While I've never been a big Barry Allen fan, Francis Manapul's run on Flash has endeared me to the character; he'll never replace Wally West as "my" Flash, but the stories that he's put in are well thought-out and stay true to the essence of the character.

Especially since the New 52 has been put into place, there seems to be an almost Peter Parker-like quality to him. This stems from the amount of inner dialog we're given, which serves to both expand the character from the inside and save on him having to say his actions/feelings out loud.

However, I did have a bit of an issue with the amount of external dialog in this issue. Words come fast and furious, and there's more reading than I'm used to in some of DC's books; this isn't a problem, but it can be a bit shocking to opening a page and seeing most of its panel real estate taken up by text. I guess what I'm saying is be prepared.

This issue also marks the switchover from Francis Manapul's pencils to Marcus To, who'll be taking over the art duties on Flash for the next little while. The book has never lacked in artistic quality, and I can say for certain that they made the right choice in who to hand it off to. Marcus is an immense talent at DC, and is also working on the Batwing ongoing.

I don't really have many bad things to say about this issue: it's solid, tells the story well and has a great emotional hook with Flash debating revealing his identity. This last bit was a great bit of inner dialog, and To's art really made it shine.

The Flash #10
DC Comics
$2.99

The Verdict: Four lightining bolts out of five for an overall solid issue that keeps Flash running on the track of consistency month to month. This is standard capes storytelling at its best, and the emotional hook at the end might get to you.

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