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The Flash (DC Rebirth)

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Not to be confused with The Flash (comic book).
The Flash
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
ScheduleBimonthly
FormatOngoing series
GenreSuperhero
Publication dateAugust 2016 – August 2023
No. of issues145 (#1–88, 750–800, plus Rebirth one-shot, One-Minute War special, and 5 annuals)
Main character(s)(#1–88, 750–767)
Flash (Barry Allen)
(#768–800)
Flash (Wally West)
Creative team
Created byRobert Kanigher
Carmine Infantino
Written byJoshua Williamson (#1–88, 750–762, 800)
Geoff Johns (#750, 800)
Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato, Marv Wolfman, Scott Lobdell (#750)
Kevin Shinick (#763–766)
Andy Lanning and Ron Marz (#767)
Jeremy Adams (#768–800)
Mark Waid, Simon Spurrier (#800)

The Flash (DC Rebirth) is an American superhero comic book written by Joshua Williamson (of Nailbiter and Birthright fame) and published twice-monthly by DC Comics. The title follows the adventure of Barry Allen as the superhero Flash in Central City. The title is part of DC's Rebirth relaunch, following the end of The New 52 initiative established following the Flashpoint storyline in 2011, and started publication in August 2016. In May 2020, the title reverted back to its original numbering with #750, and ceased publication with #800 in August 2023.

Story arcs

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Lightning Strikes Twice (2016)[1]

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While investigating a crime scene, Barry Allen has visions of Wally West, Eobard Thawne and an individual in white clothes. While running through Central City, Barry encounters Wally, who had been absorbed into the Speed Force and attempts to warn Barry about the involvement of someone in the timeline. Just as Wally is about to be absorbed forever into the Speed Force, Barry remembers him and pulls him out. Reuniting, Wally also warns Barry that they "are being watched". After discussing what to do next, Barry goes to visit Batman to talk about the button they found.

While at a crime scene, Barry reunites with his old friend August Heart, who was present on the day he was struck by lightning and gained his powers. Soon, citizens all over Central City gain the powers of The Speed Force seemingly at random.

Speed of Darkness (2016–2017)[2]

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As Barry neglects to train the new Kid Flash (Who coincidentally is also named Wally West), he decides to take matters into his own hands and battle Shade (comics).

Rogues Reloaded (2017)[3]

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After the supervillain team The Rogues has mysteriously disappeared, Flash goes looking for them. The Rogues enact deadly traps to kill Flash once and for all.

The Button (2017)

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Main article: The Button (comics)

Running Scared (2017)[4]

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Eobard Thawne (aka the Reverse Flash) returns once again to ruin Barry's life and threatens to strike down everyone close to him.

Negative (2017)[5]

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Barry's new powers aren't working properly as he faces a new villain, Bloodwork, who has secret ties to Barry Allen.

Cold Day in Hell (2017–2018)[6]

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Perfect Storm (2018)[7]

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Flash War (2018)[8]

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Reckoning of the Forces (2018–2019)[9]

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Force Quest (2019)[10]

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The Greatest Trick of All (2019)[11]

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Year One (2019)[12]

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Death and The Speed Force (2019)[13]

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Rogues Reign (2020)[14]

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The Flash Age (2020)[15]

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Finish Line (2020)[16]

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Wally West Returns (2021)

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Eclipse (2022)

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The Search For Barry Allen (2022)

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The One-Minute War (2023)

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The One-Minute War takes place over issues 790 to 796 with one special in between 792 and 793.

An alien force that can harness the Speed Force known as the Fraction invade Earth, arriving with their ship in the middle of Central City and causing everyone on the planet except for the Flash Family to be frozen in time. The destruction caused by their ship took the lives of thousands, including Iris West.[17]

Wally West eventually finds Barry Allen crying over Iris's death before rescuing him. Wallace West and Bart Allen bicker and argue about what to do, before they are saved by Jay Garrick and Jesse Quick from the Fraction. Finding refuge in the West house, the Flash Family briefly grief over the loss of Iris, before trying to come up with a plan to stop the Fraction. Jesse Quick and Max Mercury comment that the Fraction's spire is the same one the two saw while traveling the multiverse during the Dark Crisis. The Fraction plan to collect metahumans and the Flash family for a wedding present for the Empress, and release Miss Murder to take down the family.[18]

The Fraction is revealed to be an alien race that lived on a planet similar to Earth and had an Empress. The Fraction found an energy source (the Speed Force) that could help progress their civilization even further so they created a machine to harness it. After a successful attempt of them harnessing the Speed Force, the Empress wanted more and they started invading planets. The leader of the Fraction agreed to invade Earth as long as he gets to marry the Empress, to which the Empress agrees. As the Fraction invasion continues across the planet, they are faced with other speedsters like Avery Ho and Godspeed. The Fraction even faced Surge, a Jai West from the future that learned to better control his powers.[19]

