The Flash is back this week and he’s gotta deal with Thawne this time. We learn more about Reverse-Flash’s origin and how it fuels his hatred for Barry.  Writer Joshua Williamson proves once again he know how to tell an engaging story with characters that are full of depth and purpose.

Flash travels to the 25th century in order to save Iris, who was captured and taken there by Reverse-Flash. The two fight, but that’s not the focus of the issue. Eobard Thawne’s road to becoming the famous villain is what Williamson focuses on, and it was worth every panel. We get to see that Thawne extremely well versed in Flash history, almost obsessed even. Apparently, a capsule with the Flash’s costume arrived to him and he used it to fulfill his dream. It’s then revealed that both metahumans got pretty close when Barry first landed in the 25th century. Barry was a huge role model for him, and Eobard wanted to be just like him. When he got the chance though, he blew it.

Thawne created dangerous situations in order for him to save people and be seen as a hero. Barry finds out and they fight, Thawne is defeated and sent to prison.  But he is able to leave prison, and he wants to go to the 21th century to find Barry. He doesn’t want revenge however, he actually wants to become Flash’s sidekick. Then we get one of the best moments in this issue, Eobard finds out Flash already has a sidekick, in the original Wally West. He’s always believed that Barry was more than just a hero and was sure he would bee accepted. From then on he has been (arguably) the Flash’s greatest villain.

The moment is strong and is backed by a good setup. The art shifts when showing Thawne’s view and it has an almost completely different look than the rest of the issue. Although I liked the art, the transition between styles was a bit too much for me. I know there are some that liked this but I personally didn’t find it as effective as it wanted to be. I understand what they were going for but it just didn’t have the desired effect on me.

This week’s issue is really solid, finding out about Reverse-Flash’s origin was entertaining and well written. The art is pretty engaging,  switching between plot points and point-of-views off characters. The concept was very interesting and ambitious,  but it didn’t work for me all of the time.

Rating 8.5/10

–  Marcos Melendez