Golly, Iris! Sorry I'm late! The Flash (Barry Allen) Appreciation 2023

[Coop]

I doubt that Mark Waid Not wanting Barry to come back had anything to do with him not wanting Barry around or not enjoying him. It was a different time then and the characters had forward momentum and it we weren't yet firmly stuck in the quicksand of nostalgia that this generation is. I completely agree that the lack of permanency in death and lack of progression of the characters hold comics back a lot.

But the genie is out of the bottle now And we have Barry's Resurrection in a way to thank for Wally's. Because after watching Hal and Barry come back there was no way Wally fans were just going to accept that he was gone.

I'm just still in shock that none of the writers have done the one thing that would be new which is have a co-lead flash book with Barry and Wally as The flashes working together as equals. Think Dom and Brian from Fast and furious.

[Buried Alien]

I doubt that Mark Waid Not wanting Barry to come back had anything to do with him not wanting Barry around or not enjoying him. It was a different time then and the characters had forward momentum and it we weren't yet firmly stuck in the quicksand of nostalgia that this generation is. I completely agree that the lack of permanency in death and lack of progression of the characters hold comics back a lot.

But the genie is out of the bottle now And we have Barry's Resurrection in a way to thank for Wally's. Because after watching Hal and Barry come back there was no way Wally fans were just going to accept that he was gone.

I'm just still in shock that none of the writers have done the one thing that would be new which is have a co-lead flash book with Barry and Wally as The flashes working together as equals. Think Dom and Brian from Fast and furious.

Or as I prefer, Kamen Riders # 1 and # 2.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Dred]

Waid's also admitted he has a very particular view of the DCU.

While I didn't agree with 100% of Waid's Barry characterization (he always brings up the crewcut, which Barry didn't even have for most of his Flash tenure ), his soft-spoken, kind-hearted, dorky dad Barry is still one of the most endearing takes on the character.

I wonder if he's since turned around on Barry coming back though, now that he and Wally are coexisting? Cuz Mark, I dunno what to tell ya, it's partially your fault we all like him so much

He has said that he would've never brought Barry back but now that you've done it you can't walk it back any more. Waid also voiced that he thought with Barry back that that was the end of the road for Wally. Which proved to be true for awhile.

[D.Z]

The remember everything for DC characters was quickly dropped and abandoned.

[Buried Alien]

The remember everything for DC characters was quickly dropped and abandoned.

I'm not sure about that. It's more like, "it's there if you want to use it, but you don't need to touch it if you don't want to." So if Barry and Wally want to discuss some weird obscure incident that happened to them back in the Silver Age, editorial won't come in (like it did in the 1990s) and say, "No, you can't do that. That was in Pre-COIE continuity only."

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[D.Z]

I'm not sure about that. It's more like, "it's there if you want to use it, but you don't need to touch it if you don't want to." So if Barry and Wally want to discuss some weird obscure incident that happened to them back in the Silver Age, editorial won't come in (like it did in the 1990s) and say, "No, you can't do that. That was in Pre-COIE continuity only."

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

As someone who reads many current DC books, they have dropped the concept. It's not the all encasing memories of every realities thing Synder wanted. It's pick and chose history. But for majority of the characters in universe they don't have them remembering 5 versions of things that happened.

[Dred]

I think Speedsters might be the exception to that. Heck even Iris has specifically muddied memories that bridge multiple lives. Otherwise she wouldn't have remembered Bart for obvious reasons.

[Refrax5]

As someone who reads many current DC books, they have dropped the concept. It's not the all encasing memories of every realities thing Synder wanted. It's pick and chose history. But for majority of the characters in universe they don't have them remembering 5 versions of things that happened.

They did state in Flash recently that the speedsters do, in fact, remember their previous lives due to the nature of their powers. So while most characters may not remember, the Flashes do.

[Buried Alien]

They did state in Flash recently that the speedsters do, in fact, remember their previous lives due to the nature of their powers. So while most characters may not remember, the Flashes do.

Does it apply to their significant others and kids, even when those significant others are not speedsters?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Refrax5]

I doubt that Mark Waid Not wanting Barry to come back had anything to do with him not wanting Barry around or not enjoying him. It was a different time then and the characters had forward momentum and it we weren't yet firmly stuck in the quicksand of nostalgia that this generation is. I completely agree that the lack of permanency in death and lack of progression of the characters hold comics back a lot.

But the genie is out of the bottle now And we have Barry's Resurrection in a way to thank for Wally's. Because after watching Hal and Barry come back there was no way Wally fans were just going to accept that he was gone.

I'm just still in shock that none of the writers have done the one thing that would be new which is have a co-lead flash book with Barry and Wally as The flashes working together as equals. Think Dom and Brian from Fast and furious.

I think diminishing it as being stuck in nostalgia is a bit unfair. Nobody makes that comment about Bruce or Diana or Tony Stark or whatever. These characters are timeless.

