There are a lot of writers you can count on to deliver must-read comic books, and for different reasons. In this instance, we have Ryan North because he understands the characters he’s writing. For example, during his ongoing run of Fantastic Four, he reminds readers that Marvel’s First Family aren’t just superheroes. They’re adventurers.
When I learned that North would be writing The Flash, I knew it was a brilliant idea, because there’s no way he didn’t have knowledge of the character and what people wanted. That much was made clear within the first five pages.
The first thing that’s easy to notice is how Ryan North quickly introduces readers to Wally West and what's going on in his life. Before the creative team gets announced, you know how much Wally loves his family and understands how lucky he is and that he’s the fastest man alive. Soon after that, readers witness him in action as he stops a tornado and then saves a woman who fell off a tall building. However, it’s about to get tricky when you find out why she was falling to begin with.
The woman falling off a building wasn’t the act of someone trying to harm themselves. Apparently, there’s a website offering $10,000 for a video of the best video of Flash saving them. That left dozens of people to do dangerous things like standing in front of trains, driving recklessly in their cars, and standing in front of an old-fashioned cannon (which Wally was shocked to see was a working one).
When Flash tried to tell people to stop, a reporter asked if he would stop saving people. Of course, he said he wouldn’t, and the recklessness continued. To make things worse, the Flash confronts the person running the website. Unfortunately, there’s nothing Wally can do because it doesn’t seem illegal. And as the Fastest Man Alive leaves to save more people, a mysterious person shows up and raises the reward for the Flash's rescues to 200%!
As of now, we don’t know what this mysterious benefactor is, but one thing is certain. Whoever’s behind this knows one truth about humans. As Agent K said, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals…"
One of my favorite movie quotes comes from Snatch, and it goes, “You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.” Now, everyone trying to win this money isn’t necessarily stupid. Ryan North makes it clear that some of them are desperate, and hopelessness is enough of a reason to make the most stable person do something foolish. However, the way some of the people are laughing and smiling while they’re doing this makes me think that some of these are just greedy fools.
Using this as the first problem in Flash’s life will show two things. First, the lengths Wally will go to save people from themselves. Second, that even in comic books, humans will do all sorts of dangerous and rash things for money and internet fame. I can’t wait to see how this affects Wally West’s home and superhero life and if the Justice League eventually gets involved.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow’s social media sites, Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter for more comic book, TV, and movie news, opinions, and rumors as they come out.