Tag Archives: Wally West

Fan Film: Flash — Crossover

Dan Speaks: The Future of Wally West

From Newsarama’s Dan DiDio: 20 Answers, 1 Question for January 23:

13. One question that keeps coming back with the return of Barry Allen as Flash. What’s the role of Wally West going to be?

DD: That question is great fodder for story, and what will be taking place in Wally’s life. He will be trying to figure out his place in the world in regards to being a hero and a family man, given the turn of events and the return of Barry. The return of Barry basically forces Wally to ask himself why he would want to continue, and should he continue in the role of the Flash? He took the mantle on, and “graduated” from Kid Flash to Flash because Barry died, and now that he’s returned, Wally has to question what he wants to do. He also gets to reexamine his family life, and see where he fits in and what exactly his purpose is. That’s going to be the centerpiece of a lot of stories in Titans and beyond in the coming year. Wally will be featured very prominently in Titans following the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth. We’re going to be addressing all of that – there’s a lot of story left to be told with Wally.

The interview also talks about a possible role for Barry Allen in Blackest Night, which seems to have grown from this year’s big Green Lantern story in the style of Sinestro Corps War to being this year’s big DC Universe Event-With-a-Capital-E.

A question to anyone reading Titans: has it actually gotten good? It took me a long time to break the habit of reading it, and if I’m going to have to fall off the wagon just to be able to read new Wally West stories, it had better be worth it.

Secret Identities on Trial

6 Replies

This week, The Flash: Emergency Stop hits the shelves. The trade paperback covers half of the year-long Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run from the late 1990s, and, according to solicitations, features the conclusion of “Three of a Kind.” This three-part crossover between Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and The Flash features the second– and third-generation heroes Kyle Rayner, Connor Hawke, and Wally West. Villains Heat Wave, Sonar, and Hatchet attack a cruise liner in which Dr. Polaris is being secretly transported, only to find the three heroes have booked a vacation on the same ship.*

The segment in The Flash v.2 #135 focuses on the villains’ trial, with flashbacks to the incident. At the time, Wally West’s identity was public knowledge, though he testified in full costume. This in itself is unusual given standard courtroom dress codes (a skin-tight bright red costume isn’t exactly conservative business attire, and tends to stand out a bit). But then Green Lantern takes the witness stand:

The usage is similar to the U.S. Constitution’s 5th Amendment, which states in part that “No person…shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” Two things can be gathered from these panels:

The DC Universe had a “Federal Authority of Registered Meta-Humans” years before Marvel’s Civil War (though after the first story with the Mutant Registration Act).
The DCU version of the United States Constitution has a Twelfth Amendment which, under some circumstances, allows witnesses to give an alias rather than a real name when testifying in court.

There’s no indication that it’s required to register, or whether it’s simply a good idea if you want legal backing. It’s not even clear whether heroes have to register under their real names. I can’t remember whether any other books made reference to this authority, but suddenly I really want to find and reread my back issues of Chase.

In the real world, the Twelfth Amendment dates back to 1803 (passed 1804) and changes the way the President and Vice-President are elected. Assuming the DCU’s US just has one more Constitutional amendment than we do, their Twelfth would be just about as old, which leads to the question: Why did they need to amend the supreme law of the land to allow masked heroes to testify 130 years before the Golden Age of super-heroes?

Thinking about it, though, DC does have super-heroes whose adventures take place in earlier eras, especially in North America. Not just heroes of the Western genre like Jonah Hex or Bat Lash, but classical super-heroes with masks, costumes and powers. Max Mercury’s origin dates back to the early 1800s, for instance, and Miss Liberty (an ancestor of Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle) fought in the American Revolution.

Might the early United States in the DC Universe have decided it was worth letting some of their more colorful national heroes remain pseudonymous even in legal proceedings? It’s certainly possible.

Whatever the circumstances of its passage, it sheds some light on the otherwise nonsensical fact that Barry Allen kept his mask on and his identity secret from his arrest all the way through his trial for manslaughter in the case of Professor Zoom’s death, dissected in great detail by Bob Ingersoll.

*It’s a little more complicated than that, of course.

Geoff Johns on Flash: Rebirth, Smallville and More

3 Replies

Geoff Johns was all over the place this week, talking with Hero Complex about several projects including Flash: Rebirth, to Newsarama about his Smallville episode, Legion, and to Wizard about the comic book projects he has for 2009.

Regarding Flash: Rebirth, he tells Hero Complex about series losing their focus:

When the book starts to not be about that, maybe it needs to refocus. Writing Flash with Wally West, he was kind of the sidekick to Barry Allen, the original, then he became the main Flash after Barry left and died. But you look at what the theme of Flash’s book has been for the last 200-something issues with Wally West and it’s been about a man trying to fill someone else’s boots. It doesn’t really have anything to do with speed. I mean, it has something to do with speed, but it was not totally what the book was about. The new Flash that I’m doing is all about speed. What speed means. I’m sure that you have a Blackberry or cellphone, or I’m sure that you’ve downloaded songs or something and asked, “Why is it taking so long?” Everyone wants everything faster today, so speed is even more of something that we can all relate to on a different level.

