View Poll Results: Does the Rebirth era do justice to the original Wally West?

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  • Yes, it's exactly what Wally needs

    21 35.00%
  • No, he's been underused

    39 65.00%
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  1. #1
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    Default Is DC still treating Wally West badly?

    Ok, we were all excited when Wally West returned last May, especially since he was the star of the hugely important Rebirth Special and got to reunite with the original Titans. But it's almost 9 months later, and now that the hype has died down let's look at how he's actually being used.

    His only recurring role is in Titans, where he is now a supporting character and no longer the main focus. I think it's a pretty damn good book but it's been rightfully criticized for pacing issues, characterization issues, and artistic failings. Many readers understandably dislike it, so for many Wally fans there isn't a single good book featuring the character at the moment.

    For some reason Wally is relegated to a single monthly book while Barry is in 2 bimonthly books, and even the less popular Nu Wally West gets to appear in 3 issues a month on average. Ginger Wally has only been in 2 issues of the main Flash so far despite his name actually being the Flash, and a very big deal being made of his return and reunion with Barry. If he's supposed to have an expanded role in the DCU they're not doing a very good job setting it up, he's gotten very little development since his return.

    In outside media, the only notable adaptation of the character is on the Flash TV show which, in my opinion, fails to live up to the greatness of the character and is arguably more of a Nu Wally adaptation anyway. Ginger Wally has little to no presence in cartoons, videogames, live action films, and animated films. Yes Young Justice season 3 is coming up but it's a long ways off and who knows how he'll actually be treated this time? The DCEU Barry Allen, based on the ComicCon footage, seems to be at least partially inspired by Wally's personality, making me fear he won't appear in the DCEU either unless it's another radically different adaptation.

    It's nice that the character is back at all, but looking at how he's being treated he still doesn't seem to be valued at DC the way Barry and Nu Wally are. He still seems like an afterthought only around to appease longtime readers while they don't actually do anything with him. Is anyone really satisfied with Wally West at the moment?

  2. #2
    Titans Together!! byrd156's Avatar
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    Things are turning around for Wally, he was in a very bad place (all the Titans were) but fixes for these characters take time.
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  3. #3
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Atlanta96 View Post
    Is DC still treating Wally West badly?
    Which one?

  4. #4
    Hey Baby--Wha's Happ'nin? HandofPrometheus's Avatar
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    Not as bad as Donna Troy and Garth. DC realizes they made a mistake with him and is fixing it. He might pop back up everywhere in the upcoming years.

  5. #5
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    I'm liking Titans so far. The first arc was 'all Wally, all the time,' but it was necessary and I liked it well enough. Now that his re-introduction is over I think he'll be treated like just another team member.

    But compared to a decade ago, yes it is a huge demotion for Wally. But for now I'm grateful he's back at all.

  6. #6
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    I'm still holding out for a secondary Flash title once the Flash family gets big enough again. Have the Flash focus on Barry, Wally II, Meena, Godspeed, Daniel West, etc while the second book could focus on Wally, Jay, Bart, Jesse Quick, Max Mercury, etc.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    Which one?
    Pre-Flashpoint. The redhead.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by SlimeStack View Post
    I'm still holding out for a secondary Flash title once the Flash family gets big enough again. Have the Flash focus on Barry, Wally II, Meena, Godspeed, Daniel West, etc while the second book could focus on Wally, Jay, Bart, Jesse Quick, Max Mercury, etc.
    That would be great but for a secondary Flash title to sell, the characters would need a lot of exposure beforehand. Ginger Wally isn't getting that exposure, he hardly shows up outside his supporting role in Titans. That's the reason so many Marvel books are failing, they don't properly set up the characters and just carelessly send the books to print. DC doesn't seem interested in making a 2nd Flash book, especially not one that will actually last.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by HandofPrometheus View Post
    Not as bad as Donna Troy and Garth. DC realizes they made a mistake with him and is fixing it. He might pop back up everywhere in the upcoming years.
    No disrespect to Donna and Garth, I like those guys, but they were never as big as Wally. Not even close. They've done Wally a much worse disservice overall.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Atlanta96 View Post
    I meant the CURRENT DCAU. The animated films, the old DCAU is over.

