Although I cut the preview off before getting to the end of the flashback (which will be on page 10), the flashback is her origin. And, as you said, it's a structure that "so many superhero books begin with," hence Bob's complaint about predictable story structure at the beginning of the flashback.
Clunkiness is something that I hope to avoid (most of my late script changes have been to add transitions to improve the flow of narrative to dialogue) and is something that I strive to avoid. Just curious, but, regarding page 2, how easy is it to follow the flow of the boxes? They should be read in a Z pattern.
Regarding wordiness . . . I'll address that in my response to the next comment. Thanks for the feedback!