Review by Karl Verhoven

Sadly, this collection is Jeremy Adams’ farewell to a series he’s dragged up the quality scale, but Time Heist continues the imaginative fun while also finding space for contributions from other writers who’ve sparkled on the series.

The successful conclusion to The Search for Barry Allen left a dangling threat Adams addresses in the opening chapter with the return of deliberately ludicrous gangster Knives Malone. He’s accompanied by a fitting selection of incompetent misfits, and artists Serg Acuña and Tom Derenick apply the necessary tone to Irey and Jai’s second encounter with Knives. The intended fun is had.

What at first seems a whimsical ending to the opening story is actually setting up the title sequence, which again manages to surprise via the sheer number of guest stars. While family has been Adams’ over-arching theme, incorporating guest stars has become a trademark, and although they rather clogged up The One Minute War’s finale, here most of those seen on Fernando Pasarin’s sample art have a role to play. The rocket pace at which everything proceeds is to be admired, despite being the type of crisis other creators would extend into an interminable crossover. “What is wrong with you Gnort-Knockers”, asks Gold Beetle, “you nearly ripped a hole in time and space”. That about sums it up, and her sparky characterisation is a delight. Unfortunately as spectacular as some art is, other pages seem to have been completed in a hurry, with Gold Beetle particularly distorted by Derenick as she appears uttering the above dialogue.

Adams departs with a clever short tale about why no major criminals from other areas tip up in Central City under the Flash’s protection. As drawn by Pasarin it’s a delight.

In the modern era the three longest-running writers on the Flash were Mark Waid, Joshua Williamson and Geoff Johns, and a short reprise from each closes the collection. In order, there’s an amusing look at Impulse’s attention span in a desperate situation, a discussion of Barry Allen, and Reverse Flash considering his past. Waid and Williamson come up trumps, but Johns supplies an overwrought piece of self-reflection. Artists Todd Nauck, Carmine Di Giandomenico and Scott Kolins all have a stylised approach, with Kolins somewhat confusing in the way he attempts to convey speed connecting fragmented memories. He supplies a terrifying villain, though, crackling with malign energy.

This is another hugely enjoyable bundle of fun, moving Wally and his family forward and supplying the creativity we’ve come to expect from Adams. It’s a shame that’s it for The Flash, but he’ll be worth following on other series.