Wally West: The Flash Appreciation 2019

[deadman322]

Thanks to Brett Booth, some panels from Flash Forward #4 :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKpVd_GW...name=4096x4096

anyone else think that looks like jai and ireys hair at the bottom of the page?

[James Hunter]

I've only just read FLASH FORWARD #3 and I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised at how well Lobdell is writing Wally (I knew he could after reading the FLASH/SPEED DEMON one-shot but still its a surprise).

I open up this comic and I actually see a recognisable Wally which is ver much appreciated. I'm sure Didio won't let us keep nice things (like an on-going series for Wally) but I'm going to enjy this whilst we have it and, as stated, it has been an unexpectedly pleasant treat to read.

I also like seeing Roy Harper in a comic (even if it is an alternate universe version who does not survive).

I think I'm okay to talk about this without spoiler tags, but if I'm not then I apologise.

[Spider-Ham]

anyone else think that looks like jai and ireys hair at the bottom of the page?

It’s totally Irey and Jai.

[WallyWestFlash]

RCO022.jpg
10char.

[Frontier]

RCO022.jpg
10char.

That'll do Flash .

[married guy]

RCO022.jpg
10char.

Ah.
The good old days.
Y'know before characters like Harley Quinn were capable of laying a hand on my boy.

[Kyer]

Why do you consider the show bad now?
And even if they never bring him back in the show, there will always be fanfiction, which can sometimes be more enjoyable.

Ain't that the truth. I mean, even having to sidestep, jump over, and plain avoid all the insipid MarySues, OC's, Reader, and just plain categories I don't care for, fanfiction has become the only way of getting anymore of many of my favorite movie/TV/book characters. Its also the only place you can find interesting crossover stories between fandoms. I sometimes credit it for partially saving my sanity this past year.

Curse you, stupid TPTB everywhere for cancelling or otherwise maiming good imaginary properties throught my life.


(On a good note, my usual place of book purchases -finally- put a decent discount on Baron's Flash series. I got my trade copy preordered after months of waiting! Baron was by no means my favorite, but at least I enjoyed his stories more than nearly all of Johns and afterward. )

[Jekyll]

Ah.
The good old days.
Y'know before characters like Harley Quinn were capable of laying a hand on my boy.

Harley Quinn ugh.........

[Kyer]

Harley Quinn ugh.........

Agreed. *grimace*

I remember Wally sitting in a theater and getting startled by the feel of a fired bullet nudging the back of his neck. His body moved on instinct before he realized what it was. So I figure even if he was inebriated Wally would have felt the skin of that mallet hitting his skin/hair way before it had a chance to do any damage.

The only ones I could see having a chance against any speedster with half a brain would be someone just as fast (Reverse Flashes) or nigh invulnerable (Superman, Jonzz.) Harley Quinn is neither of those.

Doesn't any writer do research these days?

[phantom1592]

Agreed. *grimace*

I remember Wally sitting in a theater and getting startled by the feel of a fired bullet nudging the back of his neck. His body moved on instinct before he realized what it was. So I figure even if he was inebriated Wally would have felt the skin of that mallet hitting his skin/hair way before it had a chance to do any damage.

The only ones I could see having a chance against any speedster with half a brain would be someone just as fast (Reverse Flashes) or nigh invulnerable (Superman, Jonzz.) Harley Quinn is neither of those.

Doesn't any writer do research these days?

Yeah... but I can't blame writers wanting to scrap that idea. It was horrible. Sometimes the push to make a character more powerful and more amazing... makes him unusable. It's one thing to say that a speedster is faster than a bullet... but to say he's too fast to when he doesn't even know he's in danger... Didn't hear it, didn't see it, didn't even realize he was reacting... that's garbage. What do you do with a character with that kind of plot immunity? It's right up there with evacuating an entire city person by person from a nuclear explosion.

[Dred]

Him evacuating the city was great, though.

Comics are fiction. No one is more powerful than the writer. And Wally has, or at least had, an in built limiter on his capabilities. It USED to be the Speed Force. Too much abuse of his power has consequences. That worse writers since don't understand or don't care about that aspect of their powers is on them, not the character.

They're Superheroes. Not random shlubs who, yes, would get taken out by a woman kneeing them in the groin.

[married guy]

Regardless of whether you think he was too powerful or not, I think we can all agree Wally would never get hit with a cheap shot from a non powered character.
Especially when said character is standing right in front of him.

[phantom1592]

Him evacuating the city was great, though.

Comics are fiction. No one is more powerful than the writer. And Wally has, or at least had, an in built limiter on his capabilities. It USED to be the Speed Force. Too much abuse of his power has consequences. That worse writers since don't understand or don't care about that aspect of their powers is on them, not the character.

They're Superheroes. Not random shlubs who, yes, would get taken out by a woman kneeing them in the groin.

That's contradictory though. You say he's as powerful as a writer wants to make him.... and then say he's too powerful for the situation the writer put him into. It's why I am a huge fan of solid continuity... and a 'somewhat' hard limit to their powers. The Speed Force was the beginning of the end for Flash. It was the ultimate 'Whatever the writer wants and can't explain... throw some speed force into the conversation.' It was vague, it was mysterious.... it never made the least bit of sense... and it took Flash to heights of ridiculousness.

As for Harley... it think she's the most overrated character who's ever existed... except maybe Deadpool. I can't stand that she got the hit on him

[Dred]

That's contradictory though. You say he's as powerful as a writer wants to make him.... and then say he's too powerful for the situation the writer put him into. It's why I am a huge fan of solid continuity... and a 'somewhat' hard limit to their powers. The Speed Force was the beginning of the end for Flash. It was the ultimate 'Whatever the writer wants and can't explain... throw some speed force into the conversation.' It was vague, it was mysterious.... it never made the least bit of sense... and it took Flash to heights of ridiculousness.

As for Harley... it think she's the most overrated character who's ever existed... except maybe Deadpool. I can't stand that she got the hit on him

There's a base level of competence you expect from one of the greatest heroes alive. Harley Quinn kneeing him in the dick is proof positive that no character is more powerful than the writer. He can't possibly be too powerful because he's a fictitious character, even if it's bad writing.

The Flash was more powerful before Wally took the reigns. The Speed Force originally just let Wally reach the heights he had in literally his first issue as Kid Flash: Light speed. The Speed Force isn't what allows or justifies Wally doing so many powerful things, the writers do. Grant Morrison could've written The Human Race without the Speed Force. The only thing the Speed Force did in that comic was, go figure, but a danger and consequence to him being faster than a being made of radio waves that can move faster than light. This is the same for everything to do with it until Barry came back. Then they twisted and abused it and used it to justify Barry. It lost its point, but the Speed Force was not an issue for 15 years.

The Speed Force can be used as a convenient excuse for bad writing. And it frequently is. But so could everything else. The only power that Wally really has that's explicit to the Speed Force and only the Speed Force that's overpowered is Speed Stealing. Which no one even remembers he can do anyway. He's used it a total of one time since coming back, and that was to teach Wallace how to use it. Everything else is just absurd time and super speed powers which have been a staple of The Flash long before Speed Force anything.

The Speed Force was used as a Faustian Bargain. It is a restraint on what The Flash can do, by being a dangerous source of power instead of what the Flash was before the Speed Force -- inherently powerful, limited by nothing.

[Lee]

The only power that Wally really has that's explicit to the Speed Force and only the Speed Force that's overpowered is Speed Stealing.

He put Cobalt Blue in a Speed Force cage once, as though Speed Force were a Green Lantern ring.