Mob Rule has commandeered Barry Allen. The group is made up of the Manuel clones that want Allen to repair their shortened life spans. The original Manuel handles the fallout from the Flash’s adventures on Gem City Bridge. DC continues with their company-wide reboot. Issue four leaves a lot to be desired for those people picking up this book in hopes of getting some exciting Flash action. You see, the Flash doesn’t appear until the final panel of this book.

This comic serves as an excellent bridge to set up an even greater story for Flash fans. But this isn’t a great comic book story for everyone else. It’s boring. Nothing phenomenal happens, and there’s no cliffhanger that makes me look forward to the next book. The art is as great as you would expect from a DC book, so I can’t say much about it.

The Flash isn’t an easy comic to write. When a hero has one set power, that hero becomes a challenge to keep interesting. My advice to this creative team is to treat each issue as a stand-alone because there are some readers (like myself) jumping on board in these early issues. When you have a comic that the hero isn’t in until the last page, you are setting the book up for failure.

Score: 2/5

Writers: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato Art: Francis Manapul Publisher: DC Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 12/28/11