Tag Archives: Wally West

This Week: Flash #16 vs. Grodd, Plus Double Digital Flashbacks

Flash #16 Final Cover This week sees the release of Flash #16 by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, part 4 of “Gorilla Warfare.” IGN has a preview. Meanwhile, we get two digital backissues each of Flash and Impulse from the 1990s.

The Flash takes Grodd into the Speed Force in a last-ditch effort to defeat the mad gorilla! And…he loses?! Plus: The Rogues, the introduction of a major villain and a look at the one and only date between Barry Allen and Iris West in The New 52!

Digital Flashbacks: ComiXology is adding Flash #102-103 (Wally West) and Impulse #49-50 to the digital back catalog.

Flash #102: Wally West vs. Mongul, the alien warlord who destroyed Coast City. Update: Check out Devin’s action figure recreation of the cover at The Fastest Fan Alive.

Flash #103: Linda has run off, the only clue being a photo of her with her ex– an ex whom Wally didn’t know about! But relationship troubles are the least of their problems, as the couple have to work together to stop a cult from raising a demon.

Impulse #49: Evil Eye is sent to a behavior modification camp run by Wally’s ne’r-do-well father, but Bart suspects the camp is going too far. It’s up to Impulse to find out what’s going on, and shut it down if he has to. This is the last issue of William Messner-Loebs’ run on the series.

Impulse #50: Todd Dezago takes over as writer. Impulse teams up with Batman, and we get our first hints of Bart’s “dark twin,” Inertia.

The Wests in…Crisis on Castoff Earth (Fan Art)

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Crisis on Castoff Earth by Xum Yukinori, from this week’s The Line It Is Drawn feature at Comics Should Be Good. You may recall his Flash of Two Worlds homage from a previous installment featuring the Earth-1 and New 52 versions of Barry Allen.

This week’s topic: post-apocalyptic versions of comic book characters. rodtownsend suggested: “Wally West, Donna Troy, Stephanie Brown (and anyone similarly deNUded) hanging out at the end of the world.”

Click through to see a larger version of the image, plus some other great ones including: Optimus Prime, Road Warrior…Scott Pilgrim vs. the End of the World…Squirrel/Tank Girl and more.

This Week: Digital Impulse, Flash & Smallville

Digital flashbacks this Wednesday include Flash #93 and Impulse #47. This fills in a gap, making the first 100 issues of Wally West’s Flash solo series available digitally. Additionally, Friday features the release of the next digital chapter of “Haunted” as Impulse guest-stars in Smallville Season 11.

Smallville Season 11: Haunted

Smallville Season 11 on ComiXology.

Something terrifying is pursuing Impulse — what could keep up with the Fastest Man Alive?

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This Week: Impulse in Smallville (in print!) plus Digital Flashbacks for Wally West & Bart Allen

Smallville Season 11 #9 Cover by Scott Kolins

The print edition of Smallville Season 11 #9, the first part of a story guest-starring Impulse (Bart Allen), arrives in stores today. If you’ve been reading online, this contains the same story as the digital edition Smallville Season 11 #25-27. (Confused yet?) Written by Bryan Q. Miller; art by Jorge Jimenez with a cover by Scott Kolins.

Also in digital back-issues at ComiXology, we have four new issues from the 1990s:

Flash #90: Wally West has realized that his whole trial has been manipulated by Abra Kadabra…too late to stop an injunction against using his powers within city limits. Now he has to stop Kadabra and clear his own name while on the run from the law. (Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo)

Flash #91: Determined to never leave anyone behind again, Wally West adds Johnny Quick’s speed formula to his own super-speed…and finds himself trapped in a single moment of time. (Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo.) This issue was included in the Flash: The Greatest Stories Ever Told trade paperback collection.

Impulse #45: “Bart’s mom comes back from the future to see her time-lost son, but not everybody is imbued with the spirit of the Christmas season. The odds of there being peace in Manchester are slim!” (William Messner-Loebs, Craig Rousseau)

Impulse #46: As the Flash family of the late 20th century prepares to embark on the time-spanning mission in “Chain Lightning,” Impulse imagines meeting his grandfather Barry Allen…and how different his life might be with this living legend as his mentor instead of Max Mercury. (William Messner-Loebs, Craig Rousseau)

Impulse #46

This Week: Gorilla Warfare in Flash #15, Flashbacks to the New Trial of the Flash & Impulse

Flash #15 is out today (preview).

“Gorilla Warfare” rages on! In THE FLASH #15, Barry Allen must go to extreme measures to defeat Grodd while the Gorillas take over the Gem Cities. With his body out of commission, The Flash uses the Speed Mind to glimpse the future, and things are not looking good for him and the Rogues! Can Barry think of a way out of this situation? Or are the Gem Cities doomed forever? From the creative team of Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato, Marcus To, and Ryan Winn, THE FLASH #15 races into stores this Wednesday.

Smallville Season 11 is on break this week (DC’s digital firsts are generally three chapters each month) and will be back next week, along with the print edition of the first three chapters of “Haunted” guest-starring Impulse.

Meanwhile, ComiXology’s digital re-releases continue:

Flash #88-89: Wally West is sued for negligence by a woman who was horribly injured during the battle with Razer, and the shock sends him into a frenzy of crimefighting. How do you fight a lawsuit when you blame yourself? Can even the fastest man alive save everyone? Flash on ComiXology

Impulse #43: Gamal runs a convenience store in Manchester, Alabama, but in his home country, he was a brilliant scientist and inventor. Now he’s being pursued by foreign agents intent on weaponizing his inventions.

Impulse #44: School bully Evil Eye steals his dad’s super-villain costume for Halloween. What could possibly go wrong? Impulse on ComiXology.

Armageddon Tired of This…

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Obligatory theme cover!

Armageddon 2001 was a story running through DC Comics’ 1991 annuals. 10 years in the future, a super-hero would turn evil, hide himself behind a mask and take over the world as Monarch. A generation into Monarch’s reign, a scientist working on a time travel project found himself sent back in time and given the ability to glimpse anyone’s most likely future. He proceeded to travel around the DCU, looking at the future of each hero in hopes of finding the one who would become Monarch, and stopping him…by whatever means necessary.

In the case of the Flash, Wally West spent most of the next decade in the witness protection program. He and his wife Bonnie helped take down a corrupt businessman with mob connections and a super-power to learn everything about a person just by touching them. Their son David inherited Wally’s speed, but not the aura that protects him from friction, making his power potentially deadly. Waverider’s view of the future begins when David risks his life to save someone else’s, and is seen doing it. The Flash’s cover blown, Diogenes’ allies kidnap David from the hospital and recruit the Rogues to lead Wally West on a chase to find his son.

Convinced that Flash couldn’t be Monarch, Waverider moved on, though his brief interruption distracted Wally West from the crucial moment in which he and Bonnie would have met.

Fun fact: This was Mark Waid’s first full-length Flash story; he had previously written the framing sequences in The Flash 50th Anniversary special, and would soon start writing the ongoing series.

Not so fun fact: Armageddon 2001 was infamous for a last-minute change in plans. During the summer, news leaked that the Captain Atom was going to be revealed as the future villain. DC swerved, latching onto Hawk (Hawk & Dove had just been canceled, leaving them expendable), despite the fact that Hawk & Dove had already appeared in the future fighting Monarch. Of course, future writers ended up making Captain Atom into Monarch anyway, and Hawk & Dove were both killed and brought back to life by the end of the post-Crisis DCU.