Yesterday, Ethan Van Sciver answered a question at Comic Bloc about when we’d finally see Wally West’s new costume — the one that should make it easier to tell the difference between Wally West and Barry Allen at a glance. The new costume will debut in Flash: Rebirth #6.
Yeah, in the grand scheme of things it’s a trivial matter, but Wally’s fans do care about the issue. It’ll be nice not to feel like our favorite Flash is getting thrown under the metaphorical bus to make way for the “real” Flash.
Update November 18: Wally’s costume has in fact been revealed in Flash: Rebirth #5. If you want to see it, head over to get spoiled!.
On the one hand, this could be a good thing. I, for one, hope they finally adopt a Flash symbol kinda like the Touchstone Picture logo.
On the other hand, if we still have 3 people we call “Flash,” there’s still plenty of room for confusion.
.-= West’s latest blog post: SkyFire is a bad mutha… =-.
It’s tough — on one hand, keeping him as “The Flash” does mean you’ve got some naming confusion. On the other hand, changing his name sort of implies, “Nah, he wasn’t the real Flash anyway. He was just a placeholder.”
Even if they give him a new name – I don’t think that is indicative to any degree that he is or ever was considered a placeholder. A large portion of his run operated under the premise that Wally sought to meet and transcend his predecessor. His story arc achieved this and molded an identity unique to his predecessors and peers. To me it doesn’t seem out of the question that he would take on a new hero identity. He is still Wally and nothing can take away what he carved for himself… the downside of course is that having given up the prestige of the title, he faces a real challenge with a new name and costume remaining a top cast character in the DC universe. This boils down to the direction they take Wally in now. I think this was kind of a problem he had as Flash after transcending the shadow of Barry. Bart’s run had the same issue – they had no effective “mission statement” for the series.
I’m hoping the new costume will look good on him and will be easy for other artists to draw. The last time he got a new costume was in Flash #50 (shiny suit, no-eyes look) and aside from Greg LaRocque and Tom Grummett, none of the other artists at DC could get a handle on how to draw it properly.
I’m still worried about Wally’s status, post-Rebirth. If all he’s regulated to is his appearances in Titans it will be a major letdown. As much as I love the character, I won’t be picking that book up just for him. It’ll probably end up being cancelled before long anyway.
Yeah, DC doesn’t seem to get that leaving the Justice League and sticking with the Titans is essentially a demotion from the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes to a team of ex-sidekicks. Or maybe they get it, but won’t admit it.
Good point on the art. I’ve been trying to remember which artist on which book tended to draw the giant white eye lenses, like Spider-Man’s except round…and with a visible bulge for the eye in the middle, as if the mask had been molded to his eye sockets and his eyeballs.
Justice League Europe, maybe?
What do you make of the costume on this cover-something futuristic? (Last Days of Animal Man #3)
(Sorry, don’t know how to do URL’s on this site)
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The design mostly works for me, but I really think it needs a belt.
That said, it’s clearly not Wally from the skin tone, and I doubt they’d upstage Flash: Rebirth by revealing EVS’s new design in an Animal Man mini.
If this is my new costume, I am going to be so pissed…
Did anyone pick up Animal Man #2? Is that Flash supposed to be Wally in his new costume or is that just ‘artistic license’? The nose and emblem are different and I was wondering if this was the new Wally costume?
No, it’s not Wally’s new costume. It’s not even Wally. Remember, this takes place in a future in which Hal Jordan has been succeeded as Green Lantern of this sector by a space whale.
Ok yeah we know Wally was a sidekick and has grown up. I for one want to see Wally in the Titans full time with Dick the way it was meant to be. I also want a new costume so he does not look like Barry and I want a new name actually I think if he picked up the moniker Impulse it would be brilliant because the name has a history a tradition as you will and I think it would mean alot if Wally chose this for himself and embraced, honored Barry and his place as Flash in the DC Universe. I really would like to see Wally, Dick, Kyle, Garth, Starfire, Dolphin and Raven in a titans/Legion Earth Book maybe with Mirage Pantha Wildebeast Beast Boy Terra thrown in for some fun!!! This could help put the LEGION books back where they belong and compete with the Xmen books although both series are a complete mess continuity wise. Long Live the Legion!!