Galdeen 1

Evan Galdeen

English 200

Robert Prickett

Compare/Contrast Essay

October 18, 2017

Two-and-a-Half Flashpoints

In 2011, DC Comics published Flashpoint by Geoff Johns, the universe-altering comic

event that brought forth the era of the New 52. In 2012, the DC Universe Animated Original

Movies line released their animated adaptation of the graphic novel, Justice League: The

Flashpoint Paradox, and in 2016, The Flash on the CW loosely adapted the same story. While

the TV version has merits all its own, it is a very different story from the graphic novel and its

animated adaption. As the animated movie shares more in common with the graphic novel, it is

the adaptation I will be focusing on. The story of Flashpoint as presented in the Graphic Novel

and animated movie is at its core, a character piece about Barry Allen. Set in a hellish world,

there is also a great war story in the backdrop. Despite minor changes, the animated movie stays

true to the spirit of the graphic novel, as these changes serve the medium of film.

In both the book and the film, we are introduced to Barry Allen as a boy, interacting with

his mother Nora before her murder. The film then proceeds to show an adult Barry at the grave

of his mother with his wife [or girlfriend, it’s not specified in the movie], Iris. Barry is then

called in to foil a museum robbery, helped by the Justice League. This prologue battle is

completely new to the film, but serves the story, as beginning the main story with Barry waking

up in Flashpoint could be jarring to the general audience. The prologue also establishes Eobard
 Galdeen 2

Thawne/Professor Zoom/the Reverse-Flash and his antagonism with Barry. This scene also

serves to emphasize what is presented as the opening narration of the graphic novel: that Barry

has found a family in Iris, and friends in the Justice League (Johns issue 1, pp.3-4). This is an

effective enough adaptation, as narration can be clunky in film. Despite having all these things,

Barry still runs back in time and saves his mother, creating Flashpoint. This revelation is not

made until the climax, and it is the major twist, as the reader and viewer are led to believe that

Thawne is responsible up to the point of the revelation (Johns, Issue 5, pp.1-5). Barry’s arc

throughout both versions is coming to this realization that he’s responsible for the hell he’s stuck

in, as well as coming to terms with having to essentially sacrifice his mother to bring his world

back. The revelation plays a little differently in the film, but the weight is felt in both. The

conversation before Barry leaves (issue 6, pp.20-22) is eliminated from the film, but having this

in the film would interrupt the flow. Instead, around the one-hour-thirteen-minute mark, we have

Barry saying “I’m so sorry mom” (Krieg).

The war story is also fairly well adapted. The war is between Wonder Woman of

Themyscara and Aquaman of Atlantis. This war and the politics surrounding it are further

expanded upon in the tie-ins to the Flashpoint comic. Some of the elements in the film come

from these tie-ins, such as the impetus for the war: the murder of Aquaman’s wife, Mera, at the

hands of Wonder Woman. As I did not have time to read the entire event, I could not track down

the issue number of this event, but a quick google search for “Wonder Woman Mera Flashpoint”

reveals that it does come from the comics. In both the animated movie and the main storyline,

the war and politics are the backdrop rather than the main story. As the graphic novel was

originally spread over six issues with numerous tie-ins, the backdrop can easily be expanded

upon, whereas the film is limited to an hour and twenty-one minutes, there is only so much of
 Galdeen 3

this backstory the storytellers can fit, but the creators of the film do an effective job of putting

what’s necessary to the overall plot into the film. If the event itself was to be adapted into a

serialized animated or live-action story of some kind that encompassed all the tie-ins, there

would be room for all the storylines. In the film, all of this history is inserted in a music-only

flashback around the 33-34-minute` mark that displays the origins of the Atlantean-Amazonian

War as well as Thomas Wayne’s Batman origin and Martha Wayne’s origin as the Joker.

Though Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox takes some liberties with the graphic

novel, many of these are for simplification purposes, as the comic story is spread over six main

issues and many, many tie-ins. The war and politics are changed to fit the time constraint, while

Barry Allen’s character arc remains much the same. I enjoyed both my reading and viewing

experiences for this project. I have no issue with the Flashpoint storyline itself, my issues are

more with the New 52 and its animated movies. Both the comics and animated movies declined

after Flashpoint, and while DC Comics have bounced back with Rebirth, there has been no such

redemption for the Animated Movies.

 Galdeen 4

Works Cited

Berlanti, Greg, et al. “Flashpoint.” The Flash, season 3, episode 1, The CW, 4 Oct. 2016.

Johns, Geoff, et al. Flashpoint. DC Comics, 2011.

Krieg, James, and Geoff Johns. Justice League. CW Seed, The CW Network,

www.cwseed.com/shows/dc-spotlight/justice-league-the-flashpoint-

paradox/?play=49eca32a-5fac-4ce4-94ce-39698299400c.