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  1. #1
    The Fastest Post Alive! Buried Alien's Avatar
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    Default Which DC writers got/get the character of Barry Allen?

    Barry Allen...the Flash. The character seems quite straightforward: geeky, analytical police scientist known for being late for appointments. Despite this seemingly very simple set up, many writers seem to not get the character and what makes him tick. Which writers, both historical and current, really get Barry and use him well?

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  2. #2
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Joshua Williamson

    Geoff Johns

    Mark Waid

    Manapul and Buccelato...mostly.

  3. #3
    Spectacular Member Modamy's Avatar
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    Pretty much everyone Frontier's mentioned was fine with Barry. Though I felt Waid's stern, intelligent, but obliviously goofy Barry was the best take on the character.

  4. #4
    Incredible Member NeathBlue's Avatar
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    Cary Bates was the writer when I first read The Flash, and is probably my favourite writer of the character as it’s my favourite era of Flash.

  5. #5
    Incredible Member Hol's Avatar
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    Cary Bates is the best Barry Allen Flash writer. I do not think anyone else really wrote him well.

  6. #6
    Fantastic Member Potanical Pardon's Avatar
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    I think Tom Peyer could do him justice. He wrote Wally in a few things, though not the main title (unless I'm mistaken). What ever happened to him? He was like REALLY GOOD under-the-radar.

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    Cary Bates.

    Everyone since him has just written a slightly more responsible Wally with blond hair...
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  8. #8
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    Geoff Johns.

  9. #9
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    While many people said that Mark Waid or Geoff Johns can write Barry Allen well, I believe what they wrote is a slightly level-headed and responsible Wally West. The only one that can write him is honestly Cary Bates.

  10. #10
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    John Broome
    Cary Bates
    Mark Waid - granted he approached Barry differently, with the benefit of hindsight but I enjoyed his take a whole lot.
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  11. #11
    Mighty Member LifeIsILL's Avatar
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    Cary Bates was great, but his romantic interests for Flash were strange and non-memorable.

  12. #12
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    Ah, now this is a nice thread!

    Cary Bates is an obvious choice here, so I'll skip, because I think that debate of "not getting" Barry is more regarding a modern interpretation. So I'd say:

    Grant Morrison: Both his "Flash of 2 cities" and Final Crisis really drove home some of Barry's most unique traits, sort of that proto-Peter Parker take, where Barry is a self assured geek but his qualities get hyper-charged when in costume. The superfast, know it all, extremely competent and yet just downright nice guy. I love that "I came back knowing things" line in Final Crisis.

    Mark Waid: I'm torn on this one, because he's only really written Barry, not the Flash, probably to differentiate him to the then current Flash, which was Wally. So I love Waid's take and look at Barry's personality, but I do think it lacks a bit of that Flash awesomeness that define the character.

    Francis Manapul and Brian Buccelatto.: I was not crazy about this run at first, because I was as pissed at the state of the Flash characters as anyone. But the more time passes, the more I like it. What the duo did then was give us something that was never really done before, which was to present a younger, "on the rise", Barry. So, he was a little different, but there are some tidbits in that run, like the plane vibrated trough the bridge, the iunternal dialogue about not drinking coffee and so on that are pure gold for a version of the character in that mold.

    Josh Willianson: Poor Josh had to dance around a lot of ****. Not all of his run is great. But he did. He managed to let both the franchise at large and the character himself in much better shape than when he got them, and we know he had some good fights along the way. So, he gets my respect.

