Are people okay with Wallace West now?

[QUOTE=Frontier;4913123]Honestly I could do with a lot less "I'm cool with Barry" -> "Now I hate Barry" -> "Now I'm cool with Barry again" -> "Now I hate Barry again" rinse and repeat.[/QUOTE]

felt, I 100% concur

[QUOTE=Frontier;4913123]Honestly I could do with a lot less "I'm cool with Barry" -> "Now I hate Barry" -> "Now I'm cool with Barry again" -> "Now I hate Barry again" rinse and repeat.[/QUOTE]

Last I checked wasn’t he kind of upset that he found out he didn’t exist pre-flashpoint....has Williamson done anything with that yet? I feel there’s a lot that can be done with a character like him who appears regularly with that kind of multiverse shenanigans.

Considering the character was a trainwreck of epic proportions when he first debuted (as others have pointed out: he was an unwanted replacement of a beloved character, a worthless stereotype, and one of the greatest proofs that race-bending is an iffy proposition at very best) but, aside for the stupidity of there being two Wally Wests running around (I mean, in real life cousins can and do share first names but not really in fiction), I don't have any major issues with him. Mind you, my only real exposure to the character has been in the early days of Williamson's The Flash and in that godawful Titans/Teen Titans/ Deathstroke crossover, and I thought he was fine but fairly uninteresting.

And, frankly, though I have no real issue with Wallace these days, I do think his dubious origins will be something he will never truly escape, which may well be why he seems to have made so small an impact on the DCU outside of Teen Titans and the occasional appearances in the Flash: The Most Frustrating Book Alive. The Flash family is one made up of anywhere from six to a dozen speedsters and the amazing thing about what Mark Waid did, in particular, was that he justified having this many heroes with virtually identical powers appearing often in the same book. No one has managed to do this post-Nu52 and nowhere is that more clearly the case than a Wallace West who pales completely against both his namesake and, since his return, the one and only Impulse. Now, someone may well come along at some point and really make the character worth talking about but, boy, do they have their work cut out for them.

I feel like sooner or later Dc will need to pick a Wally and stick to it. I don’t envy future Flash writers who will have to do stuff with both of them.

[QUOTE=sifighter;4913152]Last I checked wasn’t he kind of upset that he found out he didn’t exist pre-flashpoint....has Williamson done anything with that yet? I feel there’s a lot that can be done with a character like him who appears regularly with that kind of multiverse shenanigans.[/QUOTE]

that was his reason for joining up with Damian and forming the latest iteration of the Teen Titans, but him and Barry appear to be in good enough terms now. i believe they just kinda put all the stuff aside since the Force Barrier/Strength, Still, & Sage force stuff was going on and their powers were all over the place. I would love for Wallace to get more involved with more heavy scifi/Multiverse stuff, I feel they've keep trying to mine conflict for him through interpersonal and dramatic situations but what they need to be doing is having more fun with the character. have him race a couple people across the Multiverse, let him play with the other force users, hell put him on a alien racetrack, iunno, just don't have him throwing tantrums at Barry for the umpteenth time because "lying" or something else vague and ultimately insignificant.

For a company that hates redundancy they sure made it difficult for themselves to get rid of Wallace.

[QUOTE=sifighter;4913152][B]Last I checked wasn’t he kind of upset that he found out he didn’t exist pre-flashpoint[/B]....has Williamson done anything with that yet? I feel there’s a lot that can be done with a character like him who appears regularly with that kind of multiverse shenanigans.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, which made it weird that he started hating on Barry again because of it, but what can you do (other then blame Barry).

[QUOTE=jetengine;4913216]For a company that hates redundancy they sure made it difficult for themselves to get rid of Wallace.[/QUOTE]

I've said a lot of things about DC in my time, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they hate redundancy, with like five different Bat-Kids, not even counting Dick and Jay, seven or eight Green Lanterns just from Earth, something like four Flashes, two Wallies, three or so Superboys, etc.

I still don't like him. Glass wrote him good though.

[QUOTE=Starter Set;4912637]I ignore him. I have no interest whatsoever in that boring version of the real Wallace West.[/QUOTE]

That's my overall thought on him. I hated him back when he was not only supposed to replace Wally but seemingly become DC's answer to Miles Morales. But now? I just see no point in him. Making him his own character was a step in the right direction. But the character he's become is always either the most boring or the most unlikable member of whatever cast he's a part of. Good God, I wanted to punch him in the throat all through Rebirth's first Teen Titans run. He's improved since then but now he's just kinda....there. Nothing about him is special. Nothing about him makes me want to seek out stories with him in it. He's just not fun to read about at all.

And it makes me sad because I love seeing young black heroes in the spotlight. I love Static, Miles, Jakeem, Jackson, etc. I don't dislike Duke Thomas anymore thanks to Outsiders. And I hear Naomi is REALLY good. But Wallace? I'd be fine if he just...went away.

[QUOTE=Frontier;4913236]Yeah, which made it weird that he started hating on Barry again because of it, but what can you do (other then blame Barry).[/QUOTE]

I'm not surprised. Misplaced anger kinda seems to be his thing. Look at how badly he messed up in TT and yet he felt like Damian owed him an apology for firing him.

I'd rather he get his name changed officially to something else to avoid any possible connection to what he was in the New 52, or just erase the character completely. To me as long as he keeps the name he will never be able to escape the awfulness of what he was created for in the New 52. It is like a stench that won't go away as long as he has that name. Plus the idea of two characters in the same franchise basically having the same name who have occupied the same role is horrible for storytelling.

