Comics Korner: The Flash Season Zero #5

With the final volume of Season Zero to be out within the month, you’d think that #5 would be setting up for it’s grand finale. But instead, it seems to be dragging it’s feet.

Season Zero of the Flash has had plenty of ups and downs. It hasn’t done the best job at capturing the charm and intrigue of the show that it connects to, but has still proved to be worth the price of admission for it’s supplementary commentary from Barry on his life and his powers. Luckily, the games seem to be ending as we learn little bit about the man behind the curtain, Mr. Bliss. But the information is just shoved at the reader in a massive glob. He reveals his background, passion, motivation, origins, hell he even talks about his childhood. He’s like a Bond villain’s chattier uncle. It’s a scene that instantly devalues any mystery around his character in a flash (ha!). He even brings up his childhood once again after the conversation shifted focus, which was just kind of awkward. His power is still pretty menacing (though the elephant in the room of the manifestations of these powers being so closely linked to the characters’ lives still goes hilariously unnoticed), and makes him a formidable and totally new kind of foe for the Flash to go against. Barry has some pretty cool moments that showcase his abilities, and his poking fun at the villain’s motivations was totally appropriate (Barry doesn’t want to listen the Mr. Bliss talk about his childhood either). These moments are too few to be of real value though, and any attempt at action is stamped out in a second.

It’s frustrating to watch these excellent scenes(made more excellent by Kelsey’s colors) involving Barry using his powers get stopped just before they get too close to becoming interesting. Any story that has to stop the fun to tell you the plot is dull. That’s a fact for any kind of book, game, movie, or TV show, and it’s especially bad for a comic book when watching the scene come alive is part of the fun. I guess I wanted to know about Mr. Bliss, but now he feels like that guy you never make time for, and then you finally do and he ends up being really annoying and now he won’t leave you alone and you don’t know how to get rid of him. I know more about Mr. Bliss than I ever wanted to and now I’m so over it. Honestly, I think the only satisfying ending I can think of for this series is Barry punches Mr Bliss, then everyone else in the circus, in the face and goes home to watch re-runs of Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Anything less will just make this whole endeavor seem like a waste of time.