Flash #11 - Heat Wave - Review
So, I'll try and make this a monthly thing and review Flash everytime it comes out. This month I'm a little late because of general life stuff, but now I've got the time and I'll run through what I thought of Flash #11.
So, let's start off with the main villain of the piece: Heat Wave.
Heat Wave looks rough (or in Flash's words 'really burnt'). As part of the new Rogues-with-powers story arc, we see that Heat Wave literally has fire inside of him, able to shoot out at a moment's notice. It's worth noting that Heat Wave doesn't appear to have control over the flames with his hands and arms, the fire comes out of his an odd hole in his chest (and his back, possibly).
The thing that I've always found a little unfair for Heat Wave is that he very much relies on Captain Cold to be there as an opposite. I'm aware that's how he was originally created, but Cold can (and does) have plot lines on his own, Heat Wave rarely does.
As you probably guessed from that, Cold appears in this issue too. I'll get to him in a little bit.
We start off with Heat Wave burning down a hotel he was about to stay in because of anger issues, not accidental arson. Basically, Heat Wave's pissed and doesn't seem to care about keeping his powers under check. Well, he mentions trying, but when he gets worked up any control he has goes out the window.
We then learn this is the latest in a string of fires and that Barry Allen's decided to move to Keystone, since he's pretending to be dead and it's less likely for someone to recognise him there. He can't seem to turn off the 'cop' side of his brain and is wanting to find out what's been causing these fires.
Ok, fair enough, Barry's actually making some sense. Keystone works and it's right for a hero to be concerned about something that could harm the civilians.
Then he gets mugged, by someone I thought could be the Pied Piper (they were wearing a green hoodie), but I don't think it was. Bear in mind now that someone has Barry's wallet, which probably contains his ID and something about his old job. If that gets into the wrong hands (Rogues), or even the right ones (Patty), then he's going to be in some kind of trouble.
But then it looks like Barry's wanting trouble, since he goes and gets himself a job at a bad guy bar. He's hoping to help the city by learning more about the enemy. I'll get onto this later.
Of course, this is where he meet Captain Cold, who escaped from Iron Heights somewhen in the meantime. They should really get the prison security looked at.
In true out-of-costume-Flash (almost) tradition, Barry ends up having a drink with Cold. He's definitely making friends, since he gets his new boss the bartender to mix Cold up something that won't freeze when he tries to drink it.
Considering that Cold's been like this for at least a few months and can't get close to water without it freezing, how has he been surviving? Seriously, I think an average human can go roughly three days without water in a non-extreme environment. Maybe he's been drinking boiling water that cools down to tepid by the time it's reached his mouth? I have no idea.
Anyway, we see an argument between Patty and Singh over her actions in the last issue (going and finding out who killed Claudio Mardon). The thing is, Singh's right and, from what I've seen of him so far, has this knack for being correct on a non-personal level. Yes, Patty needed some time to clear her head, however, to those who don't know her, she did something she wasn't legally allowed to do.
But then, Singh's got his own problems. His boyfriend, the Pied Piper, has returned to the streets to help sort out crime in the Flash's absence. Singh's struggling with not wanting to be out, not wanting to have a vigillante as a boyfriend, relationship troubles because of the previous two problems, and having Barry be dead. Plus he's struggling alone.
We also see a TV interview with Flash's ex-friend, Dr Elias, who was leading a riot against the Flash two issues ago. Elias is sounding rather smug at having fixed the blackout that Flash caused (Flash also helped fix it, but isn't getting any credit for that). Elias has turned against the Flash completely and is urging the citizens of the Gem Cities to take back their power and not let threats the police force can't handle stand.
It's not much of a surprise that we find out Cold hates the guy, but what is interesting is that Cold compares Elias to himself. Basically meaning Elias is a crook. Nice to see Elias hasn't fooled everyone, even if it has come down to takes-one-to-know-one to see through it.
Anyway, Barry's making friends with Cold and introduces himself as Allen ('call me Al'). I guess using a name Barry will respond to automatically is good, but it also means it's going to be easier to figure out who he really is.
Then Heat Wave bursts in and is looking for a fight with Cold. Barry tries to intervene as "Al" the bartender, but gets thrown out the window by Heat Wave for his trouble. This gives him a perfect excuse to get all costumed up and bring the Flash into the fight.
It's interesting to see that Flash winds up with one arm on fire and the other chilled when he tries to get between them. This gives him his reasoning for creating a vortex and knocking Cold and Heat Wave out by cutting off their air supply.
