Wally West: The Flash Appreciation 2019

[WallyWestFlash]

Kids, just to remind you all in this crappy day:

This is Wally:



This is not Wally:



Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

100%. In a way it's better that this was written so terribly and with King who just writesting everyone like himself. Because Wally is not even close to being written like himslef in any way shape or form.

This is just another major attempt by Didio to totally bury Wally like he did in 2014 by giving us a Wally in name only and saying "Here you go. Here's your new Wally." It's being done in a slightly different way then back then but the concept and purpose behind it is the same. Fake Wally #2.

I can appreciate that, but the hope that things will get better in the future is the best we've got at the moment. If someone trying to give comfort by being hopeful that today may suck, but it'll get better eventually is making things worse for you, then I'm sorry, even if it means I'm not going to stop trying to give any comfort I can.

I know it's difficult to keep in mind that, in the end, this is still a fictional character designed to entertain us, and not a real person who feels real pain or suffering or can have any genuine injustice thrown at them. I've lost sight of that myself from time to time, but I think it helps to be reminded of that. For fans like us these characters and the world they inhabit feel very, very real and we cherish it so much that it almost feels like an attack upon ourselves when we see the characters we love get abused or mistreated. So, we respond accordingly. I know this might not help much right now, but it may help later.

I think what he means is although your intentions are good there a time and a place for everything. There is a saying "Do not comfort a person while he is standing over his dead". The idea is that when someone is going through a loss that upsets them you need to let them go through their natural feelings and telling them it will get better doesn't help and some times makes it worse.

Anger and venting have a place and not letting it out is not healthy. Let people vent, get it out, and then move on.

[Jekyll]

100%. In a way it's better that this was written so terribly and with King who just writesting everyone like himself. Because Wally is not even close to being written like himslef in any way shape or form.

This is just another major attempt by Didio to totally bury Wally like he did in 2014 by giving us a Wally in name only and saying "Here you go. Here's your new Wally." It's being done in a slightly different way then back then but the concept and purpose behind it is the same. Fake Wally #2.



I think what he means is although your intentions are good there a time and a place for everything. There is a saying "Do not comfort a person while he is standing over his dead". The idea is that when someone is going through a loss that upsets them you need to let them go through their natural feelings and telling them it will get better doesn't help and some times makes it worse.

Anger and venting have a place and not letting it out is not healthy. Let people vent, get it out, and then move on.

Just be careful you don't mass murder anyone when you do it

Seriously though there is way better stuff being published these days from other companies. Don't support this current regime and find other things you will enjoy. It's what I've done and I've been having a blast.

[Talon1load]

Yeah, I agree entirely with all of this. Johns has his problems but he would be pretty well suited for a creative oversight job. More than anyone else, though, I would love Grant Morrison in this role at DC. Not on the publishing or business side (hell, I don't even know if he works well with people) but as someone who both loves and respects DC's history and is a firm believer in the constantly shifting and changing nature of the DCU - his "everything happened" approach - he would be the ideal candidate for being someone who both has a vision of the fictional universe he would be in charge of but is also smart enough to understand that there is value in approaches that are wildly different from his and that just makes the DCU all more interesting. He's pretty much the anti-Didio in these respects.

I mean, I don't think there's a chance in hell that this would happen - Morrison is brilliant with corporate characters but that doesn't mean he'll get along with corporate people - but it is still my dream that someone with that sort of expansive but inclusive vision would be in control of what is probably my favourite fictional universe.

I hate his everything happened approach. It leads to more confusion than anything. That’s why DC made multiple Earths and had all the crisises because not everything could have happened. I prefer John’s and his tighter continuity.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

To be fair, Harley kicking the dude in the nuts who caused her this much trouble like that is perfectly in character. It's just that when that character is Wally West, it feels more like we, the readers, are as much the target of that unfortunately-placed attack as Wally. Talk about being kicked when you're down.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I hate his everything happened approach. It leads to more confusion than anything. That’s why DC made multiple Earths and had all the crisises because not everything could have happened. I prefer John’s and his tighter continuity.

The problem is that Johns has a bad habit of having his writing turn into continuity porn. Doomsday Clock has taken that to levels of high art but it's significantly less successful elsewhere.

The DC Universe has a long, complicated, rich and completely mad history. Trying to fit that into a single continuity just seems doomed to failure. The messiness of Morrison's approach, though, is a perfect fit for something that is both this unwieldy and this filled with awesome ideas.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think what he means is although your intentions are good there a time and a place for everything. There is a saying "Do not comfort a person while he is standing over his dead". The idea is that when someone is going through a loss that upsets them you need to let them go through their natural feelings and telling them it will get better doesn't help and some times makes it worse.

Anger and venting have a place and not letting it out is not healthy. Let people vent, get it out, and then move on.

Again, we're not talking about an actual dead person, so you'll forgive me if I am not going to treat the repeated shabby treatment of a fictional character with the same level of tact and deference that I would if something actually tragic had happened. No one is saying that anger and venting is not healthy, but keeping things in perspective is a bit more important, wouldn't you say?

