After writing just a few issues of The Flash (vol 2), Grant Morrison had already left his impression on the history of the title. His writing combined the old – the science-fiction of Gardner Fox – with the new – the pacing and characterisation of a modern comic book. It was a love letter to the silver age of bright costumes and bizarre and complicated scientific explanations, but these themes were mixed in with personal drama, relationships, and hard-hitting dialogue. Surrealism was at home with realism – a very Grant Morrison marriage. However, this brief stint wasn’t solely his own. Few would have heard of Mark Millar at the start of the 1990s. By the end of the decade, he was regarded as a protégé of Morrison, but by the end of the following decade, Millar was his own man – and a rich one. His own imprint, Millarworld – with Kick-Ass enjoying a reputation as one of Millar’s most successful works – made him a star in comic book fandom. Before fame was found and money materialised, Millar followed Morrison loyally. They collaborated on Aztek: The Ultimate Man (a JLA spin-off featuring new godly hero Aztek), and on a Swamp Thing run (whereby Morrison lets Millar off the leash, and we are witness to one of the bloodiest and deeply depressing runs in comic book history). However, Millar’s writing wasn’t all dark – his work on the animated Superman Adventures remains loved to this day. Morrison and Millar work together once more for these issues of The Flash (vol 2), but for the final three issues, Millar is given sole control once again…
The Flash (vol 2) 136-141 was published from April to September 1998. Written by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, with art by Paul Ryan, John Nyberg, Ron Wagner, Pop Mhan, Chris Ivy, and Josh Hood, these issues make up the remainder of the collected edition. There is also a brief story from The Flash 80-Page Giant 1, a Millar tale aided by artist Ariel Olivetti.
The Human Race --- Written by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar with art by Paul Ryan, John Nyberg, and Ron Wagner
Grant Morrison is one of comparatively few writers who can pen a classic groundbreaking story, only for the following tale to knock it out of the park. Emergency Stop placed the Flash in uncharted waters as he struggled to come to terms with his disability. Only a few issues later, we get The Human Race, a three-parter of such emotional schizophrenia that – at times – it feels as if we are the ones doing the running instead of the Flash.
The Flash (vol 2) 136 launches a story with the highest possible stakes. It all begins with a little-known intergalactic hero named G-Force finding Earth as his grave after some kind of titanic battle which cost his life and his home world. Within seconds, we are introduced to the foes of the tale – the Cosmic Gamblers. These appear like godly titans, but their name is extremely apt. They are gamblers. Placing Earth under their microscope simply for the fun of a bet, the Cosmic Gamblers demand that the fastest man on Earth competes in a never-ending race to ensure the survival of his home planet. It’s with this demand that finally readers can put to bed that yawn-some debate about who is faster – Superman or the Flash. Wally West puts himself forward; he is the ‘fastest man alive’ after all. The question, of course, is who will Wally be racing? Morrison and Millar could have plucked a relatively minor character out of history or created a new speedster with a unique story. However, the duo gives us something most unique. Nearly every child had an imaginary friend of a kind. Wally West was no different; he imagined he could hear a voice trapped in the wireless waves of his small radio. But what if that imaginary friend was actually real? A bizarre organism of electromagnetic waves, Krakkl is innocent and by no means malicious. However, the fact that Wally must race against a best friend from those formative and naturally innocent years is painful in a creatively satisfying way. To rescue their worlds – Krakkl is from a world of radio waves where millions are like him – the heroes must race, at the demands of the most stoic and enigmatic of villains.
Such a story throwing Wally West and Krakkl into black holes and testing the duo to their very limits could have been handled so sloppily. A duff writer could have laced each paragraph with ponderous pseudo-science and tiresome technobabble. That wouldn’t make The Flash (vol 2) 137 the emotional masterpiece that it is. Morrison and Millar give Wally a microphone in order to communicate with the outside world, or more specifically, to Linda. The Gamblers make Wally and Krakkl race against one another until basically one of them dies or gives up. Throughout, Linda is there as the voice of encouragement, as are other members of the Flash family. It is the fact that Wally could fail at any moment, or that the constant urge to give in becomes harder to resist, that makes much of the drama of the story. The Human Race’s middle is the story of two colossal dramas – a worldwide one, whereby the Earth’s destruction could occur imminently – and a personal one, where Linda discovers that no matter what words of encouragement she gives, Wally’s power is draining. It is a never-ending struggle, and Morrison and Millar capture elements of that hopelessness incredibly powerfully.
