Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 1
Brian Buccellato, Patrick Zircher, Scott Hepburn
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
The day has finally arrived. I will officially eat my own words. I have been fairly critical of writer Brian Buccellato’s work on The Flash (since the beginning of the New 52, to be quite honest) in the past. At first, I attributed it to not being on the right book. After all, I had nothing to compare his writing with, not having read anything else by him in the past before his arrival at DC Comics. But I’ve figured it out. The main reason I wasn’t into the adventures of Barry Allen had nothing to do with the artwork (almost always consistently good), nor was it the action (almost always consistently present). No. The fact of the matter is quite simple, I’m just sad that I didn’t realize it until reading this book. I don’t like Barry Allen. At all. In fact, I hate him. He’s boring. And the only interesting thing he’s ever done was cause Flashpoint, which broke (literally) everything I ever loved and cared about in the DC Universe. Which, in turn, made me hate him even more. So Buccellato and company had the odds against them from day one. I can admit that. And now that the Flash himself is missing (and presumed dead), he and artists Patrick Zircher and Scott Hepburn can truly shine at doing what they do best: Spotlighting just how much the world of the Flash doesn’t have to suck.
Which they accomplish almost flawlessly in this premiere issue. The Rogues have basically said “go screw yourselves” to both the Secret Society and their leaders, the Crime Syndicate. They have no interest in being heroes, no, but they are certainly not going to identify themselves as villains. That’s what makes them so damn interesting. They’re like, dare I say it, real people. They care about their own. They protect their own. And when they return to Central City, only to find it destroyed, they actually do something that just about everyone would do if they were in their situation: They free the cops and start on their path to restore order.
Perhaps the biggest strength of this issue is the pacing. It never once feels rushed or pieced together. And even though the artist change occurs at a crucial and arguably distracting point in the story, both artists are masters of their craft and work very well alongside Buccellato as a creative team. Captain Cold’s dialogue (among the rest of the teammates’, for that matter) never once feels forced or unrealistic. People actually talk like that. I love reading comics that feel like they could actually happen in my world. The real world. Needless to say, I cannot recommend this book high enough. Especially if you haven’t been a fan of the recent run on the Flash. There’s no more Barry (for now), so the Rogues have come out to play and have officially taken center stage. Right where they belong. I can’t wait to see the return of Gorilla Grodd, perhaps even the Reverse-Flash, and dare I say it, the impeding Rogue War when the team heads to Gotham City. This is definitely one of the books to watch right now. DC is living up to the title blockbuster with this event for sure. And I, for one, am glad to see that the charge is being led by a book that I had very little faith in liking and ended up loving.
My Rating: 4.5/5
