Page 45 Review by Jonathan
Everything has changed and only one man, Barry Allen, is aware of it. Well, two actually if you include Booster Gold, but presumably that will be tidied up in one of the many sidebar volumes collecting all the other stuff due for release shortly. So... in this world many of our beloved heroes are now villains, the villains themselves are even more villainous, and the world is at war as different factions like the Atlanteans and the Amazons vie for control of a partially submerged Europe. America isn't under siege but the roster of heroes fighting the good fight there isn't exactly like the real DC world either.
Confused as to whether he's on a parallel Earth, or trapped in a different dimension, or just finally left his brain behind somewhere after one mad dash too many, Barry decides to turn to the one person he's sure will have the answers, Batman. Except in this world it was poor little Bruce which died that traumatic night in Crime Alley, so who precisely is behind the cowl?
And that is where FLASHPOINT succeeds really well, in throwing up all sorts of weird and interesting differences and conundrums between the real DC world and this one. And much like BLACKEST NIGHT, many of the accompanying mini-series featuring these altered characters were actually rather good and did, by and large, add to the sense of scale of this particular 'event'. Plus certainly as a read, this is far more fun that the ultimately anti-climatic let's just all have a big fight that was the disappointing culmination of BLACKEST NIGHT.
Anyway, Barry has a theory why this has all happened, that the Reverse Flash is somehow responsible for rewriting history, because who else would it be, right? But is the dastardly Eobard Thawne really the one to blame this time? One thing for sure is Barry had better get a move on, as he's only got five issues to sort it all out and restore things back to their proper state before the DC editorial team cancel every title in existence and then reboot* the lot from scratch! Begs the question why he's even bothering then really, doesn't it?
* Just to point out that every comic shop in the world was sent a rambling twelve-page email by the DC top nobs explaining why the DC New 52 malarkey was emphatically NOT a reboot. Eh?
