After last month's stand alone issue, we have the beginning of a new mystery with a close connection for Barry.

Spoilers Ahead....

















































































Originally, issue #25 was going to be the final issue of the writer/artist combo of Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul. There has been a lot changes in writing and artist teams lately and this change was one I was really let down on. From their first issue together, I was a giant fan of their work. I had read very little of the Flash prior to the new 52, with Blackest Night and Flashpoint being the story lines that I got the most Flash exposure from. So for me, the two of them really introduced me to the character and really made me love the comic. But, the good news is Brian Buccellato is staying around for till issue #29 to do one last story before the two of them move on to Detective Comics.

The Flash now has new artists going forward, and soon a new writer. Unfortunately this newest issue feels like a mixed bag. The start of this new story involves Barry uncovering some old skeletons in a grave that may have a connection to the death of Barry's mother. Since issue #0 we've known that the defining motivating factor behind Barry becoming a superhero had changed. Now, Barry's father may or may not have been the one to commit the murder. In the old continuity, The Reverse Flash had come back from the future t

o kill Barry's mother, thus creating the Flash and then allowing himself to one day become the Reverse Flash, essentially, he had created his own origin story. But with the Reverse Flash being a whole new character in in The New 52… they have a lot of room on where to go on with this story which can always be good.





Now comes the other part of that mixed bag, the first issue I have is with the art. It's not so much that the art is bad, for the most part it's actually pretty good. The art style with Manapul and Bucellato was just a treat to look at before. Unfortunately in their absence, each page doesn't have the same uniqueness that they brought to it. What really bugged me most was was that there is a few pages where Barry's face just looked really weird, the final page in particular. On top of that problem, the final page also shows Barry getting attacked by what looks like a ghost. I have no problem with ghost type villains in the "dark" comics in DC. But for Flash, I am really not feeling it right now.





All complaints aside, this story does have the potential to be very interesting.