I went into this comic excited but skeptical. The last two Flash relaunches kind of bombed, and there were some pretty questionable choices made leading up to this. Like how as soon as they brought Barry back to life, Wally West, who had been the Flash for the last twenty-something years, was pushed to the sidelines. Various writers, including Johns himself had spent years taking Wally from kid sidekick to full fledged superhero. But now he’s been sidelined with the rest of the flashes.

Of course, that isn’t the only mistreatment of a legacy character in the lead up to this series. A few years ago in Brad Meltzer’s miniseries event Identity Crisis, the original Captain Boomerang, Digger Harkness, one of the Rogues (the Flash’s main group of villains) was killed, and his son Owen Mercer was introduced. Owen was set up as the new Captain Boomerang and given ties to the Flash family, in the form of a convoluted blood relation (which involved quite a bit of time travel). It really seemed like the character was going somewhere. Alas, it was not to last. In the recent Blackest Night: Flash miniseries, part of a company-wide crossover written by Geoff Johns about legions of undead super-people rising from the grave, Captain Boomerang original flavor was among the army of super-zombies. He managed to convince Owen that he was merely sick, and that Owen could cure him. This, of course, was a lie. Digger’s corpse was just being manipulated by a malevolent alien force, with a goal of extinguishing the white light of life. The zombie Boomerang tricked his son into pushing various people into a large pit with him, where they were promptly killed. Owen was led to believe that if he fed enough people to his father, he’d be miraculously returned to life. Like I said before, this was a lie. In what can only be described as a total character assassination, he even sacrificed women and children, in hopes of his father’s resurrection. When the Rogues found out about this, they were less than pleased. You see, they have a strict “No women, no children” rule when it comes to murder. So their leader, Captain Cold (don’t worry, they aren’t ALL captains) retaliated by pushing Owen into the pit to be disemboweled and converted into a zombie by his undead dad. And to top it off, Johns actually ended up bringing the original Captain Boomerang back to life in Blackest Night’s finale, mirroring the shafting of Wally West when Barry returned. So yeah, I’d say I had some reason to be skeptical.

Anyway, enough with the backstory. What actually happened in the new issue, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you! The comic opens up with a great splash page of Central City, home of the Flash. Next, we’re shown Barry’s wife Iris getting coffee and texting (ooh, how trendy!), impatiently waiting for her husband. We then see a blue car, driven by the Trickster–another of the Rogues–zoom by, crashing through a Chinese takeout bike messenger’s cycle. Suddenly, there’s a red and gold blur, and the messenger’s delivery is back safely in his hands. Iris smiles, knowing that this blur is none other than her husband, the scarlet speedster, the Flash! The Flash chases the Trickster down the highway, until there’s nowhere left for it to drive, and it’s sent careening off the edge, towards a group of construction workers and one of their sons. Thinking quickly, he deconstructs the car piece-by-piece in midair, ensuring the safety of the civilians below. But wait! The steering wheel is still flying straight at the little boy’s head! Of course, the Flash catches it moments before impact, and even stops to take the time to greet the kid. Gee whiz, that Flash sure is a great guy! The crisis is averted, but just as soon, a new one arises.

Barry is late for his first day back at work! After being chewed out by his boss, Captain Frye, we (and Barry himself) are introduced to his co-workers at the crime lab. Across town, a crackling blue portal opens up in the middle of the street, and we see a silhouetted man saying that he’s sorry for something. Then, as the portal dissipates, all that is left is what appears to be the corpse of Evan McCulloch, the Mirror Master, and member of the Rogues. Of course, crime scene investigator and forensic scientist Barry Allen is the first on the scene. Soon enough, the plot begins to thicken. Barry discovers that the man in the orange and green costume is not, in fact McCulloch, but another, unidentified man. Hearing one of the officers on the scene talking about another mysterious light show starting up in the sky across town, Barry immediately suits up and speeds off. When he arrives at the source of the light, Barry is shocked to see a group of futuristic looking men in costumes resembling those of the Rogues. Their leader introduces himself as Commander Cold, and proclaims that they’ve come from the 25th century to arrest the Flash for the murder of Mirror Monarch. Awesome. Future Rogues. This has me so pumped for the next issue.

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