Here’s your chance to do a side-by-side (well, vertical-by-vertical) comparison of Barry Allen’s and Wally West’s Flash costumes — including several variations. Spoilers for Flash: Rebirth #5.
Okay, let’s start with the current costume, which Ethan Van Sciver designed for Flash: Rebirth. Here we have Barry Allen’s unchanged costume and Wally West’s latest.
| Barry Allen | Wally West | |
|---|---|---|
| Colors | Bright red & yellow, matte | Darker crimson & gold |
| Trim | Flat, as if dyed into fabric | 3-D, attached pieces |
| Symbol | Three segments, no border | Two segments, gold border |
| Boots | Yellow, with wings | Yellow/Gold, no wings |
| Eyes | Open | Covered |
| Mask | Clears nose, points drop down to cover tops of cheeks. | Straight across, no points. |
| Belt | Single loop of lightning, straight across | Two symmetrical lightning bolts on sides, not meeting in the center. |
Now let’s go back and look at an earlier version of Wally West’s costume, which he got in Flash vol.2 #50:
| Flash v.2 #50 | Flash: Rebirth | |
|---|---|---|
| Colors | Glossy red & yellow | Darker crimson & gold |
| Trim | Flat, as if dyed into fabric | 3-D, attached pieces |
| Symbol | Three segments, no border | Two segments, gold border |
| Boots | Yellow, no wings | Yellow/Gold, no wings |
| Eyes | Covered | Covered |
| Mask | Clears nose, points drop down to cover tops of cheeks. | Straight across, no points. |
| Belt | Two symmetrical lightning bolts meeting in the center to form a V. | Two symmetrical lightning bolts on sides, not meeting in the center. |
Next, let’s take a look at the Dark Flash costume from Flash vol.2 #150-159.
Note the belt and mask line (minus the chin strap) on this one.
| Dark Flash | New Wally West | |
|---|---|---|
| Colors | Very dark red (almost black) & silver | Darker crimson & gold |
| Trim | Some parts flat, others attached pieces | 3-D, attached pieces |
| Symbol | Large lightning bolt coming down from shoulder, no circle | Two segments in lightning bolt on chest, gold border around circle |
| Boots | Dark red, no wings, with silver bolts at top | Yellow/Gold, no wings |
| Eyes | Covered | Covered |
| Mask | Straight across, no points, with chin strap. | Straight across, no points, no chin strap. |
| Belt | Two symmetrical bolts on sides, not meeting in the center. | Two symmetrical lightning bolts on sides, not meeting in the center. |
| Forearms | Silver gauntlets | Yellow/gold lightning-bolt arm bands |
And finally, let’s look at the costume from the 1990 Flash TV show. Unfortunately you can’t see the boots in this picture, but they’re red, without wings.
| TV Show | New Wally West | |
|---|---|---|
| Colors | Darker crimson & gold | Darker crimson & gold |
| Trim | 3-D, attached pieces | 3-D, attached pieces |
| Symbol | Three segments, no border | Two segments, gold border |
| Boots | Red, no wings | Yellow/Gold, no wings |
| Eyes | Open | Covered |
| Mask | Straight across, points at corners of cheeks. | Straight across, no points. |
| Belt | Two symmetrical lightning bolts running straight across, meeting in the center. | Two symmetrical lightning bolts on sides, not meeting in the center. |
Update (Nov. 28): One more! Thanks to Bill Walko for sending some style guides from the Justice League animated series!
| Justice League Cartoon | Flash: Rebirth | |
|---|---|---|
| Colors | Bright red & yellow | Darker crimson & gold |
| Trim | Flat, as if dyed into fabric | 3-D, attached pieces |
| Symbol | Two segments, yellow border | Two segments, gold border |
| Boots | Yellow, no wings | Yellow/Gold, no wings |
| Eyes | Covered | Covered |
| Mask | Clears nose, points drop down to cover tops of cheeks. | Straight across, no points. |
| Belt | Two symmetrical lightning bolts running straight across, meeting in the center. | Two symmetrical lightning bolts on sides, not meeting in the center. |
You know what sucks? That Wally and every changed their costumes just to be left alone for the rest of the issue. It was like “Here fans, now shut up and let me focus on Barry again.” Which would have been fine had we been convinced he wasn’t going to be shafted upon Barry’s return.
Yes, I’m still harping on Wally. lol
As for the comparisons, I still think the 90s show costume will eventually be what we get. Sooner or later, the covered eyes will go away(just as Wally’s green eyes tend to do in other comics), the gap between the two bolts will eventually be connected, and the dark tint will become shinier…that’s just comics. (and bad editing)
Brandan’s latest blog post: SpeedsterSite: Has any character mentioned Bart’s short time as Flash yet? I feel like that has been ignored.
Very good advice concerning the Flash costume. You forgot to mention the head wings though.
The head wings are pretty much the same on all of them. While there have been variations (Mercury-style wings, simplified wings, lightning bolts), they haven’t been applied consistently to either Barry’s or Wally’s costume.
You know what I found odd?
Wally West on his new costume looks older than Barry.
Great side by side comparison and record of past changes. Thanks for putting this together. While I love Barry’s classic uniform the most, I am really digging Wally’s new duds. Hopefully other artists are able to keep his new look consistent in other titles going forward. It’s a pet peeve of mine when then doesn’t happen.
You forgot the JL Flash suit!
Um… oops?
After I saw your comment last night, I went to pull the image from my JLU profile, and realized that not only did I not have one suitable for this size or background color…but what I had was from the Superman cartoon! Same universe, but slightly different design (mainly the border around the chest symbol). Then I spent an increasingly sleepy half an hour looking for something close online that showed the whole costume at an appropriate size, but everything was either too small, waist-up, blocked, or an action figure. (Which might work, actually.) I’ve got a few issues of the JLU comic book somewhere. If I can dig one of those up, I should be able to scan it.
I just remembered a Justice League arc where the team formed Justice Leage Elite. (kinda special forces for the league and all had different costumes) Might include that one as well.
Not much point, since as far as I can tell the new costume doesn’t incorporate any design elements from it.
Technically Dark Flash’s costume is black with red highlights, rather than just very dark red. It’s one of those things that wouldn’t work in real life, but hey, can’t argue with the artist.
In other books, it was often colored very dark red. I always took the black-with-red highlights as representing that, kind of like how Superman’s hair isn’t really blue, it’s just colored that way so that you can see some detail it.
Didn’t the characters refer to the costume as black within the story?
I could’ve sworn there was an interview out there somewhere about how the costume was supposed to be black, but Google’s not coming up with anything. =/
Could be. It’s been a long time since I read that arc. I should pick it up again.
anybody remember the costume wally wore during JLA days? he modified it because “he doesn’t need to remain in barry’s shadow anymore”. i can’t seem to find any pictures of it online.
Can you describe it? I only remember Wally wearing variations on the 1990s suit in that comic, though admittedly I bailed after Mark Waid’s first arc as regular writer.
It was the story which began in JLA #50.
The heroes were split from their alter egos and Wally came up with a new look. (It wasn’t THAT bad, he wore goggles, and the symbol was high up on the left hand side of his chest.
Very cool comparison. Well done.
Kelson – Phenomenal job on this side-by-side comparison! You really put an amazing amount of research and analysis into this. I’m seriously impressed.
Hope all is well with you!
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