Wally West: Flash Appreciation 2018

[married guy]

Well, unless DC comes up with a good reason/story for a separate Flash book (I'm not saying it can't be done, but questioning whether DC these days would know how to do it), which would be worse:

* Wally in no separate series
or
* Wally in a terrible separate series that maybe gets cancelled within a year

In DiDio we trust (to screw everything up).

How about with Barry currently struggling to find a balance between his regular life & heroic duties, why not have the following?

Barry remains a member of the JLA and bases himself in Central City working CCPD and staying on top of the craziness.
Wally bases himself in Keystone, Bart & Max live together again, Jesse back in charge of her business with all working together to handle everything that arises around the globe.
(The Rogues for these characters is already excellent. Savitar, The Rival, Inertia, Kilg%re, Razor, Folded Man etc.)
Everyone has a job to do, but can also join forces should the situation call for it.

[MajorHoy]

How about with Barry currently struggling to find a balance between his regular life & heroic duties, why not have the following?

Barry remains a member of the JLA and bases himself in Central City working CCPD and staying on top of the craziness.
Wally bases himself in Keystone, Bart & Max live together again, Jesse back in charge of her business with all working together to handle everything that arises around the globe.
(The Rogues for these characters is already excellent. Savitar, The Rival, Inertia, Kilg%re, Razor, Folded Man etc.)
Everyone has a job to do, but can also join forces should the situation call for it.

Of course, half of those characters you mention haven't been back in continuity since before Flashpoint, so DC would have to do something about that first (while there's already a long line of missing characters that DC is "supposedly" already saying will return at some point . . . )

[married guy]

Of course, half of those characters you mention haven't been back in continuity since before Flashpoint, so DC would have to do something about that first (while there's already a long line of missing characters that DC is "supposedly" already saying will return at some point . . . )

Sure, there's THAT....

[Ascended]

If it were up to me I'd have Wally join the Justice Incarnate and help protect the multiverse.

It'd be a solid fit, I think. Barry "keeps" earth and his position with the League, and can still have all his usual adventures around the city, globe, time, and (yes) alternate realities. Nothing changes for him.

Wally however, gets to avoid the "diminished" problem he's had since Barry's return (at least partially) by holding a important role on an important team with a big mandate. Justice Incarnate lost their Flash during Tomasi's Superman run and they'll need another. Wally has tons of experience dealing with hypertime and alternate realities. He can be written to his full ability because Barry won't be right there, holding a glass ceiling over him (though DC will still never let Wally surpass Barry again, Wally could get closer than he is these days to his former glory). And Wally can bring his wife and kids (if the kids have to exist) to help provide a grounded foundation for the title/team and keep the core of his supporting cast around.

[Digifiend]

Fun fact about that Justice Incarnate Flash. His codename, Red Racer, is shared with the Japanese counterpart of the Red Turbo Power Ranger.

And that team doesn't NEED a Flash. They don't have a Wonder Woman. What they do have is two Supermen (Superman and Captain Carrot), a Batman, an Aquaman (Aquawoman), a Green Lantern, a Shazam (Mary), an Iron Man (Machinehead) and a Thor (Thunderer).

[BohemiaDrinker]

Fun fact about that Justice Incarnate Flash. His codename, Red Racer, is shared with the Japanese counterpart of the Red Turbo Power Ranger.

And that team doesn't NEED a Flash. They don't have a Wonder Woman. What they do have is two Supermen (Superman and Captain Carrot), a Batman, an Aquaman (Aquawoman), a Green Lantern, a Shazam (Mary), an Iron Man (Machinehead) and a Thor (Thunderer).

Debatable.

First, a Thor can easily fufill the archetypical role usually occupied by Wonder Woman.

Sercond, a multiverse hopping Justice League without a Flash feels incredibly wrong.

[MajorHoy]

. . . a multiverse hopping Justice League without a Flash feels incredibly wrong.

They could always draft this guy:

[BohemiaDrinker]

They could always draft this guy:

Not a Flash.

I'm not saying that the Flash is the only character or franchise to have any claim to the Multiverse: there are several. Still, I believe there is a historical and symbolic significance to the Flash when dealing with those kinds of stories, and the absence of characters from that family would be felt.

[Ascended]

I think Pariah would be a huge boon for Justice Incarnate. The guy is whiny beyond all belief and pretty damn useless, but he makes for a great warning system and he'd provide a nice connection to the old multiverse.

