Flashpoint: Green Arrow Industries
by Pichetschote and team
Oliver Queen never learned about how his war profiteering affected other people -- so he went on doing it, and he made it worse. In the Flashpoint timeline, he imprisons supervillains in his floating prison, and then takes their weapons to sell them to the government. It's only when someone murders his entire island and his whole staff, and confronts him, that he begins to question that what he's doing is wrong.
There's an idea of the "super-corporation" that Oliver talks about, a corporation that could actually do good with all of the weapons that it harvests, but it never goes beyond an idea. There's certainly the seed for another story, but not much more. You want to see Oliver redeem himself -- which he does in the normal timeline -- but you don't get to see it here.
Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #'s 1-3
by Jeff Lemire and team
Of all the characters that DC could take, I never expected them to write about Frankenstein. Apparently, in this universe, Frankenstein was the one who killed Hitler, with his team of Fishlady, Wolfman, and Vampiric guy. It's a team book where you get to know each character and root for them, even the one that Frankenstein says "has great evil in his heart." 'cause now apparently Frankenstein can look at you and tell whether you're evil or not.
It's an untraditional, traditional cape-comic that sets out a fun tone with lots of drama. He captures the feeling of Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum's original Uncanny X-Men, with Frankenstein and pals living in a system that's targeted them.
It's a complete tangent from the main story in Flashpoiint, the war between Emperor Aquaman and Wonder Woman, and I don't mind that at all. Apparently, this spun off into a New 52 series, and I
wouldn't be surprised if Lemire simply used the Flashpoint miniseries as a jumping-on point.
EDIT: He did. This series spun off into the New 52 series Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. It lasted until 2013 (16 issues).
Flashpoint: Legion of Doom
by Adam Glass and Rodney Buscemi
There's such a plethora of characters in DC Comics, that these over-arching stories give the opportunity to shine a spotlight on them. In this one, Heatwave leads his own "Legion of Doom", but he assembles them from prison, in an attempt to get out and enact revenge on his archnemesis, Cyborg. There's a numerous amount of comic book ideas here, including the "Doom Prison," a hovering prison created by Green Arrow industries, Plastic Man's infiltration into the Doom Prison, for a couple. But at times they're at odds with the grim, hateful mission that Heatwave has against Cyborg and the sheer amount of violence in each issue. This miniseries is somewhat like the Captain Cold one in this sense, and while the execution is just fine, the comic seems to be at odds with itself about what it is.
Read more about Flashpoint in my reading guide!
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