Flash #98
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFlash #98 is the penultimate chapter of Mark Waid's 'Terminal Velocity' arc — the storyline credited with formally building the Speed Force concept into the bedrock of DC's speedster mythology. This issue delivers the emotional gut-punch at the heart of the arc: Wally West's cynical use of Jesse Quick as a motivational pawn for Bart Allen is finally exposed to Jesse herself, damaging a friendship and raising pointed questions about how female legacy characters are treated within the Flash Family. It also deepens the Wally–Linda Park relationship in a way that would define the series for years, as Wally confesses his Speed Force fate and hands Linda his Flash ring — a small gesture loaded with enormous emotional weight in a run famous for grounding superhero stakes in genuine human feeling.
In "Terminal Velocity, Mach Four: Hit and Run," Mark Waid and Salvador Larroca deliver a high-octane chapter of the Flash saga as Max and Wally guide Jesse and Bart through intense training, testing their limits just as Kobra's scheme threatens Keystone City. With the team moving in on Kobra’s power source and Wally revealing their true mission to Jesse, the speedsters race against time in a city on the edge. Mike Wieringo’s dynamic cover captures the urgency, while José Marzán Jr.’s inks and Tom McCraw’s colors bring the kinetic energy to life.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue sits squarely within Mark Waid's celebrated multi-year run on The Flash (Vol. 2), which he began with issue #62. 'Terminal Velocity' (issues #95–100) was written in the immediate aftermath of DC's Zero Hour: Crisis in Time event of 1994, giving Waid a natural storytelling reset to accelerate his long-gestating Speed Force concept toward its full reveal. Salvador Larroca — penciling his first arc on the title — handled interior art for the run, with Mike Wieringo, the book's regular cover artist, providing the cover for #98 featuring all five speedsters against a lightning-storm backdrop. Editor Brian Augustyn oversaw production alongside associate editor Ruben Diaz and assistant editor Alisande Morales.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title/chapter: 'Terminal Velocity, Mach Four: Hit and Run' — the fourth chapter (of six) in the Terminal Velocity arc spanning Flash (Vol. 2) #95–100.
- Writer: Mark Waid; interior penciler: Salvador Larroca; inker: José Marzán Jr.; colorist: Tom McCraw; letterer: Gaspar Saladino; cover artist: Mike Wieringo.
- Cover date: February 1995; editor: Brian Augustyn.
- Key plot beat: Wally West's deception of Jesse Quick is revealed within this issue — he had named her his successor solely as a psychological gambit to push Bart Allen/Impulse into taking the Flash legacy seriously, not out of a genuine intent to hand her the mantle.
- Wally confesses his Speed Force fate to Linda Park and gives her his Flash ring, a pivotal emotional moment in the Wally–Linda relationship that would culminate in their eventual marriage.
- Jay Garrick's face appears on the cover, but he does not appear in the interior story — he and Johnny Quick had already bowed out due to exhaustion by this chapter of the arc.
- Kobra creates a force field around Keystone City during this issue, trapping Flash and Jesse inside while leaving Impulse and Max Mercury outside — a structural split that drives the chapter's action.
- The issue has been reprinted multiple times: in the Flash: Terminal Velocity trade paperback (DC, 1995), the Eaglemoss DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection #96 (December 2016), and Flash by Mark Waid Book Four (DC, 2018).
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▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
As Max and Wally train Jesse and Bart, the speedsters attempt to deal with Kobra's plans for Keystone City. They take out part of his power source and Jesse and Wally are able to slip into the city, where Wally reveals to Jesse their real mission.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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