells caused the anomaly on purpose – Status: Inconclusive
• Thawne’s “dead” wife (named Tess Morgan) is really Dr. Tina McGee of Mercury Labs– Status: Inconclusive
• Barry will somehow become the very anomaly that causes the STAR Labs particle accelerator to melt down.  – Status: Inconclusive

Now, let’s talk about Episode 15, “Out of Time.”  The last 10 minutes of this had more “payoff” than any show I can remember.  Season finales – heck SERIES finales – have had less startling revelations (I’m looking at you, Sopranos!)   Starting at the 50 minute mark we got:

• The final reveal that Wells is really Eobard Thawne, The Reverse Flash from the 25th century;
• The “death” of Cisco (more on that later);
• Iris finally admitting that she loved Barry;
• Iris finding out Barry is the Flash; and
• Barry travelling back in time.

Think about that for a minute. That all took place within 10 minutes of real time!  The image below accurately reflects what was going on at my house as I watched

Hat tip to Batman Memes for the pic!

So where does this leave us? Let’s start with the obvious. A lot of main characters are in bad shape – Singh, Joe, and Cisco are seriously injured or dead and a tidal wave is about to hit Central City

So, what happens next?

…..and then Barry travels back in time with most of the knowledge of what’s coming.  However, Barry does not know that Wells is Reverse Flash.  He cut Caitlyn off before she could tell him.  This is important.

The obvious story here is that Barry will change events such that Singh and Joe do not meet those fates and Mardon is captured before the tidal wave can be set off.

Cisco is another matter. His discovery about Wells/Thawne has been building for weeks – much earlier than where Barry is in time.  This time travel will not fully derail him.  Something may throw him off the scent for a while but like Thawne says, Cisco is clever.  He may get delayed (which saves his life in the short-term) but ultimately he will not be denied.  His current death will likely be undone by Barry but he’s still Thawne’s trail.  Eventually, he’ll figure it out again. I hope Barry is around when he does.

Now, why is it important that Barry doesn’t know about Wells true identity?  Let’s say the conversation between Caitlyn and Barry had gone like this:

Caitlyn:  “Barry, I need to tell you something important”

Barry:  “Not now, Mardon is causing a tidal wave that will flood the whole city!”

Caitlyn: “Barry, I just got back to STAR Labs. Cisco is dead and before he died, he convinced me that Wells is the bad guy. He’s in league with the Reverse Flash.  Now, go create a wind wall to sap the wave’s power”

Barry creates the wind wall and goes back in time.

Imagine what he would do with the information Catilyn gave him.  If he had found out about Wells before he travelled back in time.

Barry would have investigated and gone after him.  Especially if Cisco convinced Barry that Wells was really the Reverse Flash.  But Barry doesn’t know – and now Cisco / Catilyn are days away from discovering it.  I suspect the writers will enjoy throwing Thawne / Reverse Flash references at us whenever we see Wells for the next few episodes.  Barry, Cisco, Caitlyn and Joe will be blissfully unaware while we scream and shout at our TV sets.  Beautiful.

We have several weeks until the season finale.  I could see them throwing Cisco off the trail for the next few weeks only to have him re-discover the truth in time for the final couple of episodes.  Perhaps Thawne attacking Cisco is the fuse that ignites the “fight through time” battle that Barry and Thawne will have?  I could buy that.

Where does this leave Barry and Iris?

Barry went back in time but unlike the situation with Wells true identity, he knows that Iris loves him.  That will probably be true a few days back as well but Iris has apparently felt this way for a while.  Will she admit it to herself?  Will she allow herself to admit it to Barry?  That is definitely up in the air.  As the show is on the CW I’m going to go with “Soon” and “Eventually”.

Due to Barry’s time travel, Iris will also never have learned that Barry is the Flash.  Eventually, we get to see that reveal again.  If it’s like the comic books it’ll be slightly more….cozy.

So where are we headed?

Time for some more predictions!

