Titans Hunt #8 *Spoilers*

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Rebirth is predicated on the idea that DC screwed up with its handling of the New 52 revamp and is trying to course correct by appealing to old fans while also trying to not alienate current ones.

How on Earth would obviously teasing the return of the classic Wally West, then failing to deliver on that accomplish any of those goals?

It's Wally, and he was a founding member of the Teen Titans. Period. Will he be sticking around after Rebirth? Dunno. But you are crazy if you think this is a fake out.

[Frontier]

I won't go so far as to say that it has to be classic Wally; but I am cautiously optimistic. I really think it could be him, and that he may play a pivotal role in Rebirth. We should know next week.

If that is him, it brings up an interesting point: he's been on Prime Earth before. After all, he was the tenth Teen Titan. Did the others know who he was back then?


Other thoughts: Lilith was Omen and Mal was Herald back when they were Teen Titans. They aren't now.

In the early New 52 days, Starfire and Flamebird both made references to having been Titans. Is that being left out going forward from here, or might it be reinstated in Titans Rebirth? I could see DC saying that one or both of them had briefly been among the original roster, but left before the team's encounter with the Twister.

I think, with Starfire likely leading and taking care of the new Teen Titans group, there's probably going to be some retconning that she was involved with the original roster in some official capacity and it's probably when she first met Dick.

The lost years we might be getting back in Rebirth might help this to some degree.

[stephens2177]

- wally has been living on earth for the last 5 years,but as a normal person with no memory.he has a wife and two kids,and is just going about his normal life when he gets his memories back.

And thats how you get wally to have a new name,but still be wally.he will.probably just go by the name he has had for the five years,so nu Wally will keep the name .

[Outside_85]

Rebirth is predicated on the idea that DC screwed up with its handling of the New 52 revamp and is trying to course correct by appealing to old fans while also trying to not alienate current ones.

How on Earth would obviously teasing the return of the classic Wally West, then failing to deliver on that accomplish any of those goals?

It's Wally, and he was a founding member of the Teen Titans. Period. Will he be sticking around after Rebirth? Dunno. But you are crazy if you think this is a fake out.

You do realize that Rebirth isn't an event or story right? It's a collective banner DC is using to get people psyched because they've instigated sweeping changes to how they do comics and made a few tweaks and fixes in the books themselves. It's not a reboot, nothing has changed in terms of continuity, the characters are still the same as they were before, they are just allowed to do other kinds of stories now.

Regarding Wally; still doesn't answer the question of why or how they would pull this one off. And on top of it all, why have they made no fuzz about it? I mean Wally is a big name and there has been nothing from DC about it while they cant seem to shut up about the Pre-Flashpoint Superman coming back.
So for now, if there indeed is a speedster coming to the team, I am figuring it is more likely to be Max Mercury (they retconned Cyborg onto the JL, they can add Max to the Titans) or Jesse Quick (making it an even split between genders) than it is Wally West.

[Robotman]

I got goosebumps at the end when they were talking about the tenth member and the lightning bolt hit. Wally is coming back! So friggin awesome. That's definitely a good way to kick off Rebirth. With the return of a fan favorite character. I don't think he should be called the Flash when he returns. Barry will always be the #1 Flash to DC, so I wouldn't want Wally to go back to being the lesser version. He should take over Max Mercury's moniker but just call himself Mercury.


As for the story itself, the Rebirth release date really messed it up. Abnett seemed like he was having trouble stretching this thing out to the original 12 issues, as the story kind of dragged. then he had to suddenly sum things up in this issue and the Titans take out the bad guy rather quickly.

[Godlike13]

You do realize that Rebirth isn't an event or story right? It's a collective banner DC is using to get people psyched because they've instigated sweeping changes to how they do comics and made a few tweaks and fixes in the books themselves. It's not a reboot, nothing has changed in terms of continuity, the characters are still the same as they were before, they are just allowed to do other kinds of stories now.

Regarding Wally; still doesn't answer the question of why or how they would pull this one off. And on top of it all, why have they made no fuzz about it? I mean Wally is a big name and there has been nothing from DC about it while they cant seem to shut up about the Pre-Flashpoint Superman coming back.
So for now, if there indeed is a speedster coming to the team, I am figuring it is more likely to be Max Mercury (they retconned Cyborg onto the JL, they can add Max to the Titans) or Jesse Quick (making it an even split between genders) than it is Wally West.

Yes but why would Titans fans care about Max Mercury and Jesse Quick. Why tease Titans readers like this for one of them? Thanks to this set up they pretty much guaranteed the anybody but Wally is going to get rejected by a good numbers of the readers they're shooting for here, and the one they don't will get drowned out. It would just be very dumb of them to tease like this on not deliver on Wally. If they don't want to bring back Wally back, fine. I don't like it but i understood thier reasoning for not wanting older Wally around, and it would be consistent of them. But then why end this with a tease like that?

[byrd156]

Yes but why would Titans fans care about Max Mercury and Jesse Quick. Why tease like they for one of them.

I disagree on the Titans fans not caring about Jesse but I doubt that she or Max would be teased. I want the tease to be Wally but I honestly think it's going to be Thunder & Lightning related.

