New Wally West solo Flash Forward to be written by Lobdell

[Factor]

I can't believe they chose Lobdell of all people. This would be hysterical if it wasn't so sad.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Booth isn't perfect, but he's very kinetic, so I don't mind that.

Lobdell though, ugh. So is he going to retcon Wally into being at the circus when Dick's parents died sitting between Jason and Tim too?

[OBrianTallent]

Booth's art is bad. I'm glad he's one of the voices fighting for Wally but I'd rather his art not drag down a book that's already going to struggle to sell. So many people will buy a book PURELY because of the art, and those same people will be driven away by schlocky 90s sameface, awful poses, terrible paneling, terrible expressions, complete inability to convey story, and blah blah the list goes on. No one's going to open these pages and think it's an instant buy when Booth's name and work are there. Far more will do the opposite.

Put it this way. Imagine if this was announced with Manapul as the artist. Imagine how much the tenor of the conversation would change. People would still be upset that Lobdell is writing it, but they'd be excited to see Manapul draw Wally and The Flash again. That's not the case with Booth. He might have some small fanbase, but there is absolutely no excitement for him to draw it. There are 3 aspects to this announcement: Art, Writing, #of issues. Booth, Lobdell, Mini are all the bottom of the barrel.

All of that said, Booth's art is obviously the least bad news about this direction in general. It's just the set up punch for the Lobdell awfulness haymaker. Booth also has a sordid history drawing Flash characters, presiding over such incidents as Bar Torr with Lobdell, New 52 horrible Wally rehash with Venditti, and the infamous pacemaker Wally Lazarus Contract bullshit. Every time he's touched it everything ended up bad. Not a good omen.

I dont recall Booth having anything to do with the story outside of drawing them. Booth loves Wally and there are more than a few artists out there that DC loves to use that can't draw their way out of a paper bag. Likewise, while Lobdell isn't the greatest writer out there right now, he sure isn't as dismal as some on here are making him out to be. His Red Hood & the Outlaws has been really good and his over all handling of Red Hood has been good. Sure, he has had fewer hits than misses with DC of late, but he can write when given the opportunity (and not be driven by editorial mandate.)

Despite the dreck that HiC has been and the dredge of Ric, I'm willing to give this a shot.

[Dred]

I will be giving it a shot, and by that I mean likely throwing away 20 bucks, but I'm still calling a spade a spade. Lobdell is not just a bad writer, he's the epitome of an editorial yesman. He will do what his buds like Didio tell him to do. He's a tool for their edgy, shitty creative vision. They throw him at whatever book that editorial has to churn out by a deadline. Also he's a fucking serial sexual harasser so forgive me for not defending his name. I wish that dude wasn't in the industry, much less writing my favorite superhero.

[Restingvoice]

Lobdell is who DC call when they don't have a writer in mind so while I won't talk about writing ability or taste this is not a sign that DC care about Wally.

Booth designed Rebirth Wally suit which I love, one of the best suit ever, so while I don't like his art personally any other time, he gets a pass ^^

[Frontier]

I...I just don't know how to process this.

I mean, hey! Wally finally has a book! It took DC long enough! Oh wait, it's just a mini-series and it's coming right off the heels of HiC and isn't "The Flash: Wally West." Ho Hum .

And then we get into the creative team. I think Lobdell does fine in his own corner but he's not an A-list or super-popular writer and is usually brought in to pinch-hit for whatever DC editorial wants to really push at that moment (which is more often then not a good thing) so I really don't have a lot of confidence in him writing a Wally post-HiC because of what that event said about how DC sees or wants people to see Wally.

As far as Booth...I respect the man for his love and passion for Wally, I doubt he would be on this book if he felt Wally was being slighted, but I don't think his art is going to knock it out of the park on something that should look amazing.

So, yeah, I kind of agree with the "Monkey's Paw" comment.

[Godlike13]

Honest question: Why does Percy get no blame for Ric? Isn't he the one who set up how Ric behaves, why nobody else is involved, the taxi driving and all of the other stuff that people hate about the character so much? Is there some part of the equation that I'm missing here?

While Lobdell is not to blame for Ric, he’s still to blame for his 8 issues of brain dead lazy work with Ric.

[godisawesome]

Yeah, I can see why how Lobdell can do a good job, but I’ve also been way too burned by his handling of other properties I’ve liked and by just how accommodating he is to whatever editorial feels like this week.

He’s strictly a journeyman writer, and he’s been a journeyman writer for decades. He can deliver a good book, but never a great one, and he’s a man designed for an editorial-and-artist prioritized system of creativity from the period when Marvel used that almost exclusively.

Ha placement on the book feels more like a symptom of Didio and Harras wanting to instill a status quo they like with a touch of recreating a 90’s Marvel creative atmosphere than a fix, if that makes sense.

And it’s amazing how much the name of the writer can really do to sell a book, or to make it seem predictable.

[numberthirty]

You have to be actually fucking kidding me.

There are literally thousands of jokes, online, about "Lobdell and Booth Wally West" being the monkey's paw DC would use if he finally came back.

and now I'm forced to buy literally my least favorite creative team to support the character.

**** DC. Seriously. **** them right in their stupid heads. Editorial yes man and noted sexual harasser Scott fucking Lobdell. ****

Also that fucking solicit sounds like they're finally going through with abolishing him as The Flash:

"...he was the Fastest Man Alive...he man who called himself Flash"

Get ready for a complete destruction of Wally West, everyone.

....


Hal Jordan got Geoff Johns.

Wally West gets Scott Lobdell




sigh

atleast the covers will be great

While I don't want to kick a character's fans while they are down, forget Geoff Johns.

Hal got the current Morrison run.

Meanwhile, not only is Wally not going to be a part of an Azzarello "Suicide Squad" title. Wally gets Lobdell.

Even as a guy who isn't the biggest Wally West fan, the character and the fans absolutely deserve something better than this.

[Dred]

Being spared Azzarello is the thinnest silver lining on this whole creative announcement.

[numberthirty]

Being spared Azzarello is the thinnest silver lining on this whole creative announcement.

I'm going to have to politely agree to disagree on that.

[CTTT]

Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch. How bout you know....waiting until the series comes out before passing judgement? Geez...people crying in their soup because it's not the creative team they want for Wally. Even if it was Peter David and Todd Macfarlane people wouldn't be happy. All you can do is hope for the best. Be glad we're at least getting a Wally mini. Maybe it'll be good redemption arc.

[H-E-D]

Booth makes it an automatic pass for me.

[failo.legendkiller]

Booth’s art has contributed in make me hate N52 Teen Titans and Rebirth Titans even harder.
I have more issues about his art than Lobdell, and I’m not a Scott fan at all.
Anyway I have to admit that the character Booth draws better is just Wally.

[Raijin]

Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch. How bout you know....waiting until the series comes out before passing judgement? Geez...people crying in their soup because it's not the creative team they want for Wally. Even if it was Peter David and Todd Macfarlane people wouldn't be happy. All you can do is hope for the best. Be glad we're at least getting a Wally mini. Maybe it'll be good redemption arc.

Fans aren’t really rational anymore. Always cynical, always angry, always on the defensive. Then you have people on here disrespecting other people’s craft. That’s even worse.