Review: Flashpoint: Reverse Flash #1

3 out of 5

    Over the past few years, Geoff Johns has gone through the DC Universe and has reimagined many of the Silver Age heroes and their arch-villians. He has done this with the Green Lantern and Sinestro, Aquaman and the Black Manta, and is now currently in the process of doing the same thing with the Flash and the Reverse Flash. Even though Scott Kolins is writting this issue, I can tell he is just following the outline given to him by Johns of what Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, is suppossed to do.
    As far as the story goes in this issue, it reminds me a lot of the Reverse Flash's spotlight issue in Flash #9, which was coincidentally written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Scott Kolins, the writer of this book. If you do own Flash #9, then you really do not need to pick this up because it basically rehashes the same story. That said, the Reverse Flash is still a very interesting character. Scott Kolins does a good job of telling the reader the Reverse Flash's plight while also explaining why he has become the sick and twisted man that is hell bent on destorying Barry Allen's life. I would have truely enjoyed this issue if I had not already known the entire story that was inside it.
    As far as the art goes, I consider it a mixed bag. I personally enjoy the art inside this issue, but I can easily see how some people can detest it. Joel Gomez uses a style that is a cross between Francis Manapul and Fabrizio Florentino with the use of what could be watercolors in very scetchy outlines of people. The characters are all drawn well, but the backgrounds of all the scenes are very sparse and leave much to be desired.
    Overall, this book is an interesting insight into the mind of the Reverse Flash. If you own Flash #9, though, then you already heard everything that is in this book. So if you don't own Flash #9, I recommend this book, but if you do, then you basically already own it.