Flash Facts: Different powers of the Flash Family

[Doctor Know]

Thanks for the posts BohemiaDrinker and Ascended. I knew Flash facts, presentation and continuity was a tangled net, but I had no idea how deeply. I think my local comic book shop has Waid's run on the shelves. I checked the prices on Amazon and they are through the roof.

I can remember there being some fan controversy back in the day with regards to Wally and Kyle Rayner. People felt that Wally and Kyle were being pushed to hard supplant their predecessors as being the greatest Lantern/Flash ever. But like many have said Wally and Kyle got better through training/trial and error. They earned it, in a way. Then Johns comes along and makes Hal top dog GL again, and Barry source of all super speedsters in the DCU.

[MykeHavoc]

Vol. 2, issues 95-225 ('Terminal Velocity' to 'Rogue War') are pretty much the apex, as far as Flash writing goes.

[Sodam Yat]

Thanks for the posts BohemiaDrinker and Ascended. I knew Flash facts, presentation and continuity was a tangled net, but I had no idea how deeply. I think my local comic book shop has Waid's run on the shelves. I checked the prices on Amazon and they are through the roof.

I can remember there being some fan controversy back in the day with regards to Wally and Kyle Rayner. People felt that Wally and Kyle were being pushed to hard supplant their predecessors as being the greatest Lantern/Flash ever. But like many have said Wally and Kyle got better through training/trial and error. They earned it, in a way. Then Johns comes along and makes Hal top dog GL again, and Barry source of all super speedsters in the DCU.

This is true. Out of all of the speedsters, Wally has been known to have the best connection to the speed force, which has been stated and gained working knowledge of it. Geoff Johns' seemed to undo all of that years of hard earned work from Wally by stating that Barry is the engine of the speedforce in Flash: Rebirth. The same can be said for Kyle, not only was the character unique and achieved things by thinking out of the box, but his ring has been crafted differently among the entire GLC's power rings by providing a different and better functionality. This has also been undone by Geoff Johns in Green Lantern: Rebirth. All of this happened for the sake of propping up both characters, who imo are regarded as one of the most overrated characters in the DCU.

[The Darknight Detective]

The bottom line is: if Wally was to come back as the main Flash, he would be the fastest and/or most unique once again. Same for Kyle. It has nothing to do with this writer or that one, but the simple truth that DC wants to tout the current Scarlet Speedster as the best one. There has to be one fastest man alive, right?* Hell, if Clark or Bruce were really replaced permanently (at least Barry Allen-like replaced during the DCU), their successors would eventually would be proclaimed as greater than the originals. Until the reboot, of course.

* Not really, of course, but that has been the tagline for quite a long time. Also, alternate-universe Flashes don't necessarily have to ride second class.

[Sirzechs]

The same can be said for Kyle, not only was the character unique and achieved things by thinking out of the box, but his ring has been crafted differently among the entire GLC's power rings by providing a different and better functionality. This has also been undone by Geoff Johns in Green Lantern: Rebirth. All of this happened for the sake of propping up both characters, who imo are regarded as one of the most overrated characters in the DCU.

Turn about is fair play, considering what happened to Hal to introduce Kyle, all in all he got off lucky since he was still a GL when Hal got reintroduced and didnt get turn into a psychopath.

[Sirzechs]

There has to be one fastest man alive, right?*

Yes and Usain Bolt has the medals to prove it

[The Darknight Detective]

Yes and Usain Bolt has the medals to prove it

Heh. How about fastest metahuman alive instead?

[The Darknight Detective]

Turn about is fair play, considering what happened to Hal to introduce Kyle, all in all he got off lucky since he was still a GL when Hal got reintroduced and didnt get turn into a psychopath.

Your latter point is hard to argue against, unless one is into psychopaths.

[The Darknight Detective]

The same can be said for Kyle, not only was the character unique and achieved things by thinking out of the box, but his ring has been crafted differently among the entire GLC's power rings by providing a different and better functionality. This has also been undone by Geoff Johns in Green Lantern: Rebirth. All of this happened for the sake of propping up both characters, who imo are regarded as one of the most overrated characters in the DCU.

Weren't they both "propped up" because they were the top GL at the time (in Hal's case, still)? I believe "yes" is the correct answer. If John had stayed longer at the forefront back in the '90s, we would have heard more about the prophesy surrounding him, too. All of this is less propping up, but more like making the newly prominent character stand out from the one before him. Same goes for Wally/Barry. It's all about sales, guys.

[stephens2177]

Couldn't they just had Barry comeback and actually work at being "the best" instead of just making it so,with no chance of any other option possible?

[The Darknight Detective]

Couldn't they just had Barry comeback and actually work at being "the best" instead of just making it so,with no chance of any other option possible?

If not for the "fastest man alive" conundrum, that have might have been the option DC would have used instead. Wally, OTOH, didn't have to worry about that, because they were no other speedsters to compete with after Barry's death. He was going to be the fastest, regardless.

[stephens2177]

If not for the "fastest man alive" conundrum, that have might have been the option DC would have used instead. Wally, OTOH, didn't have to worry about that, because they were no other speedsters to compete with after Barry's death. He was going to be the fastest, regardless.

And....so.

Wally got to be Flash at a different time,so let's punish him now for it.

You do know superman started out with no other challengers,NOW he has so many it is hard to count.he has to deal with it,so should barry,you deal with what is in front of you,in the present.

[The Darknight Detective]

And....so.

Wally got to be Flash at a different time,so let's punish him now for it.

First of all, fictional characters can't be punished. Well, I guess they can, but they will never know it. Secondly, my point was the same exact thing would have happened to Wally had there been other speedsters, not because of fanboy bias or anything silly like that, but someone has to be...

You do know superman started out with no other challengers,NOW he has so many it is hard to count.he has to deal with it,so should barry,you deal with what is in front of you,in the present.

... "the fastest man alive." If someone gets to be the primary Flash, doesn't it make sense that there can only be one then? Unless DC changed the tagline to "One of the fastest men (or people) alive," DC had to do something right away. Either retcon the others to be not as fast or give Barry something new that makes him even faster than Wally was during the DCU.

[Starchild]

It's upsetting how Barry Allen will never get the respect he truly deserves. Hopefully, people will realize it one day.

[Sirzechs]

And....so.

Wally got to be Flash at a different time,so let's punish him now for it.

You do know superman started out with no other challengers,NOW he has so many it is hard to count.he has to deal with it,so should barry,you deal with what is in front of you,in the present.

Hold up and wait just a minute, you do realize that every other Kryptonian is either shown to be inferior to Superman even though all of them have the same physiology but the difference is Superman is the leader of the pack and any time a character is the leader of the pack writers and editors will find some way to make it as such. Flip the roles around and I guarantee that they would have done something to quickly re-establish Wally as the best that's just how it works will comics.