Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge #1 review

So here we are, with Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard and Heat Wave returning to Keystone City for the first time after killing the third Flash, Bart Allen they quickly move to reclaim their lair from a gang run by the new Trickster. After a brief tussle, the Rogue's declare their intentions to retire. After that, an interlude with the Pied Piper invading a police station to acquire files on the Rogues which also includes a hidden file on the whereabouts of their family and friends. Interlude two takes uss briefly to Iris Allen reminiscing about Barry Allen. We jump over to Libra, who's preaching when he receives a message from the Rogues announcing their intentions to not join up with his Secret Society. His killing of the Martian Manhunter means he's gonna be in for a world of trouble which they want no part of. Then it's over to the Flash Museum, where we see Inertia, still in suspended animation, being taken into custody by the police. A bolt of lightning reanimates him where he proceeds to basically murder the shit out of the cops. When news of this breaks out, the Rogues opt for one last mission. REVENGE! In the final pages, we see Inertia again planning on killing the Flash and his family when Professor Zoom comes out of nowhere, puts him to the ground so he can tell him he's going to be the new Kid Flash.

This was an okay issue, it's all set up but I am intrigued to see where things go over the next two issues. We know that Mirror Master is working with Doctor Light and Libra, but Captain Cold is adamantly opposed to joining the Secret Society. How Libra plans on dealing with them while the Rogues go and plot revenge ought to be cool. The Pied Piper, who I'm glad to see again, had the only relatively consistent story throughout Countdown to Final Crisis. And then the whole thing with Inertia and Professor Zoom...interesting, interesting.

Not a lot actually happens this issue but it gives a really good feel for the intentions of the series. It seems that it's mostly going to be tying up the loose ends from the Bart Allen Flash series, putting a cap on the the Rogues (I imagine they'll mostly be dead at the end of the series) and setting up some new stuff for The Flash. Intertia as Kid Flash? Yeah, this'll go down well for Wally. I do like the portrayal of Inertia. Just a really fucked up, cold blooded killer. Actually, I had visions of Kid Miracleman when he was killing those cops.

I did have some quibbles. The relationship to Final Crisis seems to be rather slim. Sure, it's related to the Flash and Barry Allen is back. There is Libra, yeah, but until issue #2 comes out, I'm gonna be kinda scratching my head. There were also some serious continuity questions I have. Now I assume this takes place after the current Flash storyline, but wasn't the Flash Museum burned down? That was rebuilt fast. And Iris West...still breathing. And young. Well, not like I didn't know where that story was going, but this coinfirms it. Maybe even DC realizes The Flash sucks so bad right now that they don't care whether they spoil their own stories or not. Also, the way the Rogues describe the way they kill Bart Allen, seems kind of out of line with what happened. Coulda sworn they beat him to death. I'll have to look again.

All told...well, the issue stands well enough on its own. Whatever the relation to Final Crisis...time will tell on that one. I wouldn't recommend anyone go into this expecting something so tightly woven with that story, but this does work as a Flash spin-off mini. If you have that in mind, and you really love you some Flash, then it's worth picking up. Otherwise...you can save $4 bucks, read the summary on Wikipedia and wait until next issue.