After seeing what you might call a (pun intended) fleeting glimpse of Francis Manapul’s art for this project a while back, we now have a full preview of this year’s FLASH SECRET FILES straight from the Source. Around and about here are some fully-rendered pages from the special and below is the skinny…
In the aftermath of BLACKEST NIGHT and THE FLASH: REBIRTH comes the beginning of a new era for Barry Allen and the deadly Rogues. As Barry readjusts to life again, strange happenings explode across Central City that will lead to one of the most bizarre murder mysteries Barry will ever face in the upcoming THE FLASH #1. Plus, don’t miss Wally West, Kid Flash, Gorilla Grodd and a cold case that will send The Flash down a path unlike any other. Featuring the work of THE FLASH writer Geoff Johns and artists Scott Kolins, Francis Manapul and many more.
Gallery
He couldn't be back.
Call me small-minded, but I never really pictured Barry Allen being the kind of kid who’d be the victim of bullies. I could definitely see, oh say, Kyle Rayner getting bullied, but a point of this Flash’s characterization has always painted him as a normal guy from the Midwest, without the same kind of skeletons in the closet most brooding superheroes have. So I’ll bet that’s the purpose of these SECRET files - - to show you what unpleasant secrets lurks behind these character’s cheery exteriors. I didn’t know about the whole bit about Allen’s father getting convicted for his mother’s unsolved murder, either. Talk about grim.
And neither could he.
Seeing this again, I can’t help thinking back to fan discussions I had in comic stores and online when I was a kid. Back then, there were about five storylines that could never be reversed. Barry Allen, along with Bucky, Jason Todd and Captain Mar-Vell could never be brought back and there was no way you’d ever see Wolverine’s full origin. Never. Ever. We were dead-to-rights certain about it.
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.
