The Flash #27

Scott Hornblecker
Pop Culture Project 5A
Mrs. Dunlop
Room 215
Febuary 10nd

This graphic novel was written by Brian Buccelato and the pictures were written by Patrick Zircher. It is a sotry about the heroic cycle where the hero begins as a nobody and goes ona quest and becomes somebody but eventually dies alone again as a nobody. The heroes name in this graphic novel is The FLash. He was a lab geek cop guy until he developed super powers from hetero-to-fore untold means. Probably the Gods or something. Maybe it was revealed in a previous graphic novel because htis book is a sequel. His super power is to run really fast which makes it easier to catch the bad guys. Unless they can run really fast too and then The Flash has to call in The Green Lantern for help.

Ha ha! You know, this is the kind of stupid shit Wallace Freemantle from homeroom would be into. That fucking spaz is constantly shuffling his feet as he goes down tthe halls screaming "zoomdiddy farken zoom zooma zoom zoom!" What a dweeb. I heard his mother made and sold meth while she was pregnant with him. SHe useta have to try the product to make sure it was good enuff to sell and now Wally is all tweaked out for life. hE walks like a stupid zombie but I think in his mind he's going so fast that tnobody can see him. what a dumbass.

I think this story was written for the show Dexter before it ended with that lame ending that I won't discuss because I don't know if you've watched it, Mrs. Dunlop. But this is just like an episode of Dexter because the lab geek Barry Allen, which is another name for The Flash, is working a case and discovers some old bodies but they're linked to a guy in prison but these bodies were killed while that guy was in prison so that means some other murderr is still out there. So this is the part where Dexter thinks to himself "A-ha-ha! I am going to put some food on the table if you get my double meaning!" And then he hutns down the killer that is still out there and murders him on a table. The Flash isn't a murderer because he is a hero but he still begins looking for the killer just like Dexter would have done the same way.

That means there is a threat to the city so the city needs a hero. That is where The Flash comes in. The Flash is a nobody like we have seen in the heroic cycle that was pointed out by Jordan Campbell and made famous by Goerge Lucas. The hero must come from hubmle beginnings and what is more humble a beginning than working in the basement of the cop department? And The Flash is told to lay off the case by the commander just like Luke was told to not talk to Ben Kenobi! But the Hero does not remain dormant like a seed. The hero forces his way out of the hard topsoil by accomplishing difficult tasks. For Luke, he must negotiate the Jawas and the Sand People and avenge his aunt and uncle's deaths. For Barry Allen, he must betray his boss and risk his career and even rob from a grave (which comes later) so that he can avenge the death of his mother and prove that his father is not the murderer of his mother. That is because he found out that the killer might be the person that killed his mother, Nora! But even Barry's father does not want him investigating this case! Just like Unlce Owen told Luke to lay off learning about his father!

Sometimes the heroic journey is just a metaphor for a journey through one's own selfscape and that might be what's going on here because all interpretations are valid. I think maybe this could be a journey about THe Flahs coming to grips with his sexuality because he's probably totally gay and not straight like he thinks he. His journey begins like this which I think is good enough proof for my theory:

I do not think that the story is about The Flash saving Central City from a Scooby Doo Old West Miner GHost (as seen at the conclusion of the story) at all. That is only the service of the story and is what shallow readers will pick up. But I think that this heroic cycle is an inward journey for Barry Allen as he comes to grip with his sexuality because he's probably totally gay and not straight like he thinks he is. When Barry Allen is The Flash in the graphic novel, he is actually seeking inward and that part of the story is not reality at all. I will break this down to make it easier for you to understand.

