The Flash #29 (DC Comics)
Turning a negative into a positive…

It’s arguable that as a reader, we relate to powerful superheroes when they are at their most prone, when they show complete pain and suffering in their base humanity. Perhaps the only stark commonality we have with them is the ability to suffer greatly. The art by Pop Mhan and Chris Duce conveys this clearly. The first few pages and panels is what drove me to pick this issue up.

We constantly see our heroes beaten to a pulp and bloodily wrecked. We do see them in overt physical pain. But Barry’s submersion in a bathtub with a tattered Flash costume is something we hardly see. The remission to Level Zero of the pain threshold, the emptiness of defeat, the pain of being a human being with no support.
“I should call Batman and ask him what his secret is.”
Josh Williamson writes a humanizing script. We see that Barry has to deal with being infected by the Negative Speed Force, a very depowered, inversion form of his powers. Taking longer to heal, having to minimize his speed for mundane tasks — at risk of going berserk.

Intertwined with Flash dealing with his powers, a case of illegality within the CCPD is brewing where Barry has to go from CSI to sleuth to get to the bottom of mysterious missing records and harsh whispers.
Sharp tension between coworkers, personal regret, and statically powerless; I haven’t seen Flash this vulnerable in awhile. It’s what gripped me to the pages and glued me to the story. I love my heroes humanized to the point of relatability. Barry’s moral compass and physical levels take a huge hit this issue and the story reads better for it.

