Media Blitz!: Booth on Wally, Johns on Cold (via Newsarama)

Newsarama has been busy with Flash-related news and interviews over the past few days, and you can find links and relevant snippets here (read the articles for the full details).  Some of this information should be considered spoilers, so proceed with caution.

Flash-Annual-3-eyes

First, they talked to Brett Booth about how Wally West will be handled in the New 52.

Nrama: Let’s talk about what you guys are facing now. We’ve had two and a half years of the New 52 with no Flash except Barry Allen. What’s the biggest challenge about introducing Wally West at this time, with Barry already established?

Booth: I think it will be getting people to accept this version. I know what some people are expecting, I know what I’d want. He will be different, for one thing, in the old DCU he was Iris’s sister’s kid. She has a brother now, so things won’t be exactly the same. The original Wally was from a different time, a very Norman Rockwell sort of place. That is no longer the case for anyone in the New 52. He will reflect that, I’m sure.

It was announced on Friday morning that Captain Cold (and Lex Luthor) will be joining Geoff Johns’ Justice League, and the Flash is mysteriously absent from the team’s pictured lineup.  Geoff Johns then gave an interview about what he’ll be doing with the series, as well as some details about some of the other Justice League-related titles.  He remained tight-lipped about the missing Flash, saying that people will have to read the book to find out.  However, he did say a little bit about Captain Cold and the Rogues’ response to the promotion:

Nrama: I know you love the Flash Rogues. How do they react to Captain Cold joining the Justice League? Is that something you’ll show?

Johns: Yeah, they have a lot of drinks and get really drunk. They assume they get a get-out-of-jail-free card. You know?  No, they think it’s golden, but Cold is in way over his head, you know? He’s the guy that goes to the Watchtower, after he teleports into space, and you know, he’s sick for 10 minutes.  But I think Captain Cold brings ­ again, it’s like, personalities. As soon as I start to put these characters in a room, they have these reactions. They have to work together.

Johns also mentioned he was busy working on the Flash TV series, but didn’t say much beyond that.  Still, it’s interesting to know he’s so heavily involved with the project.
What do you think about these revelations?  Feel free to share your thoughts here! For the full interviews, follow the links above to Newsarama!

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33 thoughts on “Media Blitz!: Booth on Wally, Johns on Cold (via Newsarama)

  1. Ralbalboa

    ” in the old DCU he was Iris’s sister’s kid. ” I’m worried a little because this guy doesn´t know anything about Wally West or Iris (old DCU). But, today Bart is different, Jay is different, Barry is different, so it’s the same…

    Reply
    1. Nick!

      So he misspoke or got a random fact wrong. Big deal. Like, you’ve never done it. It doesn’t mean he “doesn’t know anything about Wally.”

      Reply
  2. MisterNefarious

    My only worry is that cold has his gun back. Obviously I loved cold on the old 52, but man I loved his ice powers. It made him an even greater threat. Those ice knuckles and such? So good. I’m gonna be just a slight bit peeved if his powers don’t come back and he goes back to the gun. It sort of cheapens the whole powers change, which was something I liked

    That said, I think putting lex and cold in the justice league seems totally ripe with awesome storytelling potential and I’m really interested to see how that turns out.
    Also curious about the new Wally and sort of glad he’s not replacing Barry, whom I’ve grown to love in the past few years

    Reply
      1. MisterNefarious

        Glad to see someone agree. I’m a long time flash fan and still love all his new 52 shake ups ( err, most anyway). I get that not everybody likes the same things, but every time we get new info about something in the flash I feel like we just whine non stop about it

        Reply
    1. Kyer

      (temporarily back in the game just for this ‘event’)
      There I was, ready to totally pack up on everything comics save for Waid’s Daredevil and Antman The Movie and stick with BBC-TV shows. Then the news erupted about Lang/Pym/Michael Douglas. Barely finished screaming over that when the announcement about Wally hit.
      First reaction of “O.H.Yes!” was nearly instantly overshadowed by “Oh…(expletive) it’s a DC52 book…”
      Since then every omen I ever feared seems to be coming to pass: a nuWally who is going to be Wally West in name only. Powerless and not the best of morals? I can take the latter IF it’s no worse than what Messner-Loeb did (which I enjoyed), but if nuWally is a personality twin of Daniel West and/or powerless? Or physically radically different? Or not a West at all?
      Worst nightmare scenario. The nightmare that put a damper on my wanting Wally to be in the DC52 at all as opposed to in a different universe.

      In Waid’s version it was Rudy who was the West and if that family reunion scene was anything to go by there were a lot of Wests out there. Not just Iris and now Daniel. I, personally, have a slew of relatives I’ve never even met.

      I don’t know. This looks like something I’m going to hate for at least the first year. Like if I’d come in as an old-time fan and started Wally with Baron or when he was Kid Flash/Teen Titans I probably would only liked that he was a speedster and a redhead and stuck with Superman alone.

      Also is he going to be in more than just this annual issue? I won’t be getting that because as stated above I’ve hypothesized via what information we have as of right now that I’m going to hate this.

      May I be pleasantly surprised though and end up getting the issue later on. Not like I take pleasure in being angry and disappointed; that’s just what DC seems to inspire in me most these past years.

      Reply
  3. Kyer

    My first thought on the new Justice League lineup with Luthor?

