It seemed like forever for ACE Comic Con Seattle to arrive, but arrive it did. I drove from Spokane, Washington to this city on Friday morning, unaware that my VIP seat assignment was determined by my check-in time rather than by when I purchased the package or stood in line before the panel. It started on Thursday. Needless to say, I was much further back than I thought. VIP seating was also only good for two of the Marvel Entertainment panels.
I am no stranger to conventions and have been to a variety, from Creation Conventions (Star Trek: The Next Generation and more recently Supernatural), city-specific shows such as Mid South Con in Memphis (where I used to live) and more recently Lilac City Comicon (Spokane) and Anglicon (Seattle). I even went to things that would be hard pressed to be called conventions, such as answering phones for the Arkansas PBS station where Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor from Doctor Who) spoke to the volunteers as well as Paul Darrow (Blake’s 7). ACE was by far the largest one I have attended.
Out of all the DC extended universe properties that are playing on television right now, The Flash is on top. Season one dealt with a quiet threat when Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) is not who he appears to be. Neither is Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, at the start of season two. After many pauses in the broadcasting schedule of the series, one after episode seven “Gorilla Warfare,” another two episodes following (Christmas always causes hiccups in the television network’s scheduling front) and yet another in February, I wished I had The Flash’s ability to perform time jumps. Following this series requires an exercise in patience.
For many fans, they were rewarded in the finale where our Earth-1 Flash is being driven to the dark side. Zoom, this season’s greatest threat, goads our hero to kill. He wants Barry Allen to succumb to the hate and anger within, much like how Darth Vader wanted his son to turn to the Dark Side of the Force so both can rule the galaxy as father and son. I would not be surprised if down the road we see a return of this character (revealed to be Hunter Zolomon in “Versus Zoom”) but from a different dimension (Earth-5?) where he is the father of Barry. Until then, I do not think Zolomon’s fate is completely sealed. The Time Wraiths make an appearance to literally spirit him away to a fate during the episode’s climatic moments. His soul is sucked away like these wraiths are Dementors from Harry Potter, and what remains hints at a possible direction — where the Blackest Night series is alluded to. In the comics, Nekron is Death incarnate and his goal is to reanimate dead heroes in order to have them help void all emotion from the universe. The Black Flash, in a different story arc, is the Grim Reaper. He takes the souls of Speedsters away.
When considering the big fight and reveals made in this finale episode, series creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg are not ready to go down that route just yet. Even though parallels have been made throughout the series about how these alternate Earth’s version of the heroes are polar opposites, there are other conflicts that could take place to define season three.
By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)