The Flash #6-7: Captain Cold versus the Flash!

[zapbiffpow]

I've got much love for The Flash right now. He's being written very well, in my opinion - very optimistic but ready to push himself to the limit when people are in danger. In short, exactly how a hero like Flash should be.


Everyone is pretty in this issue, even Captain Cold. The redesign is changed enough to know it's different, but not unpleasant or jarringly distracting. In fact, I'd love to own one of Cold's DCNu jackets somehow.

Previously on the Flash:

"The wings make my head look like a fat chicken, another symbol of nature's furious velocity." Obscure Internet Reference!



Meanwhile, Captain Cold's sister, Lisa Snart, is dying. The machines that were supposed to keep her alive were EMP'd out during Flash's last battle with Mob Rule, a new Rogue that can clone/regenerate himself.

"I can't earn a living. I can't keep my team together...I can't even keep my sister safe. All because of him."

Cold takes an entire river hostage just as Barry, Patty and Iris are having lunch on a floating restaurant.



Flash struggles to save the people on the ships, while trying to ignore the industrial-sized can of whoop-ass Cold's been serving him.

"I don't care what his beef with me is. But I can't let him put people at risk. People I care about. I'll do anything to save them - "



Flash manages to scrape a win, but not before witnessing what happens when he overloads the Speed Force:





Barry is as good as his word, and Lisa Snart is cured. However, she remains angry at Captain Cold for the trying-to-kill-everyone thing. Unfortunately, Flash's

being busy means Barry remains missing. Patty, who believes Barry died during the Captain Cold incident, blames Flash. Meanwhile, there's a series of hints related to the appearance of Gorilla Grodd and Pied Piper later on.

The Flash decides to go to the DCNu version of the Cosmic Treadmill and, for the first time ever (in this timeline, at least), jumps into the Speed Force.



Even with all the crap he's been facing (and might possibly face in the future), Flash doesn't go into this with guilt, nor angst. He goes with hope.

The powers-that-be answer his so-called hope with a rear-neck chokehold, courtesy of another addition to the Rogues Gallery: Turbine, who's been stuck in the Speed Force.

To be continued next issue! Comments?

 

Comments

[q99]

I like that they did catch up bubbles on the speed force and such.

[icon_uk]

So forgive me if I'm missing something, but Barry's solution to mucking things up by generating a random wormhole he can't control which may have led to loss of life, is to create another wormhole this time directly into the Speed Force?

Also, Captain Cold being a half dressed Icicle doesn't do anything for me. I LIKED the fact that Snart had to wear warm clothing because he wasn't immune to the effects of cold himself, and used tech for his weapons.

[zapbiffpow]

The guy who made the new treadmill combined it with a heavy-duty containment facility, I think. It's the only place he can run real fast without anyone else being affected. Barry probably just made the decision to leap through the wormhole in mid-energy containment, or something.

As for the get-up, the only exposure I had to Icicle was in one issue of the DCAU Justice League, and he was covered head to toe in white, with a Santa Claus-like cap. Does he look a lot like Captain Cold now, or did the reboot change his look too?

[icon_uk]

I was thinking more in terms of powers than dress (the half-dressed was meant as a reference to old Captain Cold's old outfit). Icicle/Iceman standard cold generating powers.

[zapbiffpow]

Oh, you mean you liked the old gun-slinging Captain Cold! I've got no beef with that.

[ian_karkull]

That's the original Golden Age Icicle, Joar Mahkent, who used a cold gun similar to Snart's. His son Cameron gained innate ice powers from Joar's overexposure to the technology (because comics) and took on the mantle after his father's death. He also wears a sleeveless get up, hence the comparison.

[ian_karkull]

Yes, I've always liked that the Flash Rogues are just regular schmoes with crazy comic book guns. It's part of what makes them so sympathetic.

[darkknightjrk]

Manapul has basically said that they're still that, but many of them found a way to gain superpowers to get an extra advantage in getting away from The Flash, and he'll show how it happened in an upcoming annual.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I gotta give the writer credit. After Johns wrote him, I thought it'd be hard to miss the point of Captain Cold's character.

