The Flash #6
The Flash #6 (vol. 3, November 2010) brings Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul's opening arc — 'The Dastardly Death of the Rogues' — to its conclusion, wrapping up a six-part murder mystery that re-established Barry Allen as DC's premier scarlet speedster in the post-Blackest Night era. The issue is the first appearance of Hot Pursuit, an alternate-universe Barry Allen who rides a Speed Force–powered Cosmic Motorcycle and whose arrival seeds the runway directly into the Flashpoint event. As the capstone of the arc that introduced the Renegades — 25th-century law-enforcement counterparts to the Rogues, including Commander Cold, Trixster, Mirror Monarch, Weather Warlock, and Heatstroke — the issue marks the broadest single-issue expansion of the Flash's fictional future since the classic Bronze Age, giving the mythology a new temporal dimension that subsequent writers continued to mine.
In "Case One: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues, Part Six," Barry Allen confronts the shocking truth behind the future Top’s desperate attempt to rewrite the past, as the timeline fractures under the weight of his choices. With the Renegades closing in, the final confrontation unfolds between old allies and the man who once stood beside them—before the 25th century pulls them back into the shadows. Written by Geoff Johns and brought to life by Francis Manapul’s dynamic art and Brian Buccellato’s vivid colors, this issue delivers a tense, emotionally charged chapter in The Flash’s ongoing saga. Cover by Francis Manapul.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Geoff Johns had been writing Flash stories off and on for years before DC handed him and artist Francis Manapul the relaunched ongoing series in 2009, with the pair working together previously on Adventure Comics. Manapul, who had signed an exclusive DC contract in 2007 and was named by Newsarama as a creator to watch in January 2010, both penciled and inked his own pages on the series — a relatively rare practice that gave the book an unusually unified visual identity. The series was editorially positioned as a Brightest Day tie-in, situating Barry Allen's return to Central City immediately after the events of The Flash: Rebirth and Final Crisis, with editors Eddie Berganza and Adam Schlagman overseeing the run.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published November 17, 2010 (cover-dated January 2011); written by Geoff Johns, art by Francis Manapul, colors by Brian Buccellato.
- First appearance of Hot Pursuit — an alternate-universe version of Barry Allen who accesses the Speed Force via a self-built Cosmic Motorcycle rather than by running; confirmed by the DC Database and League of Comic Geeks.
- Concludes 'Case One: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues,' the six-part opening arc of The Flash vol. 3 and a crossover tie-in to the Brightest Day event.
- Introduces the full Renegades team across the arc: Commander Cold, Heatstroke, Trixster, Weather Warlock, and the Top — 25th-century future-law analogues of Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Trickster, Weather Wizard, and the Top respectively.
- The issue resolves the arc's central frame-up: the 25th-century Top is revealed as the true villain, having manipulated events to place an innocent teenager in prison for crimes committed by one of the Top's own ancestors.
- A final scene set in the future shows temporal disruptions spreading across the early 21st century, functioning as the first explicit narrative on-ramp to the Flashpoint event.
- Reprinted in the hardcover and trade paperback collection The Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues (collecting The Flash vol. 3 #1–6 and The Flash Secret Files and Origins 2010), which reached at least five printings in trade paperback form.
- Also later collected in The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus Volume 3 (2022), alongside The Flash: Rebirth, Blackest Night: The Flash, and Flashpoint.
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues #[nn] (2011), The Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues #[nn] (2012), DC Heroes #5
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