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?