The Flash #37 Review
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Gavin Guidry
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Buddy Beaudoin
Cover Artists: Gavin Guidry & Adriano Lucas
Variant Cover Artists: Juni Ba & Ejikure
Editors: Chris Rosa & Paul Kaminski
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99/$4.99 Card Stock
Release Date: September 23, 2026
Wally West has a cool boss. Mr Terrific lets him follow his
initiative, even if that means Wally rarely visits his office. And lately,
Wally has been using the Speed Force to predict the future. This helps Mr
Terrific build reliable weather models. Even better, it helps Wally foil crimes
and prevent accidents in Central City and Keystone City.
But not everyone is a fan of The Flash's actions. Worse, not
everyone trusts Wally with the power he assumes over people's lives. Is Green
Arrow right to refuse Wally's offer to protect Star City? And how will the
Justice League rule when Green Arrow asks them to weigh in on Wally's actions? Let's
leap into The Flash #37 and see what happens!
Story
Wally has used his Flashes of Insight to prevent accidents
and crimes in Central City. Anxious to build on what he's learned, Wally has
gained Jon Kent's permission to prevent anything bad from happening in
Metropolis. But lately, he's gotten pushback from his Justice League
counterparts. When Wally considers extending his protection to Gotham, Red
Tornado orders him to keep away. And when Wally offers to help Star City, Green
Arrow also says, "No, thank you."
In The Flash #37, Wally is peeved by his friends’ lack of
faith in him. So although he respects Red Tornado's explanation that Gotham is
a war zone, he refuses to recognize Green Arrow's authority. As he gains
experience using the Speed Force, Wally is protecting individuals from injury
and death, and families from pain and anguish.
Yet in Ryan North's story, Wally is so excited by this new ability that he forgets how it unexpectedly manifested when he needed it. He also forgets that these Flashes of Insight aren't perfect,
as one competitor in the "Easy Money in a Flash" contest ended up in
the hospital. Wally even forgets how he overlooked a catastrophic threat while
racing around a single city to ensure nothing bad happened to anyone.
So, Green Arrow is calling for an intervention. He wants
someone to get Wally to sit still and think through what he’s doing. Moreover,
with all the changes and shifting standards the Justice League is adopting,
Green Arrow wants his fellow heroes to recognize that Wally is heading into
murky waters. As for Wally, he may ask himself, "What would Batman
do?" Yet Wally never recognizes that Batman is a skeptic in The Flash #37.
The world's greatest detective would need a lot of convincing before he
embraced such new abilities wholeheartedly.
Art
As Wally races across three cities, a local in Central City
waves to him before a bridge. Like the vertical panels of the front page, three
vertical panels show a bridge exploding in each city. Wally observes two people
operating blasting machines with joy suffusing their faces. Then he appears
multiple times in panels, operating computers while the person at the desk
looks away. Later, Wally and his family gather within sight of the Central City
Municipal Bridge. Yet Gavin Guidry pairs this scene with a panel of a super
family gathering atop Mount Everest.
As Adriano Lucas paints The Flash #33 with a vibrant
palette, red links Wally with the bridges and the terrorists' blasting
machines. As the yellow-and-orange Speed Force blazes in his wake, yellow-and-orange
explosions rock cities, while yellow tinges the office scenes. After a
red-and-white close-up of Wally's eyes, he glimpses scenes tinged with yellow
and orange. Yet as heroes gather on the white, snowy peak, their costumes and
the flags fluttering around them celebrate this international monument to Human
achievement.
Buddy Beaudoin fills white dialogue balloons with black
uppercase letters, while Wally's small white lowercase thoughts fill red
narrative boxes. Words grow bold with intonation and shrink for lowered voices,
while building signs underline Wally's reverence for libraries. Sound effects accompany
Wally's attempts to emulate Batman, rapid departures, and the air he displaces
when he vanishes in the blink of an eye. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this
story with us.
Final Thoughts
Green Arrow may belong to the swelling ranks of the Justice
League. Yet he's one of the few who lack superpowers. Suspicious of Wally's new
abilities, Green Arrow wants help restraining Wally's exuberance. Yet the
people he looks to for help invade people's privacy, advocate working with
villains, and build interstellar empires while wielding unchecked, godlike
abilities in The Flash #37.
Rating 9.2/10
To look inside see The Flash #37 Preview.
For Wally's team-up with Jon Kent, see The Flash #36 Preview.
For Wally's battle with Heat Wave, see my preview of The Flash #35.
For Wally's confrontation with Gorilla Grodd, see my preview of The Flash #34.
For a villain who doesn't stroke a white cat but likes James Bond, see my review of The Flash #33.
For Wally's team-up with Captain Cold, see my preview of The Flash #32.
For how Wally's Flashes of Insight began, see my preview of The Flash #31.
