Review: The Flash Vol. 2- Rogues Revolution

July 15, 2019 ComicBookWire

Quick Summary

Pros: Most of the stories told here are exciting and fun. The comic’s main battle is entertaining and continues to develop the larger narrative surrounding the Rogues. Flash’s new origin is captivating and includes a lot of character development for the main cast. The artwork is mostly positive and is downright beautiful in a few places.

Cons: The opening chapter concludes far too suddenly. Some other chapters are paced rather quickly. Shifting art styles make the reading experience slightly less pleasant.

Overall: This collection continues the successful storytelling started by its predecessor while also building on the overall narrative of this series. The stories collected here are exciting, detail entertaining battles, and are generally successful in making the characters even better. There are a few problems along the way but nothing is so serious that it significantly takes away from the book’s appeal. Anyone who enjoyed the first Flash volume should continue reading with this one.

Story

The Flash Vol. 2: Rogues Revolution, by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, is an entertaining collection of stories that continue to build on the success of this series. Many of the stories here are very exciting and the main confrontation ends up being a real treat. This volume also further develops the narrative surrounding the Rogues and gives some character development to the main characters in this series. The only problem is that there are one or two chapters that feel rushed or have a conclusion that feels too sudden. Overall though, this is another solid installment in this series.

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Rogues Revolution starts out with a bit of disappointment. It picks up with the Gorilla Grodd storyline that was teased at the conclusion of the previous collection. This leads to Barry Allen learning a little bit more about the history of the Speed Force and its dramatic impact on various events throughout history. However, it also leads to a lackluster fight between Flash and Grodd that ends with Grodd simply running into a pole and knocking himself unconscious. It is a sudden end to what was set up to be a more significant encounter.

From here, the narrative switches and has Flash take down two separate members of the Rogues. These encounters are exciting and have some everyone involved using their powers in fun ways. They are paced a bit rapidly but this can be forgiven as these chapters are mostly introductions to a larger story arc centered around every member of the Rogues.

It is this larger, Rogue-centric story arc that ends up being the most compelling element of this collection. Once the Rogues have all come together, they give the Flash a serious run for his money. Their increased power levels make them formidable threats and the turning tides of public opinion make the Flash’s situation even harder to manage. Plus, Captain Cold’s shifting loyalties keep everyone on their toes. The entire situation is entertaining and feels even more significant considering the plot threads from the previous volume.

Then, Rogues Revolution closes with Barry Allen’s revamped origin story. I, personally, really don’t care for the fact that his character is now motivated by tragedy (a change made back in The Flash: Rebirth), as it makes him feel more generic and fails to let him stand out from the rest of his Justice League compatriots. However, even I cannot deny that this is a compelling retelling of his new origin. Manapul and Buccellato are able to properly capture the motivations at play here and, in a single chapter, are able to accomplish a lot of character development for multiple members of this comic’s main cast.

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Art

The majority of the artwork in Rogues Revolution continues to be positive. Francis Manapul puts out some high quality work in every chapter he has an impact on. His structures in some of the more action-focused chapters keep things interesting and his character work in some of the more emotion-focused chapters keep things meaningful. Those who enjoyed Manapul’s work in the first volume will continue to enjoy it here.

However, Rogues Revolution also features artwork from other artists as well. On an individual basis, each of these artists is able to provide some good looking work. Marcus To’s visuals are the most abundant and are generally pleasing whenever they show up. However, the shift in visual styles when going from Francis Manapul’s chapters to Marcus To’s, and then back again is unpleasant. This is even more significant in the collection’s Annual issue, which has work from a number of different artists compiled in a way that feels choppy. None of the artwork here ends up looking bad but the constant shifting does end up damaging the reading experience.