What should The Flash series be about?

[Uncanny Mutie]

What it bothers me the most is that his stories are ALWAYS about the Speed Force and speedster Villains lately. I came to hate the friggin Speed Force. Plus they keep retconing it and adding some stupid stuff to it.
I actually believe that Speed (and the speed force) is more of a problem instead of an useful tool to write Flash stories, cuz they end up being lame and generic. He doesn't need to be faster to be better. Actually, it'd probably be better if he was SLOWER and speed wasn't the most important thing.

I TOTALLY agree that this is The Flash's problem when it comes to his series. As someone who has not been heavily invested in decades worth of Flash stories, I actually LIKED Williamson's Flash run...in the beginning. At some point, I got tired of EVERYTHING centering around a bunch of speedsters and the Speed Force. Now, 80+ issues in, his run has gotten SUPER BORING to the point where he is bringing in the "Still Force," the "Strength Force," and the "Sage Force." ZzZzZz. I think all he needs is a new, more imaginative writer, because Williamson has run FORCES and "force" inspired characters into the ground!!!

[Jekyll]

I TOTALLY agree that this is The Flash's problem when it comes to his series. As someone who has not been heavily invested in decades worth of Flash stories, I actually LIKED Williamson's Flash run...in the beginning. At some point, I got tired of EVERYTHING centering around a bunch of speedsters and the Speed Force. Now, 80+ issues in, his run has gotten SUPER BORING to the point where he is bringing in the "Still Force," the "Strength Force," and the "Sage Force." ZzZzZz. I think all he needs is a new, more imaginative writer, because Williamson has run FORCES and "force" inspired characters into the ground!!!

Yep! Completely agree and why I dropped.

[Raijin]

This feels like a “crap on Barry” thread.

[Waterfall]

The problem is deeper than "Barry is not a good lead character" at this point. Because for the past 2 years, there hasn't been a "good" Wally story either. I haven't felt anyone besides maaaybe Williamson to give Wally a "voice" of sorts. Abnett's Wally was pretty wooden, King's Wally was miserable and Lobdell's Wally isn't something to write anything about so far.

It's just that it's past the time Flash brand needs a "new shake-up". Silver Age, Crisis that successfully and maybe it's the high time the modern day Flash received one as well. Which is why I don't feel bad about 5G.

The Flash needs to move on to a new era now.

Retire both Wally and Barry, give us fresh blood.

If the above is impossible, here's my two cents for fix:

* Barry Allen: Williamson created Barry a sidecast, he should focus on that. They should also receive character development, and move forward. Barry's stories must be sci-fi, not high fantasy. Speed Force doesn't look good on him. At the end of Williamson run, dead mom angle should be wrapped up and done with, so they can move on to developing Barry's relationships with others. Also the biggest sin of Williamson is refusing to "end a story": Whenever you finish a big arc, it doesn't feel like anything happened at all because it keeps postponing the pay off to later arcs. This is why Flash has become tedious I believe.

* Wally West: Rip off the band-aid. Enough with the "woe is me" status quo. Either give the kids back and retire him or move ooooon. What Wally needs is to SIT DOWN for a bit, cool down with more positive stories.Flash Annual had established a very insteresting status quo for Wally but Sanctuary garbage put that all into dump. That's simply unfair. Wally should be the bright spot of the family. Honestly, I don't want the kids back. They can have him make peace with their loss and open a new page for himself. I very much preferred Wally when he was in a relationship with Linda instead of post-marriage. We can and we should explore new options and stories with Wally. Just give Keystone back to the kid and build on from there. I'm also open to Wally wandering around multiverse as well. Just whatever they do, keep Brett Booth out of it.

* Speed Force: NERF IT.

[Adset]

I TOTALLY agree that this is The Flash's problem when it comes to his series. As someone who has not been heavily invested in decades worth of Flash stories, I actually LIKED Williamson's Flash run...in the beginning. At some point, I got tired of EVERYTHING centering around a bunch of speedsters and the Speed Force. Now, 80+ issues in, his run has gotten SUPER BORING to the point where he is bringing in the "Still Force," the "Strength Force," and the "Sage Force." ZzZzZz. I think all he needs is a new, more imaginative writer, because Williamson has run FORCES and "force" inspired characters into the ground!!!

