Review by Frank Plowright
The short of it is another fantastic volume of page-turning superhero action from Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins.
The opening chapters see Gorilla Grodd escaping from Iron Heights, freeing everyone as he demolishes the prison in which he was held captive. The person most affected, though, is criminal profiler Hunter Zoloman, already with a weak knee, now paralysed from the waist down. He’s used to raise ethical questions about technology Flash possesses, and not liking the answers sets him on deadly course. An entire chapter is devoted to Zoloman, delving into his background and how he arrived in Keystone. Hang on, isn’t that the technique Johns has been using to give depth to his villains? Hmmmm.
Throughout this volume Johns offers interesting updates on familiar Flash characters or situations, and this begins with Gorilla City, previously tolerant of the outside world, but now under new rule and increasingly hostile towards what it represents.
In Crossfire Wally and Linda West learned she was pregnant, and the associated treatments and observations continue here, with an intervention from the preposterously named teleporting Peek-A-Boo. She was introduced in Rogues, seemingly as a one-shot villain, albeit with prime motivation, and here plays a significant part in a welcome recurring role illustrated by Phil Winslade.
Blitz is a farewell volume for artist Scott Kolins, whose look came to define Flash and his world. He’s on tremendous form here, and the book has a valedictory feel as Johns throws in all the major Flash villains he’s not used to this point. Professor Zoom and the Top have an extended run-out while Abra Kadabra is restricted to an amusing cameo.
Circumstances endured over the final chapters leave Wally West in a crisis of self-doubt, and there’s a real punch the air moment when a friend turns up to offer a pep talk. That friend has connections, and the final pages deliver a clean sheet and new start, setting up Ignition. Let it be noted, by the way, that Johns has thought ahead, and he drops clues here as to what happens there.
This content can also be found with previous volumes Rogues and Crossfire in The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns volume two.
