Tag Archives: Wally West

Mo’s Flash Volume 2 Reviews: Review Two

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Flash #3, August 1987

Story overview:
This issue is not a good day for Wally. First, he gets a speeding ticket (oh the irony, Flash getting a speeding ticket) and he says ‘I’m not going to let this ruin my day.’ He gets home to his mansion and there’s a note for him from Fran. It reads:
Dear Wally –
I have moved out. It was a mistake to move in with you. Things are happening too fast. I still love you, but I need some time to myself.
I’ll be in touch!
Love,
♥ Francine
Wally’s response is once again: ‘I’m NOT going to let this ruin my day. Flash has an appointment with a few doctors at S.T.A.R. Labs in Utah the next day about this speed, which can’t even pass the speed of sound. There are rumors going through the Lab about a mechanical monster that is near the Labs. Flash hears of them but of course disregards them. His main doctor is Professor Schmitz and his nutritionist is Tina McGee. Flash wakes up for an early jog when he passes a huge mechanical robot monster in the desert not too far from S.T.A.R. It attacks him, so instinctively he runs back to S.T.A.R. and the robot follows. It starts attacking everyone outside of the building and during the attack Professor Schmitz loses a finger. Everybody is forced inside by security, only to be locked in by the robot that controls all the computers in the world. It calls itself Kilg%re and announces its control of computers and play to rid the world of humans through S.T.A.R. Labs’ computers. The National Guard eventually breaks in and Kilg%re’s message is spread upon every television and computer in the USA telling everyone to flee the country or die. Flash, Tina, Professor Schmitz, and two of the National Guard are in a car driving back to the local town when flash notices that Professor Schmitz’s finger grew back.

Review:
Overall a very good issue. I liked the “This is not going to ruin my day” motif throughout the book. I feel like in Flash books, a lot should happen fast and this issue does just that. Very action packed, a lot of high paced crazy robot fighting goodness. The Flash getting a ticket for speeding in his Porsche is pretty funny… oh the irony. Kilg%re’s is a little bit iffy, it seemed very far out. I definitely liked how it ended, very cliffhanger-y. It makes you question whether Professor Schmitz is completely innocent, something I for one took for granted.

Rating:
Writing: Five out of five stars. Loved it. Pacing, action, and cliffhanger all were nicely excicuted.
Art: Four out of five stars. Anatomy and consistency were a little off.

Favorite Quote:
“That does it! Everyone into the building right now!…”-Security Guy, time passes, “Its coming in the building! I think everyone should get the hell out!” –Wally; page 13

More after the break:

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Flash Hints from DC Nation at NYCC

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Mostly from coverage at Newsarama, though there’s more on CBR:

First post-resurrections reunion of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan? Blackest Night #0 and Flash: Rebirth #1, said Johns, who added that Blackest Night #0 will be free—as part of Free Comic Book Day.

“If Wally West is just going to be in Titans and guest starring in Flash, aren’t you basically making him Kid Flash again?” “Who said those would be the only books he’d be in,” asked Sattler.

Thank you, Ian Sattler, for at least implying that Wally isn’t being stuck in Titans alone.

Starman or Golden Age sequel? “I think the best sequel to the Golden Age was done by Mr. Darwyn Cooke,” said Robinson, referring to New Frontier. “As far as Starman, probably not, but I am doing a Shade origin miniseries.”

DiDio then brought a fan in a Kid Flash outfit up to the dais to pose for a picture with George Perez. The fan asked about the future of Bart Allen: “He’ll be in the 31st century in Legion of Three Worlds,” said Johns, adding that he’ll be back in the Flash universe as of Flash: Rebirth.

And from the lightning round of questions:

Max Mercury? “Uh…maybe,” said Johns.

Kid Flash back in Titans? “We have to fight about that.”

“How many Flashes will you kill in Blackest Night?” “Not enough,” said DiDio.

“Any chance of a Young Justice trade paperback?” “Not at this time,” said Wayne. The crowd didn’t like that much (or at least the vocal portion).

Anything coming up for the Rogues? “Yeah, it’s called Flash: Rebirth“

Mo’s Flash Volume 2 Reviews: Review One

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Hey guys, its Mo! Really happy to be here, this is a really cool opportunity to share my reviews with people not on the ‘Bloc! Thanks Kelson!

Alright, here’s the first review, and when I did this one, I was just getting used to how I was going to go about this, so don’t worry it only gets better!

