Cullen Bunn begins his solo run on this series and it's mostly a mixed bag. And, by mixed bag, I'm being nice because he's new.
I thought the issue started off well, once you got past the overly long recap sequence that this series seems fond of doing almost every issue. Bunn almost immediately delivers a pretty funny scene where Flash meets with a tabloid reporter to get some background information on the Department of Occult Armaments, a "secret Nazi occult weapons division." The reporter is sharp-tongued, quick-witted, and super-hot, characteristics that result in Flash remarking, "She scares the Hell out of me." Bunn plays up Flash's intimidation to great comedic effect, giving us a side of Flash that we haven't really seen in this title yet. Although I wasn't really sure why the Secret Avengers had no better source on the DAO than a tabloid reporter, I was willing to overlook it since we at least got some good dialogue. Unfortunately, everything more or less goes downhill from there.
First, although Hawkeye ominously warns Flash that he's "only" on a reconnaissance mission at the start of this issue, we never really learn why the Secret Avengers have decided to start watching the DAO. Second, Flash completely disregards these instructions, despite knowing that he's on thin ice with Hawkeye in the first place after his revelations last issue. Flash seems to have a good reason to dive into the DAO's headquarters headfirst, given that he heard "what sounds like screaming babies." I mean, it's hard to argue with screaming babies. But, it's also screaming babies in the headquarters of a "secret Nazi occult weapons division," so you think that even Flash would've found a way to request back-up assistance before diving into the fray guns ablazin'. He claims that his signal died the minute he entered the building, but it seems like he could've prettily easily just exited the building, requested immediate help, and then re-entered to help the aforementioned screaming babies. I thought Flash coming clean with the Secret Avengers last issue was a sign of his maturity, that he was going to stop believing that he could (or had to) do everything by himself all the time. But, apparently, it was just an uncharacteristic moment of self-awareness and we've regressed to the mean, with him blundering into a situation without asking for assistance, despite how easy it would've been to get said assistance. Finally, we get a completely bizarre sequences where we learn that Damion Hellstrom is apparently running the DAO, a revelation that makes Flash realize (a little too late) that he needed the aforementioned backup assistance.
It's Flash's fight with Hellstrom where I really thought Bunn lost control over the issue's narrative. Rather than using this fight sequence to reveal why the Secret Avengers care about the DAO, Bunn somewhat oddly turns it into a grudge match between Flash and Hellstrom, with Flash chastising Hellstrom for turning on his former allies and going all evil. Given that they were only "teammates" for a short time during the "Circle of Four" arc, Flash seems WAY too emotionally involved here. (Plus, it seems a little unrealistic that Flash would be so surprised that the Son of Stan went evil.) To make matters worse, Bunn tries to pin Flash's angry reaction to Hellstrom on his apparent fear that he's just like Hellstrom because he's a killer. It's a stretch, because it seems a long way to go from Flash feeling justified to kill bad guys on occasion given his soldier sensibilities and, you know, worry that he's in the same league of evil as the son of Satan. But, even if Flash did worry about it, why would it make him mad at Hellstrom for changing sides? Is he afraid he's going to change sides? Equally bizarrely, Hellstrom then decides to prove this point by forcing Flash to embrace the more violent side of Venom. But, it doesn't really prove his point, since, after all, Hellstrom had to force Flash into it. If Flash really were a monster, he wouldn't need Hellstrom to push him as hard as he does here to get him to reveal it.
In the end, I think that it's pretty clear that I''m just not sure where Bunn was going here. We started the issue seemingly returning to the days of Flash going on covert missions but ended it yet again talking about Flash's tortured soul. We get it. In fact, we just spent the better part of the last 22 issues exploring it. Crappy things happened to Flash. We KNOW. Can we please see him even attempt to move past it? I think, at this point, this series needs to shoot more for "Captain America" and less for "General Hospital."
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