Barry will study the pictures from the mirror and “change” how he fights Thawne 

We know now that Barry and Thawne will fight. They will travel back to the night Nora was killed and Thawne was stranded in the past. The question is, will it happen the same way again?

We’ve seen Barry look at the pictures from the night Nora Allen died.  During that conversation with Joe he says the pictures tell him what not to do. Barry works under the assumption that if he does something different, he’ll save his mother.  While that’s possible, it’s likely that saving his mother could lead to his father dying instead or to Thawne keeping his powers  or to…any number of things.  This screams “Law of unintended consequences” to me. In short, Barry will save Nora.  Hilarity will ensue.

Reverse Flash – Murderer  

We’ve already seen this: 

How long before we see this?

Who is that underneath that Batgirl mask? That’s Iris Allen.  The way she dies at the hands of the Reverse Flash looks familiar, doesn’t it?  I do not think this is imminent but down the road?  Definitely. Why else show Thawne kill Cisco that way?

We will find out that everything Wells/Thawne has done – built STAR Labs, built the particle accelerator and created the anomaly which caused the explosion – is for one reason and one reason only:  To create the Flash.

We now know that Thawne is from centuries ahead in time (the 25th century if the lore is a guide). While living in the 25th century, before he ever time travelled, it’s possible that he’d know someone named Harrison Wells created STAR Labs back in 2001.  At some point, Thawne’s 25th century technology allows him to mimic The Flash’s powers. Fast forward to now.

Barry and Thawne fight and Barry figures out how to remove Thawne’s powers.  Barry travels back to the future leaving Thawne marooned in 2001.  Thawne assumes the identity of Harrison Wells.  With no immediate way to create time travel he does the only thing he can do:  Begin the steps needed to bring the Flash into existence so he can mimic Flash’s powers and time travel again.

Think about it. This is Eobard Thawne, one of the great villains in DC comic history.  He’s not the altruistic type.  There is no logical reason for a marooned-in-the-past supervillain like Thawne to create STAR Labs EXCEPT to allow him to get what he wants. In this case that is a return trip to the 25th century.  In Thawne’s own words, the Flash’s power is the only thing that can help him do it. Bank on it.  Everything Thawne has done while using the name Harrison Wells was to create The Flash.

Like the man said, it’s a means to an end.

–  Vrin

A side note:  I’ve watched the Thawne reveal a dozen times now. I still get chills when I see it.  They did an absolutely MASTERFUL job setting it up.  Masterful.

Discussion! Fulcrum and All That Went Right with ‘Star Wars Rebels’

What follows contains spoilers for season 1 of Star Wars Rebels.

I’ll admit it–I got awfully nervous when, just a minute into the episode “Droids in Distress,” R2-D2 and C-3PO rolled onto the scene.  My brain immediately ramped up with cynical questions, like “How, in a giant galaxy such as this one, do the same two droids appear everywhere?”  I was worried that, like some of the earlier material in the newly-minted Star Wars canon, Star Wars Rebels was going to be prone to cameos and other forced sorts of storytelling practices and get in the way of developing other interesting characters and situations in the galaxy.

I was worried that “Kid, I’m about to let everyone in on the secret” was going to be as good as Rebels got, which was believable, because that was an outstanding moment, especially considering how early in the story that it came.

“Concentrate all fire on…the JEDI.”

It wasn’t long before I’d dismissed my cynicism.  The great moments that the first season of Star Wars Rebels offered were plenty:

• The Inquisitor’s sprung-trap monologue after breaking our hearts, and assuring us that Master Luminara was, tragically, well and truly dead;
• Sabine and Hera’s standoff at the fuel depot against the frynocks;
• the construction of Ezra’s lightsaber;
• Yoda, but not Yoda;
• the lightsaber duel and dialogue between Kanan and the Inquistor in “Fire Across the Galaxy”.

These moments weren’t just great show moments; they were great Star Wars moments, moments in which good triumphed over evil, in which the will to survive drove heroes onward, in which masters and students traded knowledge and experience to seek better ends.  It had the texture of an older Star Wars story, and with its Firefly-like cast makeup and carefully regimented cameos, the whole thing felt at least as true to the source material as anything released since the 1980’s.

