Cary Bates sure does like exposition. It’s practically endless in the Flash feature, with Bates writing really long paragraphs of thought balloons explaining why The Flash can do what he can do. None of it makes any sense, but it sounds scientific.
The story has The Flash trying to sort of two villains who are battling each other. There are a lot more details–like they’re astral twins and so on–but he doesn’t really do anything with that relationship. It’s just another piece of the story requiring a whole lot of explanation, which Bates then provides.
The art from Don Heck and Frank Chiaramonte is decent and everything works out pretty well. It’s just goofy and Bates can’t hide it.
Then there’s the Firestorm backup with gorgeous George Perez art. Besides the lovely action intro, it’s a origin retelling. Gerry Conway’s writing is solid, but the art’s the thing.
B
CREDITS
The Good… The Bad… and The Unexpected; writer, Cary Bates; penciller, Don Heck; inker, Frank Chiaramonte. Firestorm, Firestorm is Back In Town!; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, George Perez; inker, Romeo Tanghal. Colorist, Gene D’Angelo; letterer, Ben Oda; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.
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