The Flash
“The Secret of Barry Allen Part Two: Reformed”
Volume 2, Issue 215, December 2004
Released October 27, 2004
Cover Price: $2.25
Guide Price: $3.00 (as of 2011)
Estimated Issue Sales: 43,982
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Howard Porter
Inker: John Livesay
Colorist: James Sinclair
Letterer: Pat Brousseau
Assistant Editor: Michael Siglain
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Heroes: Blue Beetle II, Booster Gold, Firehawk I, Pied Piper
Villain: Heat Wave
Setting: Chicago, IL, USA, 21st-century
Cover Description: Green Lantern II holds back Flash II while Hawkman I holds back Green Arrow, preventing a fight between the two aboard the Justice League Satellite. Also present is the Atom II. (No Booster Gold.)
Brief Synopsis: Flash comes to terms with actions taken by his predecessor.
Booster Gold's role in this story:
Supporting (Booster Gold plays a lesser role)
Costume Worn: MARK XII armored power-suit
Issue Notes: Events in this story take place between issues 4 and 5 of the Identity Crisis mini-series. Page 14, panel 1 of this issue is essentially identical to Page 6, panel 3 of Identity Crisis #5, though Booster Gold does not appear in that issue.
Page 14, panel 2
In Chicago, IL, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle II watch as Firehawk interrogates Heat Wave, a former member of the Flash's Rogues' Gallery turned hero. Heat Wave is among the fire-themed suspects in the recent attack on Sue Dibny shown in Identity Crisis #1. Booster mentions that Heat Wave used to work at Cadmus Labs, a government sponsored genetic research facility that was responsible for the creation of Superboy III from Supeman's genetic material.
Page 14, panel 5
Besides large group shots, Beetle, Booster, and Firehawk appear on-panel together for the first time. Booster and Firehawk were briefly romantically linked in an "on-again, off-again" relationship the late 1990s, information only revealed through comments made by Blue Beetle, Booster's best friend and frequent business partner, in DCU Heroes Secret Files #1 while neither Booster nor Firehawk were present.
Page 15, panel 2
Beetle, Booster, and Firehawk succumb to the hypnotic power of the Pied Piper's flute, allowing both Pied Piper and Heat Wave to escape. Both Pied Piper and Heat Wave are former-villains-turned-heroes and ex-members of the Rogues, a loose association of enemies of the second and third Flash.
Boosterrific Review: Writer Geoff Johns spends this issue trying to bring the history of the Flash in line with the new DC Universe continuity retroactively modified by the Identity Crisis mini-series. Perhaps this is interesting to newcomers to the DCU, but it's like fingernails on a chalkboard for continuity fans (such as, say, the sort of person who would make a website dedicated to the continuity of a comic book character inhabiting the DCU). The story is probably as well told as possible given its nature, but craft only goes so far when the story requires so much shoehorning.
Boosterrific Rating: Gold Standard.
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