Meena Dhawan represents a big loss in everyone’s life. In his super heroic identity as the Flash, Barry is feeling the loss of an important ally in the aftermath of the Speed Storm. Not only was Meena given the gift of speed, but as a talented scientist, she had a unique understanding of exactly what was happening to her body and the bodies of everyone else who was affected. This made her a perfect ally to help the Flash train all these new speedsters in how to harness their abilities for good.

In many ways, she represents the best of what came out of the Speed Force Storm, where Godspeed represents the worse. Williamson created a great balance with the invention of both of these speedsters.

Even in his civilian identity as Barry Allen, the Flash was fascinated by Meena’s scientific knowledge. The result was the fast, but powerful, personal relationship that developed between them. This connection would seem to present a pretty big obstacle in the way of anything developing between Barry and Iris, but the lack of Meena in Barry’s life is what allows him to go out on a date with Iris in Speed of Darkness and finally give their iconic relationship a real chance at life in the Rebirth continuity.

For Kid Flash, Meena represented his very first mentor and, in tandem with his aunt Iris, one of the people who connected him with the Flash and allowed Wally West to reclaim one of the most well-recognized legacy mantles in DC Comics history. In the wake of Meena’s presumed death, Wally is forced to rely solely on the Flash to guide him in the direction of unleashing his full potential. In comparison to Meena, the Flash is not as open with Wally (he doesn’t even know that boring Barry Allen is the man behind the mask!), who reads this as a lack of trust.

Some of the “darkness” that the title refers to and that Williamson develops throughout this volume is the growing rift between the Flash and Kid Flash. Later on in the issue, the duo is forced to face down an actual representation of darkness in order to save Iris (who does a pretty good job holding her own until the speedsters show up), in a gauntlet that forces both Flashes to work together and combine some of their best tricks and classic comic book moves. In order to achieve such greatness, they’re forced to overcome the rift that’s grown between them.

Although there is an overarching narrative throughout Speed of Darkness, this volume feels more like a collection of separate stories that are thematically similar, whereas THE FLASH VOL. 1 dealt with much more linear storytelling. This volume also takes place over a greater length of time than its predecessor and includes the first date night issue I alluded to above (which has some definite holiday vibes). This is neither good nor bad when compared to the first volume. It’s just something that sets it apart. It will be interesting to see if Williamson returns to a more strictly overarching narrative in his third volume, or if there is going to be more of an emotional through-line for the next piece of the series.