From Newsarama’s Dan DiDio: 20 Answers, 1 Question for January 23:
13. One question that keeps coming back with the return of Barry Allen as Flash. What’s the role of Wally West going to be?
DD: That question is great fodder for story, and what will be taking place in Wally’s life. He will be trying to figure out his place in the world in regards to being a hero and a family man, given the turn of events and the return of Barry. The return of Barry basically forces Wally to ask himself why he would want to continue, and should he continue in the role of the Flash? He took the mantle on, and “graduated” from Kid Flash to Flash because Barry died, and now that he’s returned, Wally has to question what he wants to do. He also gets to reexamine his family life, and see where he fits in and what exactly his purpose is. That’s going to be the centerpiece of a lot of stories in Titans and beyond in the coming year. Wally will be featured very prominently in Titans following the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth. We’re going to be addressing all of that – there’s a lot of story left to be told with Wally.
The interview also talks about a possible role for Barry Allen in Blackest Night, which seems to have grown from this year’s big Green Lantern story in the style of Sinestro Corps War to being this year’s big DC Universe Event-With-a-Capital-E.
A question to anyone reading Titans: has it actually gotten good? It took me a long time to break the habit of reading it, and if I’m going to have to fall off the wagon just to be able to read new Wally West stories, it had better be worth it.
It’s getting funny that every time I read your news posts I cringe. I agree about Titans. For me personally, I have no interest in any of the Titans characters. They do nothing for me. Wally graduated out of that group to become a member of the JLA and a hero in his own right. To see him reverting to things in the past isn’t pleasant.
I am getting really worried now that Flash: Rebirth is going to end up being the last Flash book I read. Maybe it’s time to get Volume 2 out of storage and re-read it all over again!
Heh. It’s getting to the point that I cringe writing them. I run a Flash fan site and a Flash fan blog, and even I don’t know if I’ll still want to read the series a year from now.
To answer your question…NO! Titans is still boring and through no fault of his own, Howard Porter’s art sucks. It hurts an already boring story, and I can’t believe DC is pawning Wally off on that horrendous excuse for a monthly. This book should have been a special or a mini at best. There is no reason why this group should be together for this long, they all(Dick and Wally especially) have more important things to do, including the JLA. Wally will get his new suit, but we’ll have to suffer through terrible writing and even worse art to look at it.
I have to say this news sucks, and I’m really sorry man. The good news is Titans has gotten better. The first arc was absolute crap, but this arc with Jericho has been better. It’s still not great, but it is definitely a step up, to the point where I don’t hate that I buy it every month. Howard Porter is not back to Flash level, obviously, but he is still very good.
In fact, there was a juicy little piece of something in issue 8, that I guess since you don’t read Titans, you missed. Wally and all of the Titans had to go into a kind of confessional, and tell some deep secret so that they would know that Jericho wasn’t possessing them, Wally said “I lied to Linda. It wasn’t actually ‘nothing.’ I did actually kiss her.” Something I thought the world’s foremost Wally fan should know.
So Titans is better, but it still is not a worthy medium for the future adventures of Wally West. Let’s hope for that second Flash title, huh?
I think Titans is ok, but not great. I love all these characters and am glad they’re together. I usually like Howard Porter, but his art in it looks really static now.
(I’ve actually really been enjoying TEEN Titans, especially the art. Not that that has anything to do with Flash.)
I hate to think that Wally’s comment was about someone while he was married. Maybe he was talking about Raven (she came up with Linda in one of the last Flash issues, right?)?
And featuring Wally West as Kyle Rayner.
Ugh. One more reason I don’t want the Titans department to be in charge of Wally’s future.
Unless Wally is referring to what happened between him and Frankie in issue 80, I can’t see Wally EVER cheating on his lightning rod. Linda’s love is so strong that it has brought Wally back from death many times.