Flash #10 - Weather Wizard - Review
Alright, I picked up Flash #10 yesterday and thought I'd bring up the good and bad points of it, at least from my point of view.
Let's have a look at the end of #9, where we see Patty Spivot (Barry's girlfriend) flying to Guatemala to solve a cold case. We also see Weather Wizard (named Marco now, instead of Mark, but hey, I can roll with it) and an unnamed woman standing over fields. It's raining heavily, which is probably due to Weather Wizard (I'm going to call him Marco from now on, it's easier to type).
As another point, still in issue #9, Barry has returned to Central City and is wondering the streets as Barry, not Flash, where upon he sees a friend of his (when he's the Flash) leading a riot *against* Flash.
That's where the issue ends and we pick up again in issue #10.
Since he's also considered *dead* at this point, I can understand why Barry would like to talk things over with someone. In fact he's geared up to tell Patty the truth about who the Flash is (he doesn't know that previously Patty has decided to blame the Flash since he took Barry away from her).
Here's my first real problem with the story, but I'm not going to get into it here. Just remember that Flash getting from Central City to Guatemala is a bit strange.
So, anyway, we open with an interesting sequence, where upon we see Claudio Mardon - Marco's brother - in Central City for some reason. He doesn't last very long and ends up shot within two pages. This was two years ago, which bothers me a little, two years ago just seems very arbitrary.
Let's move back to present day. Flash gives us a recap of the past two issues while he's being spun around by Marco in a flash flood of some kind. Why Marco's attacking is kind of unclear, since except for an instinctive "Flash! Kill!" there's no reason Marco has for actually going after Flash.
It's also worth noting that Marco's weather manipulation powers are internalised and he didn't need a wand (like he used to have) or a staff (like he has on the cover) to bring about the flood.
We now have Flash saving a nearby village from the flood Marco caused. Which is nice and everything, but I'm not sure how much it really contributed to the story. And as someone who has never learnt any Spanish, random little villager exclamations meant nothing to me. Had they been in German, I may have stood more of a chance. I'm sure it was nice for Spanish speakers, but I felt a little alienated.
Marco expresses some confusion as to *why* Flash is after him. He knows Flash is after a girl called Patty, but he doesn't understand why Flash thinks Marco has her. From my earlier note about Marco's reason for attacking being unclear, it's beginning to sound like he's running on self-defence. Marco's a criminal, Flash captures criminals, Marco's been living far away from Central City and Flash has still come after him. I can see where Marco's coming from.
Marco also gets out his wand, which is a lot shorter than it was on the cover, but maybe he has a few. The woman he's with, Elsa, Claudio's widow, is starting to act suspiciously.
We now see Patty and some bloke called "El Arana" (with a ~ over the 'n'), between the two of them we uncover what happened to Claudio two years ago. Namely that he was murdered by Elsa, because he was looking for peace with a rival drug cartel and that would've taken away from the Mardon family's power. It's reasonably clever, but again the two years ago is bugging me. Has Marco really been away from Central City that long? Honestly, it felt to me that he'd only gone back to Guatemala recently.
Anyway, Flash gets ahold of Marco and Elsa (after dodging a bit of lightning from Marco's wand, which I swear has gotten longer) and Marco says that he wants nothing to do with *stopping* Patty. Then Elsa admits that *she's* the one who kidnapped Patty and that El Arana guy, which is more of a surprise for Marco than for anyone else.
Then we come across something interesting. Marco's powers force his emotions to build up and making rain for the crops pushed him toward suicidal. Which gives us a reason to why, when Elsa admits to killing Claudio, Marco tries to kill them *both*.
Barry and Patty have a talk, wherein Patty grudgingly admits that the Flash was doing the right thing, but she still hates him because he took Barry away from her. Flash, who had been gearing up to tell her his secret identity, decides against it. In fact, Flash decides that because the world needs the Flash, Barry Allen will have to stay dead.