But of course, there is a solution. It becomes clear that Krakkl will win this race; Wally cannot continue for much longer. However, Krakkl is revealed to be a cheat! He has discovered that through harnessing the kinetic energy of the people of his own home world, he can run that bit faster. How is this kinetic energy collected? Everyone on his planet must run at once. As ever, Morrison and Millar take an absurd idea but run with it in such an effective way that it becomes not just believable, but brilliant. I wish Morrison and Millar gave us more about Krakkl, his backstory, and his home planet. Although the personal connection between Wally and Krakkl is maintained, there is little about Krakkl’s world and what it looks like, neither is there a convincing reason why he reveals to Wally the secret of his success. Either way, the real solution appears when we return to the Gamblers. These big guys listen to nothing and no one, unless – of course – they are proposed with a bet. Wally West beats them at their own game – he bets both Earth and Krakkl’s planet that he can travel back to Earth faster than the Gamblers can, and they can teleport. They can’t resist it. With the help of Superman, the rest of the Flash family, every human on Earth (although I’m not sure how the collective sprinting doesn’t seem to harm anyone or cause riots), and most meaningful of all, Krakkl’s sacrifice, Wally reaches the Earth before the Gamblers. It is a very clever Morrisonian method of victory, but with such emotional weight and cleverness that never becomes irksome, it is a fantastic way to finish off the story. Plus, it all comes full circle as Krakkl’s sacrifice into the Speed Force salvages (it is never explained how) his people from their fate; he and his people continue their life in the radio waves throughout all of time, creating Wally’s imaginary friend. In a story that could have easily drowned in its own intricacies and plotting, Morrison and Millar pen a greatly emotional and powerful story that, despite a few plot holes, stands to me as one of the most creative of Flash stories. Morrison must have liked this one too, especially because the idea of collective super-heroism is used once again in the conclusion to his JLA run.
The Black Flash --- Written by Mark Millar, with art by Pop Mhan, Chris Ivy, and Josh Hood
With The Flash (vol 2) 139, Mark Millar is left to his own devices for a tale which, at the start at least, made me feel slightly anxious. Naturally, every writer has their own distinct styles. Mark Millar’s style happens to be one I tend to enjoy – his Superman: Red Son must stand as the greatest of all Elseworld tales in my opinion. But with The Black Flash, we are introduced to a writing style much heavier on dialogue. That is by no means bad, but the trouble is that the verbosity can occasionally become grating or drily overbearing. But strangely, that approach actually works in this story’s favour, at least during the first part. The Black Flash begins as a story of warmth and family, with Wally West and the Flash Family catching up. The sounds of wedding bells are expected by all – it is time for Wally West and Linda Park to tie the knot.
This happy prospect isn’t enough to settle the uneasiness of the tale, especially as there is a countdown until the death of the Flash. Max Mercury begins to notice photographs of Wally containing a darkened shadow behind him – the Black Flash! This entity chases all constructed of the Speed Force and appears when that person is nearing their end. It is on the hunt for Wally West, who is fighting the Weather Wizard – in another of his crazed schemes which could have (and actually should have, given how interesting it is) starred in an issue of its own – when death strikes. However, death comes not to Wally West, but to the Flash…
The future Millar paints out at the start of The Flash (vol 2) 140 is an idealist world. Wally and Linda marry, they have children, and those children becomes superheroes themselves. However, Millar’s painting of a stereotypical world sadly crashes down when Wally West is one of the pallbearers at a funeral. Death came not to Wally West, but to Linda Park, his constant source of encouragement and love. The way Millar rips that alternative reality from us is gut-wrenching, especially because we go directly from idealism to rainy graveyard depression. Any ounce of hope within Wally is gone – he sees little purpose in life any longer. Millar paints a picture all-too realistic and saddening, from awkward words of commiseration to the hard-hitting effect of a slap in Wally’s face from Linda’s grief-stricken parents. It is written almost like a nightmare. Even Wally’s closest friends cannot help him change his mind – he wants to end life as the Flash. He hates it so much he attempts to move to Scotland! But that is when the Black Flash returns…