Agreed. I'm struggling to connect w/ the current storyline because I'm having a whale of a time caring about the new Force users. If they're going to shove a bunch of new concepts down our throat, I'd at least like to have some semblance of emotional weight attached to the story by having the existing cast connected to the new Forces -- like we saw a bit with Mick and Axel prior to Force Quest.

[Dr. Ellingham]

This feels like a “crap on Barry” thread.

Well, for like 15 years now Wally West fans have felt battered by DC's use / misuse of Wally. This site is pretty much the only safe place to rail against the powers that be.

And Barry is perceived as being in the way of them getting what they want. So he's the problem for a lot of Wally fans, who want Barry to either be dead, or Mark Waid's version of the character.

And obviously DC's take is, "Eh, things are good."

[Lee]

Nerdy police scientist Barry Allen moonlights as The Flash, the fastest man alive, to solve the strangest cases in the world - and beyond!

[The Darknight Detective]

The main thing a Flash series needs to have is a superhero who is the fastest man alive. Everything is else is negotiable.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

This feels like a “crap on Barry” thread.

Well, for like 15 years now Wally West fans have felt battered by DC's use / misuse of Wally. This site is pretty much the only safe place to rail against the powers that be.

And Barry is perceived as being in the way of them getting what they want. So he's the problem for a lot of Wally fans, who want Barry to either be dead, or Mark Waid's version of the character.

And obviously DC's take is, "Eh, things are good."

Well, I guess I'm one of those "crapping" on Barry. Except, I don't think I am. I'm crapping on the current version of the character. I must say, it's true, if Barry was written the way Waid wrote him in JLA: Year One, we wouldn't be having this conversation. That was a Barry Allen I could get behind: a character with a distinctive and unique personality that, as Buried Alien has put it in the past, resonates particularly strongly with the "average" comic book reader. He is wildly different from Wally but really, really great in his own way. I could read hundreds of issues of that character.

The problem with the current Barry isn't just that he's an awful replacement for Wally West - and, boy, is he - but that he sucks as a character too. I don't think he's a well-rounded character, I don't think there's anything remotely interesting about him and I hate that he is a Flash that has been defined by tragedy and being a total drag to read about. He's so unbelievably crap as a distinctive character that to make him work at all, they had to lessen Wally West by giving Barry his villains, some of his attitude, and the sort of over-reliance on Speed Force stories that far exceeds even what Mark Waid was doing towards the end of his run on The Flash but without the great stories like Race Through Time, the Dark Flash or even Chained Lightning to redeem it. Hell, they even had to start introducing these moronic other Forces in a laughably failed attempt to make things more interesting.

And the thing is that you just have to read a single issue written by Joshua Williamson to know how good a writer he is. He's just stuck with the same problem that every other Flash has had to deal with since Barry came back: Barry himself. Geoff Johns has written many comics that I absolutely love, including a number of Flash stories, but he utterly ruined the character in one fell swoop with Flash: Rebirth. Between the tragic origin, the nonsense about Barry being the source of the Speed Force, constantly being hammered over the head with being told how awesome Barry Allen is without ever actually showing it, and his Barry Allen just not coming across as someone most people would want to spend much time with, Johns ensured that no one who followed in his footsteps would have a hope in hell of actually making the character work.

This isn't a Barry vs Wally thing, I prefer Wally but I love pretty much the entire Flash family - and that certainly includes Barry Allen. This is about justifying having both of them running around at once, but mostly it's just about this version of Barry Allen being fundamentally broken. I know there are people who have been enjoying Willaimson's Flash and there may even be some who are a fan of this version of Barry Allen but it says something that over the past fifteen years, he just hasn't gained the kind of traction that Wally West enjoyed for years. He hasn't caught on as a character in the way that Wally did (and original Barry did too, to be sure) and none of his books have been talked about with any more excitement than "meh, it's all right" by what seems to be the vast majority of readers. Honestly, how many could even give a character breakdown of who exactly this Barry Allen is beyond calling him an average superhero dude who also has a day-job as a CSI? Sorry to be so blunt but I truly don't believe that a Barry Allen Flash comic will ever properly work without completely overhauling what the character has. Yes, it would have to be done at least somewhat in part by seeing what makes him different to Wally West (say what you want about baron's run but his Wally West book immediately stood out as someone seriously different from Barry AND set Wally off on his own course) and, yes, I do think that JLA: Year One is a pretty good blueprint for a general direction to follow.