We also find out that Marco survived the lightning strike (though whether or not Elsa's actually dead is never confirmed and considering what lightning can do to people in comics...) and Lisa Snart, calling herself Glider, appears before Marco and tells him it's time to come home.
So, that's what happened.
Now, I've been realising that Barry's a bit of an idiot. For me it started back in the second half of Captain Cold's issues, when Barry decides to just run into the vortex (speedforce) to save Iris and the others, without really considering what it could do to him. Brave and heroic, but if he'd maybe thought to discuss it with someone or generally *think* about it, he might've been able to rescue them without all the problems he ran into in the last two issues.
Let me run down why I think Barry's an idiot in this issue.
1) So, let's assume that he'd asked around the village for Patty (or something to that effect) and had heard that she'd been got by the Mardon family that way. Let's also assume he was doing it as the Flash, since he'd decided to tell Patty and he's not about to take *off* the cowl to face Marco.
He didn't try finding out which way she was taken, or just search the area on foot for a suspicious place, maybe one that was guarded... (he's the Flash, searching on foot isn't a problem). No, Barry went straight for Marco, who's by far the most dangerous person around. In doing so put a village in danger and almost get Patty killed (Elsa sent a text telling her men to kill Patty and El Arana when Flash was after her and Marco).
2) Then, when Marco says he's got no use for kidnapping Patty because he loved his brother, Barry shouts that he's a liar. Alright, Barry's a little distraught and severely worried, but so far his enemies have been remarkably forthright about their motivations. Captain Cold snapped out that he's doing it for his sister when Flash asked. When pushed, Turbine admitted that he'd been causing the vortexes to try and escape. The Rogues have been remarkably honest so far and unless we see a *reason* why Barry doesn't trust their word, he should believe them.
3) Barry decides that in order for the Flash to continue running (and keeping the world safe) he's going to have to leave his identity as Barry dead. Do you remember that point I brought up near the start? That Flash getting to Guatemala from Central City was strange? Well here's my reason why.
Last issue we saw Barry trotting around Central City as *Barry*. He's unlikely to want to change into his Flash costume with all the riots on. He decides to find Patty and hopefully a friendly shoulder to help share his troubles.
*How does Barry find out where Patty is?*
Patty's trip felt a little out of the blue, just something she'd decided on to get away. I doubt she's got much noted down about it and she's taken most (if not all) of the case notes with her.
So Patty's not at her apartment and, considering it was fairly bright last we saw Barry, his first port of call is likely to be her workplace. Which is also *his* workplace. Remember that Barry's not in his Flash costume. In order for this to work, Barry has to be specifically *avoiding* everyone while he finds out where Patty is.
*This doesn't make sense!*
I know Barry probably wants Patty to be the first to find out he's back and alive, but the easiest way for him to do this is to ask his boss where Patty is when he finds out she's not at her lab table. Or one of the other scientists. Or maybe even one of Patty's neighbours.
My point is, it's all well and good Barry deciding to keep the cowl on permanently, but who's to say that there isn't going to be someone who noticed he was alive and mention it to Patty?
Barry, you are an idiot.
On another note, it was interesting seeing what they've got going for Glider. It's almost looking like *she's* the one who's going to be putting together the Rogues. And considering that she, at least, hates Cold right now, I'm curious to find out where Cold's going to fit in with the Rogues.
It does lead me onto my next point. Out of all the Rogues we've seen so far, Cold's by far the luckiest. Ok, he doesn't have quite full control of his powers and you can beat him by dunking him in a pond, but he's only suffered a hair colour change otherwise. Glider can't walk. Turbine's not altogether there and out of his own time. Marco's emotionally unstable. And what I've seen of Heat Wave so far is not pretty. Yeah, I'm beginning to see why they might not like Cold right now.
So, overall I wasn't as impressed by issue #10 as I could've been. Maybe I was just getting my hopes up for Weather Wizard (one of my favourites) too high. The story had some interesting plot points, but didn't feel well connected and Barry's just an idiot.
