The Flash #13

The cover's kinda so-so. The idea was decent, along with the execution, a little too much is shoved in here, but it's fairly well balanced. The biggest thing that bothers me is the change from the original solicit. The word 'Gorilla' spray-painted on the Central City sign was supposed to be yellow. It was really bright and eye-catching but the new purple paint is REALLY hard to see, I barely notice it even when I'm LOOKING for it.

There's not a lot of Manapul's usual insane panel layouts, but his art looks excellent as always.

I'm really liking The Rogues, they're such an interesting group, but their decision to help Flash is so awkwardly paced. They go from not caring to allies in seconds, simply because a gorilla shows up right in front of them. As if an entire army of gorillas wasn't enough in the first place? And why was Captain Cold the one to initially want to leave. He's supposed to be the pragmatist, he's the one who would KNOW that teaming up with Flash would be the smartest move. And then their team up fight kind of repeats itself, with a bunch of fighting, Flash get's pinned, and Glider saves him. It happens TWICE exactly like that. I also like Turbine, but how is it that he just KNOWS that the golden bell things are carrying gorillas? Also on the subject of characters, it seems like after the zero issue, suddenly EVERYONE knows about Darryl and is talking about him like he's been there the whole time.

This new timeline is kind of funky. So we're assuming Flash has fought the Rogues many many times, enough to establish the same antagonistic relationship they had pre-new 52 and enough to make them fed up enough to consider getting powers; and yet he's never fought Gorilla Grodd before? And speaking of Grodd, I'm just not digging this new incarnation of him. His tribal armor is kind of dumb looking, and he's a raving mad ape instead of the oddly charismatic mad genius. He's nothing but a brute anymore, and that's disappointing.

In Conclusion: 3.5/5

I'm not saying The Flash is a bad series by any means. And yes, Manapul's art is GORGEOUS, the new Rogues are awesome, and an army of invading gorillas is pretty insane; but I am utterly BAFFLED at how it can keep getting 5/5's. There's absolutely no way it deserves that. No. It's got it's shortcomings for sure, though it's coming together more now. This issue probably would've gotten a 4 if it weren't for awkward repetition of one scene that screwed with the pacing. I did have a lot of other nitpicks though too.