    The Forever Evil/Earth-3 xover continues with evil/good mish-mash.
    Each time the JL line up veers away from the Magnificent Seven model it (in my humble opinion) sucketh.

    Cold: Maybe later on they’ll do a compromise and have him with cold powers yet needing the gun to control it better. Sort of like early Cyclops with his force beams and the goggles. Best of both worlds: full sleeves and gun while still icing up to some extent?

    Still no word on Pied Piper?

    Reply
    1. Penny Dreadful

      I’m not even going to think of asking Booth on Twitter about Piper. Given how the interesting Piper/Singh subplot was dropped like a hot potato, I suspect I won’t really like the answer.

      Too bad. Such a waste of a cool character.

      Reply
  4. James

    Having Cold and Lex on the League’s lineup is actually making me interested for the post-FE stories — or at least beyond the RISE OF THE SEVEN SEAS crossover.

    Reply
  5. Mr. F

    Man, the more I hear (read) Geoff Johns talk the more I hope someone punches him in the mouth. Most overrated writer in the industry imo

    Reply
    1. Kyer

      I don’t think he’s a bad writer…..just going places I don’t really care to explore very much.
      (Doesn’t help that all my fave JL characters are not going to be in the JL.) Nobody in this new League interests me enough to even check out the Previews for it. THAT hasn’t happened since the likes of Congorilla was a member.

      Ted and Booster. (Assuming it will actually be Ted and Booster, but given nuWally and all….nuTed and a nuBooster. Makes me shudder to think. More changeling children in the house.

      Reply
      1. Mr. F

        Well, in order for me to consider Rob L. a writer I would have to consider that god-awful page-rot he puts out to be writing (which I don’t). I don’t consider scribbling on a page to be drawing, therefore I don’t consider Rob to be a writer.

        I always feel like I’m reading fan-fiction when I read Geoff Johns work. New52 Justice League (or at least the 12 issues I read of it) reads like an R-Rated episode of Super Friends. He creates slews of easily-forgettable characters (Tar Pit, Girder the rusty rapist, pretty much every Lantern whose ring isn’t yellow or green) and shoves them down your throat, is responsible for some of the worst retcons of all time (looking at you radioactive-donut Parasite) and does this annoying thing where he builds a situation up and then breaks it down so fast you don’t even have time to care (Rogue War…seriously) Plus, I’m never going to forgive him for giving the Top a “Boba Fett” death during Rogue War.

        Reply
        1. Kyer

          Add to that kills kids. I just read a website where someone complained his stories seem to always have kids meeting their untimely end. I don’t know as I only read his Flash stories and the first half of Brightest Day before I gave up due to things like excessive gore.

          Reply
        2. Lia

          It’s good to see someone who agrees with me on that last point 😉 Everywhere I go online, people always seem to have a “that was the most badass death EVER!” response, and…well, it was pretty anti-climactic. Johns spent all that time building up the Top as a threat, and then he got taken out easily by somebody who snuck up on him from behind. Seriously anti-climactic. I wouldn’t even necessarily be opposed to him getting killed (the guy would have been back eventually, at least until a reboot erased him), but couldn’t it have at least been as part of a kickass battle?

          That said, I like Johns’ work overall and certainly don’t wish him harm. But that death really grated on me…for obvious reasons.

          Reply
    2. veronicadiall

      I don’t think that Johns is a bad writer. I just find his stuff boring. He’s gotten a bit better over the years. But I still don’t find him exciting. There are far worse writers in the industry than Johns in my opinion.

      Reply
      1. Nick!

        I know, right? These are exactly the things Our Valued Customers mocks daily. Funny thing is that if people like that met Johns at a convention or something, they’d fan-gush all over him.

        Reply
  6. Javi Trujillo

    I wonder how sincere Cold’s attempt at being a “good guy” will be. I recall him trying to walk the straight and narrow before, back in the Porcupine Man days. I wanna say there was even a letter printed by one Geoffrey Johns in the letter page, professing his fandom for the Rogues and Cold in particular.

    Reply
  7. Steve

    I don’t think Wally will be a Flash to begin with. He could still be interesting as a character if they have some kind of journey planned for him. In the comics, what really made him popular wasn’t the time he spent with Barry, but how the absence of Barry caused him to grow up. I think moving him to another title (Titans reboot?) might be the best way to go if he ever gets powers. In the meantime, they really need to spend some time developing him as a character beyond the “punk kid” cliche, being as they already kind of did that with Shazam very recently. If he’s the graffiti kid, making him a Banksy-like street artist might be a way to go. That could influence his look and powers the same way being a comic book artist did for Kyle.

    Reply
  8. Steve

    Not really. He said the design of the Flash on the cover was based on those redesigns. That reveals nothing about the actual identity of the Flash on the cover.

    Reply
    1. Greg Elias Post author

      The solicit also makes a point to differentiate between “The Flash” and “Barry Allen”. Not saying this is cold hard proof but at least worth considering.

      Reply
      1. Kyer

        Marketing gimmick. They want to surprise you with the reveal of who is under the suit. So far the main choices are: Barry Allen, Future Barry Allen, or nuWally West. I’m thinking Future Barry is the blue while Barry is the red.

        Reply
  9. Kyer

    Really want to fear for Wally West’s sorta-kinda return (but not really)?

    Go find scans of Teen Titans #27 on Bart…I mean BAR TOR. Seventy sides of Ugh.

    Reply

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