[Outside_85]

Yes but why would Titans fans care about Max Mercury and Jesse Quick. Why tease Titans readers like this for one of them? Thanks to this set up they pretty much guaranteed the anybody but Wally is going to get rejected by a good numbers of the readers they're shooting for here, and the one they don't will get drowned out. It would just be very dumb of them to tease like this on not deliver on Wally. If they don't want to bring back Wally back, fine. I don't like it but i understand thier reasoning for not wanting older Wally around, and it would be consistent of them.

But then don't tease him, or make readers think ur teasing him.

They wouldn't... but it's not them writing the book either. Point is that people think it's Wally because some extremely vague hints dropped during this series and because of his old connection with the team, but it in no way guarantees it is him, especially when we have several speedsters thats still unaccounted for... heck it could even be Bart Allen because he up and legged it from TT not that long ago with the goal of fixing a few things.

Bold: Thats kinda like barring them from doing anything since everything could be, by someone, be interpretated as a sign that Wally was coming back. Like if I was to apply that logic to this book, Dan couldn't have left the thing Twister was pulling through unnamed because it just made me think it was Trigon coming through, and he wouldn't be allowed to do that because I'd get dissapointed when it turned out to be, I dunno, the Antithesis instead.

[Godlike13]

I disagree on the Titans fans not caring about Jesse but I doubt that she or Max would be teased. I want the tease to be Wally but I honestly think it's going to be Thunder & Lightning related.

They don't care about her enough to warrant a tease. She was a Titan for like 5 minutes.

[Outside_85]

I disagree on the Titans fans not caring about Jesse but I doubt that she or Max would be teased. I want the tease to be Wally but I honestly think it's going to be Thunder & Lightning related.

Thats what I got out of the last page... also because they just wrote who it was.

Which I could imagine is a changed version of the old concept, like 2 people in 1 body, one half is Thunder and the other is Lightning... who might be a speedster...

[Markov]

There has been reports of 3 returning characters in Rebirth and the death of 1, there's a stronger case for Wally West returning than any other so enjoy the countdown - 6 days to go!

[Godlike13]

They wouldn't... but it's not them writing the book either. Point is that people think it's Wally because some extremely vague hints dropped during this series and because of his old connection with the team, but it in no way guarantees it is him, especially when we have several speedsters thats still unaccounted for... heck it could even be Bart Allen because he up and legged it from TT not that long ago with the goal of fixing a few things.

Bold: Thats kinda like barring them from doing anything since everything could be, by someone, be interpretated as a sign that Wally was coming back. Like if I was to apply that logic to this book, Dan couldn't have left the thing Twister was pulling through unnamed because it just made me think it was Trigon coming through, and he wouldn't be allowed to do that because I'd get dissapointed when it turned out to be, I dunno, the Antithesis instead.

People think Wally because who else are they suppose to think given this context. The readers here want a particular speedster. DC knows this, and the writer knows this. The book has been aimed at a audience using a particular generation of characters. The reader here have no reason not to think Wally. There is really no one else left from this generation that they aren't already using here, so who else is there that would be worth teasing about. I man Max Mercury, Bart Allen, and Jesse Quick don't fit with who this book has been using and is a big part of its sell, so what does teasing anyone of them accomplish here.

And there are plenty of ways to tease a character and not make it seem they're alluding to Wally. Like for instance not ending on a lighting bolt. Teasing in ways that could easily seem like they are alluding to the return of the big omission from this group only sets them up to disappoint their readers. Does that handcuff them a bit, sure, but it is what it is. Its something they have to be aware of given the generation of characters they are using here.

[Robotman]

I disagree on the Titans fans not caring about Jesse but I doubt that she or Max would be teased. I want the tease to be Wally but I honestly think it's going to be Thunder & Lightning related.

DC has done many things over the years that have pissed off their fans but teasing Wally West's return only to have it be Thunder and Lightning would be straight up malicious. Creators occasionally like to have fun with the fans but that would just be bad for business. Not to mention a really crappy way to kick off a relaunch that they've spent a lot of time and money on.

[Godlike13]

DC has done many things over the years that have pissed off their fans but teasing Wally West's return only to have it be Thunder and Lightning would be straight up malicious. Creators occasionally like to have fun with the fans but that would just be bad for business.

Exactly. Like whats the thinking there, lets piss off and disappoint the readers we are shooting for with a Titans book. Im not one to usually one to think they are bringing back Wally, but it just seems so counter productive to put in a tease like that for it to be about a c-list villain duo like Thunder and Lightning. Its would be king of funny in a masochistic way, but i would think a move like that would drive off readers.

[Doctor Know]

I think we're all waiting for the other shoe to drop.

They've deaged Raven again, and to keep her on the Teen Titans. As well as, give her look and vibe to Lilith for the Titans.

NuWally has supplanted B̶a̶r̶t̶ Bar Torr on TT with the traditional costume. While his adult counterpart has been teased by TPTB for years. We saw him during Convergence, but he didn't make it to Prime Earth. Superdad was also in Convergence, and he made it to the new universe. Wally could do the same. Maybe bring his wife and kids along.

A total bait and switch to characters like Thunder and Lightning, I could totally see happening.