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Seeing as how Grant Morrison is one of the most eclectic writers in comic book history, it takes an incredibly sharp mind to run alongside him and pen a tie-in book that fits perfectly into the puzzle that Morrison has created in Final Crisis. Geoff Johns makes it look easy. Considering that this is side story and not part of the ‘real’ narrative, it would be easy to throw some characters together, mention something that happened in one of the issues of Final Crisis, and call it a day. Johns instead gives us a story that feels like it needs to be told in order to get the full picture of what’s happening in Final Crisis.
The Rogues referenced in the title are the main villains in The Flash’s Rogues Gallery. Captain Cold, Heatwave, Mirror Master, The Trickster, and the Weather Wizard have been lying low since they killed Kid Flash in the pages of Infinite Crisis. Most of these villains had been treated as jokes in the comics, unable to properly rob a bank or take hostages. But Johns has been working in the pages of The Flash to make them into rough, dastardly, and dangerous criminals, and this issue exemplifies the new reality of what villains are capable of in the DC Universe.
The Rogues find in this issue that Gambi, the tailor who makes their super-villain outfits, has been left for dead by a new team of Rogues who are holding Captain Cold’s father as a hostage. Libra, the new super-villain from the pages of Final Crisis, wants the Rogues to fall in line with his gang. Libra feels that if the killers of Kid Flash don’t join his group, others will follow their lead and stay away from Libra as well. However, Libra and the New Rogues didn’t count on the new attitude of Captain Cold and the gang. The Flash villains decide to waste no time and take the new team on head-first, leaving no survivors. It’s one of the deadliest encounters in a mainstream comic book in recent memory, and it’s totally awesome. If there had been any doubt how far these villains would go, perhaps writing off the death of Kid Flash as a fluke in their villainous history, Johns has erased all doubts here. The DC Universe now has new top level villains and Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge is the perfect exploitation of these characters.
There is a sub-plot in the book centered on another of The Flash’s old villains, Zoom, an evil time traveler who actually slows time down around him allowing him to move at super speeds instead of tapping into the speed force like the rest of the DC Universe speedsters. Zoom is attempting to manipulate a speedster named Inertia who is an evil clone of the dead Kid Flash. On Libra’s demand, Zoom wants Inertia to dress as Kid Flash for a showdown with the Rogues. Libra seems to think that the speedsters of the DC Universe are the key to Final Crisis.
The art from Scott Kolins won’t set the world on fire, but it’s solid enough as not to distract from the story. Luckily Kolins is joined by colorist Dave McCaig who adds a painted feel to the artwork. The colors are at times subdued and other times vibrant, and over all look much better than they probably should.
Granted, this is a mini-series spun out of a mini-series, and it requires a good deal of knowledge on the DC Universe to fully appreciate the story, but it’s one story well told and exciting and interesting enough that it feels worth the effort to understand. With a $3.99 cover price, casual fans of Final Crisis may have a hard time justifying the extra cost. Fans of Final Crisis looking for a good tie-in will undoubtedly find that this series feels worth tracking down.