    Now, a lot of people mentioned Geoff Johns here, and I gotta say, boy do I disagree. The one time Johns' Barry felt like Barry was the scene at the cemetery with SpectreHal. Everything else by him is pretty terrible.
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  13. #13
    Constable of Continuity Gero4568's Avatar
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    Cary Bates

    Mark Waid
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  14. #14
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    I agree with everyone on the list (Manapul/Buccellato, Morrison, Mark Waid, Cary Bates, Johns, Williamson), but I would add a few more people:

    Paul Dini- the brief time he wrote Barry Allen was actually my introduction to the character in the comics. Liberty and Justice/Secret Origins. Seeing Barry’s origin through the eyes of Iris made me intrigued in this take of the Scarlet speedster (I first became a fan through Smallville’s take of Bart and JL/JLU’s take of Wally) but his personality in Liberty and Justice sealed my love for the character for me, he was also looking for things others wasn’t, how he bounced off the other Leaguers was just great Barry moments but it was when he thought he was dying and he made a call to Iris, that sealed it for me. He was a family man and despite the Hermès speed, Paul Dini really captured the human element of Barry

    Darwyn Cooke - New Frontier . “Don’t ever mess with my Iris.” Another great portrayal of Barry. Despite feeling like he should do more than just catch robbers and fight talking Gorillas, this was a comic book fan who really feel like he could be doing more with his abilities and just wanted to do right, which is especially more endearing when written during the era of the Red Scare.

    Jim Krueger/Alex Ross - You can tell they love Barry just by how they wrote him in Justice.

    Brad Meltzer - incidentally this might be a controversial name but the reason I same him is not for how he wrote Barry in Identity Crisis, but how he wrote Barry in Justice League America (particularly issue 12). I think when I read Green Arrow: Archer’s Quest and Identity Crisis, I got on some level but here it was clear. “I like the name. League. Justice League. (Hal: “Only cause you blurted it out Barry.”) Not Justice Society. But something newer. A League. Like an army.” That pride in creating something with a little hint of fanboy nerding out in there, I feel like Meltzer really could write good material for Barry if given the chance.


    Greg Weisman/Peter David - That Young Justice episode “Bloodlines”. Plus this quote “For Barry, I think it's VERY safe to say that the Wally West of JL and JLU had pretty much NO influence on us. Cuz, you know, we were doing WALLY in the show too.
    But Cary Bates, who wrote a huge chunk of Barry's adventures before Crisis on Infinite Earths, is one of my best friends, and he always made Barry a little goofy. A little bit of the boy scout, who still had that Flash fanboy in him, i.e. the guy who was inspired by Jay Garrick. We made that literal in our series... and we extended it into his personality. He likes catchphrases, even if he knows they make his wife and friends groan. He's a goody-two shoes and a happily married man and a scientist and a forensics expert and generally this slow, methodical but deeply honest guy, who likes his life and so is pretty at ease with his own sappiness.
    He's NOT a smart-ass, which of course, Wally can be at times. And personally I don't think we portrayed him AT ALL like Wally.
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    Alan Davis/ Mark Farmer: Another writer that introduced me to Barry in JLA:The Nail/Another Nail, I loved how Barry especially when he felt like he was second to Superman, still stands out, when bouncing off of characters like the Atom.

    I think that’s the thing, people assume when a writer is writing Barry with a sense of humor, they are automatically trying to write him as Wally since he was the prime Flash everyone was familiar with, especially in a post JL/JLU world when the internet/internet chatboards became prominent, but I feel these writers captured the idea of Barry: he has humor, he has wants and needs outside of just being a good guy for the sake of being a good guy (without writing the death of a loved one/his dad in prison) and still comes off as a likable and endearing character that stands out from other Leaguers.


    Plus the best part they make Barry feel like the Everyman without it being forced or wordy. His actions speaks as loud as his dialogue.
    Last edited by ironman2978; 09-25-2020 at 09:57 AM.

  15. #15
    Incredible Member Hol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Potanical Pardon View Post
    I think Tom Peyer could do him justice. He wrote Wally in a few things, though not the main title (unless I'm mistaken). What ever happened to him? He was like REALLY GOOD under-the-radar.
    Peyer took over Wally's book after Waid left after the Wild Wests arc. He didn't finish Wally's run but he did more than a few issues.

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