The pair of Rogues get locked up and sent to Iron Heights. It's worth noting that I think Heat Wave would've won that fight between him and Cold. Heat Wave was out for blood and Cold was trying to justify himself in the middle of that fight.
They get a visit from Glider on the way to Iron Heights, who agrees with Heat Wave's assertion that the Rogues are better off without Cold. She doesn't even look at Cold. This is continuing to support my theory that Glider's going to be in charge of the Rogues and they're going to kick Cold out. Which, if they do, will likely be their undoing. Not that they need Cold working with them, but that they can't afford the distraction of Cold working against them.
Anyway, that was pretty much the issue and on to my monthly 'Barry is an idiot' comments.
1) So Barry has decided that Flash can get information from "Al" the bartender. Great, I'm sure he can. I'm also sure that the Rogues (and maybe other crooks if "Al" gets involved with them) are going to notice that whenever they mention things around "Al" or "Al" gets involved and conviniently goes out of view, the Flash turns up.
Criminals are suspicious by nature and someone being as cheerful and friendly as "Al" was is going to come under suspicion. What I'm wondering is whether "Al" being a cop or "Al" being the Flash will come out first.
2) Knocking Cold and Heat Wave out by cutting off their air supply. Let's just ignore for now the problems that lack of oxygen can cause to a normal human. We're talking brain damage at least. However, let's look at the problems with this on meta-humans.
For Cold it's not as obvious, but if we look at the fact that he can create an aura of absolute zero (even if it's not completely there, it's damn close) then he's going to have trouble getting air anyway, yet we've never seen him pass out from his powers so far. Basically, what I'm saying is that it's going to be harder to knock out Cold through lack of air than it would be for a normal human.
For Heat Wave it's the opposite. He literally has fire coming out of grates on his chest and back, and while he can keep the flames low to wear a coat over it all, they're possibly always active. We haven't been told nearly as much about his meta-phisiology, but I'll willing to bet that flames going out = bad. Flash doesn't even consider this.
Maybe if Flash had just created enough of a vortex to get rid of the hot and cold auras that were preventing him from punching Heat Wave and Cold out, then punched Heat Wave and Cold out, it wouldn't have been potentially fatal for Heat Wave.
So, my overall opinion.
I quite enjoyed this issue, probably because it was a lot slower paced than the previous one. We've still got Marcus To for the art and it's still good.
It's setting up for a lot, but didn't feel like it was really losing out on normal plot for it.
So, let's start off with the main villain of the piece: Heat Wave.
Heat Wave looks rough (or in Flash's words 'really burnt'). As part of the new Rogues-with-powers story arc, we see that Heat Wave literally has fire inside of him, able to shoot out at a moment's notice. It's worth noting that Heat Wave doesn't appear to have control over the flames with his hands and arms, the fire comes out of his an odd hole in his chest (and his back, possibly).
The thing that I've always found a little unfair for Heat Wave is that he very much relies on Captain Cold to be there as an opposite. I'm aware that's how he was originally created, but Cold can (and does) have plot lines on his own, Heat Wave rarely does.
As you probably guessed from that, Cold appears in this issue too. I'll get to him in a little bit.
We start off with Heat Wave burning down a hotel he was about to stay in because of anger issues, not accidental arson. Basically, Heat Wave's pissed and doesn't seem to care about keeping his powers under check. Well, he mentions trying, but when he gets worked up any control he has goes out the window.
We then learn this is the latest in a string of fires and that Barry Allen's decided to move to Keystone, since he's pretending to be dead and it's less likely for someone to recognise him there. He can't seem to turn off the 'cop' side of his brain and is wanting to find out what's been causing these fires.
Ok, fair enough, Barry's actually making some sense. Keystone works and it's right for a hero to be concerned about something that could harm the civilians.
Then he gets mugged, by someone I thought could be the Pied Piper (they were wearing a green hoodie), but I don't think it was. Bear in mind now that someone has Barry's wallet, which probably contains his ID and something about his old job. If that gets into the wrong hands (Rogues), or even the right ones (Patty), then he's going to be in some kind of trouble.
But then it looks like Barry's wanting trouble, since he goes and gets himself a job at a bad guy bar. He's hoping to help the city by learning more about the enemy. I'll get onto this later.
Of course, this is where he meet Captain Cold, who escaped from Iron Heights somewhen in the meantime. They should really get the prison security looked at.
In true out-of-costume-Flash (almost) tradition, Barry ends up having a drink with Cold. He's definitely making friends, since he gets his new boss the bartender to mix Cold up something that won't freeze when he tries to drink it.