The Flash finds a bunch of buried bodies after being told to taset the rainbow which causes him to learn of a killer that is still probably on the lose called The Broome Hill Butcher. This shows that Barry, in his mind as The Flash, has caught a glimpse of his possible gayness (represented by the rainbow) and then he unearths a bunch of skeletons (like skeletons in the closet and "in the closet" is also a representation of gayness) which lead him to believe some secret is being kept secret. So then Barry in his real body and as his real self goes to ask his father about what it might mean but his father has this reaction because he doesn't want to know he has a gay son:

Also to show proof of Barry's search is that Director Singh who is also gay gives Barry the go ahead to investigate. He knows that Barry needs to take this journey. But Barry's father figure, Captain Frye, tells Barry he cannot go on this journey because it is another fatherly authority figure not wanting to accept Barry's true nature.

As Barry journeys in his mind as The Flash, he must overcome the fear of prison rape because that is violence but it is the way that most people in America think of gay sex. The Flash must defeat it in the metaphor of fighting a man named Girder. This leads Barry to journey deeper into his mind and that is represented by digging up a grave to uncover a secret. But that secret is not there! Barry finds only an emptry grave! But he is also knocked out by a ghost of a gay forty niner named Sutter seeking vengeance on his lover who killed him for sparkling jewels 1 hundred and 50 years ago.

I guess Barry was not able to complete his journey in this one book so I have to wait for the sequel to come out because this heroic cycle usually needs a trilogy to be told efficiently. I hope that that does not affect my grade because I did not know that the book I chose was not a complete story.

The Flash #27 Rating: In conclusion, I think it is a shame that society teaches men that they must be a certain manlike way because being manlike is not really a thing but a construct enforced on men by the patriarchal attitudes of our fathers and mothers that have come before us. If we were allowed to be whom we want to be than people would not have to make difficult mind journeys to work through the issues that society has projected onto us. Unless making a heroic journey is important to becoming men and women but I don't think that at all. We should all be allowed to be the person we think we want to be and not be told different. That makes me think I should apologize to Wallace Freemantle for calling him a spaz and a dweeb because that was me acting like society and trying to make him be something he is not by teasing him until he stops being himself. I am very glad I wrote this papre because I have learned a think or two.

Grodd #1

Oh you silly monkey! You're upside down!

I don't know if I'm in the mood to be funny right now. I just got dressed down in one of my commentary's comments section because I'm not allowed to call out assholes. Apparently I "come across as condescending, self-righteous, arrogant and disrespectful." All that says is you've been reading my blog! Anyway, I'm just trying to get people to focus their anger in healthy directions! I've been alive a long time! I've seen movements harmed due to overreacting assholes in the mix pushing people away from their side! Okay, maybe most of those movements were in Dungeons and Dragons campaigns but you can learn a lot from role playing! But now that I've been told that my cock outweighs any experience or wisdom I might have on a subject, I should probably just stick to jokes about monkeys. Good thing this comic book has a monkey in it!

I think I just flattered myself by saying "my cock outweighs any experience!"

I hope my audience has very few monkeys in it because I don't need people complaining about my views on Monkeys as well as my views on attacking allies and my views on the nonexistence of God and my views that Canada is in America.

And before I begin reading, let me just apologize to Commenter Natalie for using her serious comments as fodder for more stupid fucking jokes. All comments to my blog are appreciated! They're also probably going to be talked about. Especially if they tell me I'm being a dick. Or should I say cunt? I don't want to be accused of sexism but I don't know which word would make that less likely!

Grodd's issue begins before the Justice League have been defeated. The Gorillas of Gorilla City are helping to rebuild. And some Gorilla is narrating and going on and on about destiny and whether destiny exists or is it made up or blah blah blah fucking blah blah blah. I'm sure the narrator is Grodd since this is his comic book.

I would answer "Yes" to his first question.

