The Flash #8 (Review)

As I wait for the temperature to drop below triple-digit heat indexes so I can drive my NON-air-conditioned truck over to Capital City Comics (in Reynoldsburg, OH) to pick up The Flash #10.....I thought I'd review #8.

When we last left The Flash, he had just "flashed" away from the treadmill in Dr. Elias' facilities and into the Speedforce in an effort to find Iris and the others from the boat who disappeared during his battle with Captain Cold. Issue #8 begins......


The Flash finds himself inside the Speedforce and being attacked by Turbine, who arrived there in 1944 and wants to return home. The Flash tries to calm him down with words, but ends up just having to knock some sense into him.

The Flash "calming down" Turbine...

After calming down, Turbine shows The Flash the Speedforce and some of the mysteries that it holds......The Flash also discovers he's the solution, not the problem for the Speedforce.  When The Flash taps into the Speedforce, he releases the built-up energies....and portals open up.  Portals that Turbine has been trying to pass through to get back home to his time.  Instead, Turbine just starts spinning and things get pulled in & out.  So, the events in the Gem Cities that The Flash thought were his fault.....aren't.  It was Turbine, who is now half insane after being stuck in the Speedforce for 70 years.

Exploring The Speedforce

The Flash gets angry, Turbine starts spinning....and they run through a portal.  Later on in the Speedforce, Iris West finds The Flash's earpiece.....even though Iris and the other's from the ship that disappeared at the end of issue #7 had actually arrived first.

What we see next is the one and only....Grodd!  He prepares for battle against his father to prove his worth and readiness for adulthood.....and the Throne of Gorilla City.  It's a battle to the death for adulthood, the throne, and the knowledge of the defeated.  I think you can guess who wins.....

As Grodd announces himself King, The Flash finds himself arriving from the Speedforce Portal.....who knows where Turbine ended up....

Another wonderful issue full of surprises, new characters, and new discoveries for The Flash.

Written, drawn, inked, & colored by the amazing team of Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.

CITIZEN'S GRADE: IMPRESSIVE.