What do you think should be done with Wallace West?

[krazijoe]

Writers and editors have their favorites and do things to make their favorites shine. Some do petty things. Hell, Marvel cancelled FF for a LONG time just because. SURE it had nothing to do with Fox...Anyway, I am not a fan of redundant characters like Flash, GL, Spider-Man, Superman etc. WAY too many Speedsters, Earth GL's, Mutants, and clones...Clones for nefarious means, yeah ok, but have them turn to goop at the end of the storyline.

Barry vs Wally? It will never end but the both can coexist, but can they coexist with the other 245 Speedsters?

[krazijoe]

Well, yeah, but in this particular case Didio was testing really hard to implement a non-redundacy policy, so this is not really particular to bat-females: this was public at the time, you can pretty much take any interview from the time of Infinite Crisis and it will be there. And a lot of characters suffered. Jessie lost her powers, Cass got canceled (and Adam Beechen), Dick was supposed to die so Jason could take his place, Ted Lord got shot so he could open way to Jaime and, of course, there was Wally.

The man was internt on recreating a silver /bronze age status quo for DC. Now Wally, he was just too popular and to successful for Didio to just replace, so they went with Bart instead(something both Waid and Johns fought hard against) hoping that people would go "just bring Barry back", and it off course backfired.
To this very day the guy can't fathom that Wally was and continues to be popular.

I am a Barry fan, I am also a Barry should have stayed dead fan which is why I was against Rebirth. Barry died the most heroic death in comics EVER and now it's reduced to a bullet point. I would even be ok with him becoming one with the speed force where Wally could go and talk with him, but Barry could and SHOULD NEVER have come back. So, I am not Pro Wally, Just PRO dead Barry...

[SanityOrMadness]

So, the Future's End-originated silver costume reappears for "Ace" in today's Flash, along with the codename "Burst". Neither are necessarily permanent, but I think both would be good moves for him - Kid Flash is, always has been and always will be, an AWFUL name - Burst isn't great, but it's definitely a step up. And if Ace is ever meant to be anything other than "Wally Two", him wearing Wally's hand-me-downs is going to work heavily against that. (See also, the stupidity of Bart adopting a diminutive name and Wally's old costume, then claiming Wally would be in his shadow).

Only thing that I'd really like to see changed is the red eyes. Just have an open-eyed mask or something.

[9th.]

So, the Future's End-originated silver costume reappears for "Ace" in today's Flash, along with the codename "Burst". Neither are necessarily permanent, but I think both would be good moves for him - Kid Flash is, always has been and always will be, an AWFUL name - Burst isn't great, but it's definitely a step up. And if Ace is ever meant to be anything other than "Wally Two", him wearing Wally's hand-me-downs is going to work heavily against that. (See also, the stupidity of Bart adopting a diminutive name and Wally's old costume, then claiming Wally would be in his shadow).

Only thing that I'd really like to see changed is the red eyes. Just have an open-eyed mask or something.

Burst isn't any worse than say Impulse for example and it's still relevant to speed so I think it could work if DC decides to commit.

[Factor]

Burst reminds me of bust. Plus I can’t see it ever being a good name for him to have his comic.
I would have chosen something like Drive and lean in to his ability to power tech and vehicles with the speed force. That would be more unique than silver Kid Flash.
And yes, the red eyes need to go (the costume as a whole is pretty meh).

[OopsIdiditagain]

People hated it but the Teen Titans and Deathstroke plotline was the best thing to happen to him during that entire decade. Making Deathstroke or another villain a mentor for him again would make him stand out. Although I do remember some people did not like Wallace going a darker route. But the way Priest wrote him was very interesting and DC should try it out again. He's better off as an anti-hero.

[OopsIdiditagain]

So call him Ace, have him work on the DCU's fast cars and planes, maybe put him in a streamlined version of this costume:


I don't know how people feel about his origin being so tied to Daniel West and being a criminal. But that could use some sprucing up IMO.

DC always needed a fast and furious themed comic.

[OopsIdiditagain]

Neither does Jesse, Max, Bart, or most speedsters. Have any of them been linked to an increase in sales anywhere lately? Even Wally doesn't seem to have increased sales on Flash. I don't see anyone saying that we should dump those characters because they didn't move the bottom line.

That's the point here; Wallace gets a bad rap because of DC's incompetence, but everyone else gets a free pass for their bad stories. And I don't like that hypocrisy. Dislike Wallace for the character he's become, not because DC screwed up his launch ten years ago and then fixed it. That's just holding a grudge.



Let's not ignore the valid counter-arguments people like me have made here.

I'm not blaming readers for DC not making Wallace something that interests them, I'm blaming the readers who haven't given the character a shot because of a (real big) mistake made a decade ago that hasn't mattered since Wally's return in 2016. I already made that clear.

As for Yara, yeah she hit it big right from the start, and we should only be so lucky for every new character to see equal success. But that's not how it works and it's anything but easy and we're all aware of the odds new characters face in getting off the ground. For every success story like Yara, there's dozens of new characters who didn't hit it big.

All of this and at this point Wallace is more forgotten/irrelevant than hated. Perfect time to change his name and do something different.

Honestly im just caught up in the discussion now. I don't know if any one is being forced to use Wallace now, but i think his inclusion in some things are mandated. If anyone has good ideas with the character though they're certainly not using them. DC tends to cling on to bad ideas to cover poor work or stubborn decisions, and it leaves less room for good ones. Kid Flash is a decent mantle that opens up opportunities. Which they are just kind of wasting instead of trying again with a better new Kid Flash or a new young speedster equivalent. They clung to Tim's gen for so long despite their downward spiral. Its been actually nice to see them introduce a new generation of characters like Damian, Kaldur, and Yara. But when it comes to the Flash family we are kind of left with the dud that is Wallace. Don't come after me though. Convince me of his worth if you think im wrong.

Kaldur is a reskinned version of Cal Durham a character from the 70s and his popularity is thanks to Young Justice completely reinventing him. I mean the fact that people are calling him Kaldur instead of Jackson Hyde lol, YJ's impact. Characters like Jackson and Jason Todd are proof that you can reinvent a character even after people have forgotten about them.

But you're right he should drop Kid Flash as a mantle and get a new one. Personally, I would make him work with Deathstroke again. But I like the car-themed idea people have.

[Digifiend]

Jackson's in a I Am Not Shazam situation. Fix it by just giving him both names. Jackson Hyde as his human one ala Clark Kent and Arthur Curry, and Kaldurahm as his Atlantean name, like how Arthur is also called Orin and Clark has the Kryptonian name Kal-El.

[Alpha]

Jackson's in a I Am Not Shazam situation. Fix it by just giving him both names. Jackson Hyde as his human one ala Clark Kent and Arthur Curry, and Kaldurahm as his Atlantean name, like how Arthur is also called Orin and Clark has the Kryptonian name Kal-El.

Sure but there's also the fact thay Kaldur'am has a completely different personality from Jackson Hyde.

And yeah Drive works as a name for Wallace and I like the powering machines like cars shtick