The return to one-and-done stories with a strong sixties vibe appears to have exited the book along with Mike Barr in his roles as editor and writer. Last issue’s wonderful homage appears to have also been a farewell to an earlier era of a beloved hero. Also exiting the issue is the Dr, Fate back-up material. So with a return to a longer more convoluted ‘Marvel Style’ the stories will now have more room to roam, and, by company fiat, roam they certainly do.
Even just a quick recap is exhausting. The story opens with two drug dealers being turned into bicarbonate of soda (not kidding) by a costumed enforcer known as the Eradicator, moving to Barry dropping by to see Fiona and finding that she’s going out with her boss Senator Phillips, to the Flash stopping some hoods from hassling a ‘good’ kid, to the Golden Glider and Captain Cold trying to off Mick Rory aka heat wave because he’a gone straight, to some gangsters ordering a hit on Senator Phillips, to Captain Frye having Barry to dinner and revealing that he plans to become a costumed crime fighter called Captain Invincible, to Fiona thinking she’s in love with Senator Phillips, to the Flash saving Mick Rory, to the Flash stopping two hit men trying to kill Senator Phillips, to (coming full circle) the Eradicator turning a third hit man to soda. Whew! The issue reads as if it was put together and created with a salad shooter. It’s not really a story, but rather a spewing of possible story ideas. In the end nothing is resolved, with all of the dangling ploticiples hanging out there to be hopefully resolved in some future issue.
The only bright spot is that the Infantino/Jansen art continues to look pretty damn cool.
