 His name is Barry Allen, and he's the fastest man alive, but he's also so much more. As he learns more about the speed force that fuels his incredible powers, the Flash is also discovering secrets about his past beyond anything he'd ever dreamed, how he created a Flash point that changed history and helped create a new world watched over by forces unknown. Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode, another edition of A Week in Geekdom here on YouTube. It's time for another Rebirth title, another Rebirth review. This time, of course, I dug into the Flash Volume 1 Lightning Strikes Twice from Joshua Willingson, and boy oh boy, this is a mouthful. This is one of those books where you have to take time out of your busy schedule to dissect everything that goes on in this book. You've got the button connections, you've got stuff relating to DC Rebirth, stuff relating to the New 52, Flash Point, you've got the whole Wally West New 52, and the Wally West of old DCU, you've got new villains, you've got Iris West problems, you've got a new love interest, a lot of stuff happens in this book. Unfortunately, I do not have the Deluxe Hardcover set because I had bought this when the trade first came out and we didn't know about the hardcovers. Now I'm like, well crap, I should have gotten the Deluxe Hardcover because they're so nice. Why are you making me spend money, DC? Come on, man. Regardless of all of that, this is a fun, interesting read with some mixed art that I wasn't really too fond of, but the overall story, however, is so good. It is such a blast to read. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It ends on a little cliffhanger that I am pretty sure gets resolved in the upcoming issues that I have not read, but what I did check out in this book is awesome. You finally have Flash back to form, Barry Allen as we all know, was the mastermind, if you will, behind the whole Flash Point fiasco. He's trying to make up for it after fixing all of that stuff, and then the New 52 happened. And now with DC Rebirth, we find out that as a consequence, someone has been meddling with time and space, if you will. If you have not read the DC Rebirth One Shot, I suggest you do pick that up and read it, because I would say it's a necessary read when it comes to Flash. We also get Barry's new point of view, new perspective on the whole Wally West return, if you will. So yeah, do yourself a favor. You might want to learn about Flash Point, the New 52, and that DC Rebirth One Shot. You don't have to read every single book. Just know that these things happened, or at least get some general consensus or knowledge of the events. So when this book starts, you got a familiar take on Barry Allen, that is trying, now that he knows that Wally West is back, the original, he finally realized that that is one of the things that was missing in his life, you know, having a partner in crime, you know, doing the superhero work by himself. And now suddenly he realizes like, hey, I missed that fact. I missed having a protege with me, and just helping, and making things easier, and life isn't as complicated. So those 10 years or so that were lost, they're back, and Wally West is doing his thing, like I previously mentioned on the Titans video, and you've got Flash here doing his own thing in Central City, of course, doing his CSI work, and catching criminals and all that fun stuff. But it's not until we're introduced to the second plot element of this book where things really kick it up a notch. And basically this huge speed force storm grants people, certain people, super speed abilities and access to the speed force. Now you've got the character of Barry becoming a mentor for not just other sidekicks superheroes, but for regular people as well, and him along with Star Labs teaching all these new speedsters what it takes to control and harness these powers and to do good with them. Of course they're gonna be your rotten apples that are gonna use that power for evil, and it's up to our heroes to set them straight. Now, we are also introduced to more characters from the Central City Police Department including the character of August Hart and a long friend of Barry's and he gets struck by lightning. Now, I'm not spoiling much. This is one of the first things that happened in this book. He is struck by lightning so it is up to Barry to teach him along with the other civilians. However, in this case it's special because these two have a friendship of sorts, whether it's work related or not, they do know each other. And I thought that was pretty interesting. I love the idea of a superhero becoming this bigger than life mentor for a lot of people. Not just on a moral basis or inspiring people, but actually teaching them. I thought that was pretty cool and I really enjoyed that. It gives a new perspective to the whole hero thing and them teaching younger people how it works. Now, the third element in this book is the organization called Black Hole with their leader Dr. Joseph Culver and he is trying, again, he's like this failed Star Labs employee that got busted for messing around illegally with the whole speed force thing. You would think they would keep tabs on their workers, but apparently they don't. People at Star Labs are quite irresponsible. But yeah, the doctor forms this terror group called the Black Hole and they're trying to cause mayhem and wants to harness the power of the speed force because he thinks Barry Allen is hogging it all for himself. Obviously he doesn't know it's Barry, he knows just the flash. But yeah, he thinks that there is a greater purpose for