Rogues #1.... 3 Stars

Rogues; Issue 1                                                 




Joshua Williamson is an excellent writer, his Flash run was one of the best in years, so I was really looking forward to this, however there are some technicalities I cannot get over, the first being....

There is no Weather Wizard!!! Nor Captain Boomerang for that matter, as we learn that they both died some years later, so which classic Flash rogues are brought in to take their place? (Dr. Alchemy? Pied Piper? Abra Cadabra? The Top? Rainbow Raider? ) Nope. It's Bronze Tiger and Magenta. WTF!?! Now Bronze Tiger happens to be one of my favourite characters in the DCU, but when have either of these characters been Flash villains? To my knowledge never, so what are they doing here? My brain can only think of two things, 1) Williamson is a big fan of these characters or 2) this is some weird editorial decision to ensure more gender and racial diversity in the comic? I know the latter conclusion must make me sound like a paranoid comicgater, raging on about DC woke, but unfortunately, DC has done enough of this in the past that I have to ask? Either way this has been a bad decision. The people who are collecting this comic are going to be a small niche of Flash fans who love the Rouges and are looking for a great elseworlds take on their favourite super villains, so to leave Weather Wizard & Captain Boomerang out, and not replace them with other Flash rouges is absolutely criminal, and has put me off the title completely. 

The second technicality isn't as bad, but...the Rogues are high profile super villains, I'm pretty sure if they wanted to, they could make quick work of an international criminal organization like the Hells Angel's, so while it's not inconceivable that Captain Cold might be a wash up, having to report to a corrections officer and  punch the clock for a low income factory job reserved for ex cons, it's hard to believe all the rouges would be in this position. Lower status rogues like Pied Piper or the Top, I can see, but I'm pretty sure Captain Cold and Mirror Master probably have a nest egg or property hidden away somewhere, and if not, I'm sure some criminal organization would help them get a half decent union job on a construction sight somewhere, so while I think Williamson is a great writer, my impression of him, is that he doesn't always have great insight into writing street fighting heroes or blue collar criminals. 

As for the story itself, I like it, it's pretty good, but as much as it pains me to do this,  because I can't get over the exclusion and substitutions of some of the classic Rogues, I can't give it anymore than 3 stars.

*** Stars  


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