Flashpoint: Beyond
A spoiler-free review of Flashpoint: Beyond with some references to its 2011 predecessor, Flashpoint
2011’s Flashpoint by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert is a modern classic. It was monumental–even at the time–and in my research since seems to be an old enough touchstone and a recent enough addition, that newcomers to comics oftentimes quickly add it to their budding collections and make their way through it. It changed the entire DC Comics line-up setting-up their entire rebranding and relaunch dubbed The NEW 52. The DC peel was back, 52 issues were released every month with little to no failure (at least for a couple of years), and DC was once more nipping at Marvel’s heels in terms of total comic book sales.
As I was getting back into comic book reviews and in the preliminary planning stages of this SubStack, I noticed that Johns had penned a sequel to Flashpoint titled, Flashpoint: Beyond. This piqued my interest. Numerous immediate questions sprang to mind: Will it be as high-quality as the original? How (if at all) will this affect DC as a publisher? Continuity-wise does this have an in-universe explanation that I missed in my absence? Luckily, all of these questions (and then some) were answered within Flashpoint: Beyond’s glossy pages.
Flashpoint was a natural culmination of Geoff Johns’ work in the aughts. After his stellar Green Lantern run–which is still one of my all-time favorites–he was tapped to construct an event book for DC. People nowadays have varying opinions of Geoff Johns, which is to be expected. DC Comics has changed considerably and as they say, “Time Marches On.” A legacy can be solidified or tarnished depending on the work and individual. For the sake of this review, I will be putting a pin in the ‘What is a creator's legacy?’ discussion (maybe we can chat about that more in length via SubStack Chat) and focus on the Flashpoint: Beyond review with references to the original as well as some of its pertinent tie-ins.
Flashpoint: Beyond begins with Thomas Wayne (Flashpoint’s Batman) awakening suddenly. It seems trivial, but he recalls that his timeline has been wiped from existence. His version of Earth no longer exists, so awakening alive and relatively well deeply bothers Thomas and sets him upon his path of trying to discover the answer to the question: Why? At first, he thinks that Barry Allen, The Flash, is responsible for this jarring return due to the events of 2011’s Flashpoint. He sets out to find him or any other Speedsters, time travelers, or those aware enough to notice the schism in time in order to help him understand why the Flashpoint timeline exists once more and how to properly end it.
In Flashpoint and Flashpoint: Beyond, Thomas Wayne is governed and driven by a singular purpose: End his reality, his and Martha’s lives, so that his son, Bruce may live.
While the original Flashpoint set out to create a distinct timeline and universe with a defined goal and payoff all framed by a tie-ins (to flesh out the new world) and a touching story between mother and son, Flashpoint: Beyond is smaller in scope and tells a more intimate story focusing in on Thomas, Martha, and Bruce Wayne. To be fair, Flashpoint did inevitably tell a touching tale dealing with Barry and Nora Allen, but for the most part those sequences serve as a framing device and the real ‘meat’ of the story is centered upon the differences between timelines and Batman, The Flash, and the reader trying to find out who the real villain is–it is a ‘whodunit’ in disguise. The whole world is the victim and the murderer has shattered a timeline.
Flashpoint: Beyond follows a similar structure in which the heart of the story is framed by sequences on Earth-Prime with our version of Batman, Bruce Wayne. The centerpiece is Thomas Wayne being able to cope with his own world and the loss of his family. He comes across as nihilistic in quite a few panels and throughout most of the arc, similar to his portrayal in Flashpoint. However, he is driven with a singular focus and for most of the story he believes that his timeline should not exist therefore if he follows through then nothing will truly matter, so everything in his world is background noise and easy to dismiss providing him with the cowl of nihilism and masking Thomas Wayne’s true character.
The story is touching, though. It is one of hope in a bleak world and at its core one of a father and a son. Some of the themes from the first carry on into the sequel and the framing technique is similar, however, Flashpoint: Beyond remains a smaller, more personal showcase of this world. While the payoff in Flashpoint was finding-out who the villain was and righting past wrongs on a global scale, Flashpoint: Beyond is about finding-out who Thomas Wayne is as a person and as Batman. Everything for the most part has been zeroed in on him resulting in a compelling, character driven story.
Andy Kubert’s artwork in the original Flashpoint is phenomenal. That being said, I feel like Kubert’s work lent itself more to The Flash and the event book itself , rather than Flashpoint as a fully realized world. Flashpoint: Beyond #0, the prelude is drawn by Eduardo Risso and unfortunately falls flat in some places. There are some great panels that take on a more absurdist, pop art vibe when depicting the world of Flashpoint. Those pieces pop and stand-out, but are quickly followed by filler and seem to just serve to get to the next stand-out piece, rather than using those transitional panels as a way to extract more.
Credit: DC Comics / Alex Sinclair, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, Nathan Eyring, Aspen MLT Inc.
Now when we get into Flashpoint: Beyond proper, Mikel Janin and Xermanico take on artistic duties and the arc really starts to sing. They seem to have found that sweet spot between iconic, which Eduardo Risso was occasionally striking and the major aesthetic beats that Andy Kubert created for the original. They round-out an already interesting world with their artwork, taking their own spin on old and new characters, and the colorizations of the artwork complement the bleak world with splashes of color and flair, which showcase the few remnants of hope still left within the world. When kicking over to Bruce Wayne on Earth-Prime, you can see in the suit design and colorings that it is a much different place with a different history. It is subtle, but still noticeable. There is nuance to the transitions, which I appreciated.
Credit: DC Comics / Mitch Gerads
At the end of my read, I greatly enjoyed Flashpoint: Beyond, so much so that I went back this past week and re-read Flashpoint, a couple of its tie-ins, and watched the DC Animated film, Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox. All of my aforementioned questions were also answered by the end of the series: Flashpoint: Beyond may only nip at the heels of Flashpoint, but is a worthy successor; it seems to be one of the more high-quality and best-selling books for DC in 2022, but doesn’t serve as a complete rebranding; and, the continuity bit is neatly (albeit very comic book-y) explained in the last issue of the series.
If you are a fan of Flashpoint and/or Batman I would highly recommend checking this one out. It may not be as bombastic and timeline-shattering as the original, but it packs its own punch with a more-fully realized world because of Mikel Janin and Xermanico’s artwork and a tightly written and personal journey for Thomas Wayne created by Geoff Johns, Tim Sheridan, and Jeremy Adams.
I’ll be back for Monday’s editorial where I am thinking about kicking off a discussion about the ‘Pros and Cons’ of comic book sequels and long running comic book runs. I will definitely have more to say about Flashpoint and Flashpoint: Beyond in that particular piece.
I want to take a moment to thank all of the new subscribers who have joined recently. I greatly appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy the content! All posts are free till they get vaulted after one-month, paid subscriptions are welcome but not necessary, and most of all–
Let’s have fun and talk about some comics.
Cheers,
Anthony R. Schultz