Barry Allen is the Flash, a costumed superhero who runs so fast that it allows him to run on water. He is based in Central City, a fictional city in the United States. It is part of the Justice League of America (JLA). It derives its authority from an energy source called Speed Force, and there are many other superheroes whose powers are based on a superhuman speed that draw from the same source.
A police laboratory colleague hit his slumber on the bench and Barry Allen has more power. One of his worst enemies is the official superhero Central City Citizen Cold (Leonard Snart). Nora Allen (his mother) is still alive, and Iris (his wife in the original reality) attends another man. There remains only one use Barry Allen: contact Batman who has also changed somewhat. For his part Victor Stone tries to rally the various superhero that reality to stop the war raging in Europe, between New Themyscira (Amazons Wonder Woman invaded and conquered the UK) and New Atlantis (Aquaman has sunk all the Western Europe and the Atlanteans settled in submerged cities.
"Flashpoint" falls into the category of crossovers, such stories which bring together dozens of superheroes to fight against cataclysmic events, with repercussions in virtually all of the monthly series of the publisher. Pass a crossover requires a mix of high accuracy to meet the constraints imposed: to show a maximum of superheroes (the best known, and a good sample of the most forgotten), designing a global threat that has not already been seen 100 time orchestrating titanic battles with dozens of characters, and find a little bit of room to squeeze the emotions of each other (for the reader to develop a bit of empathy).
For this crossover, DC Comics released the heavy artillery with 15 episodes each miniseries 3 and 4 special numbers. This massive deployment of additional securities benefits Geoff Johns: it focuses only on the main plot, leaving it to develop miniseries. So Barry Allen has room to exist (the new Batman too), the drive has time to enjoy his emotions and can get involved in the issues. To be perfectly honest, you better know the history of Barry Allen (at least since "Rebirth") to fully appreciate the history. The counterpart is that the version of the reality of Flashpoint is mentioned only visited. The result is taking with a gradual rise, real challenges for Barry Allen and Batman, and a satisfactory resolution. It's a good superhero story, even if one or two details are disconcerting, such as how Barry Allen recovers his powers or his broken finger by Batman.
Graphic Coté, DC Comics commissioned illustrations for a great value: Andy Kubert, inked by Sandra Hope and Jesse Delperdang. They create traditional images of superheroes, with a predominantly good details (except the last episode, which has 15 pages devoid of any decoration). Andy Kubert is essentially concerned with the characters to give them a tailored appearance. It is apparent from reading that took time to create variations on the traditional costumes of superheroes of DC universe. For fans of this universe, it is easy to recognize the usual superhero, and new appearances are so many little extra gifts (I have good memories of Element Woman (Emily Sung)). Among the other good sides of his illustrations, he has fluid layout, and a number of spaces for pages 5 to 7. Andy Kubert not abused pages full and it takes time to build huts sequences developed. For the rest, Andy Kubert illustrations which offers facial expressions lacking in subtlety (there is some uniformity in the faces). Rendering sets corresponds to a simplistic vision, just one author interpretation. And width of shoulders Batman tends to vary erratically. The reader thus finds Andy Kubert equal to himself applied in the appearance of the characters, and in the construction of boxes sequences, unconvincing in expressions and artistic vision. Finally it is clear that the time to produce the final episode had to be very tight. Still, the look is still above the mass production of superhero comics.
"Flashpoint" is a well-crafted crossover, with professional illustrations. Geoff has made the most of the short story to focus on Flash and one or two other characters, while still managing to give an idea of the magnitude of differences of this world compared to traditional DC universe. Still, the drawings are limited to comics style also searched and more dynamic, and the scenario leads to an arbitrary resolution that is puzzling.
And after? In 2004/2005, Geoff Johns begins its inevitable progression within DC Comics by designing and writing the return of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern post (in Green Lantern Rebirth). In 2009 he did the same for Barry Allen in Flash imposing the suit (see Flash rebirth). Johns said in interviews that the time has come for DC Comics to hand on the front of the stage the most famous incarnations of the characters. It is ironic and paradoxical to see that in 2011, it is the same defender of tradition which is responsible for closing the door of the shared DC universe as it existed since its restart in 1985 with Crisis on Infinite Earths . In September 2011, DC Comics comes on strong (marketing) restarting its entire series at 1; this event is called The New 52 (collection of 52 new numbers 1).
For completists, "Flashpoint" has received 2 series that served as a prelude: Time Masters - Vanishing Point and Flash 2 (The Road to Flashpoint).