For my part, Barry Allen died when I was a toddler, but I knew him from the old TV show and his appearances in flashback stories. Wally was the Flash when I started reading and while I've always liked him, Barry and Bart were my favorites.

It's the same thing with Hal Jordan. I was an avid reader of Kyle's series but I just found Hal and his mythology more interesting and unique when I was introduced to them in #100-106 of Kyle's series. I looked at those characters and how cool they were and thought DC was nuts to dump them the way they did.

Sometimes characters are just cool and important enough to withstand the test of time without it being nostalgia. I also don't think progress is defined by killing characters and putting somebody new in their costume. I'm interested in the person under the mask, not the mask itself.

[Frontier]

I think diminishing it as being stuck in nostalgia is a bit unfair. Nobody makes that comment about Bruce or Diana or Tony Stark or whatever. These characters are timeless.

For my part, Barry Allen died when I was a toddler, but I knew him from the old TV show and his appearances in flashback stories. Wally was the Flash when I started reading and while I've always liked him, Barry and Bart were my favorites.

It's the same thing with Hal Jordan. I was an avid reader of Kyle's series but I just found Hal and his mythology more interesting and unique when I was introduced to them in #100-106 of Kyle's series. I looked at those characters and how cool they were and thought DC was nuts to dump them the way they did.

Sometimes characters are just cool and important enough to withstand the test of time without it being nostalgia. I also don't think progress is defined by killing characters and putting somebody new in their costume. I'm interested in the person under the mask, not the mask itself.

My gateway into GL and Flash was the DCAU but I got into comics through Hal and Barry.

[bat39]

They did state in Flash recently that the speedsters do, in fact, remember their previous lives due to the nature of their powers. So while most characters may not remember, the Flashes do.

Yeah honestly, if it makes sense for any characters to remember other timelines/realities, its the Flashes. It kinda goes with the territory

I think diminishing it as being stuck in nostalgia is a bit unfair. Nobody makes that comment about Bruce or Diana or Tony Stark or whatever. These characters are timeless.

For my part, Barry Allen died when I was a toddler, but I knew him from the old TV show and his appearances in flashback stories. Wally was the Flash when I started reading and while I've always liked him, Barry and Bart were my favorites.

It's the same thing with Hal Jordan. I was an avid reader of Kyle's series but I just found Hal and his mythology more interesting and unique when I was introduced to them in #100-106 of Kyle's series. I looked at those characters and how cool they were and thought DC was nuts to dump them the way they did.

Sometimes characters are just cool and important enough to withstand the test of time without it being nostalgia. I also don't think progress is defined by killing characters and putting somebody new in their costume. I'm interested in the person under the mask, not the mask itself.

Bruce, Clark and Diana are a rung above Barry and Hal when it comes to their timelessness. With Flash and GL, it's the mantles that survived the Golden Age, not the original characters. Barry and Hal themselves are not the originals.

That said, the Flash and GL mythos and franchises as we know them are built largely on the backs of Barry and Hal. The entire GLC mythos, which John, Kyle, Guy, Jessica, Simon etc. are all part of started with Hal. The Flash mythos that Wally, Bart, Ace etc. are part of started with Barry (though on the Flash side, they've done a better job retrofitting Jay into the larger mythos than the GL side has done with Hal...it helps that Jay has a presence of sorts in Barry's very first issue).

And nostalgia is not necessarily a bad thing. It tends to be circular in pop-culture anyway, and especially in Big Two superhero comics. Barry coming back may be Silver Age nostalgia, but Wally's recent return is also Modern Age nostalgia. Hell, Jay's return in the 60's and the start of the Multiverse was Golden Age nostalgia!

They've also done a lot to modernize Barry, for better or worse, to make him a viable character in today's landscape, and the CW show has been a big part of that. Remember, Flash's big Post-Crisis reboot was Wally West taking the mantle, allowing Barry to remain this figure of Silver Age nostalgia. It's only in the past decade, with Barry's return that they've had to finally reinvent him the way his other Jusice League peers were back in the 80's...

[Dred]

I would say modern Flash mythos is undoubtedly rooted in what Wally established these days far more than what Barry did. If you want to say Hal is mythology defining character because of the GL Corps, Wally certainly takes the cake with the Speed Force as far as mythology. Though Barry originated a lot of other things besides mythos.

[Digifiend]

They did state in Flash recently that the speedsters do, in fact, remember their previous lives due to the nature of their powers. So while most characters may not remember, the Flashes do.

Notably, when Barry and Iris got their pre-Flashpoint memories back... Ace was affected too. And he realised that he only exists because of Flashpoint, as he isn't in the pre-Flashpoint memories at all.

[Lee]

Wally West is a character from the Barry Allen Flash mythos.

The Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern were clean reboots, separate from the Golden Age versions. Wally's Flash series was a sequel to Barry's Flash series, with his history as the former Flash's sidekick at the forefront.