The Flash 100-page comic giant No. 1 review: A new beginning

From a surprising partnership between Walmart and DC Comics comes a new and exciting adventure of The Flash.

Since the summer of 2018, DC Comics has been releasing new tales of their superheroes as Walmart-exclusive content. This year, they expanded their line of comics with The Flash 100-page comic giant No.1, giving us an exciting and fresh take on the Scarlett Speedster while also reissuing some older stories of The Flash, Adam Strange, and Shazam.

Written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Clayton Henry, this brand new Flash story gives us a new iteration, one very similar to The CW’s Flash. This Flash is still Barry Allen, CSI for the Central City Police Department. He’s also already been established as The Flash, but is still in his early days of being a superhero.

Cover art by Clayton Henry and Marcelo Maiolo (Credit: DC Comics)

He is also still single, having not yet met Iris West until she talks to him at a crime scene. This version of Iris West is a reporter for Picture News, there to get the scoop on the death of a cosplaying man who accidentally impaled himself on his own crossbow. Something also of importance to note is this Iris West is African-American, another possible influence from The CW’s Flash TV series. Barry is immediately attracted to her, but she shows no interest in him, other than professional.

To top off Barry’s day, he is also faced with a former foe of his; Mirror Master. We get a classic standoff between them in which Barry uses his abilities to save the day and stop him from killing hundreds of people. Although Mirror Master ends the fight in handcuffs, another threat to The Flash lays quite literally in the shadows. This threat, who is difficult to make out in the darkness (although those familiar with Flash lore may be able to make him out) was the one who put Mirror Master up to this dastardly deed, for reasons we don’t know yet.

The new Flash story is a delicious tease for what’s to come. It’s a good introduction to this Barry Allen and the trials and tribulations he’s about to face and the important people in his life, or those who will become important.

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The giant comic also provides us with previously published stories about The Flash, Adam Strange, and Shazam. The Flash story is a continuation from Justice League Giant’s No. 7 while the other two are the introductory stories of Adam Strange and Shazam.

The giant 100-page comic as a whole is a highly entertaining read. But is it worth spending the $4.99 it costs? For any novice Flash readers, this is a perfect comic to get started with as you don’t need to have read any other Flash comics to understand the story. If you also haven’t read any Adam Strange or Shazam stories, this is another great way to get introduced to them. For anyone who’s already gone through those stories, though, there’s not much extra to offer outside of the new Flash story. But if you’re a die hard Flash fan, this is a comic you’re not going to want to miss.

The Flash 100-page comic giant No. 1 is now available exclusively in Walmart stores.