Flash Fridays – The Flash #291

Oct 22, 2021

This issue wraps up the King Faraday, Ross Malverk/mob boss and Barry Allen look alike, Fiona Webb aka Beverly Lewis, Sabertooth story arc. Whew! The through line for all of this is that Beverly Lewis was a secretary for Ross Malverk. She discovered that he was a mob boss, testified against him and was placed in a witness protection program. Malverk hired Sabertooth to kill Beverly who was now using her new name Fiona Webb. King Faraday was hot on Malverk’s trail and thus became a target for assassination himself.

The last issue ended with Malverk breaking into Fiona’s Webb’s apartment to kill her. She’s saved by the timely intervention of her young neighbor Troy Nathan. Seeing Malverk fleeing, he thinks he’s spotted Barry Allen. To clear his name, the Flash runs off to find King Faraday, the one man who can clear him. Meanwhile, Faraday is in a helicopter which is hit by missile wielding assassins. The Flash shows up in time to save Faraday by running up the beam of a spotlight which is a first for this Flash speed trick. In short order, Sabertooth escapes, Marverk surrenders, and the Flash has a knock down drag out with sabertooth. The story ends with Barry and Fiona about to have dinner in her apartment.

It’s interesting to follow the development of Cary Bates stories. He’s morphed by this point to a more complex story telling style. Sometimes it’s a bit too convoluted, but he seems to be working that out more and more. As for Don Heck who continues to do the pencilling and inking, his impressionistic noir style helps to sell the stories and bring them to life. An underrated artist in my opinion, his work is what carries the book these days.

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