[QUOTE=Badou;4913468]I'd rather he get his name changed officially to something else to avoid any possible connection to what he was in the New 52, or just erase the character completely. To me as long as he keeps the name he will never be able to escape the awfulness of what he was created for in the New 52. It is like a stench that won't go away as long as he has that name. [B]Plus the idea of two characters in the same franchise basically having the same name who have occupied the same role is horrible for storytelling.[/B][/QUOTE]
Unless they [I]really[/I] lean into Wallce in the sidekick, teen hero, role and make Wally as the successful adult successor character.

I'd rather he didn't exist. I find him purposeless and think he eats up screen time and relevance from much better or more suited members of the Flash family than him. He's still not a very good character conceptually and basically any serious conversation about him starts off with talking about how you have to ignore years of his existence...just to be granted with mediocrity. He only fits in a paradigm where Barry is The Flash forever and needs "a" Wally West as a sidekick, still, because that was his original goal and his place in the family. They have essentially retconned, ignored, and thrown away every single thing they could about that New 52 era of The Flash save a scant few things, and Wallace is one of them despite being the absolute worst part of any of it. They even got rid of Daniel, his very disturbingly retconned father, because he was such a poor excuse for a "reverse" Flash. One of his biggest sins is his entire history with Barry Allen, pre and post rebirth, is terrible. He undermines one of the absolutely greatest character traits Barry [B][I]used[/I][/B] to have: he was a great mentor and teacher.

Yet with Wallace all we ever get is how Barry sucks and lies to him and is a terrible role model and god why does this character exist just to make Barry worse? Isn't that the fucking opposite purpose of a sidekick? This is so fundamental to Barry's character and, hell, Wally (not Wallace's) character that watching Wallace spoil it really bothered me. Barry was literally a character designed to be a good teach from day 1. Baked into his coda is teaching kids, both fictional and in real life! Yet here Wallace is, and every other arc he talks to Barry it's telling us how shitty Barry is. It's one of the reasons I dislike modern Barry much more than I used to, and Wallace is a huge part of that.

He was pretty much only ever a half enjoyable character in Priest's Deathstroke run, completely cut off from the Flash and Teen Titans franchises. There's too much annoyance and confusion and bad blood to justify for a grossly average character. He's simultaneously eating up Bart and Iris' place in the family purely because, well, it'd look racist to get rid of him. Not for any other real reason than that. Which is true, I suppose, because people would lack context and jump to the worst conclusion.

This is a company that has spent years telling us that Wally can't really do anything because he's too redundant. Wallace is the most intentionally AND unintentionally redundant character I've ever seen.

I haven't been reading Teen Titans, so I don't know if he's any good in there. What little I've seen it seems like it's not the case. He's generally terrible in The Flash, just another angst vector in an overly angsty book. Not much material to work with, and what little there is isn't worth sidetrack and stalemating better and more progressive characters. I've just never seen the value of the character and would rather the very limited pagetime The Flash family gets in the Teen Titans and The Flash comic to go to someone else. Kind of like how I'm not raring to see, I don't know, Speed McGee make a triumphant return. There's better stuff around.

I stayed away from DC for most of it's New 52 run so I never read character when he first showed up. Having the same name as OG Wally didn't bug me as it seems to be a thing in the Flash family.

As a character I have no issues with him, really. When rebirth started I thought DC was doing a lot of good things with him. Establishing him as new Kid Flash, joining the Titans, becoming a pimp, and even rolling with, Slade. Since the more recent Titans run as started, I've only gotten frustrated because whatever more development and growth his character could have just came to a complete stop. I don't like the way Glass has ignored him for majority of the run and hasn't been giving any arc or major story, The focus has been too much on, Damain. There's still a ton of things you can do with the character but as of now not appearing in The Flash as often as he used to isn't helping nor is Titans. Oh, well crossing my fingers for something in future.

[QUOTE=lemonpeace;4912926]
I think Damian has more than proven he is not a good leader, i feel he's mainly leading the Teen Titans because he's Robin. Wallace should take the reigns as leader with Emiko as his right hand[/QUOTE]

THIS!

Anyone who's been reading this current TT run will see how much and often he questions many of Damian's decision making. What good it'll do for Wallace to step into that role but eh nobody leads TT with an R on their chest.

[QUOTE=Grandmaster_J;4913492]I stayed away from DC for most of it's New 52 run so I never read character when he first showed up. Having the same name as OG Wally didn't bug me as it seems to be a thing in the Flash family.

As a character I have no issues with him, really. When rebirth started I thought DC was doing a lot of good things with him. Establishing him as new Kid Flash, joining the Titans, becoming a pimp, and even rolling with, Slade. Since the more recent Titans run as started, I've only gotten frustrated because whatever more development and growth his character could have just came to a complete stop. I don't like the way Glass has ignored him for majority of the run and hasn't been giving any arc or major story, The focus has been too much on, Damain. There's still a ton of things you can do with the character but as of now not appearing in The Flash as often as he used to isn't helping nor is Titans. Oh, well crossing my fingers for something in future.



THIS!

Anyone who's been reading this current TT run will see how much and often he questions many of Damian's decision making. What good it'll do for Wallace to step into that role but eh nobody leads TT with an R on their chest.[/QUOTE]

Wallace is right to question Damain's decisions.