No longer being able to buy any comics (save Walking Dead) I  have been finding new, interesting, and free alternatives in the indie comic sphere of things (see High Moon)which,  are slowly satistating my reading hunger

Recently while reading a friends’ comic blog I came across an entry about a series being done called Underground.

Underground is a story based in Marion, KY wherein natural caves are being endangered by a local citzen wanting to open up them up to the public, creating an “attraction park” of sorts to bring income into the financially strapped town. Your basic “evil developer looking to make a buck” story.

The 1st issue is already up & free online an honestly there is a lot more to it then you’d think at first glance.  In 23 pages you get a sense of every character involved and even partially feel for the two rangers in the midst of a relationship ,caught in the middle of the chaos, as it were within Marion, over monetizing the cave. The story doesn’t focus ENTIRELY on the relationship dynamic, there are points of action sprinkled throughout, which keep the story from getting stale so no worries. The story has  a slow build feeling to it though, so be forewarned if that ain’t your bag

Jeff Parker (Agents of Atlas) writes this tale and once again proves that original & compelling storytelling can come from the most unexpected of settings. I’ll admit when it comes to Parker I am a bit bias but the guy can spin a good yarn.  Underground is a departure from his more popular ‘Agents’ style of writing in that it is based more in reality. Gone are the capes and talking bad-ass gorillas, and in it’s place, the stark realism of a town in the US like most economically hurt towns.  The realism and Parker’s way of writing within Underground,  bring to mind Greg Rucka’s overall writing style, in that like Rucka,  Parker wants to convey the somewhat troubled atmosphere within the town and how it influences the characters living there. Steve Lieber who is likely best known for his artwork on Whiteout adds some compelling visuals to this first issue. There are colored versions of Underground but, personally I say read the black and white version,  I get a lot more from his b/w style then the colored panels they have posted of the comic.

Bottom line, it’s an intereting story thus far and though I have pretty much sworn off most comics I will definitely buy this when it comes out in trade.

If you liked Parker or Lieber’s previous stuff I say take a shot at this when it comes out in the next month or so, at the very least check out the PDF of the first issue linked below.

For the comics’ development blog/site click here

For the first issue click here.(It’s a pdf so you’ve been warned)

Ok back I go into my migraine induced haze.

Till I find more interesting indie stuff out there.

Hurdy Gur

….ok so I’ve read it now.

My first impression was best summed up is : Ehhh maybe.

The general start of the story is a man narrating as he walks into a crime lab, where some lab techs argue. The narrator talks about right and wrong, and the general tone of the character indicates it’s probably Barry….until the narrator proceeds to slice up the two aforementioned lab techs with a lightening bolt staff….and thus the probable villain is revealed:

Cut to the next day,  celebrations across the nation and even world are going on over the re-appearance of the most famous of scarlet speedsters.  Barry, his identity still held secret from the world, tours the Flash Museum for awhile, catching up on everything he’s missed, narration of Barry goes into how the world is so different but in a way has finally caught up to him.  Hal eventually drops by to talk with Barry telling him to take it easy. During the whole back and forth between the two we are given a view into how Bart and Wally are both taking Barry’s ressurection of sorts.

Wally more or less is happy though a tinge of caution is sensed in the writing.  Given the last time Barry “supposedly” came back from the dead, you can’t really blame Wally for this cautiousness, and I like that Johns tried to heighten that feeling. Heck I keep waiting for Barry to turn into Prof. Zoom again.

Bart’s feelings on Barry coming back are best summed up as   “screw this”.   Which if you know the back history you can kinda understand why Bart’s pissed.  Bart’s whole life has been pretty troubled what with people shooting him in the leg,  rogues beating him to death, and basically handling psychos all the time, the kid has almost had no time for a normal life. The closest thing Bart DID have to normalcy was when Max Mercury took care of him. Max was a grandfather figure to Bart, someone who had his back and was there for him, at least for a time. Barry was always absent from Bart’s life, and whereas before Bart reconciled his resentment towards his absentee grandfather with the notion that least Barry died for a reason, with Barry coming back, that sacrifice is kinda moot now. What’s more the one who pretty much raised him, Max Mercury, was not brought back instead of Barry. So yeah, you got resentment towards his biological grandfather and people deifying Barry but, when you come right down to it…Barry is kinda a dick…considering he could have come back from the Speed Force at any time, and only chose now. Bart’s probably thinking, what the hell, jerk abandoned me and comes back to life, but the one guy who was there for me, is still stuck in that place. Screw THIS.

