Batman has Arkham Asylum. Now the Flash has Iron Heights, a penitentiary where super-powered criminals are kept without the benefit of counseling, rehabilitation or, it looks like, even basic sanitation.

This book was written as a stand-alone tale to introduce or reintroduce several villains into the Flash's infamous Rogues Gallery. Beginning with a serial killer back from the days of Barry Allen's Flash, the story gives us a new focal point in Wally West's continuity, along with a very questionable prison warden. While the plot, which involves a fast-acting plague, makes for a good story, this book seems more like a turning point issue than a major plot by itself. Its success will be judged more for what will come in its aftermath, I suspect. I'm certainly curious how the new Rogues Gallery will affect the Flash's world.

[ by Tom Knapp ]
Rambles: 1 September 2001