Wallace Rudolph West

[MattGrant]

Flash no more?

Okay, we know about the Barry Allen "re-birth"-- but what about Wally?

I just got the recent and possibly final issue of the Flash. I have to say I'm a bit disappointed and bewildered.

Even while I knew that the Barry thing was coming, and that SOMETHING had to happen to Wally, I was a bit surprised a while back to notice that there were no solicits past #247.

I thought, "waitaminit! We're in the middle of a hum drum queen bee arc here... how does it suddenly end?"

So, okay, they make the issue appear to take on some finality "This was your life Wally West" story title, the grim reaper shadow on the cover.

Okay, this is the last issue (AGAIN) of Wally's Flash.

Okay, Flash: Rebirth will probably be one of the biggest things for DC in 09 (alongside the black lanterns).

Okay, I have no idea what role Wally will play in this new proposed Flash universe.

OKAY OKAY OKAY!

**I'm going to mentions stuff that could be considered "spoiler"-- but really there's nothing to spoil**

So, for this final issue, what do we get? A big spoonful of anti-climatisism, that's what. STILL going in the queen bee arc (final villain: QUEEN BEE?!?!? not a rogue, not Vandal Savage, not Grodd or Kobra or Kadabra.... nope... queen bee)-- so what happens? Linda's dying, but lives. The kids are kidnapped but saved. Wally has lost his powers but gets them back. They have an adult teen titan re-union and then he calls it a day (or a break), for no apparent reason, and ends with "I had a good run." (I love a good pun, ask Seb, but c'mon? to end the series?)

NO WONDER they're having problems getting interest in the character!

I have heard that Wally will eventually resume hero duties (big surprise-- if rebirth is a flop, I'm sure they don't want to kill off the guy that carried the mantle for the last 20 years) but under another name/costume/blah. Okay, that might be cool.

I think they could have come up with a much better going out story where they could have recovered him (two good ones in my brain actually), and actually either tied it into rebirth a little bit, or at least given a reason for Wally to be out of action for a while. The whole "take a break" thing... is weak to me.

Crap. and end it on 250!

I dunno. I've been reading Wally since #43-- I think the least they could have done something with a little class!

[SebastianPiccione]

I dropped the latest FLASH arc way back, so I didn't read this issue. I know Johns has said FLASH REBIRTH will include all versions of the Flash, so I'm sure there is something for Wally.

Also, I love that the mere mention of puns is enough to bring my name into any conversation!! :D

[ScottWilliams]

I think Wally should stay on as the Flash. The Flash is "The fastest man alive." And well, that's Wally. He's faster than Barry. Why not let Barry come in with some cheesy line about how the world knows this Flash (Wally) and that he will take on a new mantle? How about Spark, or Streak, or SuperfastmanWHOisNOTfasterTHANwally?

[MattGrant]

First off. "The Streak." I don't think that one will be code approved!

I wonder if Jesse Quick, who is currently Liberty Belle, I have to wonder if she'll show up as... er... Jesse Quick!

[ScottWilliams]

Yeah, well that's why the guys at DC get paid to think up cool names and I don't. :D

[SebastianPiccione]

The ONLY reason Wally is "faster" than Barry, is becuase they wrote that in as a way of making him worthy of the FLASH mantle, so there's no reason to believe, that after all this time living witin the speedforce itself, Barry can't be faster than Wally is now.

Plus, Geoff Johns likes the idea of multiple characters sharing a name at the same time. He restored the GL Corps AND got Alan Scott to gob by GL again instead of SENTINEL, he introduced a second Wild Cat, In Booster Gold he reintroduced Ted Kord while leaving Jamie reyes intact, and he's had Jay and Wally acting as FLASH for some time now. So I'm sure there will be a place for Wally in post FLASH REBIRTH continuity.

[ScottWilliams]

Well I wasn't really for Hal Jordan coming back because I'm more of a Rayner fan and that wasn't handled too badly, so maybe this will be handled well too.

