Who Should Write the Flash After Joshua Williamson?

[Spider-Ham]

Yeah, Waid is, along with the late great Darwyn Cooke, the only modern writer to make me care about Barry Allen. He wasn't boring when Waid wrote him but he was very distinct from Wally by being a fair amount more introverted, nerdy and guileless. Or as Buried Alien put it, charmingly naive. He's more likely to be the good-natured butt of a joke than an instigator of one but he's also one of the DCU's smartest and most level-headed superheroes, with none of the insecurity that is such an important part of Wally's character. Both Wally and Barry are very much everyman characters, but they're everymen in different ways.

This is what I got from Waid's take on the character in stuff like JLA: Year One and even in the main Flash book. Yes, Barry was never "cool" under Waid's pen but that was a large part of his charm. There's nothing boring about that. Turning him into a Wally West clone but without all the stuff that made Wally interesting in the first place - all with added helpings of mopiness and a tragic backstory - now that is boring. And that's sadly precisely how I've felt about Barry ever since his return and is a separate issue entirely from how Wally was treated as a result.

Thank you Ilan. I really miss that Barry Allen.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Barry was never "cool" and was always introverted and nerdy, but being introverted and nerdy is not exactly the same as having a personality. Most of the time Waid wrote Barry, Barry lacked any kind of charm or charisma and was clearly there to be the guy who taught Wally how to be a good person and the guy who sacrificed himself.

Have you never read JLA: Year One or Flash/ Green Lantern: Brave and the Bold. These are pure Barry Allen stories that have almost nothing to do with Wally, even if he does make some appearances as Kid Flash. Barry comes across as incredibly charismatic and likeable throughout both series. Hell, in JLA: Year One, Waid basically made him the MVIP in the League but, of course, Barry was too humble to actually take that to heart. It's fantastic stuff and I would have loved to see a Barry Allen book like that running side by side with a Wally book.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Thank you Ilan. I really miss that Barry Allen.

You and me both!

[KC]

Have you never read JLA: Year One or Flash/ Green Lantern: Brave and the Bold. These are pure Barry Allen stories that have almost nothing to do with Wally, even if he does make some appearances as Kid Flash. Barry comes across as incredibly charismatic and likeable throughout both series. Hell, in JLA: Year One, Waid basically made him the MVIP in the League but, of course, Barry was too humble to actually take that to heart. It's fantastic stuff and I would have loved to see a Barry Allen book like that running side by side with a Wally book.

Flash/ Green Lantern: Brave and the Bold is the perfect example of what I am talking about. In that story, Barry has no personality, has no charisma or presence and spends most of the series as a doormat or is used to prop-up Wally when Wally is involved in the story. It is honestly the story that made me realize how bad Waid's Barry is.

[Dred]

How can he be used as a doormat to Wally when Wally literally only appears in one issue?

[Buried Alien]

When JLA YEAR ONE and THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD: FLASH AND GREEN LANTERN were first issued, Wally was the resident Flash in the regular JLA monthly. I remember thinking that while Wally was unsuited to leading the Justice League, Barry fit that leadership role to a T.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[KC]

How can he be used as a doormat to Wally when Wally literally only appears in one issue?

Re-read what I wrote:

as a doormat or is used to prop-up Wally

[Ilan Preskovsky]

When JLA YEAR ONE and THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD: FLASH AND GREEN LANTERN were first issued, Wally was the resident Flash in the regular JLA monthly. I remember thinking that while Wally was unsuited to leading the Justice League, Barry fit that leadership role to a T.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I agree, actually. Wally could easily be the guy that everyone gets along with but he has always been a bit too hot-headed and impulsive for a leadership role, unlike Barry.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Flash/ Green Lantern: Brave and the Bold is the perfect example of what I am talking about. In that story, Barry has no personality, has no charisma or presence and spends most of the series as a doormat or is used to prop-up Wally when Wally is involved in the story. It is honestly the story that made me realize how bad Waid's Barry is.

I mean, I don't know what to tell you. Barry had tons of charisma and personality in that series and was an incredibly likable and sympathetic lead character. Maybe you just don't particularly care for that personality type? Which is fine but, ironically enough, maybe Wally is a better fit for you?

[Rakzo]

Waid's problems with Barry have been documented many times already. Is not only the problem that he made the idea of "Wally will surpass Barry" incredibly heavyhanded during his run but the most glaring issue is that he had to write him utterly uninteresting to the point that a whole generation of readers thought that Barry was boring by default.

Waid's Barry was insecure, bland and always second place to Waid's most important character: Wally (And this wouldn't have been so bad if this wouldn't have been repeated even in stories where Wally didn't have a reason to be glorified like in Brave and the Bold).

[Frontier]

I don't think Williamson's Barry is all that off from Waid's, ditto Johns and even Manapul/Buccelato's Barry, it's just that Waid's Barry didn't have the tacked on "dead mom" trait that Williamson's does.

[Rakzo]

Manapul's and Williamson's Barry showed a level of confidence that was never present in Waid's Barry.

Their version is more akin to the Bronze Age representation of the character in fact. Waid's is another thing.

[Frontier]

Manapul's and Williamson's Barry showed a level of confidence that was never present in Waid's Barry.

Their version is more akin to the Bronze Age representation of the character in fact. Waid's is another thing.

His Barry seemed pretty confident in the flashback issues with Wally and in the Brave and the Bold mini, from what I remember.

[Rakzo]

His Barry seemed pretty confident in the flashback issues with Wally and in the Brave and the Bold mini, from what I remember.

Not when he was stuttering by trying to tell a bad joke in JLA: Year One (Something that Barry would never do since I believe he's confident even in the geekiest pun) and when he was glorifying Wally in Brave and the Bold.

[Frontier]

Not when he was stuttering by trying to tell a bad joke in JLA: Year One (Something that Barry would never do since I believe he's confident even in the geekiest pun) and when he was glorifying Wally in Brave and the Bold.

I think Barry would totally praise Wally to high-heaven. He always really believed in him .

But again, on the whole, I didn't find Waid's Barry all that lacking in confidence.