The Flash: Season Zero - Volume 2 - Review

Volume 2 of The Flash Season Zero continues the Freak Show story-line that began in Volume 1. Volume 2 however included a milestone in that the TV show had begun to air by the time this was released, allowing for a greater comparison between the material and the TV show itself. Unfortunately, the issues from Volume 1 are still present and the artwork still proceeds to do this digital comic a great disservice.

While not outright bad, the artwork completely fails to capture the likeness of the actors and the real fun of the TV show. If this was a regular Flash comic then I wouldn't be bothered so much, but it becomes glaringly obvious when you have to second guess who each character may or may not be when based off a TV show.

Chapter 3 "A Goodnight Hiss" continues from last issues cliffhanger with the Snake Charmer winding her way towards the city. Along the way, many of the animals she has charmed are breaking off to attack people and create disturbances throughout the city. As Barry attempts to save the inhabitants of his city, the Snake Charmer proceeds to the local bank where she proceeds to murder the bank manager (with the help of some snakes) who recently foreclosed on many local businesses.

On one hand this type of story really plays to the comic mediums strengths which lets us see Barry in action while setting up a dark and twisted plot. But this only serves to really distance the story from the TV show. The Barry we see in the digital comic (along with all the other characters such as Eddie) are not the same as those we see in the TV show. The way they talk, the way they act and even the humor is entirely different.

Chapter 4 "Big Top Brawl" continues Barry's investigation on the murder of the bank manager which eventually leads our hero to the local circus. Upon running down a group of clowns and getting into a sword fight with a sword swallower Barry is eventually defeated by the circus performers and flung into space where he begins to ice over. Eventually leading to the circus capturing our hero after a speech from the illustrious Mr. Bliss.

This chapter...was weird. I liked seeing Barry go up against the circus performers but he gave us one lame joke after another which just seemed out of character and completely forced. I get that Barry is meant to be 'hip and alternative' but did we need the references to Etsy and pop culture movies? Many of the lines felt like they were ripped off from Spider-Man (who can actually pull off these kinds of jokes). Barry being flung into outer space to freeze just felt off too.

On the plus side we got a bit of an introduction to Mr. Bliss in this chapter. But while previous chapters played him up as cool yet mysterious, here he just seems like a villainous stereotype. He's evil and you know he's evil because he blows smoke in Barry's face. Fear him!

Overall Feelings:
Overall so far, The Flash Season Zero has been really sub par. Pre-release I was really excited for this series, but now I feel like I'm reading it more because it's The Flash rather then because I want to. In a TV series that has otherwise been amazing, this just feels really underwhelming. The artwork also continues to be a low point. They need to bring in the artist who does the episode preview comics to do this series, then at least we could have some amazing imagery to balance out the other issues.

So have you read Volume 2 of The Flash: Season Zero? What'd you think?

About the Author - Christopher DeBono

Australian Student. Addicted to TV, novels, comics and all things video games.

Watches everything on The CW and many Australian shows.

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