Jay Garrick, Impulse, Max Mercury, and Jesse Quick make up much of the Flash family during the 1990s. Writers like Waid, Morrison, and Millar, have made something out of that bond and how their emotional connection links them all together – as well as their abilities obviously. Although I’ve never cared too much for these characters – aside from Jay Garrick (the others are too uninteresting frankly) – Millar reminds us throughout of how closely-knit these characters are. It is that bond which returns Wally to the mantle of the Flash in a final battle against death. The final confrontation between Wally and death in The Flash (vol 2) 141 is a mixture of emotion and bearable pseudo-science. Wally uses the Speed Force to race forwards in time, long past the destruction of Earth and all the way to the death of the universe. Nothing can exist there, not even death. It is in that environment where the Black Flash himself dies a death, simply because such a concept no longer exists. While I’m not too convinced by this idea, especially because the Flash somehow surprises such an environment, and Millar does appear to flood the dialogue with his knowledge of science, it is a poetic and dramatic conclusion. What’s more, Wally returns to the present with Linda! He just grabbed her out of the Speed Force! While this is very fluffy and readers can finally see the proposal between two loved characters (and the wedding tale, written later by Mark Waid), it is an ending which heavily blunts the impact and drama of this three-parter. The Black Flash argued – rightly – that it isn’t the powers that make the Flash, it is the person. It is Wally’s love for Linda that gives him the encouragement to wake up every day as a hero. Wally rediscovered that emotion when he re-bonds with the Flash family. I feel as if the title could have gone in a far more interesting direction were Linda’s death made permanent – the ending here feels too fairytale, too clean. Nevertheless, even if Millar needed to watch his verbosity in those early days, The Black Flash is a strong ending to a run filled with more than mere technobabble; this is a run of high drama and creativity.
Your Life Is My Business --- Written by Mark Millar, with art by Ariel Olivetti
For a few DC titles in the 1990s, 80-Page-Giants made a comeback. These had once been compilations of stories thrown together back in the silver age – it’s not shocking to find the likes of Millar, Morrison, and Waid brought them back. Mark Millar writes a ten-page tale boasting that he can’t think of a good idea to write for a short story. It is literally Mark Millar sitting in a Scottish pub with writer’s block. However, the story becomes an entertaining debate with none other than the Flash himself.
Millar phones Wally West and within seconds he is present with him. Their conversation ranges from Wally reminiscing about recent fights with villains, to mentioning some bizarre scientific facts about the speedster. In the end, Millar can’t think of a story to pen, so he decides to just take their conversation and convert it into a ten-page short story. Obviously, such a charming idea like this one is reminiscent of Grant Morrison – this is alarmingly similar to the utterly mesmerising Animal Man (vol 1) 26. However much Millar may attempt to spin his way out of this similarity – in this case by claiming that this is an apt commentary for the challenges of writing a comic book – this is clearly a story inspired by his writing partner. That said, you can’t deny that it is good fun.
Previously, Paul Ryan’s smooth style, aided by the dynamic inks of John Nyberg, perfectly suited a fast-paced title like The Flash (vol 2). With The Flash (vol 2) 137, the world becomes sharper, if still attractive, thanks to Ron Wagner. However, any suitability crashes two issues later with Pop Mhan. His style is certainly dramatic, but it’s general ugliness and lack of clarity doesn’t suit the title. The inking ensures that the finished pages are at least presentable, but such an almost Vertigo-style of art just doesn’t work here. It’s a shame because Ryan and Nyberg greatly suited this style of storytelling.
VERDICT
Overall, these final issues of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar’s Flash run are both great fun and excellent drama. The Human Race is a drama on multiple levels and with all of its twists and turns, it makes for a fulsome three-parter. Dialogue may trouble The Black Flash, but its messaging and characters make it a good read. Mark Millar’s style is certainly different from Grant Morrison’s, and although it doesn’t take much to see the latter’s influence upon the former, the seeds of success for the younger writer may be visible here. Regardless of the feud that came to them both in the future, these were the happy days. They set out to write a classic comic book; they did just that. The science and fun of the silver age returned in full force, dulled only by the great dramas and dialogue of reality. The Morrison and Millar Flash run does not deserve to be lost in the vastitudes of Mark Waid’s saga…
Next Week: TBC
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