    I think you should repost this in the Wally West thread I just started, it would be more on topic there.
    Well, like I was saying, Wally is going to be in the Judas Contract movie and the voice actor who voiced Wally for YJ has also teased that he is returning for YJ season 3.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zeeguy91 View Post
    Well, like I was saying, Wally is going to be in the Judas Contract movie and the voice actor who voiced Wally for YJ has also teased that he is returning for YJ season 3.
    Yes, he's going to be in TJC for about 10 minutes and an unknown amount of time in YJ season 3. Compare that to Barry who has a million leading roles and there's still a big problem. Are you happy with his exposure right now?

  12. #12
    It sucks to be right BohemiaDrinker's Avatar
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    Not really, no.

    Wally's return was something that DC had to do to stop looking like a douchy company. A gesture of good faith, if you will, so it's own fans don't hate it. Everything else in Rebirth so far could have been done sans-Wally, yet any initiative that DC took in the direction of "OK, WE`RE GIVING YOU WHAT YOU WANT" would seem hollow and fail because of it. (Wally's situation began way before the New 52, even).

    So they brought him back, but bringing him back causes 2 other problems:

    1) Barry remains the Flash, and it's on DC best interest that he continues to. Yet, since his return in 2008/09, he hadn't had one single great run (this is changing now). So if you put him and Wally side by side, Barry will seem lame by comparison (because Johns run was bad, Manapul's was sorta of neutered by editorial and don't get me started on Venditti). So, to really establish Barry, they have to keep them separate for a while, there's no way around it. The same applies, in a much bigger level, to NuWally.

    2) The New 52 was pretty much built to prevent Wally West from existing (in an editorial level). And they insisted on this take until NuWally was in publication for about one year and half and finally realized that no, they wouldn't convince anybody that way. Now, since Wally is existing in a universe that, again, was built so he wouldn't exist at all, his mere presence is lack a wrecking ball to continuity. And DC has learned with the NEw 52 (at least I hope they did) that you can redefine your characters or your larger continuity, but not both at the same time. The planning and coordination to do everything at once in a line as big as DC requires time, man and brain power that just isn't there.

    So, the solution is to have Wally existing in it's own bubble for a while; long enough that the other characters are rebuilt into something more DC-Like and continuity settles enough so it can be patched again (bewcause they will have tp do continuity patchwork soon, and it will be quite extensive work). Once the pieces are in place, we'll have Geoff Johns descending from Hollywood and putting everything in it's place. But right now, the mess they made to keep Wally (and others, but mostly Wally) away was so big that they have to clean at least some of it before giving him a larger role.

    Which is ok, even though I do wish me some more Wally every month.
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  13. #13
    The Fastest Post Alive! Buried Alien's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BohemiaDrinker View Post


    1) Barry remains the Flash, and it's on DC best interest that he continues to. Yet, since his return in 2008/09, he hadn't had one single great run (this is changing now). So if you put him and Wally side by side, Barry will seem lame by comparison
    I strongly disagree with this view. Barry and Wally aren't threats to each other's popularity, and should not be treated as such. I feel featuring them together more often enhances them both, and I would like to see much more of it.

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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by BohemiaDrinker View Post
    Not really, no.

    Wally's return was something that DC had to do to stop looking like a douchy company. A gesture of good faith, if you will, so it's own fans don't hate it. Everything else in Rebirth so far could have been done sans-Wally, yet any initiative that DC took in the direction of "OK, WE`RE GIVING YOU WHAT YOU WANT" would seem hollow and fail because of it. (Wally's situation began way before the New 52, even).
    I guess I agree with this. DC didn't bring back Ginger Wally West because they felt like the DC storytelling universe needed him - they did it as part of giving the appearance of caring about the whole legacy thing that they really don't care about, but by appealing to fans of it it gave them something to pin the next big event around. But now that he's here, they still don't have much for him to do. They really don't need that many Flashes.

  15. #15
    Extraordinary Member Drako's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GlennSimpson View Post
    I guess I agree with this. DC didn't bring back Ginger Wally West because they felt like the DC storytelling universe needed him - they did it as part of giving the appearance of caring about the whole legacy thing that they really don't care about, but by appealing to fans of it it gave them something to pin the next big event around. But now that he's here, they still don't have much for him to do. They really don't need that many Flashes.
    They don't need that many Green Lanterns either, but hey we have six of them. Or a crowded Bat family but they keep growing.

    Wally is doing fine with the Titans, with time i guess he can have his own solo book. He certainly can sustent one.

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