Review by Ian Keogh

Flash has adventures with the Justice League that take him away from home, but as a solo act he’s firmly rooted in Central City, which makes Joshua Williamson pulling him away and around the world something of a novelty. There’s a stopover in Badhnisia before assorted other established fake countries in the DC universe, Flash and Iris West having a different style of adventure in each location as they learn more about the assorted forces associated with the Speed Force. That alone is good enough, but Williamson spices the cake by creating interesting new characters, not just villains to throw against the Flash, but people with a purpose and motivations. It all makes for a thrilling ride with Williamson letting us know all the while that Flash is being tracked.

However, as good as that is, we’re once again back to the ever-changing artists, three over six chapters, with Rafa Sandoval (sample page) handling the first three in his polished superhero style. Again, it wouldn’t be so bad if the stories weren’t connected, but they are, effectively a trio of two-parters, and the swtich first from Sandoval to Christian Duce, then to Minkyu Jung occurs mid-story, and each has a different way of drawing Flash. Sandoval and Duce are good, but Jung’s pages lack their imagination and polish. There’s no doubt about the basic drawing ability, but the final chapter features some clumsy pages.

Williamson uses the finale to supply more information about the different forces Flash now knows about, proving he doesn’t know quite as much as he thought. Quite the bombshell is dropped, and it escalates the threat, possibly beyond Flash’s ability to handle it alone. The final pages lead into Heroes in Crisis and into the next Flash volume The Greatest Trick of All.

Force Quest picks up naturally from Reckoning of the Forces, providing a fun outing that, as so often in this series, would have been improved by a consistent artistic approach.