Flash #1:
What Happened: It's Wally West's 20th birthday! He starts his day by buying some lottery tickets and lots of candy bars before heading to his apartment where his Teen Titans friends were waiting for him. While celebrating, Wally gets a call from a hospital and is asked to deliver a heart to Seattle from New York. Wally races cross country and happens upon Vandal Savage murdering some guy in Wyoming. Wally races over but Savage manages to teleport away before Wally could lay a hand on him. Wally tells the local police about the body and manages to reach the hospital just in time to pass out from his overexertion. He wakes up 17 hours later, finds out that the heart transplant surgery went smoothly, hops an airplane where he stops some terrorists from hijacking the plane and gets home. Wally puts on the TV and discovers that he'd won the lottery(!?!) before discovering an unopened present sitting on his table. Inside is a human heart and behind Wally is an angry Vandal Savage.
The Good: It was Wally West! There's your good! This issue did a great job of establishing who Wally was, and how big the shoes he was filling were. The swerve with the wining lottery ticket was unexpected and should lead to a lot of storyline opportunities down the road. The story was fast-moving and easy to get into. The cliffhanger was strong.
The Bad: Wally came across as immature and kind of dickish at times. The fact that Wally ran across the entire country and somehow happened across the very spot Vandal Savage was committing a murder was a bit much... Speaking of a bit much, Wally was taking an airplane from Seattle to New York and some terrorists hijack it wanting to go to Cuba. Now, it's bad enough that they happen to pick the plane the Flash was on, but shouldn't they have been hijacking an airplane a bit closer to Cuba?! That's a hell of a long flight!
The Verdict: I liked this issue more this time than I did the first time I read it, which you can check out here. On the plus side, I haven't read any of the next 80 or so Flash comics, so I have lots and lots of new reading material to get through until DC wises up and brings Wally back. All in all though, this was a good first issue with some promise for the future. Here's hoping you enjoyed this post, we Wally West fans need to stick together, boycott every comic Bland Barry appears in and hopefully one day Wally will be back where he belongs.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Take that, suckas!
Lmao, the best part of the story to me is the fact that Vandal can just teleport and find out Wally's secret identity and bring him a human heart as a present.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the fact Wally won the lotto, considering he's spent money on candy like an idiot, I can only imagine how much cash he'll waste.
Firstly i know nothing of flashes universe... ether flash besides what i saw in various antimated films and shows
ReplyDeleteso i am in no position to challenge your opinion. but i would ask has it never crossed your mind that prehapes the reboot might actualy make Barry an Intresting Character? just saying that is the point of a reboot
I am glad that you posted this. You and I have agreed on almost anything haha. However, and you may throw me to the wolves for this, but... I LIKE BARRY ALLEN. HEar me out though. I read the flash from a stack of my uncles comics from the 1970's to early 80's. When i jumped back into the cd universe i read essentials. Being flash vol 1 and 2 starring your most hated character barry allen. I have also read wally runs and enjoyed them quite a bit as well. Wally does have a more complex personality and it does make for some great writing at times. GL rebirth with the return of Hal was awesome. It was a good comic and written really well. However, Hal was kind of always around in the dc universe, so when he came back it was like a "return of the king" type moment for fans of him. With barry... flash rebirth was a major let down. Dc has failed in that rather than gradually inserting barry back into the dc universe they just ushered him in gave him his old spot and monthly title back. Even gave him an event.. whcih was not very good. I feel like DC did this specificially because one: as you have stated johns and didio are big on the retor silver age type characters. Two: Because in comics; according to writers and artists.. barry allen's flash was the usheing in of the first brand new silver age of comics. They actually say that he was the first real silver age character.
ReplyDelete-My problem comes in as stated before... don't just hand it over to the guy. I can't help but feel they could have written him in so much better. Wally took over the mantle just as dick did in batman. The biggest issue with this is that dick was only batman for a few years. Wally was flash for 20+! I can only imagine that a flash story of barry returning and ebing maybe crazy? kind of mixed up? something? Because of his sacrifice into the speed force. I know it would be imitating but i can't help but think of a wally/barry and a cap/bucky comparison. It would have been awesome. Barry is somewhat f a scientist.. Why not have him work the backgrounds with wally? help him out with things. Then when there is a threat that cant be beaten by one flash, you need two! *cue music* Bring barry back as a BA flash with wally as his partner/teammate and maybe change up the costumes a bit.. why not!? NO sign of wally in the reboot is an absolute sham though. I mean alot of characters were left out, but in the captain cold tie in to flashpoint... wally was murdered almost right away. Just plain disrespectful.
-As i was writing this i realized exactly why DC didn't do an epic flash run starring both wally and barry... The FLASH does NOT sell well at all. It's numbers would be so low compared to brubakers cap. Which is the biggest reason that Johns was assigned to it.