It also had another artist working on it and he does an excellent (though of course different) job of things. Though I do have my issues with Marco's magically size-changing wand/staff.
Let's have a look at the end of #9, where we see Patty Spivot (Barry's girlfriend) flying to Guatemala to solve a cold case. We also see Weather Wizard (named Marco now, instead of Mark, but hey, I can roll with it) and an unnamed woman standing over fields. It's raining heavily, which is probably due to Weather Wizard (I'm going to call him Marco from now on, it's easier to type).
As another point, still in issue #9, Barry has returned to Central City and is wondering the streets as Barry, not Flash, where upon he sees a friend of his (when he's the Flash) leading a riot *against* Flash.
That's where the issue ends and we pick up again in issue #10.
Since he's also considered *dead* at this point, I can understand why Barry would like to talk things over with someone. In fact he's geared up to tell Patty the truth about who the Flash is (he doesn't know that previously Patty has decided to blame the Flash since he took Barry away from her).
Here's my first real problem with the story, but I'm not going to get into it here. Just remember that Flash getting from Central City to Guatemala is a bit strange.
So, anyway, we open with an interesting sequence, where upon we see Claudio Mardon - Marco's brother - in Central City for some reason. He doesn't last very long and ends up shot within two pages. This was two years ago, which bothers me a little, two years ago just seems very arbitrary.
Let's move back to present day. Flash gives us a recap of the past two issues while he's being spun around by Marco in a flash flood of some kind. Why Marco's attacking is kind of unclear, since except for an instinctive "Flash! Kill!" there's no reason Marco has for actually going after Flash.
It's also worth noting that Marco's weather manipulation powers are internalised and he didn't need a wand (like he used to have) or a staff (like he has on the cover) to bring about the flood.
We now have Flash saving a nearby village from the flood Marco caused. Which is nice and everything, but I'm not sure how much it really contributed to the story. And as someone who has never learnt any Spanish, random little villager exclamations meant nothing to me. Had they been in German, I may have stood more of a chance. I'm sure it was nice for Spanish speakers, but I felt a little alienated.
Marco expresses some confusion as to *why* Flash is after him. He knows Flash is after a girl called Patty, but he doesn't understand why Flash thinks Marco has her. From my earlier note about Marco's reason for attacking being unclear, it's beginning to sound like he's running on self-defence. Marco's a criminal, Flash captures criminals, Marco's been living far away from Central City and Flash has still come after him. I can see where Marco's coming from.
Marco also gets out his wand, which is a lot shorter than it was on the cover, but maybe he has a few. The woman he's with, Elsa, Claudio's widow, is starting to act suspiciously.
We now see Patty and some bloke called "El Arana" (with a ~ over the 'n'), between the two of them we uncover what happened to Claudio two years ago. Namely that he was murdered by Elsa, because he was looking for peace with a rival drug cartel and that would've taken away from the Mardon family's power. It's reasonably clever, but again the two years ago is bugging me. Has Marco really been away from Central City that long? Honestly, it felt to me that he'd only gone back to Guatemala recently.
Anyway, Flash gets ahold of Marco and Elsa (after dodging a bit of lightning from Marco's wand, which I swear has gotten longer) and Marco says that he wants nothing to do with *stopping* Patty. Then Elsa admits that *she's* the one who kidnapped Patty and that El Arana guy, which is more of a surprise for Marco than for anyone else.
Then we come across something interesting. Marco's powers force his emotions to build up and making rain for the crops pushed him toward suicidal. Which gives us a reason to why, when Elsa admits to killing Claudio, Marco tries to kill them *both*.
Barry and Patty have a talk, wherein Patty grudgingly admits that the Flash was doing the right thing, but she still hates him because he took Barry away from her. Flash, who had been gearing up to tell her his secret identity, decides against it. In fact, Flash decides that because the world needs the Flash, Barry Allen will have to stay dead.
We also find out that Marco survived the lightning strike (though whether or not Elsa's actually dead is never confirmed and considering what lightning can do to people in comics...) and Lisa Snart, calling herself Glider, appears before Marco and tells him it's time to come home.
