The Flash #767 // Review
The Flash #767, written by Andy Lanning and Ron Marz, with art by Clayton Henry and Marco Santucci and colors by Marcelo Maiolo and Arif Prianto, takes the titular character straight into the Endless Winter crossover event. But what is this event, and why should anyone care? Previously...you know what, it doesn’t matter because it’s just a filler issue in a crossover event nobody wanted or asked for. Just enjoy Flash running through the snow, and hey, Black Adam’s here, too! He’s always fun...right?
This issue is written by a couple of legendary writers in the business, and nothing should be taken from their legacy due to anything negative stated in this article. They are simply doing the best they can, given one issue to tie the Flash into their story (the entirety of Endless Winter is written by the same team over 9 issues and 8 titles). No doubt, as a whole, this story makes sense and comes together nicely. Unfortunately, if you didn’t pick up Justice League: Endless Winter #1 before this, it could be hard to care about anything that is happening here. It’s not a complex concept to follow: an ancient being called the Frost King has awoken, and now the entire world is engulfed in a crippling winter storm. The heroes are all but helpless because they can’t even find the Frost King to stop him. This, however, doesn’t exactly make for an exciting issue of the Flash because all he does is run aimlessly through the storm, end up on the doorstep of Black Adam in Kahndaq, and have a brief conversation with him. Clearly, this chapter of the story is stretching and almost one hundred percent unnecessary, if not for the inclusion of Black Adam’s motivations for being involved.
On the positive side, the most interesting thing to happen in Flash #767 is a bit of mining of unknown DC history. It is shown that Black Adam was recruited into a roster of heroes unrecorded in the annals of superhero teams that fought the Frost King long ago. If this had been a one-shot storytelling of this team’s original confrontation with Endless Winter’s big bad, it could have been a spectacular issue. Instead, we got a Flash filler issue that only manages to move the event forward by a millimeter.
Santucci, who is involved as an artist in every issue of Endless Winter, alongside Prianto on colors, provides the most dynamic part of this chapter. Their take on the ancient heroes of DC in the flashback sequence draws you into that world immediately, but unfortunately, you only get a brief time with them. The main part of the story is in Henry and Maiolo’s hands, and they produce fine work, but it’s so starkly different from the introductory pages that the transition is jarring.
Overall, if you read and liked the first issue of Endless Winter, you might get something out of its second chapter. Otherwise, you’ll find little in this issue to draw your interest. The brief flashback might get you on the hook, but the story that follows is little more than the next baby step in this 9 issue story. Here’s hoping a regular writer with an inspired vision comes aboard The Flash soon because the last few months since Joshua Williamson left have been rough.
