Some thoughts about Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint #1

Whatever happened to the Flashpoint?

In another dark universe, Barry Allen died in his attempt to recover his powers and change the reality he altered but this is an opportunity for The Reverse-Flash to gain the kind of power he always wanted.

The Tales from the Dark Multiverse never end and to be honest, I'm getting tiring of them already (I mean, I was tired of them even when they were announced but some of them were good). Bryan Hitch's inclusion didn't make things much better since my last experience with his writing was his Justice League run and that was... not good.

However, I was pleasently surprised by this one despite of everything.

Hitch's premise is about how The Reverse-Flash becomes more ambitious once that Barry is dead which is an interesting concept in and of itself, particularly because how dependant the villain has been of his nemesis for most of his history. Thawne being unleashed is a pretty scary thought and Hitch really exploits that idea by making Thawne a force to be reckoned with, easily defeating most of the heroes (Well, not exactly "heroes" in the Flashpoint universe) and turning the entire planet under his control.

Even more interesting though, is the character work this produces. The dynamic between Thomas Wayne Batman and Thawne is heavily emphasized and we get a pretty intriguing development for the latter, about how Eobard might be trying to become more ambitious but he's secretely lost after the loss of the biggest influence in his life, Barry. This a complex situation and is explored pretty appropriately in story.

Intriguingly enough, despite of the Dark Multiverse nature of the tie-in, this is actually one of the most hopeful with the theme of hope being pretty relevant and Thawne himself being forced to become that towards the end. In a world of villains, an evil man is forced to become good.

Hitch's artwork is also quite solid, much more polished that some of his recent work and implements his classic widescreen storytelling nicely.

Good read, wouldn't mind more like this.