What’s more I think Bart’s overall dialogue in the following speaks to a lot of fans right now

“He’s back so what did he sacrifice exactly. Look this just.. it feels wrong. It’s not fair.”

That’s generally how a lot of hardcore Barry Allen fans feel with this series. I don’t think Johns’ is oblivious to this feelin from certain people and I am glad for that, and whereas some may just see this dialogue to be a coincidence on Johns’ part I don’t think this is the case, in truth I think Geoff Johns even feels to a certain extent uncomfortable with bringing Barry back and essentially… making a poignant sacrifice in Crisis On Infinite Earths pointless. I am not gonna go into my personal feelings about them bringing Barry back, I think my viewpoint on it is fairly well established now but, Johns recognition that some fans are not gonna like Barry being brought back, it sure as heck encourages me to keep reading this sucker.

Ok, ok…onto the rest of the story. After focusing on Bart/Barry/Wally ,the title’s story briefly centers around two boys in a field finding a scorched skeleton with the Flash emblem on it. Cut to Barry racing across the streets and running into Savitar as he just escapes the Speed Force. As Barry touches Savitar to push him back into Speed Force “prison” something bad happens instantaneously to all those connected to the Speed Force…and bam…first issue is over.

Now out of this a couple questions arise.

1- Who is our villain?

Based on the pictures of our villain in this issue, it sort of looks like Vandal Savage from Final Crisis: Revelations….but I am assuming that is just coincidence as it just seems totally random. SOOO….who are the possible suspects left. Off the top of my head I can think of THREE.

-Professor Zoom – The original…I am talking Edward Thawne

-The Top – Obvious reasons

-Weather Wizard – Again see The Top. Also the lightening bolt staff.

and finally my wildcard……Johnny Quick.

Out of the guesses there, I see Johnny Quick being the more likely and interesting of the villains. I say this because with Zoom, Top, and Weather Wizard you pretty much know why they’d be the villain for this series…with Johnny Quick there is a bit of a unknown factor in there that could really work on a lot of levels for this story, PLUS…Johnny Quick has never been exactly a huge important character in Flash-lore and it’d be just like Johns’ to take a minor character nobody has written jack about ‘cept in passing, and turn him into this all important central character developing Johnny Quick into a fully fleshed person with foibles and flaws (see: Captain Cold from Johns’ run)

2 – Who is the scorched skeleton garbed in Flash gear?

Two possible thoughts on this

-Does anybody remember the Flash of DEATH, mentioned throughout Flash-lore, and more recently at the end of Bart’s run as the Flash. The Flash, every Flash… sees before they die. Just saying….with the grim reaper of the Flashes having somehow been killed…it’d go a long way towards explaining why all these people from the dead/Speed Force are returning. What’s more it’d add to the story. Who killed the grim reaper for the Flashes, was it the villain introduced in the beginning of this first issue…or somebody else, what’s more…why did the grim reaper Flash get killed off…was it just so a character could come back from the Speed Force. This is obviously a very very bizarre guess and I don’t think they’d do it…but stranger stuff has happened in the DCU…least lately.

-Barry Allen is the skeleton. What I mean when I say this is, Barry Allen, though appearing to be resurrected now, WILL, in the future have to sacrifice himself once again, and thru some weird time travel thing, his corpse, his skeleton, gets sent back in time. You can also replace Barry with Wally in this scenario…and it’d work out just as well, maybe even better as Wally has kids now and though that’d be depressing as all get out, it’d be a good story.

Ok I have rambled enough. I’ll wrap this up now. The overall first issue oF Flash Rebirth…was alright to me. The overall story I am not hating yet but Johns best have it go in an interesting place. Van Sciver’s art work is amazingly NOT amazing like it usually is, I don’t know if they got an inker with him that just isn’t bringing it or what, but Sciver’s work is very spotty in this first issue, like half the pages, it feels like almost a different artist.

In closing, I’ll say this, if you can suspend your skepticism a little, try reading this and see what you think of it, heck let me know what you think of it.