This is a review of The Flash: The Death of Iris West. A few firsts. Flash #278, which resides in this volume, is the first superhero comic I read. Well, it might be Fantastic Four #210, which I bought around the same time, but my memory says it’s the Flash. A second first: the title of this volume is The Death of Iris West, aka Mrs. Barry Allen (as she’s referred to in this volume), aka The Flash’s wife. If you don’t want the details of her fridging, don’t read any further.
This volume doesn’t come flying out of the gates. The Flash fights a villain named The Clown. At first glance, this is a mismatch – The Flash can run faster than light and has total control of his molecular structure (I have no idea how these two powers are related). The Clown throws cream pies. Thus, it comes as a surprise when The Clown nails The Flash in the face with the aforementioned cream pie. Heck, it comes as a surprise that any fight with The Flash lasts more than two seconds. Thank god I’m not the writer, who has to think of creative ways to make the Flash’s villains seem like credible threats.
Maybe The Flashster has other things on his mind. He’s been neglecting his lovely wife, Iris, who responds by pulling out the stops – romantic candlelight dinners, new hairdo, etc. The Flash claims he’d like to spend more time with his wife, but Gorilla Grodd has a hangnail or whatever, and he needs to deal with that. Then there’s the 16-year-old psychic teen with a crush on The Flash. Since Barry is thirty and could be her dad, this seems creepy, especially considering what happens to his wife.
I am not saying I didn’t enjoy this volume, because I did. The art is good, and I like writer Cary Bates’ scripts. It wasn’t Mr. Bates decision to kill Iris Allen. This was an editorial call, done to boost sales (I read this in an interview with Cary Bates). There’s no build-up or foreshadowing to Iris West’s death. Barry and Iris go to a costume party, which is crashed by ex-convict-Clockwork-Orange-fan-psychic-vampire Clive Yorkin. BTW, Yorkin is one of the best things about this volume. The Flash, shot up with angel dust, makes the mistaken assumption that Yorkin killed his wife. He’s wrong. The killer is Professor Zoom, denizen of the 25th century, who takes up supervillaining as a hobby because he’s bored.
If you’re a Flash fan, this is an important chapter in Barry Allen’s life, even though I’ve lost track of the number of times his character has been rebooted. If you’re not a Flash fan, it might take a few issues to figure out what’s going on. Still an enjoyable read.
Abandoned Places 