Tag Archives: Dark Flash

This Week: Digital Dark Flash Conclusion

DC is only releasing two comics in print this week, Forever Evil #4 and Justice League #26. The digital backlist, however, is continuing: Today sees the release of Flash #159 on ComiXology, the final issue of the Dark Flash saga.

Abra Kadabra is defeated, Wally West and Linda Park are both back and ready to finish their wedding, and Walter West and Angela Margolin hope to spend some time together… Until Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman show up with an ultimatum: Walter must leave this timeline immediately before he endangers the fabric of reality.

There are just two more Waid/Augustyn issues after this, and two done in ones by Pat McGreal, before the backlist catches up to Geoff Johns’ run. #164-182 are already available digitally, so I hope DC will take the opportunity to go back and fill in the missing four issues from “Race Against Time” and “Final Night” in Flash #116-119.

Written by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn. Cover by Steve Lightle. Art by Paul Pelletier and Jose Marzan, Jr.

Flash #159

This Week: Triple Flash in Dark Digital Danger

No new Flash comics this week, but DC is adding one more to its digital backissue catalog: The Flash #156 featuring three Flashes in peril!

The Dark Flash battles Replicant in the main timeline. In Walter West’s alternate timeline, Walter and Wally fight each other and Abra Kadabra…and we learn the true origin of the Dark Flash.

Mark Waid & Brian Augustyn, Paul Pelletier & Jose Marzan Jr, cover by Steve Lightle.

Flash #156 (Dark Flash Saga)

Walter West: Adventures in Hypertime

Walter West

Today’s guest post is by by Joe Grunenwald.

The Flash was gone. Wally West was dead, having entered the Speed Force after saving Barry Allen’s life from Cobalt Blue. Then, out of the night sky, a bolt of lightning, a crack of thunder, and a new speedster appeared – older, scarred, but familiar, and known to the precious few to whom he unmasked.

Walter West was only around for a handful of comics (ten issues of The Flash, one issue of JLA, and six issues of Titans, plus a couple of annuals), but he left an indelible mark on me. “Chain Lightning” and the ensuing story that came to be known as “The Dark Flash Saga” hit at the very height of my Flash fandom, and the mystery of who the new Flash was had me baffled. I was convinced, up until the moment of the reveal, that it was Barry Allen, so to see a blue-eyed Wally West under the mask was quite the shock, and the rest of the story, detailing how he came to be in the ‘main’ hypertimeline, along with Wally and Linda’s eventual return and Walter’s tragic departure, are still some of my favorite Flash comics of all time. I waited for years for Walter to show up again, to no avail.

JLApe
One of Walter’s less memorable adventures.

But man, how great that reappearance could have been!

Walter’s status quo as it was at the end of The Flash #159 leant itself perfectly to more stories. A speedster, hopping through hypertime, trying to find his way home – who wouldn’t read that? It’s Sliders meets Quantum Leap meets the fastest man alive. He can’t stay in any timeline for too long or he risks destroying it, so there’d be a built-in sense of urgency behind every one of his adventures. There’d also have to be a change of scenery/universe for each different story, which would be a fun opportunity to see alternate versions of the DCU. He could get sucked into problems in each new timeline he visits – perhaps problems that he causes himself when he arrives unexpectedly – and he could make enemies or even a big bad who somehow tracked him during his world-jumping.

Angela Margolin

And then there was Angela Margolin, Walter’s ladylove from whom he was separated at the end of the original story. A scientist herself, it’s easy enough to envision her trying to find a way to cross hypertime to find Walter. Throw in Rip Hunter as a recurring foil, or even the Challengers of the Unknown (who were left exploring hypertime themselves at the end of the “Hypertension” storyline in Superboy). This series – or miniseries, or series of backup stories in the Speed Force title that never materialized – could have had it all.

Alas, it clearly was never meant to be. Hypertime was underutilized and ultimately disavowed by DC editorial. Where Mark Waid told sweeping stories that spanned time and space, Geoff Johns took The Flash in a different direction, telling grounded stories that built up Keystone City and Wally’s rogues gallery. Now, over ten years later and with a rebooted universe in which Wally was never The Flash, the odds of an alternate universe Wally showing up are likely slim to none.

But it’s fun to consider what could have been, isn’t it? After all, this is comics we’re talking about – anything is possible.

Joe Grunenwald writes about comics at NerdSpan.

The Flash in Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes (Plus Two Flash villains)

Hey Speed Readers,

I’d been away from the net for a few days so I hadn’t heard that the first picture of The Flash in Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes had been released by Game Informer Magazine. This is the first visual confirmation of the Scarlet Speedster we’ve had since USA Today revealed his presence in the game a couple of months ago. The only picture so far is in the magazine that I don’t own but luckily the internet is full of all kinds of cool cats posting scans and vids:

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Covers: It Can’t Be…YOU?!

As it turns out, the Flash was right. The man removing his mask in the prologue to “Chain Lightning” wasn’t who Wally thought he was at first. But Cobalt Blue certainly looked like the classic Scarlet Speedster! (Flash v.2 #144, 1999).

Interestingly enough, the series returned to the cover concept less than a year later during the Dark Flash saga, reversing the lighting, the angle…and who was doing unmasking. (Flash v.2 #154, 1999) Continue reading

Recent Acquisitions 2 *Graphic Intensive*

Alright finally another installment of “Recent Acquisitions”.  I haven’t posted an update since March, and I’ve actually acquired a lot more than what I’m about to show. But as I explained last time the feature is called “Recent Acquisitions” and I personally think “within the last month or so” when I think “recent”. Still not a bad haul to show off. First the group picture:

Clockwise from the Top: Pull-In Brand Flash Boxer Briefs, Blue Lantern Flash T-Shirt, Funko Flash Plush Doll, Infinite Heroes 3-Pack feat. Wally West, The Trickster and Heatwave, Flash Silhouette T-Shirt, and Sterling Silver Flash Bracelet

More after the jump.

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