Rating: ***

Barry Allen is back from the dead. He’s returned to his old life as the Flash, but just as he begins his new life, strange things have begun happening. In the last two issues we’ve seen that when ever Barry touches a speedster, they either die or are hit with excruciating pain. At the end of issue two, Barry has become the new Black Flash which is a sort of angel of death for the speedsters of the DC Universe. And that’s where we are right now in the story of “The Flash: Rebirth”.

I’m enjoying this series so far. It’s not been the best Flash storyline I’ve ever read, but its a good story by Geoff Johns and amazing artwork by Ethan Van Sciver. I like that Johns is bringing in just about everything that has to do with the Flash. I love the Flash’s history and think he has one of the best rogues gallery in comics. This issue opens up with a mysterious assailant going after the Flash villain Abra Kadabra. We don’t see the assailant, but he or she says to Kadabra that, “There isn’t room in this century for the both of us.” The assailant then yells the phrase abra kadabra and then proceeds to burn Abra Kadabra himself.

We then see Liberty Belle and Hourman at the JSA headquarters discussing her parents Johnny Quick and the original Liberty Belle. An explosion happens and we see Johnny Quick calling out to Barry not to hurt Jesse (the current Liberty Belle). Why? Johnny is dead and was absorbed into the Speed Force. Does he think Barry will hurt Jesse and the others on purpose?

We then go to Barry who is being held in a containment field while the JLA and JSA try to help him. The Black Flash entity is taking over Barry and he asks Green Lantern to take him away from everyone as it seems that he can’t control it. Barry decides to then give up and run back to the Speed Force to save everyone from himself. As he runs away we get the return of the classic plot line of the Superman/Flash race as Superman runs after Barry to try and convince him to stick around so they can help him. But Barry proves himself to be the fastest man alive and out runs Superman as he begins racing through time.

The Flash is running backwards through time and seeing all of the important events in his life - including the run he made during the original Crisis. As he comes to the moment of his birth, he bursts into the Speed Force and sees Johnny Quick along with Max Mercury another speedster who died years ago. Both men’s bodies are being pulled apart by the true villain of the story the resurrected Eobard Thawne the original Reverse Flash Professor Zoom. Zoom is holding a staff of some sort with two lightning bolts at each end. I’m not sure if this staff belongs to Abra Kadabra and it was Zoom who was torturing him in the beginning of the issue. Zoom was killed by Barry years ago in a famous story arc of the original Flash series. Since his death, Zoom has returned via time travel appearing to torment Wally West during his tenure as the Flash. Has he time traveled through time again to battle Barry or has he been resurrected from the dead as well.

The second Reverse Flash, Hunter Zoloman aka Zoom was stripped of his powers in “Rogues Revenge”. I wonder if this was done as part of a bigger plan since DC was having Barry return as the main Flash and they wanted Thawne to return as Professor Zoom. Some people have complained about DC’s head editor Dan Dido’s attempt to bring DC back to the way things were during the Silver Age with Hal Jordan returning as Green Lantern and now Barry as the Flash. I used to really hate when DC and Marvel would bring back long dead characters, but now with so many characters coming back over the years and both companies doing good stories with their return, I’ve kind of accepted it. So I welcome Professor Zoom back. As long as the story is interesting, I’ll be reading. I do think DC should cut back on the deaths of major characters. We all know they’re coming back. I think it’s more interesting when a 3rd rate character dies as there is more of chance of that character staying dead.

Pick this series up if you are a hardcore Flash fan, but it might not be suited for a casual fan as you would need to sit down in front of your computer with Wikipedia open to cross reference all of the stuff that’s happening. Whatever the case, I think its a fun book and I can’t wait for the conclusion.