And yes, you don't *need* a Flash for a multiversal team......but it wouldn't feel right without one on the roster. And Justice Incarnate *did* have a Flash, until the Racer sacrificed himself to help save the Supermen and Women of the multiverse. They're short one speedster, and there is no one better (IMO) to fill that slot than Wally West.

For that matter, a Harbinger should be involved too; the original from COIE would work but it wouldn't bother me at all to see Donna return to that briefly-held role. Gods know Ms. Troy needs a purpose in the world and being the next Harbinger made her screwed up history sort of work in her favor.

And I'd be remiss not to mention Nix Uotan too. He's too awesome to ignore.

Clearly, my idea for Justice Incarnate involves switching the roster up some.

[skyvolt2000]

EXACTLY!!!!! How many freaking Bat related titles does DC have?? There is ZERO reason that we can’t have another Flash title.

As LONG as you got stores who will over order the books and have no issue with unsold books piling up (while throwing fits about the much smaller pile Ms marvel or Moon GIrl leaves).

He will get books.

Look under his cape to see how many folks can boast solos, team books and minis.

100-200 solo issues
Dick, Catwoman, Tim, Babs, Jean Paul, Red Hood & Birds of Prey
40-99
Cass, Batwing, Batwoman, Batman Beyond, Gotham Central & Harley
10-39
Damian, Michael Lane, Movement, Mother Panic & We Are Robin

So it's hard to debate him getting books.

Flash could have that but the powers that be decided a war among Flash fans was better for business.

[Ascended]

Flash could have that but the powers that be decided a war among Flash fans was better for business.

I trade wait Flash so I'm behind, but my understanding was that this arc was spinning on the Barry-Wally war we fans have been fighting for the past thirty years? Metatextually of course.

Flash could totally support a second title, with a decent creative team. But I don't think it'd be smart business to put Wally and Barry on competing covers. I think they vie for too many of the same fans, scratch too similar an itch, and have too similar a narrative for one book to not sap the other of readers. Just as a small, unreliable sample size, I'm willing to bet most of us who post here, if confronted with a Barry and a Wally title of equal quality, would pick the character we like more and drop the other. DC doesn't want to split revenue like that.

Bart or Jesse or Wally the second? They could probably carry a title without pulling fans from Barry's book; they'd be complimentary titles, not competing ones (just as a Robin title doesn't pull readers from Batman). I think Wally getting a solo would compete too directly with Barry's to make it financially viable for DC.

Me, I just want them to put Wally somewhere important. He isn't going to get a solo anytime soon it seems (whether that's wise or not and no matter how much I want a Wally book again) but I'd at least like to see him doing something that matters, not stuck in the Titans, recycling the same sh*t the Titans have been doing for twenty years. Put Wally in the League, or Justice Incarnate, or *something!*

[byrd156]

The only reason they aren't doing two Flash books is to keep Barry as THE Flash. Wally can co-exist as long as he's not taking the spotlight.

[Kyer]

I'll start speculating on where Wally the Glorious (eh, Original) will end up once I know he survives the latest from Didio. By that I mean not only is still breathing, but is still Wally and not some Batman-Wrapped-In-Red-&-Angst. Got a long memory and don't trust TPTB one iota.

[WallyWestFlash]

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10 char.

[Buried Alien]

If it were up to me I'd have Wally join the Justice Incarnate and help protect the multiverse.

It'd be a solid fit, I think. Barry "keeps" earth and his position with the League, and can still have all his usual adventures around the city, globe, time, and (yes) alternate realities. Nothing changes for him.

Wally however, gets to avoid the "diminished" problem he's had since Barry's return (at least partially) by holding a important role on an important team with a big mandate. Justice Incarnate lost their Flash during Tomasi's Superman run and they'll need another. Wally has tons of experience dealing with hypertime and alternate realities. He can be written to his full ability because Barry won't be right there, holding a glass ceiling over him (though DC will still never let Wally surpass Barry again, Wally could get closer than he is these days to his former glory). And Wally can bring his wife and kids (if the kids have to exist) to help provide a grounded foundation for the title/team and keep the core of his supporting cast around.

I'd do all this, but have Barry and Wally trade off places periodically...maybe every two years, with a big team-up story preceding each hand-off.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)