The latest digital-first chapter of Justice League Beyond continues the introduction of Danica, the new Flash of the Beyond-verse. She finally fights alongside the Justice League…but can she succeed where the rest of the League has failed? And, where does Wally West fit into this?
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD – PLEASE READ THE ISSUE BEFORE CONTINUING!
This chapter picks up with the Justice League facing off against Ronald Tagg, the new villain who has somehow gained the ability to absorb the talents and abilities of heroes and villains alike (think Amazo for the Beyond-verse).Calling himself Mindslide, he easily has the power to defeat the Justice League…and even sets them to battle with each other!
Cue Danica, our new Flash, watching from the sidelines. She is listening to voices…but not just any voices. She is able to communicate with all past Flashes, and right now is planning what to do with Jay, Bart, and Wally! Eventually, she comes up with her own plan…which puts the past Flashes into the action (if only for one panel).
Afterward, Danica meets Superman and explains her ability to communicate with past Flashes. Superman is visibly moved at the idea that she can speak with Wally, and I loved his reaction in this scene. When Supes offers League membership to Danica, she listens one more time to Wally and agrees to join on one condition – a race with Superman! As they head off to parts unknown, Superman’s reaction says it best…”Oh yeah…definitely a Flash. She’ll fit right in.”
This chapter ends back at Bruce Wayne’s “Vault” (the secret storage place for the bodies of past super-villains) where Terry and Bruce realize that there may be more trouble ahead from an organization called the “Brain Trust” – this leads us into another story arc next chapter, and the continuation of the Justice League Beyond recruitment drive.
Derek Fridolfs wrote this chapter and provided the inks, with pencils by Jorge Corona and color by Nick Filardi. The weekly nature of this comic means both brief chapters and a more stylized artwork – given that, it truly works here, and it effectively captures the essence of the TV version of the Beyond-verse. The twist they introduce here, that the old Flashes can communicate directly with the new Flash, is a fun angle that I hope will be explored a lot in future issues. As for Wally…I realize that this isn’t New52 continuity, but the idea that we can see Wally West in a new DC Comic in 2013 is most welcome!
SUMMARY: The Beyond-verse is proving to be a most interesting place to visit, and if you aren’t checking out Justice League Beyond through your favorite comics app you are definitely missing out!
I am so not enthused by Beyond stories or a female speedster it isn’t even funny, but are you saying we actually *see* (in actual panels!) Wally West do something in this or is it just a ‘ghostly’ voice text balloon or a still (think photo) of him with a ghostly ‘voice over’? If there’s true action and not just a ghost voice then I’m going to buy this. If not….never was a fan of the future world.
(On the other hand it would be wonderful if this became a best seller if only to stick it to certain DC Editorial people.)
He is pictured in one panel, acting alongside Jay and Bart. To say more would be spoiling too much…but after all, it is only 99 cents for the digital chapter. And, I have no problem at all with a female speedster. I miss Jesse Quick and Jenni Ognats as much as I miss any of the other speedsters who have yet to show in the New52. You may want to give it a shot.
Not to mention Irey. Notwithstanding the hair, I was really hoping that the Beyond Flash would be Irey.
One panel?
Eh…I dunno. That smacks of the ‘one panel’ Flash Family picnic of Wally asking where Barry is…(or rather the one panel in the Flash: Black Lantern tie in where we got a tiny shot of Wally kissing Linda, I forget which issue.
Eh…my desire to see the one panel is warring with my desire to stay away from digital and my utter apathy for female characters of any kind. Crap. What. To. Do.
Bart is Impulse! Fun stuff, even if for just one panel.
Remember, Justice League Beyond is a continuation of the 1990s DC cartoons (Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League Unlimited etc). In that universe it seems that Wally West became Flash as an adult and Barry Allen was never Flash.
Impulse could have debuted sometime after the last episode of JLU, and long before the first episode of Batman Beyond.
Jay Garrick’s inclusion is a little odd, but his helmet was in the Flash museum in one episode of JLU, and he appeared in the tie-in comic.
It’s actually a little sad how excited I was to see Wally in anything at all. I bought this issue before I even finished reading this. There isn’t much of Wally or the others, and they don’t explain exactly how Dani’s hearing them, but I liked it anyway. Also, I think that the new speedster is pretty cute and she has personality traits that resemble each of the previous Flashes and that made me smile.
Since I’m a girl I liked the idea of a female speedster, though Wally was the first Flash that I read about and he will always be my favorite.It also made me a little happy because I miss Jesse too.
🙂 First sentence: Oh yeah, I’m with you there. Was over the moon when saw Wally’s name mentioned and though am really not interested in a future League applaud the writers of this book for *daring* to use him.
Just am praying that if Didio was (for once) being honest about “seeing Wally [in 2013] that he wasn’t referring to one panel in a relatively obscure kid’s line book. Honestly wouldn’t put that past the…expletive deleted.
I’m a woman too, but…it’s a preference thing. With a family book we would have seen Jessie tutoring Irey West. So many things taken from us and it doesn’t matter who has whom as a favorite because every character is someone’s fave. 🙂
Although the original Batman Beyond, Justice League Adventures and Justice League Unlimited cartoon based comics were part of DC’s kids line, the new Beyond series are aimed at a general audience.
Okay, yeah, but still…nothing else in there really interests me. Not even future Supes.
I’m not leaving Flash (companies leave me behind, I don’t leave my faves) but am now looking into such books as Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye to the point have placed preorders on it and the next Flash book rather than on Flash v2 and cancelled my order for Earth 2 v1.
From what I’ve seen, Hawkeye looks fun like Wally’s Messner-Loeb run was fun. Something I’m just not seeing being done with Bart in Teen Titans or Jay in Earth 2.
This actually hurts. Not kidding when I say loyalty is very big with me once earned. But with DC’s attitude…even I have my limits on how far ‘earned’ can stretch. Time is short. Keeping my eye peeled for Wally mentions and am (for now) getting Flash trades,I want a *fun, male hero* to read and enjoy. Just not finding that with DC.
Didio said this? Do you have a source that you can link to?
In December, Dan Didio posted a Christmas/New Year’s message on Facebook: “Merry Christmas to Everyone!
Even you Wally. maybe I’ll see you in the New Year.”
It got picked up by a lot of blogs, but I figured it wasn’t worth taking the bait.
Yeah, probably not. It is interesting though.
Even at just one panel and a disembodied voice, I’m glad Wally’s race isn’t over yet. I hope they delve more into this backstory in future issues or a Flash Beyond spinoff. The Flash was the reason I bought these chapters.
I’m late on this, but is it safe to assume she’s named after Danica Patrick?
I’ve been wondering the same thing.