The Flash Vol. 2: Road to Flashpoint

This second volume of the Geoff Johns Flash run with Barry Allen is one big prelude to the biggest Universe shattering event since Crisis on Infinite Earths.  We see the origin of the Reverse Flash at the beginning of this collection.  After the Flash has proved his innocence to the crime fighters of the future another time traveling cop comes to Barry Allen's timeline looking for an anomaly that has upset the time stream.  This new character is Hot Pursuit.  Someone is taking the lives of heroes stealing their life force.  There are some great character moments in this book as there is tension between Bart Allen Kid Flash and Barry Allen his grand father.  Hot Pursuit believes he is tracking Kid Flash and that he must be eliminated but the Flash feels differently. Kid Flash sets out to prove that he isn't the time anomaly but that doesn't fair to well for him as Hot Pursuit is about destroy him.  It is revealed that Hot Pursuit is Barry Allen from another time line.  Meanwhile Barry needs help to solve this case and he request Patty Spivot to help crack this case.  Patty is taking care of a child witness who can identity the stranger who is stealing heroes lives and aging them to death.  But it turns out this kid is not who he seems and he is the Reverse Flash who has tapped into a new power set that allows him to change is age and appearance by stealing other peoples lives.  Now he is about to kill Patty however right before that happens the Flash, Kid Flash and Hot Pursuit arrive on the scene having worked through their prior disagreement.  Once the Reverse Flash discovers who Hot Pursuit is he accomplishes one of his life long dreams in killing Barry Allen.  This is one of the few times where the villain escapes at the end and we are left to wonder what will happen next.

As a collected volume I thought this was a great read even though it did feel a little repetitive of the first volume but who doesn't like the Reverse Flash, Flash dynamic.  In terms of setting up Flashpoint I would have liked to see one more volume of The Flash lead into it, another six issues would have helped lay the groundwork a little more and could have fleshed out some of Barry Allen's choices when it came to that event.  All in all I am looking forward to the next adventure.