ReplyDelete"hey DC what is really lackluster at the moment? GL you say? Okay well lets do it. Repeat with Flash. Repeat now ith aquaman. And I get that from a business standpoint. It's cool to see characters retun to prominence but not respecting not only continuity from great past writers on flash like waid and millar's wally run is just a kick in the pants to us passionate fans.
-I didn't write this to conform you to barry allen or anything like that haha even if it were possible (which it is not!) I only wrote it so that you knew that there are barry fans out there. But for completley different reasons other than.. "he is my flash". I will be picking up the flash because manapul is writing and i am curious to see where they are taking the character. From one comic fan to another (and many others) I am sorry that wally is not th flash in this title. I would be picking it up either way and I am honestly hoping that wally makes a return of some sort whether it be in this series or the the dcu in general. I hope you read this as lightly as possible and understand that i am just a passionate fan as is all the others. Please don't put me in the corner for liking barry haha. Anyway its NCBD and that means one thing. Enjoyment. Have a good one and hopefully we will talk again soon!
@ cap von trapp
ReplyDeleteActually , rebirth wasn't all that good. I liked it at first but after discovering the DCU pre Infinite crisis & the wonder that was final night I said " screw Johns run"
Why? Here's why
To put things in perspective: I hated Green Lantern Rebirth. With a passion. I hated the unnecessary and contradictory retcons.
I hated that it brought back Hal Jordan, a boring character who couldn't hold his own title a decade earlier.
I hated that it destroyed the character development that Hal went through in the years in-between.
I hated that it sidelined Kyle Rayner,one of my favorite DC hero & played him as a chump.
I hated Guy's loss of his Vuldarian genes just so they write him as Hal's little bitch. That was Bullshit! Guy never liked Hal in the first place & he has always been a far more complex character thanks to JLI, Dixon & especially Beau Smith's run on Warrior with his OWN VOICE !
And How conviniently everyone has forgiven Hal? My guess is that he paid that bug to take the blame
The resurrection of Sinestro was about the ONE good thing about it & even then I'd rather have Neron do it (it would have actually emphasised the tragedy of Sinestro, after all , Hell is paved with good intentions...
Flash rebirth was the big "FUCK YOU" to all Wally fans. They turned Barry into a god or something & everyone is kissing his privates. & Remember awesome villains like Savitar,Neron, Zoom , Cap Boomerang 2 & Inertia? ,
Well they're not Barry enemies So fuck with a 10 feet pole, This along with the loss of Impulse & Young Justice is why I flipped off the new DCU
Saidi i agree with pretty much what you are saying. I guess i should have rephrased myself a little better lol. I was trying to get at the idea that GL rebirth didn't intorduce Hal as some sort of god like you stated with barry allen. It was a well written series, but not in terms of respecting continuity or development or growth. Johns is DC's real life hero because he grabs ivan reis and picks the slackiest title at the moment according to sales and tries to reinvigorate the character. Most recently aquaman in brightest day and now his own ongoing. I won't be at ALL surprised if he ends up with an event.
ReplyDelete-WHat i was trying to state was that it WAS completley disrespectful that they basically retconned and destroyed years of character and continuity with the speedster family. I like barry allen, but I wasn't stating that i agree with how they ushered him in as the next all being superhero. I was actually stating how i HATED that and still do. FLash rebirth was a HUGE dissapointment. Not only because the story lacked but for the exact reason that you stated. Completley removed anyu and all other speedsters from the forefront and ushered in barry bow down to me allen. Which should not have been the way that it worked. I was simply sayiong that GL rebirth didn't usher in a new Hal "god-being" jordan the way that Flash rebirth did. Plus Hal HAS been around just as you stated with all sorts of great and wild storylines. If anything i agree with the most of your points is that hal was forgiven almost immediatley.
-I don't want you to think that I was holding GL rebirth to a whole nother standard or anything, just that it was a well written story (dialogue wise.. not continuity or repectful wise). And as i stated earlier guys like rayner, west, bart, and guy all get the shaft which is NOT right. If a hero returns the others should not get the shaft. Nightwing is getting is now in his own series which looks promising. However, bucky was KILLED in fear itself with a whole nother creative team and it completley disrepects anything that brubaker ever wrote about him.
-Dc's biggest problem is the fact that johns and didio are in love with the silver age and want to reinvigorate every character ever. I know that this has been stated many times. All i was saying is that i don't mind Barry allen, bu i also have the utmost respect for wally, bart, jay and all the others. I will say that while I may like barry allen; I do HATE the way the johns has made him and the dcu in general. I do not blame you in the least for hating the dc reboot. They got rid of characters like wally and replaced them with ones like ressurection man. No offense to him either, but it really is a shame.