Wally West convinces Barry Allen to leave Iris' side for a while, and help formulate a plan. The Flash family realize that the Fraction may have artificially accessed the Speed Force and they occupy a huge portion of Central City and Keystone City. Kid Flash and Impulse infiltrate the faction ship and managed to steal a vehicle from them (because Barry Allen wants a car) while also rescuing a person that they were using as a battery along with many other heroes (Superman, Captain Atom), narrowly escaping the grasp of Miss Murder.[20]

Production

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Background

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In 2011, DC Comics published the Flashpoint story arc in which Barry Allen travelled back in time in order to prevent his mother's murder. While doing so, he ended up altering the universe, creating one in which Wonder Woman and Aquaman are at war with one another and have decimated Western Europe, among other changes. Following its conclusion, the series radically changed the status quo of the DC Universe, leading to The New 52. DC cancelled all of their titles and debuted 52 new series in September 2011 with new first issues.[21] One of the new 52 series starting in September was the fourth volume of The Flash, starring Barry Allen.[22]

In February 2015, it was announced that following the Convergence storyline in May, DC would be ending its New 52 branding, though the continuity established post-Flashpoint would continue.[23] In February 2016, DC announced another line-wide relaunch of their titles called DC Rebirth. Rebirth was an attempt to restore the DC Universe to a form similar to the one before Flashpoint, while still incorporating elements of The New 52, including its continuity.[24] Due to the relaunch, the New 52 Flash volume ended with #52 in May 2016.[25]

Development and writing

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As part of the DC Rebirth imprint relaunch, The Flash was first announced in March 2016, with Joshua Williamson writing the title.[26] A The Flash: Rebirth one-shot was published in June, with the series starting the same month.[27]

Williamson revealed during a Rebirth livestream that he first approached Dan DiDio about wanting to write The Flash in Summer 2015,[28] telling DiDio that writing The Flash is "really important to [him, and] that there's a story that [he] really [has] to tell".[28] He also revealed that during the first story arc, a Speed Force storm would hit Central City. The storm would strike numerous people and give them super speed, with Barry having to train them.[28] Among the characters to receive powers, Williamson also revealed a new speedster named Godspeed who would act as the main antagonist during the first story arc.[29] To differentiate Godspeed from previous evil speedsters like Eobard Thawne, Williamson made the character more sympathetic and calculating.[30] An element of Barry's character that Williamson wanted to highlight in the title, was his passion for "doing the right thing". During the first arc, the evolution of Wallace West into Kid Flash is also explored.[31]

According to Williamson, neither DiDio nor Geoff Johns mandated any of the Rebirth titles to resemble their film or TV adaptations. During early meeting, Williamson suggest the inclusion of character similar to Harrison Wells from the TV series to be in the comic; the idea was shut down due to not wanting to make the comic similar to the show.[30]

Williamson stated that the Rogues are some of his favorite Flash villains and planned to use them following the conclusion of the first story arc.[30]

[32][33][34]

Publication history

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Reception

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Critical response

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Commercial performance

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Collected editions

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# Title Material collected Pages Publication Date ISBN
Paperback
1 Lightning Strikes Twice The Flash: Rebirth #1, The Flash vol. 5 #1–8. 216 January 24, 2017 978-1401267841
2 Speed of Darkness The Flash vol. 5 #9–13. 128 May 23, 2017 978-1401268930
3 Rogues Reloaded The Flash vol. 5 #14–20. 168 August 1, 2017 978-1401271572
4 Running Scared The Flash vol. 5 #23–27. 136 November 21, 2017 978-1401274627
5 Negative The Flash vol. 5 #28–32. 128 March 27, 2018 978-1401277277
6 Cold Day in Hell The Flash vol. 5 #34–38, Annual #1. 128 June 19, 2018 978-1401280789
7 Perfect Storm The Flash vol. 5 #39–45. 184 October 2, 2018 978-1401284527
8 Flash War The Flash vol. 5 #46–51, a story from Annual #1. 160 December 18, 2018 978-1401283506
9 Reckoning of the Forces The Flash vol. 5 #52–57. 160 April 2, 2019 978-1401288556
10 Force Quest The Flash vol. 5 #58–63. 144 September 24, 2019 978-1401291419
11 The Greatest Trick of All The Flash vol. 5 #66–69, Annual #2. 144 February 11, 2020 978-1779500328
Year One The Flash vol. 5 #70–75. 168 November 19, 2019 978-1401299347
12 Death and the Speed Force The Flash vol. 5 #76–81. 144 June 9, 2020 978-1779503992
13 Rogues Reign The Flash vol. 5 #82–87. 152 November 17, 2020 978-1779505774
14 The Flash Age The Flash vol. 5 #88, #750–755, Annual #3. 216 May 11, 2021 978-1779509239
15 Finish Line The Flash #756–762. 168 October 12, 2021 978-1779513168
16 Wally West Returns The Flash #763–771, The Flash Annual 2022 #1. 280 July 26, 2022 978-1779518774
17 Eclipse The Flash #772–779. 224 December 20, 2022 978-1779517449
18 The Search for Barry Allen The Flash #780–789. 292 June 27, 2023 978-1779520173
19 One-Minute War The Flash #790–796, The Flash: One-Minute War Special #1. 244 January 23, 2024 978-1779520883
20 Time Heist The Flash #797–799, four stories from #800. 128 April 23, 2024 978-1779525017
Deluxe Hardcovers
Batman/The Flash: The Button The Flash vol. 5 #21–22, Batman vol. 3 #21–22 104 October 17, 2017 978-1401276447
Heroes In Crisis: The Price and Other Stories The Flash vol. 5 #64–65, Annual #2, Batman vol. 3 #64–65, Green Arrow vol. 6 #45, 48–50 248 October 9, 2019 978-1401299644
The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1 The Flash: Rebirth #1, #1–13 336 August 1, 2017 978-1401271589
The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 2 The Flash vol. 5 #14–27 244 May 1, 2018 978-1401278427
The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 3 The Flash vol. 5 #28–38, Annual #1, DC Holiday Special 2017 #1 264 October 2, 2018 978-1401281403
The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 4 The Flash vol. 5 #28–38 352 Canceled 978-1401289393
Year One The Flash vol. 5 #70–75. 168 November 13, 2019 978-1401299347
11 The Greatest Trick of All The Flash vol. 5 #66–69, Annual #2. 144 February 5, 2020 978-1779500328
The Flash #750 Deluxe Edition The Flash #750 and a story from Showcase #4 128 July 17, 2020 978-1779505071
The Flash by Joshua Williamson Omnibus Vol. 1 The Flash: Rebirth #1, The Flash vol. 5 #1–35, Batman vol. 3 #21–22, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #32, Justice League vol. 3 #32–33, and material from DC Holiday Special 2017 #1. 1008 April 9, 2024 978-1779526984