And here he goes for a twofer. He gives Cold super powers, and gives him a terribly generic motivation of revenge.

So, how exactly do powers make Cold any more effective? Sheesh

[turtlefu]

I read that Manapul wanted to make all of the villains in Flash connected to Barry/Flash in some way, meaning all of them are generic revenge villains.

Hey, Manapul, is Batman connected to the Joker's origin? Is Superman to Lex Luthor's?

The most interesting things about Flash's rogues were that 1) Most of them relied on gadgets 2) they had interesting personalities and 3) their relationship to the Flash and to eachother. So, just do away with all three of those things!

I appreciate this series for its art, but this is why we don't let artists write comics. Because they can't.

[icon_uk]

is Batman connected to the Joker's origin?

Ummmm.....Yes, he is. He was the one chasing the Red Hood who then fell into the vat of chemicals turning him into the Joker.

Is Superman to Lex Luthor's?

Also, according to many iterations, yes. In the Silver Age, Lex blamed Superboy for the accident that destroyed his hair (and also showed him in a bad light). In Byrne's origin, as soon as Superman appeared on Metropolis and showed up Luthor, he upped his game BIG time, going from "simply" corrupt powerbroker and mogul, to all out "KILL SUPERMAN AT ALL COSTS", which is what makes him a Superman villain in the first place. In Smallville they are played off against each other so often, Lex and Clark are either the definition of love/hate obsession, or walking slash engines... sometimes both at the same time.

[turtlefu]

Wow I didn't know that.

That's terrible.

See, the thing that I think is interesting about the Bats vs. Joker or Supes vs. Lex thing is that they have opposing ideaologies, not actually opposing origins (Or so I thought)

Even so, the Joker isn't attacking Batman out of revenge. So it is a bit different. Manapul wants to make all of the villains based on revenge.

I think the Hero vs. Villain dichotamy is always more intersting when the ideaologies oppose, but making the origins intertwined is just another example of everything fitting together too easily (see: my rants on conspiracies in comics)

[biod]

Someone wasn't paying attention to the Rogue Rules.
"Don't make it personal" dammit!

[jaybee3]

The cool thing about Len Snart/Cold for me was that he was a criminal (and a smart one) first and just happened to be a supervillain (instead of the other way around). He wasn't one of Batman's crazy Arkhamites or Superman/WW's overpowered aliens/gods or even a member of the League of Assassins, he was just a super-smart mook with a very powerful gun. He didn't even hate the Flash personally.

Now that's gone. For every stop forward in the DCnU in terms of character development for some there seems to be 2 steps back for others.

And some of that dialogue seems too much on the nose for me: Iris (formerly Flash's long-time wife in previous continuity) asking outright if he and new girl are dating. Yes, way to shove it (and the dissolution of the marriage) down our throats, DC.

[starwolf_oakley]

In an IDENTITY CRISIS crossover, Wally said to Batman that the big difference between the Rogue and the Arkham Asylum bunch is that the Rogue are organized and *aren't* homicidal maniacs.

Of course, that makes it seem like Captain Cold and other Flash Rogue are supervillians as just something to do. They aren't obsessed with fighting the Flash. It is just what they do. Almost like career criminals with fancy gadgets.

[icon_uk]

I've been meaning to post some stuff about the formation of the Serpent Society, the ultimate extension of the "don't make it personal" villain concept.

[cypherfdp]

So Captain Cold is Mr. Freeze now?

[darkknightjrk]

Mr. Freeze was a guy who, after his wife became too sick to live and his opportunity to legally help her was ripped away, tore away all emotion and became a driven, heartless man. What I think they're doing is making a bit of power/personality split--giving a hot-head the power to freeze things to absolute zero.

[eyz]

More like Iceman/Icicle/Killer Frost and the dozen or so others Ice-producing villains.

I preferred him with his ice gun and parka :(

[big_daddy_d]

Honestly..I just enjoyed seeing Cold beating the crap out of Barry. I haven't been reading Flash but only picked up issues 6 and 7 because of Cold.

[eyz]

Love seeing Barry as this optimistic hero, like with a good heart like the heroes of old (Golden/Silver Age comics), unlike the dozen or so other gritty heroes around.