And, yes, I know that this is going to rub some people the wrong way but I'm a huge Flash fan and this is how I see the character and the whole franchise right now. I really want to read a kickass Flash book but I haven't come across one for well over a decade (though Manapul/ Buccellato's run was worth it for the art alone). And, yes, that certainly includes reading about a Barry Allen that I can really get behind.

[9th.]

I TOTALLY agree that this is The Flash's problem when it comes to his series. As someone who has not been heavily invested in decades worth of Flash stories, I actually LIKED Williamson's Flash run...in the beginning. At some point, I got tired of EVERYTHING centering around a bunch of speedsters and the Speed Force. Now, 80+ issues in, his run has gotten SUPER BORING to the point where he is bringing in the "Still Force," the "Strength Force," and the "Sage Force." ZzZzZz. I think all he needs is a new, more imaginative writer, because Williamson has run FORCES and "force" inspired characters into the ground!!!

Please tell me you're joking

[Jekyll]

Please tell me you're joking

Nope! It’s a thing and it’s super lame.

[Uncanny Mutie]

Please tell me you're joking

Unfortunately, I'm not.

[Uncanny Mutie]

This might be controversial, since Flash's rogues gallery is considered one of the best in all of comics, but one thing that might help his stories out---be they Barry-centric or Wally-centric Flash stories---is if a really creative writer or two came along and brought in some NEW Flash villains.

For years now, Flash's stories have revolved so heavily around the Speed Force and have incorporated so many different speedster bad guy and allies that somebody really needs to come up with a fresh, new crop of villains for Flash that are more challenging for him to beat and that he can't just run circles around to easily beat or to fight against.

Granted, Flash is a such a powerful character that it's harder to come up with challenging villains for him (arguably more so than even Superman), but if a writer does it and those new villains stick, I think it will really be worth it and help reinvigorate his books and his mythos just as much as, say, Venom and Carnage shook up Spidey's stale, overused rogues gallery when they were new in the 90s and gave Spider-Man a whole new energy and buzz at the time.

[married guy]

This might be controversial, since Flash's rogues gallery is considered one of the best in all of comics, but one thing that might help his stories out---be they Barry-centric or Wally-centric Flash stories---is if a really creative writer or two came along and brought in some NEW Flash villains.

For years now, Flash's stories have revolved so heavily around the Speed Force and have incorporated so many different speedster bad guy and allies that somebody really needs to come up with a fresh, new crop of villains for Flash that are more challenging for him to beat and that he can't just run circles around to easily beat or to fight against.

Granted, Flash is a such a powerful character that it's harder to come up with challenging villains for him (arguably more so than even Superman), but if a writer does it and those new villains stick, I think it will really be worth it and help reinvigorate his books and his mythos just as much as, say, Venom and Carnage shook up Spidey's stale, overused rogues gallery when they were new in the 90s and gave Spider-Man a whole new energy and buzz at the time.

The other 'forces' need to be quickly forgotten and everyone move on.
Let's have our science nerd Barry back. Bring back the Flash Facts!
Leave Eobard, Hunter and August on the shelf for a good LONG while and concentrate on some different villains for Barry to face.

And FINALLY - EMBRACE the LEGACY of the Flash name! Bring back the Flash family!!
Jay, Barry, Wally, Bart, Iris, Jai, Jenni, Johnny, Jesse.
I truly believe doing so would open up a million different storylines and make the book SOAR.

[Shadowcat]

Idk. I like the thought of universal forces that represent entropy, gravity, and the mind, etc. If worked right, you could create a whole new set of villains for the Flash, that isn’t just speedsters (yes, I know about his rogues. This is just a way to expand them.) Making the Turtle the avatar of entropy is actually a rather genius move.