JT, a human heart is the gift that keeps on giving! :P And why does spending money on candy make you an idiot?? :P
ReplyDeleteMovieartman? That's impossible. Plain and simple. Geoff Johns wants the Flash he grew up reading, plain and simple, therefore, he's going to be the same boring-ass character he always was. Mark my words.
Cap, you know I respect your opinion, I mean we agree on most things, but I guess this'll be one of those things we agree to disagree on. I've read a few Barry Flash books(nowhere near as many as Wally Flash books though), and never liked the character. Like you said, Wally IS the more complex character, which is why Barry's return bothers me so much... Why would you take the more dynamic character, one who was the Flash for as long as Barry Allen(1959-1985 vs 1985-2010-ish) and throw him away?! It's seriously an example of Johns and Didio WANTING that character back, to hell with the fans! I read an editorial from Didio when they brought Barry back(in the back of some DC comic) and he admitted as much. He said he was a fan of Barry and needed another Barry fan to get him back. If I remember his exact words, he called Johns his partner in crime... And a crime was what it was...
I agree completely with your idea of if you HAVE to bring Barry back, then have him work WITH Wally. Just like Steve and Bucky when Steve came back... I'd even be fine if Barry served as the primary Flash and Wally became the Silver Flash or something. Give Barry the main Flash story and put Wally in as a back-up feature monthly. I'd buy that comic in a heartbeat, PLUS I wouldn't hate the Barry Allen character, Geoff Johns and Dan Didio nearly as much as I do now. As you said, it's just plain disrespectful and insulting that Wally is NOWHERE. At least when DC killed of Barry(yes, killed off, you can't convince me he was running through space for a few decades), Barry died as a hero trying to save the universe. THAT'S the way to retire a hero. Now with Wally magically and inexplicably gone for no reason, SOMEBODY has to take a stand for his character, and if I am the lone voice for Wally on the Net, so be it. SOMEBODY has to do it!
And Saidi, what can I say, you perfectly put exactly how I feel. When I was new to DC and just getting into Green Lantern, one of the first things I read was GL Rebirth. I thought it was great, not knowing anything else about the series. After reading the entire Kyle Rayner run, I think it's the biggest piece of bullshit I've read. Hal Jordan DIED a hero after having a nervous breakdown. I don't see why Hal couldn't continue to work as the Spectre, it was cool seeing Hal fight for his redemption after all the evil he did. Hell, I'd have happily picked up a Hal Jordan: Spectre series. But suddenly claiming Hal was possessed by a space bug, and that's why he went crazy is just ridiculous... And if Johns/DC wanted to try to boost GL sales back in 02, maybe Johns(being one pf DC's two top writers), should have tried his hand at Kyle Rayner before throwing him to the wolves. I mean he pissed ALLLLL over Ron Marz and Judd Winick's GL work. Maybe giving Johns or Morrison a book like Kyle's Green Lantern, instead of series like Batman and Superman, which ALWAYS sell pretty well, would have pulled GL up WITHOUT the reconning of nearly everything that had happened the past 10 years. And Flash Rebirth? It sucked so bad it's not even worth my mentioning.
And I do get what you're saying, Cap. You like Barry but don't like the way DC handled handing off the Flash mantle to him from Wally. And I agree with that. Had things turned out differently, there's a great chance I'd have become a fan of Barry... Provided Wally didn't get the big shaft.
Exactly! I too re-entered comics shortly before GL rebirth and i think it was one of the first events that i read. My biggest complaint was exactly what you are saying. I don't mind barry or hal. But WHY destroy every other character/creative teams work in order to make things happen. I really DO hope that wally retunrs in the new dcu and i hope that he is just as awesome if not more awesome than ever before! My biggest complaint in comics is when the industry ignores/retcons important and valuable character development and storylines. GL rebirth was a WELL WRITTEN WRITTEN comic. As in the dialogue and pacing was great, but it completley disrespects continuity and character development. Flash rebirth did the same, only 20 times worse. IT all stems back to johns and didio.
ReplyDelete-I have always hear that your first doctor in the doctor who series will always be your favorite. Even if you watch 10 more you always love the first one more. I think it goes the same with wally and barry. I can't say it for cap or even dick/batman because it was a short lived run for them. Wally was the flash for 20+ years! so i can understand that he has a multitude of fans. My flash is barry, yours is wally. Others are bart. I really enjoyed the wally flash run, but for me being so young and sifting through my uncles barry allen flash comics. I am just comfortable with barry. Hope everyone enjoys new comic day! later
I feel REALLY sorry for those poor souls whose Flash was Bart... :D
ReplyDeleteHey you can review The Morrison JLA too, since you arent reading Justice League. plus Wally an Kyle Rayner are there too.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is a great idea! I'll have to see if I can get that to work!
ReplyDelete