This is it, the end of the road. As the Flash’s regular ongoing monthly series ends, Flashpoint begins! In this final issue of the Flash: Road to Flashpoint, we get a lot of answers to what has been happening to and around the Scarlet Speedster, his family and his friends. One word… Zoom! Eobard Thawne the Reverse Flash is back and has found answers in the Speed Force, and he plans on making Barry Allen’s life a living hell.

Flash #12 finally reveals Thawne’s plans for the present. He is able to manipulate the Speed Force to adjust his age, change past events and steal time from people. How is that fair? So he’s super fast, and can bend time and space to his will… the Flash needs to catch up presently.

So, Bart Allen, better known as Kid Flash isn’t lost in time… yet. He is also not the time anomaly Hot Pursuit was hunting. While Hot Pursuit is attacking Bart, he learns the truth and rushes off to capture the Reverse Flash as he is attacking Patty Spivot, and the results are less than optimal for Hot Pursuit.

The Reverse Flash has considered Barry Allen his enemy since before Barry was born, but he is not able to kill Barry without ending himself. So imagine the joy and satisfaction he must have felt when finding out Hot Pursuit is “a” Barry Allen from the multiverse and doesn’t have to hold back. Think pile of dust, like when the Joker, Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman dehydrate the United Nations in the 1966 Batman movie. Just without the cheese.

Since his Rebirth, Barry Allen has been tirelessly fighting crime, shutting out those he loves most. It is only now he realizes he needs to let them back into his life. After a true heart-to-heart with his wife Iris, he asks for just one more day to continue to internalize his problems, then he will re-open  his heart and soul. The only problem… what happens when after today your whole world changes in a flash? Welcome to Flashpoint!

Flash #12 is a must read if you will be following the Flashpoint event this summer. It is interesting  timing for this issue to be released the same week as Flashpoint #1. So, make sure you read this issue first then you can jump into Flashpoint with both feet first.