BRIDGING A [31-YEAR?] GAP
But when Ahsoka Tano descended the ladder of the Ghost and revealed herself as Fulcrum at the conclusion of “Fire Across the Galaxy”, something that had never happened before in the saga’s history occurred.

#AhsokaLives

It was hard for me to find the words to describe that something until after I’d watched the episode a few times.  That first time, I had the same reaction that most viewers who have followed the franchise almost certainly had when they realized it was her: part joy, part surprise-that’s-not-surprise (the best kind), part “I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVE TO WAIT FOR MORE OF THIS STORY!”  It’s probably not quite the feeling my mother described upon watching The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, but it’s as close to it as a 33-year old like me is going to get, for now.

What makes the appearance of Ahsoka Tano different from other cliffhangers in the history of Star Wars is that it is the first moment in which the context of both the classic trilogy and that of the prequel trilogy felt like they were well and truly part of the same wonderful narrative.  The tone of Star Wars Rebels is unquestionably closer to that of the classic trilogy, from the show’s title, to its use of never-before-depicted-except-as-a-toy vehicles, to its soundtrack, to its cameos.  That probably gets some of us past the cynicism about Star Wars that has become more prevalent in recent years, but I think there’s more to it than that.

The varied responses with which most Star Wars media has been met since May of 1999 fall into a few basic camps:

• too much explanation;
• silly allegorical moralizing;
• shoddy writing;
• lack of adventure;
• poorly-conceived characters;
• pseudo-science;
• shoddy writing.

Regardless of those criticisms, the Clone Wars-era stories had some great moments, as well, and some great characters.  While they’ll not be universally adored like the classic trilogy, the prequel trilogy and its television show, The Clone Wars, are part of the new canon and, like it or not, have shaped where Disney and the Lucasfilm Story Group can and will take the franchise into the future.

The slaying of Tal Merrik was one of the most indicative scenes of Anakin’s future as Darth Vader that any of the prequel stories gave us.

They certainly seem to be up to the task.  Filoni, Kinberg, Weisman, and Beck seem to be in control of where Rebels comes from, as well as where it’s going.  It provides the longsuffering with some closure on Ahsoka’s fate, as well as lays the foundation of how the crew of the Ghost will factor into the Rebel Alliance that first appeared on screen 38 years ago.  The turmoil of the Clone Wars and the furtive hope of the Rebellion co-exist within Star Wars Rebels to fully represent, and expand upon, both eras.

After wrapping up the plots from season 1, the last five minutes of “Fire Across the Galaxy” cemented and reaffirmed all of that. Bail Organa’s blockade runners appeared to save the day, he confirmed the existence of other Rebel “cells” (in desperate need of “alliance”), Ahsoka returned from her exile gloriously, and then, as if all that wasn’t enough, the Dark Lord of the Sith made a steely, wordless descent from a shuttle ramp to do what he does best.  We’ve never seen that synthesis before with Star Wars, and maybe not in any imaginative universe on a scale as large as this.

Star Wars Rebels is thus a new application the best type of storytelling: measured, exceptionally well populated and written, and with a tone that somehow indicates all of the strengths of the franchise, and none of its shortcomings.  The blend of the old and new Star Wars into a cohesive, whole myth respects its past and reinvigorates our long-established love of its future as we head toward December, towards season 2, and the future of Disney’s patronage over the galaxy far, far away.

WHERE WE’RE HEADED?
I’m not one to speculate much, but there are a few things that I’d be over the moon to see in season 2:

• 

  “You are all that remains of their religion.”

  The reunion of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano.  One would recognize the other.  One wouldn’t.  The dramatic irony would probably cause me to explode.

