The Flash: Stop Motion

The Flash: Stop Motion

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Author	Mark Schultz
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Comic Novel/GraphicAudio
Publisher	Pocket Books
Publication date	February 24, 2004
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	336 pp

The Flash: Stop Motion is a novel written by Mark Schultz that was first published on February 24, 2004. The novel was converted into an unabridged GraphicAudio and released on November 1, 2008.

Characters

• The Flash - Wally West is the nephew of Iris West and Barry Allen by marriage, and was introduced in The Flash (vol. 1) #110 (1959). When West was about ten years old, he was visiting his uncle's police laboratory, and the freak accident that gave Allen his powers repeated itself, bathing West in electrically charged chemicals. Now possessing the same powers as his uncle, West donned a copy of his uncle's outfit and became the young crime fighter Kid Flash. After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, where Barry Allen was killed, Wally took over as the Fastest Man Alive.
• Linda Park - Linda Park-West is Wally West's wife. She was a reporter until she gave up her career to work in medicine, mainly pediatrics.
• Detectives Morillo and Chyre - Detectives Jared Morillo and Fred Chyre are partners on the Keystone City Police Department.
• Iris West - Iris West is Wally's Aunt and was married to Barry Allen before he died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Synopsis

As The Flash, Wally West may be struggling to find his place within the ranks of the JLA, but he knows he has one great advantage over every trial he has ever faced: he is the Fastest Man Alive. Now, for the first time, he has met his match. A scientist has created something that can move even faster than Wally West—and it's killing people in Keystone City. Forced to battle the one foe who can truly stay one step ahead of him, The Flash soon learns that the consequences of the creature's actions reach far beyond Keystone and threaten the future itself with annihilation.

Summary

The books opens with the Justice League, consisting of The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), arriving in Eurasia to protect it from falling fireballs. While fending off the fireballs, The Flash has difficulty focusing on the objects and causes him a headache. Superman flies past The Flash and destroys the fireball before Wally can get to it. Superman then resolves Wally to directing the Justice League towards stray fireballs, as Wally cannot fly. This causes Wally to feel left out and underappreciated. After the fireballs are destroyed the 5 team members regroup and consider the attack. Martian Manhunter had happened to capture a fragment of one of the fireballs and continued to juggle it, stating that if one held on to it too long without movement they became seriously ill. The Flash takes the fragment and attempts to get a closer look at it. While peering into it he believes he sees a figure and hears two words: Iris. Allen. When asked about what he saw, Wally refrains from divulging too much information, deciding not to inform them of the figure's allusion to his Aunt. Plastic Man radios in from Justice League Watchtower informing the team that all fireballs had been destroyed but they were unable to get a read on what exactly they were. Batman then informs Wally that there have been 6 murders in Keystone City that seem to have occurred at the same time. Wally parts with his teammates, relieved to not have the focus, regarding his interaction with the fragment, on him anymore.

Wally arrives at the Keystone City Police Department to meet with Detectives Fred Chyre and Jared Morillo. The detectives state that there had been another murder discovered and the three head to the new murder site. While Chyre and Morillo drive, Wally cases out the other 6 crime scenes. Wally discovers that all 7 victims had the tops of their heads blown out. The general consensus is that the crimes could have been committed by a speedster, as they all occurred at the same time and details of the wounds indicated quick movement. Wally recalls his Aunt listing some of his extended family and compares the names to the list of victims. Wally requests to have all the victim's blood tested by Star Labs. Wally heads home to have dinner with Linda and discusses wanting to get back in touch with his Aunt Iris. Linda goes to bed and Wally places a call to Iris, getting her voicemail. Wally searches the phonebook for one of his cousin's (on his father's side) name. He calls the man and while on the phone hears the man attacked and the line go dead. Wally runs to the man's house and discovers the top of his head missing, matching the other victims. While he is there he senses another presence then suddenly feels as if his head is about to implode. Wally begins vibrating his molecules to match the unique vibration of the other being. Wally attempts to attack the being but is outmatched in speed. Wally lands a few hits against the being but finds he is being attacked mentally by it. Martain Manhunter senses this and attempts to propel the being out of Wally's mind. Wally blacks out and wakes to Martain Manhunter, in his John Jones persona, questioning him about the events. Wally reluctantly admits that he was bested in speed and relays the information to Chyre and Morillo.

Chyre, Morillo and Linda are concerned about Wally leaving the crime scene before the police could arrive to question him as it places him as a prime suspect. Wally and the detectives visit Star Labs where it is confirmed that all victims of the attacks had a Metagene written into their DNA. When questioned about a potential link between the killings and Wally's own superspeed, Star Labs scientists admits to tampering with the ability to endow someone with superspeed. Upon further probing, it is discovered that Dr. Jonas Upchurch is potentially responsible for the creation of the thing suspected of the recent murders.

The Flash and Superman are at the Justice League Watchtower playing a game called Catch the Bacon. Despite being faster than Superman, the recent events distract him and Superman wins their "game." Martian Manhunter and Superman begin to suspect that the fireball event and the recent murders in Keystone City are related. The Flash requests to continue working the Keystone murders on his own, understanding that the rest of the Justice League would be useless against the being who he had encountered. Just before submitting to have his mind read by Martian Manhunter in order to discover more about the anomalies, Plastic Man interrupts with a call from Detective Morillo stating that they had found Upchurch. The Flash penetrates the building that the Doctor is holed up in. As The Flash enters he finds that the building is booby trapped for a speedster. The Flash successfully takes down the guards and apprehends Upchurch.

After interrogating Upchurch (ongoing).