Honestly, I don’t think Flash is for me – I simply cannot see what it is that some people love about this character. He runs fast, yellow lightning surrounds him, I fall asleep – it’s the same with every Flash book whoever the writer is! Flash is one of the blandest superheroes ever created and, six decades later, he’s still chasing after a personality!

Flash Rebirth starts by recounting two of the biggest reveals from DC Universe Rebirth #1 – SPOILSIES if you haven’t read it – with Flash reunited with white Wally West – an emotional reunion apparently but I’ve been more emotional looking at a stapler – and he and Batman stare at the Comedian’s Smiley Face badge with Batman saying they should probably investigate it. Will this book explore either storyline any further? Nope! White Wally West’s return is covered in Teen Titans Rebirth and the Batman/Flash/Watchmen investigation will be a miniseries called The Button out later this year. (I say “white” Wally West because New 52 black Wally West is also in this book. So there’s now two Wally Wests in this world. Shrug.)

What we get in this book instead is a lorra nothing! Woohoo…. It literally takes 50 pages before something happens. Random folk are getting hit with Speed Force lightning, turning them into Speedsters. Except one of them, Godspeed, is a bit of a tosser, killing new Speedsters for their Speed Force because he wants their power zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………. Let’s say speed a few more times because I haven’t said it enough already. Speed, speed, speed. Flash is so speeding dull.

At 180 pages, this book is the longest Rebirth volume I’ve read so far while also annoyingly having the least going on. Barry teaches the new Speedsters how to use the Speed Force, he fights Godspeed, and that’s basically it. Not that that stops writer Joshua Williamson from loading up the pages with dreary narration and unexciting dialogue that reads like wading through mud. Ironically for a book about the fastest man alive it has an agonisingly slow-moving story. Godspeed’s a weak and unoriginal Flash villain too – he’s just another evil Speedster like Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Fast Bastard, Savitar, and Speed Demon (I made one of them up).

Carmine Di Giandomenico’s art was quite good. Appropriately for the character, he draws motion well and the fight scenes between Flash and Godspeed were pretty damn spectacular, very… flashy (yukyukyuk)! Sometimes the panels were laid out quite imaginatively too to emphasise the character’s speed.

I suppose this is an ok introductory book for new readers. You find out who the Flash/Barry is, you get a strong understanding of his powers and a bit of his complex history too - whether you’ll want to read more of him after all that though is another matter! The scenes where Flash is teaching the new Speedsters to use their newfound abilities were surprisingly decent too, particularly when he showed the teen Speedster how to be grounded; mostly though this was a really tedious, frustratingly long-winded and very uninteresting read.

I’m probably not going to bother with Flash comics anymore regardless of people insisting that this latest one is really good, not like the others; I just end up wanting to blow my brains out from boredom well before I get to the end. This one’s only gonna appeal to that unfathomable sub-set of comics readers, Flash fans.

SPEED!

As someone who watches the Flash on TV I wasn't sure I would be able to pick up the storyline. But it actually helped. This story does not go with the tv show, but rather the TV show after the timeline has been changed. It's was easy to follow and the story is interesting. I quite enjoyed it. I also really like that it didn't not have the divisions all the other rebirth titles have that causes the story to skip around. I enjoyed that as wall.

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From the publisher: A new storm brews over Central City and disproves the old adage about lightning never, well...you know. Just as Barry begins to feel overwhelmed fighting crime, a new speedster debuts--but just where did this amazing new friend come from? Spinning directly out of the epic events of DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH, the Fastest Man Alive finds himself at the center of a DC Universe at a crossroads--and reeling from the reemergence of his protegee, Wally West!

From up and coming writer Joshua Williamson (Illuminati, Red Skull) and illustrator Carmine Di Giandomenico comes THE FLASH VOL. 1! Collects THE FLASH: REBIRTH #1 and The Flash #1-8.

Rebirth honors the richest history in comics, while continuing to look towards the future. These are the most innovative and modern stories featuring the world's greatest super-heroes, told by some of the finest storytellers in the business.

Honoring the past, protecting our present, and looking towards the future. This is the next chapter in the ongoing saga of the DC Universe. The legacy continues.

The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice is Joshua Williamson's new Rebirth book. The Flash family took on a lot of changes in the New 52 universe as a result of Barry Allen's Flashpoint adventure. The most significant of these changes, at least in my opinion, was eliminating the original Kid Flash, Wally West. The opening chapter of this book is the Rebirth issue, and it reintroduces Wally West to the DC Comics universe, and is the first step in righting many of the perceived "wrongs" of the New 52 years. The Flash and Batman get together and decide to investigate what happened to cause everyone to forget years of their lives, and everything that entails.

The bulk of The Flash Vol. 1 deals with Barry Allen looking in to a robbery at S.T.A.R. Labs. Shortly after the robbery, a freak lightning storm occurs, similar to the one that gave Barry his powers through the speed force. And wouldn't you know; the storm hits multiple people, creating a very large group of inexperienced speedsters. Throw into the mix Barry's friendships with Detective August Heart and Iris West, her nephew Wally West (not the original), and a potential love interest, and Williamson has the makings of an interesting book. Things only ramp up when the mysterious new speedster Godspeed arrives.

I enjoyed this book. Williamson has done a nice job with the characters, and has written an intriguing arc as The Flash begins its Rebirth series. He has carried over the New 52 events and has laid some groundwork for what is to come in future installments.

For my money, though, the best part of The Flash Vol. 1 is the Flash: Rebirth story. The emotion of Barry saving Wally from oblivion and the mystery of who or what is behind all that happened in the last five years of DC Comics is fantastic. I wish that Williamson had been able to explore this story more. It also spun Wally off on his own again too fast. I look forward to seeing how the relationship between he and Barry is repaired.

Overall, The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice by Joshua Williamson is terrific. I highly recommend it to Flash fans and to anyone looking for a good jumping on point.

I received a preview copy of this book from DC Comics in exchange for an honest review.

Joshua Williamson's Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice makes some valid jabs at the good and bad that fictional superheroes do, and art by main series artist Carmine Di Giandomenico gives the story the maturity that DC's Rebirth warrants.

Don't worry – I will only give a way superior Flash story more than 3, for I've never really liked the franchise's attitude with swapping in and out of old Flashes, bringing new ones in and old ones back. And as that's pretty much the crux behind the whole Rebirth thang, it happens here – and then some. No, DC didn't learn from that awful multi-Robin disaster of a couple of years ago, so here we have a Flash School, and the usual investigative case, and tiny threads of the complete Rebirth arc (more so than in any other trade so far). If you like Flash, it's probably great – but while I can see that, I still didn't find much that was to my taste.

This first volume of The Flash was action packed and the plot was easy to follow. I liked Meena and Avery's characters and I was surprised to see Batman. Overall, it was entertaining (if only a bit repetitive) and I recommend it to all Flash fans.

One of my favorite Rebirths so far. Great engaging story. Fabulous artwork.