I just don't want Wally hanging up his running shoes or anything. And no, Wally is the FASTEST. Says me. So NYAH!

At first it kind of seemed like they wanted to replace Kyle and Wally with their predecessors, but I guess if they find a good way to bring back the predecessors AND keep the successors "in all their glory" it isn't so bad. I just think that Kyle and Wally have had some good stories and they've taken up their respective mantles and grown for so long in the roles that it would be wrong to just kick them to the curb to bring back old characters that have been "dead" for over a decade or two.

[MattGrant]

Are there any changes in store for current Flash Wally West's costume? "I'm redesigning Wally West's costume right now, and it's terrifying." While Sinestro's costume, with its seemingly random blue color and "jester collar," was ready for a redesign in Van Sciver's eyes, "Wally West is the most perfectly designed costume ever, aside from Green Lantern's costume, in my opinion." Van Sciver said the challenge was to redo the costume without either making it less cool or more cool than Barry Allen's and thus implying that one character is better than the other.

Noting some audience member's skepticism about bringing Barry back at all, Van Sciver explained his motivation for doing so. "I want Barry to come back and be King Arthur. He's the most straight-laced, perfect Flash, rigid in his morality and his ethics," making the looser, cooler, more laid-back Wally a Lancelot figure. Van Sciver told the audience "Kick me in the ass if I fail."

Will the Flashes each have a different set of effects accompanying the use of their powers, as Van Sciver has done with the Green Lantern Corps? "Sort of. Not in the way you're thinking of." He said the Flashes are all different.

Van Sciver then turned the tables on the audience, asking the room if we were okay with Barry coming back. "It's not like Wally or Kyle aren't cool enough," Van Sciver said, referring to Barry Allen and Hal Jordan's replacements, adding that they didn't set out to move Kyle to the side so much as add Hal back into the franchise. Similarly, "There's room for Barry and Wally and Jay…and possibly Bart, you never know, somewhere down the road."

This sounds... actually... kinda cool. Though if they're keeping him on as "Flash" I wonder why they felt the need to end the series now?

Thinking about it, continuity wise, Wally couldn't really have been taking that much of a break since the series ends (in cont) BEFORE Final Crisis, but you see Wally active as the Flash in FC when he and Jay end up "finding" Barry.

One of the cool things EVS did with the Lanterns during rebirth, if you'll remember, was to give each of them their own "power signature." John Stewart with the architecual (sp) sig, and my fave, Guy with the power just oozing out of his ring from sheer will power. I have to wonder if they'll do something cool like that for the Flashes.

By the way, Seb is right, if you'll remember, immediately post crisis, Wally could only reach the speed of sound. When he got his own series they sort of rectified that since he was going to be THE flash-- even then, though, he couldn't vibrate through solid objects without making them explode, and I think it was mentioned on occasion that he wasn't quite as fast as Barry (though i think they ended up attributing that to a mental block? I could be wrong, and he got past it to become the fastest flash).

Also, cred to Seb (I guess the guy is good for more than just puns), there could be a whole barrage of reasons Johns could pull out of his butt about why Barry could be faster than Wally... probably the simplest being with Barry back alive and active with the Speed force, it drops Wally's share of the force down. Or what Seb said. or a combo. Shit, maybe Wally gets an ingrown pinky toe nail. I dunno!

hahah!

Anyhow, like GL has the Corps that allows multiple GL (even multiple 2814 GLs for some reason), Flash has the legacy aspect that has been built in since Barry named himself after his favorite comic book hero (and, oddly enough, eventual friend) Jay Garrick Flash-- I see no problem with them keeping them all in there. I used to love the Mark Waid days when you had Johnny Quick, Jesse Quick, Max Mercury, Jay Garrick, Impulse and Wally all having adventures together.

IT can be a good thing.

Flash 247 on the other hand.... lame.