Sorry I'm Late!: Barry Allen Appreciation

[Raijin]

Am I only that's tired of the Barry Allen hate?

[KC]

Am I only that's tired of the Barry Allen hate?

Nope. And the worst part of it is, most of the hate Barry gets is unfounded.

[Johnny]

Am I only that's tired of the Barry Allen hate?

Most of the hate some of these characters get is purely based on the notion of being "pet favorites". They don't get the same amount of criticism based on their actual personalities and stories, it's mostly based on their status in the DCU. It can be annoying, yes, but in the end it's just noise.

[Denirac]

Barry has a Bowtie and Crewcut again in the METAL #6 Epilogue!

[The Darknight Detective]

Most of the hate some of these characters get is purely based on the notion of being "pet favorites". They don't get the same amount of criticism based on their actual personalities and stories, it's mostly based on their status in the DCU. It can be annoying, yes, but in the end it's just noise.

True. If Wally were at the top of the heap again, he would be getting just as much grief.

[The Darknight Detective]

Barry has a Bowtie and Crewcut again in the METAL #6 Epilogue!

Growing up in the '70s, I never, ever thought that look was iconic enough to be still with us today. In fact, he had the Robert Redford look longer than the crewcut at the time of COIE. If there's a classic look (and I don't believe there is), the latter would be it for me.

[Frontier]

Am I only that's tired of the Barry Allen hate?

I'm used to characters I like being hated at this point .

[Raijin]

I'm used to characters I like being hated at this point .

It's just irritating and ignorant when people say that Barry was a better character when he was dead. Then people accuse him of stealing Wally's stuff. Something i never see.

[Frontier]

It's just irritating and ignorant when people say that Barry was a better character when he was dead. Then people accuse him of stealing Wally's stuff. Something i never see.

I mean, I've seen some appropriation of Wally concepts (especially on the TV show) but I try not to hold that against Barry because I still think he's got a strong mythos all his own and can standout from well from Wally if written correctly.

[Buried Alien]

The seeds for "Barry Allen hate," which would have once been unthinkable, were probably planted by Mark Waid in the 1990s...not intentionally or with any malice, but simply by frequently portraying Barry as a perfect, untouchable porcelain god who was more icon than character. This was probably where the whole "Barry is boring" myth was born.

So now we have Barry back among the living, and Heaven forbid, he needs to be an actual character again...not a porcelain god. That means giving him flaws and limitations, and I think Waid planted the notion of Barry as the porcelain god so deeply back in the 90s that some readers can't see any other interpretation.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[phantom1592]

The seeds for "Barry Allen hate," which would have once been unthinkable, were probably planted by Mark Waid in the 1990s...not intentionally or with any malice, but simply by frequently portraying Barry as a perfect, untouchable porcelain god who was more icon than character. This was probably where the whole "Barry is boring" myth was born.

So now we have Barry back among the living, and Heaven forbid, he needs to be an actual character again...not a porcelain god. That means giving him flaws and limitations, and I think Waid planted the notion of Barry as the porcelain god so deeply back in the 90s that some readers can't see any other interpretation.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Probably has something to do with it. I've also seen the 'boring' tag thrown around to almost ALL the classic silver age characters. Hal is boring, Pre-crisis (and sometimes post) is boring, Batman... for some reason people always seem to like him regardless of how 'perfect' he is...

Barry has it a bit worse I think because he ONLY has silver age to work with. Hal, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman all got reboots and updates post-crisis... but Barry really only has that one 'Every story ends with him beating the bad guy with a smile' attitude. I mean, he had the whole Trial of the Flash and killing Reverse Flash, but I think that may have been too little too late for most people.

When Waid wrote Barry... he worked with the Barry we had. Perfect Silver age God of speed.... Flash Facts and super science who could do anything. Wally was more nerfed, broken and flawed and able to grow with people... but Barry? He was Flash and awesome from the first appearance.


Actually, have they done anything like a 'year one' story for Barry since he came back? Retell his origin and show him learning his speed and making mistakes like they did with Emerald Dawn or Man of Steel/Birthright? Flash Rebirth kind of dropped the ball on that by just tossing in retconned drama and messing with his powers. There should have been something for the new generation.

[Jekyll]

I love the mantle of The Flash and I love Jay, Barry, and Wally equally as I believe each brought something unique to the role. The fan wars are ridiculous but they were not helped with how DC handled Barry's return. At the end of the day Barry is a fictional character and does not deserve the hate that should be aimed at the leaders in charge for how they mishandled the past 10 years.

Wally deeply loved his uncle and instead of having a book that had them interacting, getting to spend time with one another, and doing AWESOME FLASH STUFF...............we get every single flash character being tossed into oblivion except for Barry. So I believe the hate is misguided as I stated before Barry is a fictional character the hate needs to be on the leaders in charge at DC. They missed a huge opportunity for a great and touching book.

[KC]

When Waid wrote Barry... he worked with the Barry we had. Perfect Silver age God of speed.... Flash Facts and super science who could do anything. Wally was more nerfed, broken and flawed and able to grow with people... but Barry? He was Flash and awesome from the first appearance.

This isn't exactly true. Barry without the Flash costume was timid at the start and he was late a lot but he also made jokes. And in Costume, Barry made fun of some of his villains and made jokes.

[Kyer]

So I'm thinking: Kyer. I really want to have those The Flash issues in hardback that also feature Wally 1 (and hopefully also one day Bart, Jay, Jessie) interacting as speedsters with Barry Allen. Because those stories just warm the cockles of mine heart.

So I went checking out my two favorite places to buy books from and discovered -wtbf- this.

My cockles have shot past warmth and gone into nuclear meltdown right before plummeting down to sub-arctic levels.

Would someone please explain to me why that cover for the wonderful Comic Book stories features artwork for the imho despicable and utterly horrible movie costumes and actors? (Not that the actors themselves were horrible. I'm talking looks alone as tied to these particular DC characters.)

Will be looking into alternates of getting the Ginger interactive stories in hardbound. I don't want to see the movie crap anymore than by absolute accident and really resent them using it here.

*Hand over face* I can't even...

[FlashEarthOne]

The seeds for "Barry Allen hate," which would have once been unthinkable, were probably planted by Mark Waid in the 1990s...not intentionally or with any malice, but simply by frequently portraying Barry as a perfect, untouchable porcelain god who was more icon than character. This was probably where the whole "Barry is boring" myth was born.

So now we have Barry back among the living, and Heaven forbid, he needs to be an actual character again...not a porcelain god. That means giving him flaws and limitations, and I think Waid planted the notion of Barry as the porcelain god so deeply back in the 90s that some readers can't see any other interpretation.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I do agree that Waid's interpretation of Barry has the fans of the Waid era Wally run thinking that Barry HAS to be written the way Waid interpreted. Many of the criticisms of the current run sound a lot like, "Williamson is getting Barry wrong... he should be written just like Waid wrote him." That is ridiculous. Waid wrote Barry the way that the did because he thought Barry should be "a stiff."