Again, if my attempts to give you guys solace is making you feel worse, my apologies and I will leave you guys be.

[Dred]

It's all pretty damn trite. You spent the entirety of HiC's release schedule preaching the same rhetoric and here we are.

Maybe we're just right, like we have been for years. There's a miserable logic to it all that makes it quite predictable.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It's all pretty damn trite. You spent the entirety of HiC's release schedule preaching the same rhetoric and here we are.

Maybe we're just right, like we have been for years. There's a miserable logic to it all that makes it quite predictable.

I'm sorry you feel this way. I was absolutely wrong to think that Heroes in Crisis wasn't going to be the $#!+show it turned out to be. No doubt about it. I don't claim to be right about everything. No one is. I don't think lashing out at me is going to make you feel better, but go right ahead.

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

Again, we're not talking about an actual dead person, so you'll forgive me if I am not going to treat the repeated shabby treatment of a fictional character with the same level of tact and deference that I would if something actually tragic had happened. No one is saying that anger and venting is not healthy, but keeping things in perspective is a bit more important, wouldn't you say?

Again, if my attempts to give you guys solace is making you feel worse, my apologies and I will leave you guys be.

I've been a huge fan of the character for over 20 years and I completely agree with you. Acting like this is a real loss rather than another bad comic that you can just not pay attention to is frankly a bit childish.

It's this privileged additude that makes people think it's okay to personally attack Tom King online because he wrote a story they don't like.

[Dred]

I'm sorry you feel this way. I was absolutely wrong to think that Heroes in Crisis wasn't going to be the $#!+show it turned out to be. No doubt about it. I don't claim to be right about everything. No one is. I don't think lashing out at me is going to make you feel better, but go right ahead.

Now extend how you feel about Heroes In Crisis to everything to do with Didio in power. There is not optimism or hope so long as he has the job and there's no inclination he's giving it up any time soon.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Now extend how you feel about Heroes In Crisis to everything to do with Didio in power. There is not optimism or hope so long as he has the job and there's no inclination he's giving it up any time soon.

There's always room for optimism and hope. Cynicism just begets more cynicism.

That said, I would agree that it's probably time for Didio to go. I think he's had some real success during his tenure, but his management style and creative choices are not having the desired effect and his bag of tricks has run dry.

I don’t think he's going anywhere in the next few months, but, in the meantime, there's still plenty of great books being published at DC that I can enjoy. And, whenever Didio finally steps down or is shown the door, I won't be disappointed in the slightest.

Unless he gets replaced with someone even worse, of course

[WallyWestFlash]

I obviously just used that saying from a real loss as an example for the point I was making. It's not the same of course than a real life tragedy.

It is however upsetting. For me at least. Wally West is my favorite hero of all time that I've grown up with and read since I was 6 years old and has inspired me in life and means a great deal to me.

So when these things happen it is upsetting to me. It's not real life of course but it still has an effect on me.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I obviously just used that saying from a real loss as an example for the point I was making. It's not the same of course than a real life tragedy.

It is however upsetting. For me at least. Wally West is my favorite hero of all time that I've grown up with and read since I was 6 years old and has inspired me in life and means a great deal to me.

So when these things happen it is upsetting to me. It's not real life of course but it still has an effect on me.

Totally understand that. I felt the same following Emerald Twilight, but, looking back now, I really wish I had approached things with a little more perspective and not let it get me so angry and resentful.

[Talon1load]

The problem is that Johns has a bad habit of having his writing turn into continuity porn. Doomsday Clock has taken that to levels of high art but it's significantly less successful elsewhere.

The DC Universe has a long, complicated, rich and completely mad history. Trying to fit that into a single continuity just seems doomed to failure. The messiness of Morrison's approach, though, is a perfect fit for something that is both this unwieldy and this filled with awesome ideas.

That’s the whole point though, Johns tighter continuity doesn’t try to fit it all in. He builds continuity from the the beginning of a reboot. His Infinite Crisis wasn’t so much a reboot as it was a clean up of what had started to stray from Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour. Morrison approach is the one that tries to fit in everything from DC’s history and overly complicates everything. It definitely wasn’t for me.

[Dataweaver]

That’s the whole point though, Johns tighter continuity doesn’t try to fit it all in. He builds continuity from the the beginning of a reboot. His Infinite Crisis wasn’t so much a reboot as it was a clean up of what had started to stray from Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour. Morrison approach is the one that tries to fit in everything from DC’s history and overly complicates everything. It definitely wasn’t for me.

And yet, Johns has given us Doomsday Clock #10, which is very much in the vein of Morrison's ultimate “it all happened!” concept, Hypertime: while Manhattan doesn't mention Hypertime, the issue reveals that he remembers all of the DCU's history, from the Golden Age (with Superman's debut in 1938) to the present. If that's not “fitting it all in”, I don't know what is.