As reported at CBR, Wally West will appear in his own mini-series called Flash Forward which begins in September. Written by Scott Lobdell and drawn by Brett Booth, the series will deal with the events of Heroes In Crisis and Wally’s search for redemption. The first issue is due out on September 18th.
FLASH FORWARD #1
written by SCOTT LOBDELL
art by BRETT BOOTH and NORM RAPMUND
cover by EVAN “DOC” SHANER
variant cover by INHYUK LEE
His name is Wally West—and he was the Fastest Man Alive. That is, until the Multiverse was rewritten without him or his family in it. Wally returned and tried to make it work, but the damage was done. Spinning out of the events of HEROES IN CRISIS, follow the man who called himself Flash on an adventure to find redemption in a cosmos that has fought so hard to destroy him.
ON SALE 09.18.19
Thanks my favorite character. and I don’t want to read him anymore
I’m sorry to hear that 🙁 Hopefully this series begins repairing the damage that was done, and it’s at least potentially a positive sign that DC realizes they screwed him up badly.
I’m also super optimistic about this series, excited to get a Wally book. But I don’t think it indicates a shift of direction or “realization” from DC … this was obviously part of the Heroes in Crisis plan all along, because it couldn’t be something they threw together in the last 3 weeks.
The backlash has been happening for a long while, though, at least in certain circles. I heard persistent rumours that Wally was the HiC killer before the first issue was out, and people were furious about it then even though we didn’t know if it was true. Whether or not DC cared about that anger is another matter, and you may well be correct that this has been in the works for a long time. But the rumour from nearly a year ago was that Wally was the killer and would then join Suicide Squad, and I noticed that Rich Johnston mentioned the Squad rumour when he said three weeks ago that Wally would be getting a new solo (and he was right about that, obviously). So who knows, perhaps they did change their plans as people grew increasingly upset.
A creative team who have had more misses than hits, handed a poisoned chalice.
If Geoff Johns or Joshua Williamson were given the book, I trust they’d do all they could to undo the damage done (Wally was corrupted by The Batman Who Laughs, mind controlled by Grodd, etc), fight the character’s corner. With Lobdell, I just don’t see that happening.
changing the subject just a bit….
I just got my Multiverse Wally West Flash figure (and ordered the NuWally Kid Flash)
Somethings been bugging me though. Nine times out of ten, when a figure of a character finally gets a figure after a long delay, the character then either gets killed or promptly changes their look. Well, when Wally’s figure was announced last year at SDCC it was at the same time that heroes in Crisis fwas also announced and Wally seemingly died in the first few pages! Of course what really happened is almost as bad…but! the upside is, where there’s life, there’s hope.
That being said, we’re now being given this new Wally Series in September and while I still don’t trust the powers that be (cough!Didio(t)!Cough!) I’m at least cautiously optimistic.
Now here’s the problem though. suppose at the end of this mini, Wally gets a suit change from his Rebirth look? We’ll have to wait six or seven years for McFarlane to catch up and get around to producing a Wally Flash that reflects either his existing look or whatever comes on down the pike!
Now why would they change his look? well, Wally possibly joining the suicide Squad would be one reason (He got a wildly different costume from his regular threads when he joined the New Elite!) Another would be possibly someone points out the slight impracticality of wearing an open crown cowl with such a thick head of hair (Particularly for a speedster!)
Last night I was watching an old season one episode of the Flash, and Caitlin and Cisco were debating how many bugs Barry might eat in a day of running at super speed. Now imagine how many bugs Wally West might collect in that huge mop of hair he has spilling out of his cowl…..yeeuch!