Considering that Cold's been like this for at least a few months and can't get close to water without it freezing, how has he been surviving? Seriously, I think an average human can go roughly three days without water in a non-extreme environment. Maybe he's been drinking boiling water that cools down to tepid by the time it's reached his mouth? I have no idea.
Anyway, we see an argument between Patty and Singh over her actions in the last issue (going and finding out who killed Claudio Mardon). The thing is, Singh's right and, from what I've seen of him so far, has this knack for being correct on a non-personal level. Yes, Patty needed some time to clear her head, however, to those who don't know her, she did something she wasn't legally allowed to do.
But then, Singh's got his own problems. His boyfriend, the Pied Piper, has returned to the streets to help sort out crime in the Flash's absence. Singh's struggling with not wanting to be out, not wanting to have a vigillante as a boyfriend, relationship troubles because of the previous two problems, and having Barry be dead. Plus he's struggling alone.
We also see a TV interview with Flash's ex-friend, Dr Elias, who was leading a riot against the Flash two issues ago. Elias is sounding rather smug at having fixed the blackout that Flash caused (Flash also helped fix it, but isn't getting any credit for that). Elias has turned against the Flash completely and is urging the citizens of the Gem Cities to take back their power and not let threats the police force can't handle stand.
It's not much of a surprise that we find out Cold hates the guy, but what is interesting is that Cold compares Elias to himself. Basically meaning Elias is a crook. Nice to see Elias hasn't fooled everyone, even if it has come down to takes-one-to-know-one to see through it.
Anyway, Barry's making friends with Cold and introduces himself as Allen ('call me Al'). I guess using a name Barry will respond to automatically is good, but it also means it's going to be easier to figure out who he really is.
Then Heat Wave bursts in and is looking for a fight with Cold. Barry tries to intervene as "Al" the bartender, but gets thrown out the window by Heat Wave for his trouble. This gives him a perfect excuse to get all costumed up and bring the Flash into the fight.
It's interesting to see that Flash winds up with one arm on fire and the other chilled when he tries to get between them. This gives him his reasoning for creating a vortex and knocking Cold and Heat Wave out by cutting off their air supply.
The pair of Rogues get locked up and sent to Iron Heights. It's worth noting that I think Heat Wave would've won that fight between him and Cold. Heat Wave was out for blood and Cold was trying to justify himself in the middle of that fight.
They get a visit from Glider on the way to Iron Heights, who agrees with Heat Wave's assertion that the Rogues are better off without Cold. She doesn't even look at Cold. This is continuing to support my theory that Glider's going to be in charge of the Rogues and they're going to kick Cold out. Which, if they do, will likely be their undoing. Not that they need Cold working with them, but that they can't afford the distraction of Cold working against them.
Anyway, that was pretty much the issue and on to my monthly 'Barry is an idiot' comments.
1) So Barry has decided that Flash can get information from "Al" the bartender. Great, I'm sure he can. I'm also sure that the Rogues (and maybe other crooks if "Al" gets involved with them) are going to notice that whenever they mention things around "Al" or "Al" gets involved and conviniently goes out of view, the Flash turns up.
Criminals are suspicious by nature and someone being as cheerful and friendly as "Al" was is going to come under suspicion. What I'm wondering is whether "Al" being a cop or "Al" being the Flash will come out first.
2) Knocking Cold and Heat Wave out by cutting off their air supply. Let's just ignore for now the problems that lack of oxygen can cause to a normal human. We're talking brain damage at least. However, let's look at the problems with this on meta-humans.
For Cold it's not as obvious, but if we look at the fact that he can create an aura of absolute zero (even if it's not completely there, it's damn close) then he's going to have trouble getting air anyway, yet we've never seen him pass out from his powers so far. Basically, what I'm saying is that it's going to be harder to knock out Cold through lack of air than it would be for a normal human.
For Heat Wave it's the opposite. He literally has fire coming out of grates on his chest and back, and while he can keep the flames low to wear a coat over it all, they're possibly always active. We haven't been told nearly as much about his meta-phisiology, but I'll willing to bet that flames going out = bad. Flash doesn't even consider this.
Maybe if Flash had just created enough of a vortex to get rid of the hot and cold auras that were preventing him from punching Heat Wave and Cold out, then punched Heat Wave and Cold out, it wouldn't have been potentially fatal for Heat Wave.
So, my overall opinion.
I quite enjoyed this issue, probably because it was a lot slower paced than the previous one. We've still got Marcus To for the art and it's still good.
It's setting up for a lot, but didn't feel like it was really losing out on normal plot for it.