With a lot of cancellations and corporate shenanigans, the future of the Arrowverse is in doubt. However, with some potentially really interesting timing, DC Comics is releasing comics based on the various shows in a miniseries called Earth Prime. We’ve seen Superman and Lois, Stargirl, Batwoman, and the Legends of Tomorrow. Now, it’s time to visit Central City and see some of Team Flash.

It can be tricky to fit in an adventure with a current running show, but they’ve found good work arounds so far. Legends featured the various members that have left the team; Batwoman focused on an unseen adventure; Stargirl’s story was neatly between seasons; and Superman and Lois was mostly flashbacks. Given the nature of some things we’ve seen on Flash, they had a perfect way around things, showing us XS and Impulse in their own time of 2049.

When Barry and Iris leave town, Central City is under the protection of XS and Impulse. And as everyone knows, they’re both mature, careful people who think everything out in advance and make careful plans with no sibling rivalry, right? Yeah. When Bart gets suspicious about a classmate at Central City University, he naturally decides to handle things on his own, despite his sister’s best efforts to help. When he utterly, unsurprisingly, gets in over his head, XS comes to the rescue, but she does so with help. We get to see a member of the Flash family that hasn’t been around in a while, as well as a brief appearance by a more familiar face. Eventually, with a little help from some friends, the bad guy is vanquished, and there’s the obligatory, if seemingly pointless, lie to the parents that everything went smoothly in their absence. Because they won’t see the news, I guess?

There are two backup tales as well. One shows the special guest star in an adventure of their own, and links to some of what we’ve seen in the various other issues of Earth Prime so far. I’m still betting the final issue unites a lot of the characters in a massively crazy crossover event. Or at least, I’m really hoping for that. It’d be great to see. The final story left me a bit confused. Set at ARGUS, “Training Day” shows a bunch of characters we’ve never seen before in a really dangerous working environment. I think it’s just a set up for more story to come. Although with only one issue left, they have a lot to resolve.

What I Liked: They skirt around continuity issues nicely by simply avoiding the present entirely. It does mean we know certain characters survive until 2049, but none of those are exactly a surprise. It was nice seeing the ones who made an appearance, and the ally XS called for backup made perfect sense. When Bart first started getting suspicious of the student he met, at least they skipped the “No one believes the main character for no real good reason” trope.

What I Didn’t: I know they had limited time and space, but there were some characters I really wanted to see who never even got mentioned. The artwork really didn’t do it for me; the speedsters all looked kind of blocky, which just isn’t the look you expect from people near-constantly in motion. I’m really not sure about that final story.

It was a good issue. I’ll give it a 3 out of 5. I hope the conclusion lives up to some of the other stories, and I really hope we get to see more of the Arrowverse in comic book form in the future.