So, that's what happened.
Now, I've been realising that Barry's a bit of an idiot. For me it started back in the second half of Captain Cold's issues, when Barry decides to just run into the vortex (speedforce) to save Iris and the others, without really considering what it could do to him. Brave and heroic, but if he'd maybe thought to discuss it with someone or generally *think* about it, he might've been able to rescue them without all the problems he ran into in the last two issues.
Let me run down why I think Barry's an idiot in this issue.
1) So, let's assume that he'd asked around the village for Patty (or something to that effect) and had heard that she'd been got by the Mardon family that way. Let's also assume he was doing it as the Flash, since he'd decided to tell Patty and he's not about to take *off* the cowl to face Marco.
He didn't try finding out which way she was taken, or just search the area on foot for a suspicious place, maybe one that was guarded... (he's the Flash, searching on foot isn't a problem). No, Barry went straight for Marco, who's by far the most dangerous person around. In doing so put a village in danger and almost get Patty killed (Elsa sent a text telling her men to kill Patty and El Arana when Flash was after her and Marco).
2) Then, when Marco says he's got no use for kidnapping Patty because he loved his brother, Barry shouts that he's a liar. Alright, Barry's a little distraught and severely worried, but so far his enemies have been remarkably forthright about their motivations. Captain Cold snapped out that he's doing it for his sister when Flash asked. When pushed, Turbine admitted that he'd been causing the vortexes to try and escape. The Rogues have been remarkably honest so far and unless we see a *reason* why Barry doesn't trust their word, he should believe them.
3) Barry decides that in order for the Flash to continue running (and keeping the world safe) he's going to have to leave his identity as Barry dead. Do you remember that point I brought up near the start? That Flash getting to Guatemala from Central City was strange? Well here's my reason why.
Last issue we saw Barry trotting around Central City as *Barry*. He's unlikely to want to change into his Flash costume with all the riots on. He decides to find Patty and hopefully a friendly shoulder to help share his troubles.
*How does Barry find out where Patty is?*
Patty's trip felt a little out of the blue, just something she'd decided on to get away. I doubt she's got much noted down about it and she's taken most (if not all) of the case notes with her.
So Patty's not at her apartment and, considering it was fairly bright last we saw Barry, his first port of call is likely to be her workplace. Which is also *his* workplace. Remember that Barry's not in his Flash costume. In order for this to work, Barry has to be specifically *avoiding* everyone while he finds out where Patty is.
*This doesn't make sense!*
I know Barry probably wants Patty to be the first to find out he's back and alive, but the easiest way for him to do this is to ask his boss where Patty is when he finds out she's not at her lab table. Or one of the other scientists. Or maybe even one of Patty's neighbours.
My point is, it's all well and good Barry deciding to keep the cowl on permanently, but who's to say that there isn't going to be someone who noticed he was alive and mention it to Patty?
Barry, you are an idiot.
On another note, it was interesting seeing what they've got going for Glider. It's almost looking like *she's* the one who's going to be putting together the Rogues. And considering that she, at least, hates Cold right now, I'm curious to find out where Cold's going to fit in with the Rogues.
It does lead me onto my next point. Out of all the Rogues we've seen so far, Cold's by far the luckiest. Ok, he doesn't have quite full control of his powers and you can beat him by dunking him in a pond, but he's only suffered a hair colour change otherwise. Glider can't walk. Turbine's not altogether there and out of his own time. Marco's emotionally unstable. And what I've seen of Heat Wave so far is not pretty. Yeah, I'm beginning to see why they might not like Cold right now.
So, overall I wasn't as impressed by issue #10 as I could've been. Maybe I was just getting my hopes up for Weather Wizard (one of my favourites) too high. The story had some interesting plot points, but didn't feel well connected and Barry's just an idiot.
It also had another artist working on it and he does an excellent (though of course different) job of things. Though I do have my issues with Marco's magically size-changing wand/staff.