Wally West: The Flash Appreciation 2020

[Drako]

Looks like Wally is at least part of DC's future!

I'm also doing a Flash short in there that's a really important moment for the Flash family — you know, I finished writing the Flash last year, but I felt like I had one last piece that I had to do, so I'm thankful and lucky enough that I got to do it in the special.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...erse-exclusive

[Waterfall]

This confirms duo lead to me.

[Spider-Ham]

The JL solicitation mentions a Flash in the team. I hope it’s not a mistake and it’s Wally or Jay.

[Frontier]

I thought people would have caught up on it faster but oh well...after trauma after trauma it seems normal.

A retirement set up is almost always due for a come back in fiction, and we've already had the race in Flash War. But I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Barry will probably win this one, just to "win the bet" and bring Wally back into the fold. I'm expecting Flash book to be a team up book from this point onward, like how modern Kamen Riders do it most of the time as "duo leads". I don't know, this feels like a way to wrap up the past plotlines and establish the new status quo.

It's also better for the series too. Williamson did the best with a solo Barry but his best stories had Flash Family in it. I guess they realized they've exhausted the options for "solo Barry". And Didio's aim was accomplished anyway: public prefers Barry now.

I wonder if it'd be a Showa or Heisei dynamic.

Looks like Wally is at least part of DC's future!




https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...erse-exclusive

Maybe Wally could have the normal Flash look without all the dumb lines...

[Buried Alien]

I wonder if it'd be a Showa or Heisei dynamic.

Showa. Ichigo and Nigo.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[manwhohaseverything]

Yup. Totally agree.
DC still haven't learnt that it's not about who is faster. We don't care if Wally can beat Barry in a race.
The CHARACTERS don't care who's faster either (Or they SHOULDN'T).

what's wrong in caring about being faster?Isn't healthy competition a good thing?Also,i do care if wally is faster.

[Robanker]

Showa. Ichigo and Nigo.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Bless you, Buried Alien. Never change.

[Waterfall]

I wonder if it'd be a Showa or Heisei dynamic.

Heisei era has very good duo leads and even multiple Riders in the sense of Flash Family, I'm actually expecting something similar to late Heisei if they ever go that path.

Showa. Ichigo and Nigo.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

That's the dream!

[SecretWarrior]

There may be multiple speedsters, but only one can be the Fastest Man Alive.

[SecretWarrior]

Cue the try outs by the Vought Corporation

[Buried Alien]

what's wrong in caring about being faster?Isn't healthy competition a good thing?Also,i do care if wally is faster.

It hasn't really mattered much to me, but there is a way to split the difference. If it were up to me, Wally would have greater raw speed (e.g. greater maximum acceleration), but Barry would have more refined mastery of how to utilize superspeed. It would be a 60/40, 40/60 thing. Barry would be 60% skill and 40% raw speed, whereas Wally would be 60% raw speed and 40% skill.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Midnighter]

There may be multiple speedster, but only one can be the Fastest Man Alive.

Flash War already settled that and Flash-Forward stated Wally to be the fastest being in the multiverse.

It hasn't really mattered much to me, but there is a way to split the difference. If it were up to me, Wally would have greater raw speed (e.g. greater maximum acceleration), but Barry would have more refined mastery of how to utilize superspeed. It would be a 60/40, 40/60 thing. Barry would be 60% skill and 40% raw speed, whereas Wally would be 60% raw speed and 40% skill.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I don't know how that would work though. Wally has been shown to have several abilities and skills that Barry doesn't have.

[Ascended]

Wally being faster matters to me only because of his character arc. He spent years working and struggling and eventually surpassed his uncle. That journey of self-definition and self-discovery is a massive part of Wally's history and character, and taking it away from him just so DC can prop Barry up feels not only artificial and insulting to Wally and twenty-something years of Flash history, but an insult to Barry too, like he has no worth if someone else is a little quicker.

I like Buried's idea that Barry is more skill while Wally is more raw power, but I think that's hard to express on the page. What I'd do is have Barry rely on physics, all those Flash facts that're rooted in real science, while Wally used the more mythological/spiritual speed force tricks. So Barry would do things like vibrate between molecules, because that's sorta-kinda real science, while Wally would do things like steal speed from those around him.

Back in the day Max Mercury used the speed force to do all kinds of weird stuff that had no foundation in scientific theory; speed was practically a religion for him and Max used the speed force almost like a Jedi. I'd take that approach with Wally. I think it'd be enough to distinguish his speed tricks/abilities from Barry's.

Wally would have a higher top speed and stronger connection to the speed force. Because he earned that shit. Barry would have the better scientific understanding of what to do with all that kinetic energy.

And it's off topic, but is Wallace anywhere to be seen? I haven't heard a thing about him lately.

[Rend20]

And it's off topic, but is Wallace anywhere to be seen? I haven't heard a thing about him lately.

He was on the Infinite Adventures cover for Justice League with the Titans group. So, Titans Academy sounds like a landing spot for him?

[Hcmarvel]

So I am a big Wally West fan - grew up with The Return of Barry Allen, Terminal Velocity, and Dead Heat trades and Morrison's JLA.

I was so excited by DC Rebirth and how it brought him back as this signifier that the lesser parts of the New 52 were over.

I followed the character into Titans but that book didn't grab me. And I refused to read a Barry Allen flash book so I never read Williamson's run beyond the first two trades.

Then Heroes in Crisis happened -

My question is - have they somehow redeemed what Wally did or erased it from continuity? How did they handle this in Flash Forward?