The results are in, and Speed Force readers’ favorite Flash story of 2012 was….
Young Justice: Bloodlines! This episode of the animated TV series featured for the first time ever four generations of Flashes in the same episode: Jay Garrick and Barry Allen as the Flash, Wally West as Kid Flash, and Bart Allen as Impulse.
The top comic book story was Flash #0, retelling the origin of Barry Allen.
Here are the full results of the poll.
| Story | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Young Justice: Bloodlines | 30 | 23% |
| Flash #0 (Origin) | 23 | 17% |
| Young Justice: Coldhearted | 17 | 13% |
| Flash Annual (Rogues) | 13 | 10% |
| Earth 2 #2 (Jay Garrick’s Origin) | 11 | 8% |
| Flash #6-7 (Captain Cold) | 9 | 7% |
| Other | 8 | 6% |
| Flash #13-14 (Gorilla Warfare) | 8 | 6% |
| Flash #10 (Weather Wizard) | 4 | 3% |
| Flash #12 (Glider) | 3 | 2% |
| Flash #11 (Heat Wave) | 3 | 2% |
| Flash #9 (Gorilla Grodd) | 2 | 2% |
| Flash #8 (Turbine) | 2 | 2% |
The “Other” choices were interesting, including two write-in votes for DC Universe Presents #12 (Kid Flash), which I literally thought of adding about 30 seconds after the poll went live, and several expressing dissatisfaction with the current book.
- The one where Wally West was re-introduced in the New 52, exactly the same way as he appeared pre-Flashpoint.
- They all made me sad and unhappy.
- Comixology reprints Flash 48-50 Wally west stops Vandal Savage and gets “the Shiny Suit” that he would wear icionically until Flash #107
- Absolutely Nothing; No Wally West Flash means no favorite story of 2012.
- Didn’t like any of it.
It’s much more varied than last year’s poll, though since 2011 was dominated by Flashpoint and the launch of the New 52, that’s understandable.
You know why Flash #0 was voted as the top Flash comic of the year? Because it the only time characters stood out more than the action
It was definitely great seeing all the Flashes in that Young Justice episode.
In fairness, I haven’t watched those Young Justice episodes yet. But I didn’t like any of the comics.
So…basically….the fans want The Flash Family more than they want a single speedster?
Someone should inform Didio and Time Warner. -_-;;
I suspect the “big” showing for Young Justice is simply explained: Wally West is on that show, and not in the comics. So a poll done on a site frequented mostly by 90s/00s Flash fans is going to see most of the poll voters voted the only ‘Wally vote’ they could – Young Justice.
What I found most surprising with the results is that there were just 133 votes. Was the poll only open a few days?
Could be. Or it might just reflect the fact that TV audiences are bigger than comic book audiences.
In retrospect, I should have done several things different with this survey:
1. Include a “Didn’t like any” option like last year. I’m sure some people just didn’t respond, or picked the least-worst, rather than writing it in Other.
2. Include DCU Presents #12. There might have been more people who would have voted for it if their memory had been jogged.
3. Separate out the TV episodes somehow. Maybe make it two questions, one for favorite Flash comic, one for favorite Flash story (with a “the one I picked for the previous question”) option.
Those would have made it directly comparable to last year’s survey. As it is, there are too many variables to really be sure.