Friday, August 06, 2021
"I beat you with this!" (Accidentally points to head with brass knuckles, knocks himself unconscious.)
It may seem like I just buy whatever random modern Flash comics I find in the cheap bins, and I do; but I picked up this one specifically because I remembered how Impulse had handled him. From 2016, Flash #51, "Under the Gun" Written by Van Jensen, art by Gus Vazquez and Joe Eisma.
The Riddler thinks he's already won here: through a shell corporation, he had written most of the software for Central City's police drones, in order to take control of them. (This would be less a problem, if CC's drones weren't numerous and massively armed: you could argue that's what a city in the DCU would need, but it also looks like the cops want to have the option to murder tons of citizens on the table, as a little treat.) He also had the Rogues' Trickster, blackmailed with a bomb in his robot arm to betray the others; and the captured Heat Wave to use as a massive bomb if needed. If the Flash runs away, Riddler will have his drones start killing random citizens, so Flash has to take a bit of a brass knuckle-beating before getting saved by the Pied Piper.
While the remaining Rogues argue over the comatose Golden Glider (a victim of the Trickster) Flash is left with no choice but to surrender again to Riddler's ultimatum, unmasking himself as Barry Allen! To be continued...what? Man, Impulse was able to take care of the Riddler in one issue, Barry. Admittedly, that was a far more lighthearted book; and this is post-Year Zero super-serious-threat Riddler who's oh-so-smart. Still, the next issue was the last of the series, so maybe he did win...? Nah, had to be a relaunch coming.
Jesus Barry. This is even worse than losing the Turtle. I bet Batman never stopped giving him shit about it too.
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