Who Should Write the Flash After Joshua Williamson?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I don't know if it was when he came back. Johns didn't write Barry like Wally even before the Flashpoint stuff started to kick in.

It was more when Barry started appearing in more media or made guest appearances. and they started to write him to fit Wally's niche.

I don't disagree, but I don't think Tom King is the right choice to approach that topic.

(Or time travel...looking at you "The Gift").

Whereas I loved The Gift, but I have no problem with Booster being a flake.

[Frontier]

The enthusiasm King & Gerads have both expressed about Wally West is not PR. They both love the character.

Passion is good, but I just don't think their sensibilites would fit a Flash book unless people want a Flash book that's more moody, somber, and I guess weird? Which there probably is folks down for that.

Whereas I loved The Gift, but I have no problem with Booster being a flake.

He wasn't even really a flake in that story. Just a nonsensical numbskull who ends up causing people more pain and misery.

If that's how King visualizes a character like Booster Gold, I don't think he would be the right choice to write Wally on a consistent basis.

[Dred]

I don't know if it was when he came back. Johns didn't write Barry like Wally even before the Flashpoint stuff started to kick in.

It was more when Barry started appearing in more media or made guest appearances. and they started to write him to fit Wally's niche.

I don't disagree, but I don't think Tom King is the right choice to approach that topic.

(Or time travel...looking at you "The Gift").

Johns is possibly must culpable since his JL is the worst of it.

[Frontier]

Johns is possibly must culpable since his JL is the worst of it.

I dunno, I don't think his Flash in JL really came off like Wally, even though I know Johns wrote the exact same moment with Cyborg that he used with Wally during his Flash run.

[Dred]

I dunno, I don't think his Flash in JL really came off like Wally, even though I know Johns wrote the exact same moment with Cyborg that he used with Wally during his Flash run.

The second Hal left pretty much any dialogue Barry got could be ripped right out of his original Flash run. Admittedly, Barry was basically the least important JL member in his run, too, but joking goofball who jobs might as well have been Wally's entire time and definitely wasn't Barry before he came back.

[Frontier]

The second Hal left pretty much any dialogue Barry got could be ripped right out of his original Flash run. Admittedly, Barry was basically the least important JL member in his run, too, but joking goofball who jobs might as well have been Wally's entire time and definitely wasn't Barry before he came back.

I'd have to re-read the run again but I don't remember Barry coming off like a joking goofball until Johns left.

Granted, I think Barry can be a bit of a goofball, just not like Wally is.

[Buried Alien]

I'd have to re-read the run again but I don't remember Barry coming off like a joking goofball until Johns left.

Granted, I think Barry can be a bit of a goofball, just not like Wally is.

Barry = charming naivete; Wally = charming snark.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Dred]

I never saw Barry as naive in his pre-Dead-Mom incarnation. He was pretty straightforward and usually implemented speed based puns for humor.

[Frontier]

I never saw Barry as naive in his pre-Dead-Mom incarnation. He was pretty straightforward and usually implemented speed based puns for humor.

I think he's naive in the sense that he's an idealist who's optimistic to a fault and usually believes the best in people or gives them the benefit of the doubt even when they don't appear to deserve it.

I guess compared to Wally he's a little more of the "aw shucks" type...

[Dred]

I think he's naive in the sense that he's an idealist who's optimistic to a fault and usually believes the best in people or gives them the benefit of the doubt even when they don't appear to deserve it.

I guess compared to Wally he's a little more of the "aw shucks" type...

I don't think the idealist bit suits his silver/bronze age identification very much. He was very hardline on villains, though villains in those days were all underdeveloped scum so it's not like he was wrong at the time. Not a lot of benefit of the doubt or reformation. Barry was basically a sciencey cop, a well meaning sweet heart, with a hint of that dumbness that every silver-age hero had. It's just his duality was the Fastest Man Alive as a hero but the slowest, most deliberate man alive as a person. That's part of the underlying, cute premise that disappeared. They even established it in his return in Rebirth with that way out of character line, "I feel like the world's finally catching up to me!" One of those moments where you knew they didn't really bring Barry Allen back, just a name, occupation, and hair cut. Instant modernization without any progression to see how it happened, which is why it feels so hollow to me. It's probably unfair to Barry, too, but whatevs. I'm a crazy ass fan, I don't have to be fair.

Back in Barry's time they were both aw shucks types, for whatever it's worth. It wasn't until Wolfman made Wally an ******* that they were very divergent. It's just that Wally got the chance at modernized characterization and when Barry came around they wanted to coast on some of the culturally ingrained idea of how the Flash acts. I'm sure some writers do it unintentionally because that picture of how the Flash acts in Wally's incarnations is stuck in their head. It's easy to think of the guy with super speed as the one with the quick tongue

[Frontier]

I don't think the idealist bit suits his silver/bronze age identification very much. He was very hardline on villains, though villains in those days were all underdeveloped scum so it's not like he was wrong at the time. Not a lot of benefit of the doubt or reformation. Barry was basically a sciencey cop, a well meaning sweet heart, with a hint of that dumbness that every silver-age hero had. It's just his duality was the Fastest Man Alive as a hero but the slowest, most deliberate man alive as a person. That's part of the underlying, cute premise that disappeared. They even established it in his return in Rebirth with that way out of character line, "I feel like the world's finally catching up to me!" One of those moments where you knew they didn't really bring Barry Allen back, just a name, occupation, and hair cut. Instant modernization without any progression to see how it happened, which is why it feels so hollow to me. It's probably unfair to Barry, too, but whatevs. I'm a crazy ass fan, I don't have to be fair.

I think that's still there when they drop the "dead mom" and "woe is me" aspects of the modern Flash stuff, although I think he is softer on criminals or villains.

Back in Barry's time they were both aw shucks types, for whatever it's worth. It wasn't until Wolfman made Wally an ******* that they were very divergent. It's just that Wally got the chance at modernized characterization and when Barry came around they wanted to coast on some of the culturally ingrained idea of how the Flash acts. I'm sure some writers do it unintentionally because that picture of how the Flash acts in Wally's incarnations is stuck in their head. It's easy to think of the guy with super speed as the one with the quick tongue

That's probably true for a lot of the sidekicks, Barry just didn't stick around like the other mentors did.

[Dred]

I think that's still there when they drop the "dead mom" and "woe is me" aspects of the modern Flash stuff, although I think he is softer on criminals or villains.

That's probably true for a lot of the sidekicks, Barry just didn't stick around like the other mentors did.

And, go figure, it was the best thing that ever happened to Wally. And his return was the worst. It's a real shitty situation.

[married guy]

Barry = charming naivete; Wally = charming snark.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Buried gets it.
I re-watched the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen movies yesterday and MAN, do they play Flash as comic relief. You would swear it was Wally, until he mentions he's marrying Iris the next day.

[Dred]

That's pretty typical. Wally's antics are generally more endearing to a casual fanbase and that's who the animated features are targeted at. Just have to be sure he's named Barry no matter what.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Wally's sense of humor has definitely been grafted onto Barry, but with the nerd dialed way up.

Johns did the same thing with Hal in the New 52 Justice League Origin. He took dumb reckless jackass Kyle pre-fridging of Alex, and grafted that onto Hal.