References

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  1. ^ "Official DC page ("Lightning Strikes Twice")". 16 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Official DC page ("Speed of Darkness")". 23 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Official DC page ("Rouges Reloaded")". 20 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Official DC page ("Running Scared")". 17 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Official DC page ("Negative")". 20 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Official DC page ("Cold Day in Hell")". 20 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Official DC page ("Perfect Storm")". 16 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Official DC page ("Flash War")". 20 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Official DC page ("Reckoning of the Forces")". 19 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Force Quest". 12 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Official DC page ("The Greatest Trick of All")". 16 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Official DC page ("Year One")". 8 November 2019.
  13. ^ "Official DC page ("Death and The Speed Force")". 16 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Official DC page ("Rouges Reign")". 16 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Official DC page ("The Flash Age")". 26 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Official DC page ("Finish Line")". 30 September 2021.
  17. ^ Gribbin, Sean (2023-01-07). "Flash's One-Minute War Inciting Incident, Revealed". CBR. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  18. ^ Bergamini, Anthony (2023-01-17). "The Flash #791: War Has Consequences". Comic Watch. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  19. ^ Comments, Jude Terror | (2023-01-28). "Flash: One-Minute War Special #1 Preview: Secret History Revealed". bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  20. ^ Hern, Gabe; ez. "The Flash #792 Review". Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  21. ^ Hyde, David (August 17, 2011). "Super Hero Fans Expected to Line-Up Early as DC Entertainment Launches New Era of Comic Books". DC Comics. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  22. ^ "DC's Full September 2011 Solicitations [DCnU]". Newsarama. Purch. June 11, 2011. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  23. ^ Yehl, Joshua (February 6, 2015). "DC Comics Is Ending The New 52". IGN. j2 Global. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  24. ^ Ching, Albert (February 18, 2016). "Geoff Johns Details "Rebirth" Plan, Seeks to Restore Legacy to DC Universe". Comic Book Resources. Valnet Inc. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  25. ^ "DC Comics May 2016 Solicitations". Newsarama. Purch. February 16, 2016. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  26. ^ Marston, George (March 26, 2016). "DC Comics Rebirth Recap – Creative Teams, Schedule & a Few New Details". Newsarama. Purch. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  27. ^ Schedeen, Jesse (February 18, 2016). "DC's Rebirth Will See Comics Line Restart at #1". IGN. j2 Global. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  28. ^ a b c DCAA Live: DC Universe Rebirth. DC Comics. March 26, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  29. ^ Phillips, Jevon (March 27, 2016). "DC bets big on Rebirth: A re-centering of characters, and the Joker's real name". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  30. ^ a b c Marston, George (April 5, 2016). "Rebirth's Flash To Mentor Next Generation of Speedsters After 'Speed Force Storm'". Newsarama. Purch. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  31. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (May 12, 2018). "Flash Rebirth To Turn Wally West Into Kid Flash". Newsarama. Purch. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  32. ^ Burlingame, Russ (July 22, 2016). "SDCC 2016: Joshua Williamson On Incorporating Watchmen, and The Many Speedsters of The Flash". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  33. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (September 8, 2016). "Flash Writers Races Toward New Rebirth Role for Wally West". Newsarama. Purch. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  34. ^ Bell, Crystal (October 10, 2016). "How Flash Writer Joshua Williamson Learned To Love Barry Allen". MTV. Viacom. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
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