this force in the world and it's when the storm happens that we get to see that and different characters sharing the speed force and some of them obviously, like I mentioned earlier, are going to do some bad stuff and other people are going to do some good stuff. So it's up to our heroes to set them straight. We are also introduced to the character of Mina and she's this new potential love interest for Barry and she also speaks to herself and she is actually a pretty cool character. I really enjoyed her interaction with the flash and all the other characters. And then we get introduced to the main villain of this volume, the character of Godspeed. I don't like the name, but man, do I dig the outfit. I love me some slick, cool super villain or hero outfits and the guy is just looking badass. Now the character motivations for Godspeed are a little bit iffy. I must admit I was a little bit bored by the character simply because we have seen that type of character motivation before. He is a character set out to supposedly rob other speedsters of their power and when you find out like the true motivations, it has to deal with morality, justice, equality and when does the system go too far or when does it not go far enough and how that relates to an incident with another character and with the flash. Of course, Barry being a strong defendant of truth and justice and all that stuff and doing the right thing. So it's an interesting position that you're putting two speedsters in. One is very pro doing things himself and forgetting about the whole justice system and then you've got Flash who's always been this straight, honest, good superhero trying to do the right thing. I'm not going to spoil anything else because I think you should give it a read. The only thing I did not really like about the book was the artistic change. You've got Carmine D. Gian Domenico doing the art and it's not my cup of tea. I know a lot of people like it. I know a lot of people enjoy that art style but to me it's a little bit too cell-shady for its own good and for some panels there's this lack of depth that I want to see when I'm reading comic books but it looks great overall. Great facial expressions and great color palette. I love the usage of computer renderings or digital drawings if you will to animate the whole lightning strike and the blurs of light when the characters are running or when they're doing their thing, especially Godspeed. It really looks awesome and it really looks like you're watching an animated show come to life in paper form. It's that good. However, it then switches to other artists. I think it was Felipe Watanabe and if it were up to me to pick between the two, I much prefer Felipe's art because it's more of the style that I enjoy. But regardless it looks really awesome and I think you're going to like the story. This is one of the heftier trades when it comes to the DC Rebirth. I think it was like nine issues where everybody else had like six or seven of them. This is jam-packed with stuff. Like I mentioned, DC Rebirth, you've got a new villain, you've got new speedsters, you're going to try and solve all of that and you've got these themes of morality and you've got this quintessential love of super heroics that Barry Allen personifies. That is just contagious. One of my favorite scenes in this book is when he's trying to calm down this girl that has acquired super speed and she cannot stop from blurring all over, from vibrating and all that stuff. So he does this cool little trick with the fist and each finger representing something that he or she loves and I thought that was a really sweet tender moment that I really enjoyed and more of that please. That's why I read these books because they inspire, they fill you with happiness and very cool action-packed moments but stuff like that reminds you the power of super heroics of these fictional characters inspiring you to do good deeds and all that stuff. So for that, I really recommend the book. And then we get the reintroduction, I guess, of the new 52 Wally West. A character a lot of people hated because it wasn't the original Wally and a bunch of other people don't really know him that well. Of course he debuted back with the Teen Titans and with the Flash book and all that stuff. So a lot of people didn't really care. With this, you're getting a reintroduction and there was a panel where the character looks really young and then a couple issues later, he's like super old, like 16 year old. I'm like what is happening with these artistic changes? Here's some of that contrast when it comes to art styles, a bit more traditional. Which can be a little bit weird and jarring for some readers but I'm used to this already. So yeah, overall a very cool read, I highly recommend it. If you are not a Flash fan, consider picking it up because it is worth your time. I think it's fantastic and you'll be surprised by some of the stuff that you see in this book. It's not like the best Flash story out there but it's really fun and a safe beginner's guide to the wonderful world of Flash that I think everybody will enjoy. Let me know down below what you thought of the book and tell me down below as well your favorite Flash story. I'm very curious to know. As always guys you can follow me on your favorite social media platform from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a bunch of other stuff just type what we can geek them and I'm there for you. Alright, I have got to go, I've got more stuff to read and review so as always I'll catch you on our next episode. And if I would have had to, blah blah blah blah.