Flash #1, June 1987

Story overview:
In the beginning, Wally buys lotto tickets and 6 Baby Ruths. He gets home for a ‘surprise’ party, which he knew about. The Titans and Wally’s girlfriend Francine throw it for him and for about 5 minutes and they have a great time. Wally gets a pair of shoes with ‘a special fiberglass sole which is good for 100,000 KM at 700 MPH’ made by S.T.A.R. Labs from the Titans. At the party, Wally eats an enormous amount of hamburgers, as eating is a theme throughout the issue. Before they even get to the cake, the party is cut short by a phone call from a Dr. Aikens who tells him that he needs to deliver a heart for a transplant that won’t make it in time due to bad weather. Note that when Wally walks in his office, Dr. Aikens calls him Kid Flash, which is corrected by Wally as Flash. Wally says he’ll do it for a price which the Doc isn’t too happy about. The deal finally is decided for the hospital to call on Wally whenever they want, as long as they take care of his medical bills. On his way out, an unnamed doctor calls him Kid Flash again, to be corrected by another unnamed doctor. He runs for quite a while when he sees Vandal Savage killing a detective who was on Savage’s case. Wally runs the detective to the local police station and as he runs to give the heart transplant, he can’t get Savage’s name out of his head. He gets to the hospital just in time for when he passes out, and sleeps for seventeen hours before awaking in perfect health. He runs to McDonald’s and gets five double cheeseburgers and four chocolate malts before he comes back to the hospital to see the patient who he ran the heart for. She happens to be an author that Wally has read books from and talks with her for a while before returning home on an airplane. On the airplane, he stops a hijacking and sprains his hand in doing so. He has six dinners and sleeps until he gets off the plane. When he gets to his apartment, nobody is there but his happy birthday banner is still up. He turns on the TV and realizes he won the lotto when the lottery comes on. He sees a present which he didn’t see before he left, opens it and in it there is a heart. Like the type you’d find in a human. The issue ends with Vandal Savage in Wally’s apartment.

Review:
The story seemed a little flat to me and although there were some surprises (Vandal Savage and the heart present), I just didn’t feel like it was that intense. In the issue, Wally can’t top the speed of sound which really sets a slow pace for the book. It takes him something like three hours to get to Seattle from the hospital, which frankly isn’t that impressive. Of course at the time, his top speed was 705 MPH and that was very fast for him at the time, which compared to his speed today is fast. I guess if I was reading this in 1987 and I was used to Wally being that fast, I wouldn’t think twice of it. My favorite part of it was when he was stopping the plane hijackers, which took him all of three seconds. The way that part was paced was perfect. And when he jumps back into his seat, the guy next to him asks Wally, ‘Did you see that?’ which was a nice way to end the scene for me. The ending did make it so I want to read the next issue, so I’m going to go do that now!!

Rating:
Writing: four out of five stars. I really liked this issue, but I’m holding back that one star because it didn’t seem like a first issue of a series to me.
Art: five out of five. I had no problems with the art.
Favorite Quote:
“All of a sudden, I’m a millionaire.” –Wally, page 20

Keep reading for issue #2! Continue reading →

Dan Didio: Bringing Wally Back to his Roots

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Newsarama’s latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio is in video form, broken into 4 video clips with 5 questions each. The first clip includes the following:

OddballUK wrote: Flash: Rebirth begins in April. While I’m looking forward to the mini and reading about Barry, my question is how happy you think fans of Wally will be over his involvement in the mini and status in the DCU when it concludes?

I think we’re going to treat Wally with the same level of respect Kyle was treated in with the Hal Jordan Rebirth. So I’m hoping Wally fans are going to be excited. We’re going to be bringing Wally back to some of his roots, and more importantly, there’s going to be plenty of Wally in the DCU in 2009 with Rebirth and following Rebirth as well.

On one hand this is good news for Wally fans: Wally won’t be simply racing off into the sunset. On the other hand: What exactly does he mean by returning Wally to his roots?

His roots as a hero in the public eye, loved by the people he protects for being one of them and not hiding his identity? (I could go with that.)

His roots as the speedster who has to eat 50,000 calories a day to maintain his speed? (I could deal with it, but it would be annoying.)

His roots as a single guy who “moves fast?” (Throw Linda and the kids under a bus so that he won’t seem “too old.” No, thanks.)

His roots as the Titans’ resident conservative caricature? (Do we really need this?)

His roots as a teenage sidekick?

It really depends how far they want to go back, doesn’t it?

And of course Kyle Rayner fans are divided as to how well he’s been treated since Hal Jordan’s return.

Speed Reading: Super-Friends, Secret Identities, and More

Logan Mo Mott continues his Reviews of Flash vol.2, with issues #3 and #4, introducing the Kilg%re.

Comics Worth Reading reviews the All-New Super-Friends Hour.

CBR talks with Marc Guggenheim about “Character Assassination” in Spider-Man

The Comics Journal reprints an angry letter from Carmine Infantino regarding payments for some use of Black Canary. (via The Beat)

Comics in Crisis discusses the Worst-Kept Secret Identities, including Flash Wally West.

Comic Book Kingdom quotes a scene from Middleman in which the two leads discuss comic books, in particular the Flash.

And a bit off-topic, this list of Geek Gods tries to re-imagine the Greek/Roman pantheon with geek icons of today, with Stan Lee as Zeus, Majel Barret Roddenberry as Hera, Wil Wheaton as Hemes, and so forth.