Comic Reviews - A New Black Lantern and Wally's New Flash Costume Revealed!

For those that missed last week's comic reviews, I have begun putting spoilers in my reviews. You have been warned...

Flash: Rebirth #5
There's a reason Geoff Johns won Spike TV's "best comic book writer" award. I've said in the past that the man could write the entire DCU and I'd be happy and I stand by that after reading this next-to-final issue of Flash: Rebirth. At the end of the previous issue we learned that the Barry actually created and generated the speed force and that Reverse Flash was generating a negative speed force to counteract the real deal. Naturally a battle ensues. This issue picks up with the team of speedsters trying to take down Reverse Flash. The team is getting their rear handed to them most of the issue. Meanwhile, back at the West home, Wally's kids realize that their power fluctuations and aging have been caused by the fact they they are sharing a single connection to the speed force. Iris/Irey touches Jai's hand and absorbs his part of the connection and she gets full speed powers. I assume this means Jai is a normal kid now but that remains to be seen. Irey, now calling herself the new Impulse, rushes off to help the speedsters against Reverse Flash. Wally uses a trick to give the speedsters a boost. This also serves to give a lot of them new costumes including Wally's own updated costume which Flash fans have known was coming for a while. (See below for an image of Wally's new duds.) But even after all this, the speedsters can't bring down Reverse Flash. Reverse Flash reveals that he's been the cause of everything bad that's ever happened to Barry throughout history and that he can manipulate time. He then rushes away through time to kill Iris and thus give Barry no reason to ever have escaped death all these years. The next issue is the final chapter in this saga and I am dying to see where this ends up!

Score: 4.5 out of 5

Wally's new threads revealed!

Superman/Batman #66

Blackest Night finally hits Superman/Batman this issue with the return of Solomon Grundy as a Black Lantern. The story this issue centers around Fran Langstrom working with Frankenstein and the Bride to capture the Man-Bat and return him to his human form. While all this is going on, both Bizarro and a newly resurrected Solomon Grundy are wandering around Gotham. Bizarro comes across the team of heros as they are capturing Man-Bat. Thinking they are hurting his friend, Bizarro attacks the team and runs away with a mid-transformation Man-Bat in tow. But Bizarro's mistaken rescue is is cut short when he runs into Black Lantern Grundy only to have his own heart ripped out. Next issue... Black Lantern Bizarro? I sincerely hope so!
Score: 3.5 out of 5