I like the fact that he wants to focus the book on speed. However….

The guy writing Flash: Rebirth, who also wrote ~60 issues of the last series, feels that Wally West’s defining characteristic is being a wannabe. Remind me again why Wally’s fans should simply relax and trust him? 🙄

Speed Reading: Flash #247 Review Round-Up

It’s been two weeks since the final issue of The Flash came out starring Wally West*, and the reviews of Flash #247 are in.

The Q Review – skip it; 2 out of 10.
Chuck’s Comic of the Day – well-written, but feels like stalling.
Comix 411 – okay, but not a fitting send-off.
CBR Reviews – not the worst, but expected more.
Conociendo el Universo DC (in Spanish) – entertaining story with poor art consistency.
Major Spoilers – ended on a high note; 4 of 5 stars.
Superhero Times – feels like it’s stopping prematurely rather than ending.
ComiXtreme – sloppy & inconsistent; 1½ of 5.
And of course, Speed Force – decent story that made an effort to sum up the series

They’re very mixed, ranging from “skip it” to a “high note.” Several make favorable comparisons to the last time Wally’s series was canceled (Flash #230). Most see this final arc as little more than a placeholder, marking time while DC prepares Flash: Rebirth.

*Until the nostalgia cycle catches up to him 20 years from now. Or until the next sales crash. Or, if we’re really lucky, until DC launches a second Flash series in parallel with Barry’s.

Looking Ahead: The Flash in 2009

14 Replies

While The Flash is currently on hiatus, it’s clear that DC is making a major push this year to promote the Scarlet Speedster.

Flash: Rebirth

The centerpiece of this push is Flash: Rebirth, a six-issue miniseries by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. In addition to re-integrating Barry Allen into the modern DC Universe, it’s described as an attempt to revitalize the Flash franchise and expand the Flash mythos. More info: what we know so far about Flash: Rebirth.

It’s a given that a new Flash ongoing will launch after Rebirth finishes, almost certainly starring Barry Allen. While Geoff Johns has been strongly hinted as the new writer, there have been no hints as to who might draw it, and DC has not confirmed a creative team or even a start date.

Of course, with Barry Allen taking over the main series, what happens to Wally West? All we know is that he’s getting a new costume.

Collections

2009 is going to be a huge year for collected Flash books.

First up is Emergency Stop in January, collecting the first half of the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run on the book from the late 1990s. (They filled in for a year while Mark Waid went off to do JLA: Year One.) The second half of their run comes out in June as The Human Race. This includes the introduction of the Black Flash, who figured prominently in the last few issues of Bart Allen’s series.

Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga, the story which brought Wally West and his family back from limbo, also gets a trade paperback this month.

March brings The Flash Archives Volume 5, picking up 1962–1963 (see also: write-up of the contents).

In May, the first Impulse collection in a decade will be released in the form of The Flash Presents: Mercury Falling (more info).

June, concludes the Morrison/Millar run with The Human Race.

July sees the release of two Flash hardcovers: DC Comics Classic Library: The Flash of Two Worlds collects the first few team-ups of Jay Garrick and Barry Allen during the Silver Age. Then Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge collects last year’s miniseries. [Edit: fixed date for Flash of Two Worlds.]

Seven collections — and that’s just half the year!

Around the DC Universe

All indications are that Jay Garrick will continue to appear in Justice Society of America, and that Wally West will stick around in Titans.

Justice League of America is another question. It looks like Wally will be there at least until the series catches up with the events of Final Crisis. What happens afterward, and when Barry Allen becomes DC’s primary Flash, remains to be seen. The two most popular theories:

Barry replaces Wally in Justice League of America, bringing us back to the Silver-Age status quo of Barry in the JLA and Wally in the Titans.
Barry joins the new team in James Robinson’s soon-to-launch Justice League, alongside Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen, and Ray Palmer — the heroes he knows best — and Wally keeps his spot in JLA, ensuring that each team has a Flash.

The Flash will probably continue to appear in Super Friends, and Kid Flash in Tiny Titans.

No one seems to know what’s in store for Bart Allen. Despite strong hints of his return in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, delays have prevented us from actually seeing it. We know he’s one of very few dead characters who have been ruled out as potential Black Lanterns in 2009’s big event, Green Lantern: Blackest Night.

Other Media

Animation: With Batman: The Brave and the Bold featuring regular team-ups with other DCU heroes, there’s a good chance of seeing the Flash on the small screen again this year. Articles about the soon-to-be-released Wonder Woman animated feature have indicated that an animated Flash movie is in the works. (Though at two a year, we aren’t likely to see one until at least 2010.)

Live Action: The long-planned Flash feature film seems to be stalled at the moment, but if this year’s big Flash push succeeds, its fortunes may turn around again.

Video Games: The Flash appears in Sony’s DC Universe Online MMORPG. A firm date hasn’t been set for release, but the earliest quoted is late 2009.