• More about Hera’s history.  She makes a small appearance in The Clone Wars, as well.  She’s the small child that appears in the episode “Supply Lines” that focuses on her father, the revolutionary Cham Syndulla, and his relationship with the Republic and the Jedi Council.  To see that aspect of her character developed further would be and outstanding use of an episode or two.
• Ezra’s development as a Jedi Padawan.  Because their fire has gone out of the galaxy.
• Kanan’s rise to Jedi Master.  From “Spark of Rebellion” to “Fire Across the Galaxy,” his character has become more familiar a Jedi figure than many, longer-established characters.  After the release of six or seven issues of Star Wars: Kanan from Marvel comics, that part of the story should get even more interesting.
• The construction of the Death Star.  This gets alluded to more in the tie-in novel A New Dawn, so there’s a chance its construction could affect the fates of our Rebels.

There’s so much to look forward to in the Star Wars universe in 2015, and nothing more so than the release of The Force Awakens.  But Rebels is Star Wars to its marrow, and its unique marriage of the old and new has done the improbable: it has merged the two eras with its terrific characters, balanced storytelling, outstanding cast, and superb tone, and season 2 will be a welcome prelude and counterpart to the new film in no small way.

–  Vandal

Discussion! ‘The Man in the Yellow Suit,’ Part 2

What follows contains spoilers for season 1 of THE FLASH.

Before we get to the spoiler-y stuff let me say:

In my previous post I predicted that Wells would be shown as the Reverse Flash.  That’s one in a row!

The Weather Wizard is the star of an upcoming episode.  When they killed Clyde Mardon in the pilot episode I said Clyde was not the Weather Wizard.  The true Weather Wizard was either Mark or Marco depending on your Flash and that we’d eventually he’d try to avenge his brother.  Welcome aboard, Liam McIntyre, THE WEATHER WIZARD!

I have no idea what they plan to do with Grodd, but I hope it centers on his controlling General Eiling, all the toys he brings with him, and a war of domination on Central City.

Eventually someone in authority will find out STAR Labs has a super powered jail cell beneath it holding a number of people who’ve never stood trial.  Hilarity will ensue.  It’ll be even better if a Grodd-controlled Eiling orders the release of the super criminals and wages war on the Flash.  Season 2 beckons!

Ok, enough spoiler space.  Time to talk about what’s really important…

Oh. Yeah.

In The Matrix: Revolutions (go with me here), Agent Smith – a computer program – leaves the Matrix and inhabits the real world body of “Bane”, one of the other people freed from the Matrix.  While Bane’s body remained the same his consciousness was different – the original man was replaced by the consciousness of Agent Smith. To look at him you’d never know the difference but once Neo looks at him – looks through the meat and bone – he sees that it’s Agent Smith on the inside.  When defining “who” someone is, the shell is irrelevant. It’s the consciousness that matters

We know that shell of Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash.  Despite this reveal – and it was a great reveal – we still don’t know who Harrison Wells truly is on the inside.  Here are some of the internet’s best guesses as to who is Harrison Wells on the inside?  Is Harrison Wells:

• Eobard Thawne (Reverse Flash) time travelled back to the past?
• Hunter Zolomon (Zoom) time travelled back to the past?
• A future version of Barry Allen travelled back to the past?
• Barry Allen from an alternate Earth?
• Metron of the New Gods?
• Abra Kadabra come back from the 64th century?

See what I mean?  Even though we know Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHO HE IS.

I’ll list what we do know about Wells and see if that helps. We know that Wells:

• has the powers of the Flash while in the Reverse Flash suit;
• super-speed powers are spotty while not in the Reverse Flash suit;
• uses the tachyon device to collect the Speed Force;
• will kill (Simon Stagg);
• will remove Barry’s enemies who know Flash’s secret identity – Girder (freed by Wells, killed by Blackout), General Wade Eiling (hand-delivered to Grodd);
• has access to advanced technology including a sentient computer (Gideon) and a newspaper from 2024;
• is a widower. His wife was named Tess Morgan and she died in a car crash several years ago; and
• knew Barry was destined to be the Flash (watched the video of Barry being struck by lightning).

Summed up what we know for sure that Wells

• will do anything to protect the Flash;
• drove Barry into becoming a hero;
• convinced Joe that Barry being a hero is for the best;
• is driving Barry to get faster and faster; and
• is concerned with a future “Crisis”.