The way time works, destiny is one of those words that means something different when looked at in different points of a person's life. You would say of a child that he's destined for greatness but he may never become great. It's a belief and a dream. Destiny doesn't preordain anything and it's up to the child to choose its path. But at the end of that child's life, if he did become great, one could look at his accomplishments and say, "He was destined for greatness." And it would be true because he's already chosen his life's path and gone through it and that's the way it turned out. Funny thing about time is that that's the way it was meant to turn out because it turned out that way. Sure, it's a tautology but it's my attempt to explain why I would answer the stupid monkey's question with a nonsensical yes. It's both. Whatever your life was like at the moment of death is the way your life was meant to be at the moment of your birth. We just can't see it because, and this is the strange bit, we've yet to choose it. Yes, I believe we choose our path even though it's preordained. Nothing is forcing us to choose the path we take but once we've taken it, it becomes the only path we were ever meant to take. See?

Now if you want to bring up alternate dimensions that exist for every choice we ever make then fuck you! Let's read some more about monkeys!

The Narrator continues his philosophical musings and they're all fairly well-thought out and interesting.

I am convinced that "conviction" has never been used more perfectly than in this Narration Box.

And then the eclipse happens. And even though Ultraman set it up to block out the sun in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, it also blocks out the sun in Central Keystone City, Whatever Fucking State It Is In. And then it looks like Johnny Quick is paying the city a visit or the Earth is splitting open. Maybe it's Gorilla Grodd on a moped.

Yep, it's Grodd! But no moped. Sad face.

I was hoping Grodd would appear back in time to attack Keystone Central City so that Barry and Hal's first meeting would be fighting time traveling Grodd just like one of them said way back in an early issue of Justice League. But then The Flash Annual #2 showed that wasn't how it happened because they were obviously talking about the aliens they had to fight to save the children. I think some of them were apelike. But instead of Grodd traveling through time, he was just now freed from the Speed Force by the Crime Syndicate. And now he has Speed Force powers too!

Since The Flash is (presumably) dead, The Pied Piper makes his triumphant return in order to save the city!

Oh! I meant embarrassing return. I had my dictionary upside down.

Since Centone Keystral City is just chock full of bad guys, a few come by to join up with Grodd: Chroma, Tar Pit, and Girder. They left out my favorite of this new batch: The Folded Man! I hope it's because Grodd plans on killing these nobodies and Buccellato wanted to keep The Folded Man alive so he could become super awesome and The Flash's greatest enemy.

Grodd does react negatively to these chumps trying to join his cause and he kills Girder for his insolence.

Maybe since he's made out of girders, he survived that ass kicking.

Solovar tries to stand against Grodd, telling him that they have decided to make peace with the humans. But Grodd says "Fuck that shit!" and attempts to kill Solovar while crashing a helicopter full of humans into the ground with his new "force of mind" powers. The gorillas and the humans attack Grodd en masse but it's not enough. He's just too powerful for them all.

Ha ha! Good one! Now flip over a car!

The humans that Grodd lets live are put into an internment camp while the Gorillas turn Kentral Ceystone City into Gorilla City. Solovar and the other Gorilla Elders are chained to the fallen Flash statue and used as Grodd's throne. And apparently Chroma didn't get to last too long in The New 52.

But there's The Folded Man! Yay!

Grodd puts the Mayor and the Elder's head on a stake near his new throne to promote the clarity of his new vision. I'm pretty sure that vision is "Shut the fuck up or you'll head will be put on a stake." But Grodd didn't count on one of the side-effects of being infected with the Speed Force: super-duper-hyper ADHD. He rules Gorilla City for all of a couple of hours and then grows bored, leaping away to whatever destiny or evolution or destiolution have in store for him. But what's going to happen to Gorilla City now? I suppose that story will take place in Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion!

Grodd #1 Rating: Better than most of the other comics from the first week! I like that it all took place in the "NOW" of The New 52 and that it didn't involve Grodd's mother beating him and calling him a fucked up chimpanzee. Besides, we already saw how his daddy issues caused him to eat his father's brains and how being king meant everything to him. And now that he got it, he still wasn't happy. Isn't that always the way? Why is that always the way! I'm glad I don't know what I want to make me happy so I'm not unhappy wishing I had that thing to make me happy! Instead I'm just happy! Maybe I'm just an idiot.