Mini Comic Reviews: September, 2025

This month I'll be taking a look at the rebirth of Captain America, Phil Jimenez glorious reunion with Donna Troy, Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott's Black Magick, the unsettling goings on of Harrow County, the Avengers battle with Xenomorphs, and that time DC let Grant Morrison and Mark Miller write The Flash.

Mini Comic Reviews: March, 2025

This month I'll be taking a look at DC's most recent series of The Flash, Brubaker and Phillips' Fatale, Daredevil by Charles Soule, Aquaman: Andromeda, and Phoenix.

The Flash: Legacy

"I always wanted to be a hero... that's why I came here... I believed I could do the impossible, but I never imagined it would turn out like this."

We've reached the point of no return, and only Ralph has figured out that Team Flash can't stop Cicada II's murder spree without falling into Thawne's evil trap.

The Flash: The Girl with the Red Lightning

"Grace has everything she needs."

Cicada II's plan to kill every meta-human in the city is almost done. Unlike her father, Grace thinks big: she's gonna wipe 'em all out with the push of a button.

Meanwhile, Future Wells is ready to face his execution. A little too ready, if you ask me.

The Flash: Gone Rogue

"Why does a speedster need our help to pull of a smash and grab?"

Thanks to Thawne's negative speed force, Nora can go back to 2019 without Barry knowing a thing. But the negative speed force doesn't bring out the best in people.

The Flash: Snow Pack

"Your father is trapped inside an ice monster, Caitlin. What was I supposed to do? Split custody with him on the weekends?"

I've said it before: season five is the season of Caitlin. (And Frost.) Her story gets overshadowed by the bigger Arrowverse plot lines, but taken by itself it's a tragedy of a woman as lonely as she is brilliant.

The Flash: Godspeed

"How long have you suspected her?"
"Since I arrived."

A big secret is out of the bag, and we'll have to explore Nora's backstory (or is it a futurestory?) to get to the truth. Along the way, we'll meet a new recurring villain and enjoy the directorial debut of Danielle Panabaker, who's apparently just as talented on either side of the camera.

The Flash: Time Bomb

"Time travel sucks."

Grace is ten times as much of a problem as her father. She can destroy Team Flash, all of them at the same time, and shows no sign of being talked down, and we're about to find out just how much of a villain she's prepared to be.

The Flash: Failure Is an Orphan

"Something very big is coming. Or someone."

Instead of making us wait until the finale for something big, Team Flash is already making their stand against Cicada.

This is very satisfying as a viewer, since we all hate waiting, but throughout this episode you might get the feeling this is all to easy, that something is waiting around the corner.

And you'd be right.

The Flash: King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd

"Soon you will only know my will. THE WILL OF GRODD."

Every Grodd episode is a good episode. I always look forward to them. This one even lends itself to the main story as we get to see the meta-human cure in action for the first time.

The Flash: Cause and XS

"I trust you. You just gotta trust yourself."

While exploring his love life, Cisco finds time to complete the metahuman cure, but it's going to take 29 days to mature and be useful. Thankfully, Sherloque knows what to do: send it into the speed force. A plan so nutty it just might work, even though it means taking Barry out of the picture for a while.

Meanwhile, the Elongated Man has cracked open The Book of Ralph to help get Cisco back in the saddle. Hoo boy.

The Flash: Goldfaced

"There's always a Wells."

You've got to hand it to Thawne: he's bad to the bone. From a prison cell in 2049, he can reach back 20+ years and control history, even confidently screwing with the mind of Sherloque, a man he's never met.

And, at last, the meta-human cure is almost ready. It's the weapon that can stop Cicada, but it's not going to be easy.

The Flash: Memorabilia

"I want you to think about the biggest secret in your life...I want you to imagine what would happen if that secret got out. Remember when you asked me that?"

The opening flashback is epic, and not only because we finally know the proper spelling of schway. Nora's been lying to everyone, all of us, and the stress is about to rip her apart.

Meanwhile, Iris is starting down a path that feels too much like an inescapable destiny.

The Flash: The Flash & the Furious

"Part of being a hero is being able to see the good in people. So, yeah, maybe some day in the future, even Thawne could change. Besides, if we don't believe in people, who will?"

Do you believe Thawne can change? Could this villain's villain ever be more than a selfish force of evil? Nora is asking herself that very question, and the answer could destroy everything.

As if that's not enough, Cisco makes a discovery that could change the life of every metahuman.

The Flash: What's Past is Prologue

"Things just got a lot more complicated, didn't they?"

It's the one hundredth episode, and our heroes think they can stop Cicada day by running through the history of Team Flash's biggest victories and picking up a few artifacts along the way.

Also, are you ready for a big reveal? Because we've got a big reveal.

The Flash: O Come, All Ye Thankful

"You lost your father, right? And then you find him, only to discover that his body is being possessed by a icicle demon who's trying to kill all of Team Flash, yourself included. Not great, right?"

Cicada is the most human villain from the Arrowverse. TV writers love to make the bad guys have their own side of the story, usually with disappointing results, but Cicada is the first villain I can remember who seems like a real person you might meet on the street. And as someone who drove a clunker of a pickup for twenty years, I definitely felt kinship with Cicada when he opened the green door of his otherwise red pickup.

The Flash: Seeing Red

"She's back to her old self, and so are you."
"No, I'm not. I don't think I'll ever be the same."

Back to Cicada. After the fun of switching bodies with Oliver and running through time to relive our favorite victories, now we're back to the dark, simple man who's creating an unstoppable challenge for our heroes.

The Flash (2023 Movie)

“You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts.”

Bonkers, emotional and a little uneven in places, this is a massive superhero movie that pleases far more than it fails.

The Flash: The Icicle Cometh

"All this time, we've been trying to figure out how Killer Frost disappeared, but we've been looking at it all wrong."

It's time to unravel the mystery of Killer Frost, who might be the best part of The Flash. But given the lengths to which Caitlin's mother has gone to hide the facts, it's obvious that we're not in for a simple family reuinion. Buckle up, and zip up your parka while you're at it.

The Flash: All Doll'd Up

"Can you describe the man you saw?"
"You could barely call him a man."

This is the creepiest villain ever.

Meanwhile, Nora's still got a lot to learn. Remember, she hasn't been a speedster very long. (How did she learn how to travel back in time so precisely is an excellent question with an excellent answer.)

And Dr. Caitlin snow is ready to dive fully into the mystery of her father.