Sum it up and what does it mean?  A driven scientist who will do anything knows an accident creates a hero.  I do not think it’s a stretch to say that Harrison Wells caused the accident that created the Flash on purpose. Now, we know for 100% sure Wells is the Reverse Flash but we are not 100% sure that Wells killed Nora Allen.  I will go on the assumption that Wells is the Reverse Flash who killed Nora.  We won’t know for sure until that scene is shown at Flash speed in its entirety. If it turns out that he didn’t, I’ll do another post about it.

So why? Why would Wells go back in time and kill Nora Allen?  Because to create the Flash two things need to happen:  Barry’s mother needs to die (giving him the lifetime of motivation) and the and the lightning bolt needed to strike him and bathe him in the chemicals (giving him the powers).  Wells almost certainly caused the STAR labs events. It makes sense that he caused the other as well.

But why? Why is Wells so insistent on creating the Flash?  I think the answer lies in two things:  The “Crisis” in the future newspaper and the fate of his wife, Tess Morgan. For the record, I come up with my own theories but the idea of Wells’ wife being a driving force was not my idea – a tip of the hat to Blaine Pardoe for that lead.  I expanded on what we talked about, Blaine.

What motivates Harrison Wells?

From the future newspaper we know that on April 25th 2024 the Crisis ends and the Flash goes missing. From Wells reaction to the future newspaper having no references to the Flash when Blackout steals Flash’s powers we know that the Crisis – and a successful outcome – is important to Wells. But as I laid out above, Wells is a “bad guy”.  What would make Wells care so much about the Crisis? His wife could.  I think Wells stake in the Crisis is tied to Tess Morgan.

The simplest theory is that during the Crisis, Flash was one second too slow in saving Wells wife and that’s why Wells went back in time  – to push the Flash to be better so he’d save Tess. That’s possible but I have another theory.

I don’t think Wells wife died in the early 2000s as he claimed.  I don’t think she died in the Crisis either.  In fact, I don’t think she died at all.

I think Harrison Wells wife is really Dr. Tina McGee, the scientist at Mercury Labs who built the tachyon device stolen by Reverse Flash / Wells.  When you see them in their police station scene they clearly know each other but more than that – they talk like they have a long history.  In fact, when Barry threatens to expose some things going on at Mercury labs, McGee responds by saying Barry is very much like Harrison.  The disdain in her voice is EXACTLY how a ticked off wife would talk to her husband.  Bank on it. She’s Tess Morgan.

Something happened during the Crisis – perhaps Harrison somehow causes the Crisis – but somehow Tess Morgan is thrown into the past.  She assumed the name Tina McGee (conveniently using her same initials).  “Harrison” (whoever he truly is in the year 2024) taps into the Speed Force.  He travels into the past to rescue Tess but they exist now before the Speed Force has been created.

Nice to meet you, Mrs. Wells.

She blames Harrison for this predicament.  Neither of them can get home because travelling forward requires more power than they have available. The only person capable of creating the power levels they need is Barry.  Harrison creates STAR Labs and engineers the events that lead to the “anomaly”. Harrison realizes that the lightning bolt is only half of the “Flash Creation Equation”. He uses what little speed force he has collected to travel back in time again and kills Nora Allen, setting Barry on his fateful path.

In my last post I posited that Barry and Reverse Flash would fight “through time” and that part of that fight would take place on the night Nora is killed.  Barry now knows he will time travel and fight the Reverse Flash when Nora is killed.

I could see Barry figuring out it’s Wells that murdered Nora and attacking him setting off the very events that lead to her death.

I can also see a Flash / Reverse Flash fight – a fight engineered by Wells – in the particle accelerator causing the very anomaly that creates the “accident”

Geez but this time travel stuff is fun, isn’t it?

Now that I’ve laid out what I think is going on let’s go back to the beginning:  Who is Harrison Wells?

It may be easier to describe who does not fit this story:

Metron is a New God.  Wife problems are beneath him. It was a nice theory for a moment, but no.

