The Flash #9

Do other gorillas act any different? What makes Grodd so special?

After The Flash exited The Speed Force last issue with Turbine, he ended up in Gorilla City. I'm not sure where Turbine ended up. He's probably spinning around somewhere in Tokyo.

The Flash interrupts Gorilla Grodd as he eats his own father's brains. I'm sure that's some sort of faux pas in Gorilla City.

"He can talk! He can talk! He can talk! He can talk! He can talk!" "I can siiiiiiiiiiiiiing!"

The Flash is captured by Grodd because he's forgotten who he is and apparently can't run super fast without the knowledge that he can run super fast. Grodd and his men apes seem to think that The Flash is from The Light and is a messenger of some sort. At least the confusion keeps Grodd from immediately eating Barry's brains.

Meanwhile, Iris remains trapped inside the Speed Force with a few other people from Central City. They talk about not being hungry and not understanding television shows.

Technically, they were only dead and didn't know it in the Flashwhatevers of the final season. And that Flashwhatever took place in a sort of timeless limbo where they were all just hanging around until all of the people who experienced the island with them died.

Back in Gorilla City, The Flash gets a history lesson from the elders who are willing to free The Flash before Grodd can kill him.

The Speed Force destroyed a South American civilization. The Speed Force zapped a tribe of gorillas and made them faster and smarter. The Speed Force trapped the Tuskegee Airman inside it. The Speed Force created The Flash by zapping him and some chemicals.

So The Speed Force made the Gorillas of Gorilla City super smart. But the Speed Force has been leaving them, generation after generation. The gorillas are getting more brutish and Grodd is the leading example of how far they've fallen from their civlized heights. Now the elders feel that they must free The Flash to save the world although it will mean the destruction of Gorilla City. I don't know how that part works yet.

Oh! The Gorilla Elders tell Flash what Turbine told him last issue: The Flash must keep running to save the world! He's part Jesus Christ and part Forrest Gump!

Grodd interrupts the lesson and begins killing monkeys. But just as he's about to kill The Flash, The Flash remembers who he is! He's a little kid that once took a picture of a Gorilla with his Jay Garrick brand camera but then the gorilla knocked over the bus and almost ate him and he was so scared! But his mother came to his rescue and threw the camera at the Gorilla's head, making it angrier! Luckily, some hunters shot it with a tranquilizer dart at the exact same time, so everyone was safe. Anyway, The Flash remembers he can run fast and avoids Grodd's deadly headbutt!

The pillars in the underground cave they're in aren't fast enough to dodge Grodd's headbutt and collapse. And then the roof collapses as well! Grodd is trapped under the rubble but Barry and some of the Elders escape. The Elders then send Barry on his way to run and run and run and save the world!

Back in Central City, Patty requests a leave of absence and heads to Guatemala City to investigate a cold case. It looks like she'll be running into a drug cartel down there run by the Weather Wizard.

Barry Allen arrives home to find the biggest cliche in comics waiting for him: bigotry against costumes!

I don't know why Dr. Elias is leading the rally. Maybe he's mad that The Flash decided to risk DC Continuity by misusing his Cosmic Treadmill.

The Flash #9 Rating: No change. This seemed like a pretty weak issue to introduce Gorilla Grodd. I realize it was less about Grodd and more about the origins of Gorilla City and connecting The Flash to Grodd so that it makes sense that they're enemies. But it was fairly flat, especially for a comic that has had some pretty decent humor throughout. It still looked beautiful though!