Flash 330-333
“The Trial of The Flash Part 2”
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| Grodd is so evil he refuses to wear pants even at the expense of children's tears. |
Back to the giant gorillas; and yes, I'm very happy about this fact. Would be happier if the gorilla in question was Monsieur Mallah, but I won't complain too much. Barry's not happy though;
Barry's still having a shitty time of it all. Charged with murder and
all that.
Barry's shitty time begins with Gorilla
Grodd, the huge, side-burned, naked, telepathic gorilla of evil lore
launching his attack on the Flash after spending the last few issues sucking up sub-plot space with his kidnapping and
manipulating of the disenfranchised youth of Central City. This
attack comes at the same time as the Flash has given up on his Bally
Allen persona in the wake of his legal troubles and is allowing
friends and family who don't know of his dual-identity think Barry is
missing or dead. The most affected by this action is Barry's fiancee,
Fiona Webb, the intended target of the Reverse-Flash's attack and the
catalyst for Barry killing the villain. Fiona's suffered a complete
nervous breakdown amid the stress and shock as well as the
possibility of Barry being dead.
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| It's clear part of her break-down is the sudden 'disappearance' of Barry Allen. Fuck you Flash. |
Instead of just revealing his dual
identity to Fiona, Flash is content to visit her at various points
and then continue brooding about his inability to help her. So while
the book's creators show us Fiona trussed up in a straight-jacket and nursing a drug-induced haze, Flash does as little as possible
to help her. He sure does feel bad for himself though. I've
mentioned at various other times
that superheroes are terrible at interpersonal relationships, but
goddammit it's true. In fact, I think that will have to be the source
of a stand-alone essay. Regardless to say, as poorly as Bruce Wayne
might treat Vicki Vale, at least he wouldn't leave her languishing in
a mental asylum.
I
keep coming back to the plight of Fiona, but it really is a big deal
in terms of the overall 'Trial of Flash' story. This part of the
story is more disjointed than the first.
Instead of a quick pace and the general feeling of a whole house of
cards collapsing underneath Barry, this part of the story feels more
like it's treading water with Flash trying to keep himself afloat
and dealing with both Gorilla Grodd and the hilariously inept Rainbow
Raider as well as hypnotic villain Pied Piper manipulating Central
City citizens into setting fire to The Flash Museum.
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| Check out that ass. Oh yeah. Also, I think he's doing a split. |
A quick aside: The
Flash Museum is one of those unique quirks about the hero. Even
though his identity is obviously still a secret, he is so beloved by
the twin cities, Central City and Gateway City, that they created a
museum with newspaper clippings and extravagant dioramas of
adventures The Flash has had as well as statues and descriptions of
the villains and heroes Flash allies himself with. The Top, working
behind the scenes, using common citizens to destroy the Museum is an
ideological blow to the floundering hero.
Going
back to Fiona, this is a major underlying current to the entire
story and with his constant, almost cruel, dismissal and selfish
reactions to his fiance's plight, I find myself less and less caring
what happens to Barry as The Flash. Even the milquetoast Hal Jordan,
finally back on Earth
and currently the only Justice Leaguer to show any kind of interest
in offering Barry help, shows up to put the kibosh on the
Rainbow Raider and comes off more sympathetic as a hero with his own
personal problems. All of Barry's problems come with the territory of
being a superhero, but Fiona is a victim of circumstance, and with
Barry's refusal to even divulge his secret-identity to her
pre-marriage, she's not a victim of her own choosing. I care more about
Fiona moving on and healing herself than I do in Barry beating this
manslaughter charge and keeping his sanity.
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| Rainbow Raiders real name is Roy G. Bivolo. Not a joke. |
Get your shit
together Barry! I like you, I want to root for you, but right now, you're
just a dick.
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