Abra Kadabra seeks adulation and applause.  Wells hasn’t sought anything like that since STAR Labs blew up.  He’s out

An Alternate Earth Barry and a Future Barry would likely still have some semblance of Barry’s big heart and heroic streak.  Wells has shown himself to be conniving and manipulating.  Not big hearted and heroic. They are both out.

That leaves Hunter Zolomon and Eobard Thawne.

As I said in my last Flash post, I think they have merged the two attitudes into the body we call Harrison Wells.  The question is which personality is the dominant one. WHO IS HARRISON WELLS?

The answer is Thawne.

Zolomon was a cop with a troubled past who gains powers by accident. Thawne is a future scientist who gains his powers on purpose by replicating the events that create the original Flash.  A scientist who gains powers on purpose?

While my new thoughts on the role of his wife and the Crisis change Wells’ motivation, I think the core of my original thought remains true.  Harrison Wells is really Eobard Thawne.  He recreates the Flash’s powers but something goes wrong (The Crisis???) and he winds up in the past having to create his greatest enemy in order to save his wife and return to the future. The story elements of insert Hunter Zolomon’s “Make Flash a better hero” characteristics are worked into his personality as Wells needs to create and build the Flash but underneath…under the meat and bone…lurks Eobard Thawne.  The Reverse Flash.

What do you think fans? I’m willing to listen to any argument for or against.  Lets hear it!

–  Vrin

Review! Justice League: Trinity War [No Spoilers]

So here it is: the first major, Earth-Prime-wide crossover event of the New 52, and it did not disappoint. Trinity War is a huge story, and while it’s not quite a war, the conflict between the heroes–that’s pretty much all there is here–is very compelling storytelling, with Johns in control as usual and the characters moving toward something bigger still.Trinity War was everything I was hoping it would be, and stands tall as Johns’ best work as a writer since he became CCO of DC Comics. I could not have been more pleased.

First off, I’d like to address the characterization that the writers use in building this narrative, as there are some striking moments of interaction and dialogue that elevate this crossover in the way that big stories should. Most excellent in this vein are the dialogues that take place between Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman as they confront the danger that Pandora’s return brings to a world now under the protection of the Justice League. It’s a culmination of the experiences we’ve shared with them as readers, both in the stories (the adventures against Darkseid, Graves, and Atlantis) as well as the implicit battles that have taken place in the in-between times. They seem seasoned, mature, and serious about their responsibilities. The other figures that populate the story (and there are a LOT of them) all operate off of the leadership that DC’s trinity brings to the conflict, and the way in which Johns centers their decision-making on what the Justice League should and should not do really allows the War to reach full boil. The sense of teamwork, then of separation, and then the final meet-up when all of the hidden figures step out from behind their respective curtains could not have been more pronounced, measured, and in the end, effective. This conclusion–even though it’s not really a conclusion at all–I found extremely satisfying. In terms of storytelling, Trinity War is a masterful achievement.

The artwork is likewise terrific, but as multiple artists work to tell the graphic side of the story, the most stunning work goes to Ivan Reis in the work that he contributes to the story’s most dramatic moments (including one particularly serious conversation of the like I mention above). The final issue, however–the story’s best moment, as it should be–contains four splash pages that just arrested my page-turning tendencies and forced me to take stock of the artistic value of a high-concept, high-quality story like Trinity War. The detail, as it has been since he inherited Justice League from Jim Lee after issue #12, has never been sharper, and the manner in which he narrates the final showdown of the arc is the best and most breathtaking artwork that DC Comics has published since September of 2011. These pages worked together seamlessly to bringTrinity War to its close, and expectations and excitement could not be higher for where the Justice League is headed from here.

