DC’s Prime Earth is no stranger to alien invasions, but a new multiversal enemy has reached Earth’s doorstep, and they’re playing for keeps. Fueled by none other than the Speed Force, the Fraction is an interdimensional war party that poses a great threat to the world and its heroes. While the One-Minute War rages on, DC has compiled the first three issues into The Flash: One-Minute War – Start the Clock #1. Written by Jeremy Adams, illustrated by Roger Cruz, Matt Banning and Wellington Dias, with colors from Luis Guerrero and lettering from Rob Leigh, the book ramps up in speed as the situation takes a turn for the worse.
The Flash: One-Minute War – Start the Clock #1 begins with the Fraction finding a suitable world to conquer when they find Earth. Oblivious to the incoming danger, the Flash family is busy with their own lives. The Fraction touches down with a mighty shockwave that kills most of the city’s population and freezes the rest in time. Although the world comes to a stop, the speedsters have no trouble moving around. With the invasion in full swing, The Flashes find it difficult to contain the situation, but Impulse and Kid Flash make some astonishing breakthroughs.
The Flash: One-Minute War – Start the Clock #1 captures the opening salvo of the ongoing series and demonstrates the shocking invasion of the world from the eyes of The Flash family. Like the linear flow of time, the story opens in happier, more hopeful times and progressively makes its way into bleak territory. With multiple characters leading the way, the storylines branch off and conjoin many times over, raising the stakes throughout. Yet, despite the tragedies surrounding them, the Flash family comes together and forms a support system that is endearing to watch. Meanwhile, the team-up of Impulse and Kid Flash makes the most impact as they are instrumental in taking the plot forward. They being kids is another reason why their interaction feels earnest and livelier than the mundane interactions of the adults.
Artist Roger Cruz gives the book an animated feel with exaggerated expressions from inkers Matt Banning and Wellington Dias adding a dynamic flow throughout. While the pencil lines play a role in the clean-cut features, considering certain characters have similar body types, it can become difficult to discern them as the story goes on. Colorist Luis Guerrero goes along with the artwork and daubs the pages in bright shades of primary colors. In scenes that show the city in debris and disarray, Guerrero adds an overcast, gloomy atmosphere by utilizing a deep purple color palette. Elsewhere, letterer Rob Leigh makes the dialogues easy to follow with the well-spaced speech balloons. In a book with so many Flashes running around, Leigh does not congest the panels, rather continues the text into the next one.
The Flash: One-Minute War – Start the Clock #1 is a grim event. The general mood is that of a family reunion as a death in the family hangs like a dark cloud. The heroes are still very much in the emergency meeting stage as it is taking time to figure out the kind of enemy they are up against and their weakness — precious seconds in real time that is not on their side.
Adams does well to show that the enemy is adept in their craft as they move forward into the next stage of their plans. Thankfully, Impluse’s behavior has made a chink in their armor, and the Flash family has their lucky break as The Flash: One-Minute War – Start the Clock #1 comes to a close.
