The Flash #71
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Flash #71 is the second chapter of 'The Flash: Year One,' the twelfth and arguably most thematically ambitious arc of Joshua Williamson's DC Rebirth run — the longest Flash run to spin out of Rebirth. The issue deepens Williamson's expansion of the 'Forces' mythology by weaving the Still Force, established by Scott Snyder in Justice League, directly into Barry Allen's first-year origin, giving the Turtle — long one of the Silver Age's most dismissible villains — a menacing, cosmologically grounded reinvention as a Still Force-empowered conqueror of Central City. The time-travel conceit that anchors the issue, young Barry meeting a weathered future version of himself, sharpens Barry's defining trait as the optimistic soul of the DCU, dramatizing how hope is forged under pressure rather than inherited. Together with its predecessor #70, this issue launched a collected edition that has remained a standard recommended-reading entry point for new Barry Allen fans.
In "Year One Chapter Two: The Flash of Two Timelines," Barry Allen stumbles into a future where an older version of himself battles the Turtle, a tyrant who siphons speed from Central City’s citizens. Back in the present, Barry struggles to believe in his own heroism—until the same menace from the future arrives, shaking his faith in the future he’s meant to become. Written by Joshua Williamson and illustrated by Howard Porter, with colors by Hi-Fi and letters by Steve Wands, this issue’s cover by Howard Porter captures the moment of collision between past and future.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The 'Flash: Year One' arc was announced by Williamson at New York Comic Con in October 2018, where he described the story as an in-continuity origin exploration focused on how Barry Allen's foundational optimism developed in his earliest days as a hero. Howard Porter, already Williamson's artistic collaborator on the run, was confirmed as the arc's penciller and inker, with Hi-Fi continuing on colors. The arc launched in early 2019 as the twelfth consecutive story arc of Williamson's run, which DC later described as the longest writer tenure on The Flash to emerge from the Rebirth initiative.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published May 22, 2019 (cover date July 2019); The Flash Vol. 5 #71 (DC Rebirth era).
- Written by Joshua Williamson; pencils and inks by Howard Porter; colors by Hi-Fi; lettering by Steve Wands; edited by Paul Kaminski.
- Second chapter (Chapter Two: 'The Flash of Two Timelines') of the six-part 'Flash: Year One' arc, spanning issues #70–75.
- Central narrative: newly powered Barry Allen accidentally runs into a dystopian future where the Turtle — wielding the Still Force — has conquered Central City; young Barry is mentored by his older future self.
- The issue explicitly connects Williamson's ongoing 'Forces' mythology (Speed Force, Still Force, etc.) to Barry's first-year origin, retroactively tying the arc to Scott Snyder's concurrent Justice League run.
- The Turtle is depicted as a Still Force conduit who siphons speed from civilians to sustain his rule — a major reimagining of a Golden/Silver Age villain who debuted as a gimmick antagonist in Showcase #4 (1956).
- The full 'Flash: Year One' arc (#70–75) was collected in a hardcover trade paperback (DC, 2019) and subsequently reprinted in a new paperback edition (2024).
- Variant cover for #71 by Derrick Chew, in addition to Howard Porter's standard cover.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Flash #36 (2019), The Flash: Year One (Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition) #[nn] (2020), The Flash: Year One #[nn] (2020), The Flash: Year One #[nn] (2021), Universo DC #57 (2021)
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