The whole story succeeds on so many levels that the weaknesses, absolutely present, seem an exercise in taking the story too seriously. I’ll not remember any of them when I think back on reading this collection, nor will I notice them when I consult this volume in preparation for reading the next big thing from DC Comics, Forever Evil , when it reaches trade paperback. Johns, Lemire, Reis, Finch, et al. have done such a terrific job with the first huge-concept story of the New 52 that I continue to make reading their and their co-workers’ publications with great enthusiasm.  Backlog Priority – 9.5/10

– Vandal

Review! Lee Child’s ‘Running Blind’ (Jack Reacher #4) [No Spoilers]

The Reacher books just keep getting better. What strikes me most about the books, now that I’m about a fifth of the way through the whole series, is how different each of them is from the others. We’ve had small-town rackets, crazy militias, Vietnam-era cold cases, and now, a bizarre serial killer mystery crossed with the bad blood of inter-governmental agencies working with each other. And a pretty solid argument against home ownership, if I’m being totally honest.

What doesn’t change is the quality of the novel. The consistency of the manner in which Lee Child builds the character of Jack Reacher from novel to novel is the sort of consistency that not only builds a fan base, but also allows for the stories to communicate about different issues of interest to Lee Child. Because we like Reacher so much, we come to care about, and learn about, those issues as well. Running Blind seems to be interested in the ways in which people circumvent bureaucracy, tell lies (though I suppose all the Reacher books are interested in this), and use systems of doing things against themselves to pursue a personal agenda. Reacher gets trapped in between local police, New York City racketeers, the FBI, the Air Force, the Army, his girlfriend, and his own yard. The suspense to catch the killer gets intensified by all of the red tape, and as the killer continues to strike, Reacher’s reflections on his own life circumstances give rise to the intense build-up to a resolution that contains a few really satisfying shockers for the reader.

At this point, there’s not reason to doubt each Jack Reacher book will bring more justice, more logical reasoning, more intense situations that seem to have no apparent solution, and more great tales. It’s hard to imagine wanting to read something other than Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books right now, as entertaining and engaging as they are. By the time I’m done with them, it will have been too soon.

BACKLOG PRIORITY
8/10 – I’ve never read a more satisfying or interesting series of thrillers than the Jack Reacher books.  Lee Child has created a character who is part comedian, part superhero, and part social commentator.  Running Blind is the best of the books yet and leaves you wanting to see what kind of trouble Reacher gets himself into next.

– Vandal

Review! Earth 2, Vol. 1: ‘The Gathering’ [No Spoilers]

Zany antics abound in our first glimpse (sort of) of the New 52 Multiverse, and James Robinson and Nicola Scott give us a weird, quasi world government, a lot of saint language to celebrate the fallen Trinity (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, of course), and a new use for a B-list villain that can only provide just the right degree of adversity to bring together, hopefully, the fledgling team of new “Wonders” to protect the world.

It sounds like a scaled-back mega-plot, and to some extent, that’s exactly what it is. The plot revolves first around the Earth-2 version of Darkseid’s Parademon invasion, the tragic aftermath that martyrs a more-experienced trio of Wonders than the Earth-Prime version we encounter in Justice League, Vol. 1: Origins , and a struggle that unifies a trio of apostate and new metahumans, including a college-age Jay Garrick (the Flash), a Hawkgirl on the run from the World Army, and a brand-new, totally different Green Lantern. Robinson hurries to fill in a lot of the gaps in the 5-year jump forward in time that comes as part of this catch-up volume, and as such, the size of the conflict that the story centers on never feels quite as big as they want it to be. Ultimately, we can be sure that there is much more to come, a larger conflict and a more robust roster of Justice League members (or whatever they’re going to be called) in the issues to come, but as that’s the expectation that we take away from the story, the end of this first arc falls somewhat flat.

The artwork, however, is stunning. Nicola Scott sketches up a beautiful, detailed world with expressive, easy-to-follow action sequences and impressive settings, especially on splash pages or other large panels. She also gives the story some of the most expressive facial models that I’ve seen in a while, especially in issue #1, as the entire issue revolves around the final moments of Darkseid’s invasion. The drama of that issue lends most of its power to the art of Nicola Scott, as does much of the overarching narrative.

BACKLOG PRIORITY
7.5/10 – Even as the storytelling stumbles towards the end of the collection, the artwork gets better and better, and as such, is worth checking out.

– Vandal