The Flash #19 Discussion

[J. D. Guy]

I don't believe there's a thread for this, so I'll make it since I have quite a bit to say.

Of course, for those who haven't read either this or issue #18, do be mindful that there will be spoilers for both issues and their developments.

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I've been behind on The Flash since #16, but I finally caught up today.

I'll start by giving a bit of an aside to Wally's brief role in #17. I imagine few if anyone really realized this, but when Flash was narrating that he was happy Wally wasn't involved with the Rogues debacle because he felt he wasn't ready for the Rogues yet, the last box where he did so was right at the begining of the page where we see that Kid Flash had successfully snuck into Iron Heights to confirm the info on his dad. Basically, that juxtaposition was done as another means to showcase that Barry was, once again, underestimating Wally, similar to how he underestimates Iris in not divulging his identity to her (I'll get back to that in a little bit).

I believe it was with Frontier, but we were talking about Wally's lack of inclusion in that arc. I hadn't read #17 yet at the time, but now that I have, as well as the subsequent issues, I am more or less fine, despite that he missed out. Wally wasn't included, but just enough time near the end of it was set aside for him to have a scene that not only led into the next arc, but showcased that Barry was/is, in truth, not giving Wally enough credit.

For this two-part arc, I was here for Wally, all the way. And it was awesome! No lie, I've been waiting for something like this for his character for so long. Since his introduction, he's been teased and put on the story-line backburner more times than I could care to recall, but all of those teases have been paying off now that he's Kid Flash at last, and all of those out-of-focus portions of finally made way for this. It was a long wait (literal years in fact), but it was worth it.

I'll take a moment to tip my hat to Digger's role. It was clever of Williamson to make use of his character, as one of the last people to have seen Daniel, way back in the New Suicide Squad Annual, as a the catalyst for Wally's development to reach a brand new chapter, all the while having the perfect excuse to bring Flash and Captain Boomerang back together again. Digger played his role well, and my biggest kudos goes to, naturally, when Kid Flash tells him that Daniel is his father (you'll notice that Kid Flash didn't narrate at all these two issues, and tended to avoid referring to Daniel as his father in his speech bubbles until now). That pause he took was palpable. Not only did it likely bring out the memories he had with Daniel when he was still on the Squad, but I'd like to believe that it also brought out something of the memories of his own son as well. Dude even took off his cap to show he was serious. Up 'til then, he was nothing but snark and sass, but at that point, he was true class. That was a real powerful moment for Boomerang.

Wally, rightfully, took center stage this arc, especially in the last 3rd of #19, and backed up by Barry's introspective narration, together, they really made the arc. (I'm curious as to the decision for not having Wally narrate any part of this two-parter? I suppose it was to increase the impact of his emotions by not allowing us to look inside his head via the narration boxes).

Wally's character has gone through some serious extremes. First he idolized Daniel, and hated Flash because of his role in Daniel's arrest. He didn't know the details and it was an arbitrary hate, but the anger was there nonetheless. He took out his frustrations over Daniel being in prison by graffiting, which is how we, and Barry, first met him. Over time, thanks to Iris's suggestion, Barry enters Wally's life, and he slowly warms up to him, to the degree where he transfers more and more of his idolization from Daniel to Barry. Now, Wally was led to believe that Daniel was just a close Uncle, which is why he idolized his father figure so, since his own father wasn't in the picture, all the while completely ignorant of the fact that his father was in his life. (Of course, back at that point, Daniel being Wally's Uncle was fact, not a plot-twist in the making, but even with the retcon, Williamson proved here that he wove that particular retcon beautifully into both characters' character; you wouldn't even know it was a retcon without being told, which is how good this is.) Over time, he eventually realizes (not sure when or how, though) that his Uncle was also the villainous Reverse-Flash, and by that point, he warms up to the Flash and pretty much transfers all the idolization he had for Daniel to Flash, while still remaining in good standing with Barry. And until he learned that Daniel was actually his father all along, that's pretty much where everything stayed.

Once he does, that is when he starts becoming disillusioned with Flash, since he was keeping Wally in the dark about so many things, including something as big as his Uncle actually being his father, and soon begins having an internal crisis about being a villain's son. A big part of the emotion to this arc is the quest Wally goes on to find his dad and get closure, and the biggest desire for it stems from the nagging question of why Daniel didn't want to admit to Wally that he was his father. Did he not want to be a father? If so, why? It was eating Wally up inside, and that last 3rd of this issue really showcased that.

While I have a mind, I want to give kudos to the artist here. They really brought everything together and didn't miss a beat. That ending wouldn't have had the impact without them. I'm glad they had Wally de-materialize his mask during the scene with him and Barry, in order to maximize its effects.

Barry was his own kind of epic here, from the moment he chased after Wally the second time (I also want to say that I also loved the splash page with Flash and Kid Flash running in the last issue). His biggest highlight has got to be him finally, at long last [strike](after 10,000 years)[/strike] revealing that Flash and Barry are one and the same. As bumpy a ride as that part of the story has been up 'til now (Barry's reasonings for keeping his ID secret from Wally grew to be real frustrating for me over time), it was worth it for that reveal, right when Wally was despairing the most, when he questioned if Daniel's choice was because something was wrong with himself.

The hug that followed was simply beautiful. <3

The moment that soon followed was also powerful, if bitter. Wally questions if Barry told Iris yet, which he hasn't. This, alas, once more causes Wally to distance himself from Barry/Flash, and the reasons he does so is also a very powerful in their own right. Not only does he call Barry out for not telling Iris, since he sees how much they mean to each other (and he totes ships them), he even likens him in this way to his father; that is, he calls them both liars. He akins Barry's reasonings as naught but excuses, something his father echoed to a lesser extent at the beginning of last issue, and that regardless of what they may be, him not telling Iris his secret, when boiled down to its essence, is little more than Barry lieing to those he is closest to.

The last thing we get from Wally before he departs is his near-confession of wanting Barry in his own life as a father figure/surrogate father in earnest. That's a big, super personal thing for a kid to admit. Also, with the way things played out here, they have more than a good reason for Kid Flash not to be a part of The Button mini-arc coming up next, should that turn out to be the case (even if it's still convenient that this happened to allow Wally/KF to continue "Commuting on a Bus" between arcs).

The last thing I want touch on in this big post is that my worry for what this writer would do to Daniel has been appeased. When post-Rebirth Flash began, Williamson had Wally all of sudden hate Daniel, having learned that his Uncle wasn't a good guy off-panel. Since his introduction, Daniel's own page-time has been just about as turbulent as Wally's has. Daniel's creator portrayed him as being an angry and extremely troubled and turmoiled person who was still nuanced despite his very serious issues. The new writer after that, however, simply portrayed Daniel as some unrepentant, crazy, card-carrying villain, seemingly for the sake of him being a villain for Flash to take own again, the previous nauance to his character seemingly abandoned. I was worried that was what Williamson was taking after, based off of what was said about Danial early on, but I had hoped that Daniel's time in the Suicide Squad would be taken into account. That time showcased his more nuanced side very much so, which was at no point more present than in the aforementioned Annual, where as Digger explains, Daniel goes out a hero, saving kids who would have been doomed otherwise. I am very happy and very much relieved to see Williamson has chosen to go this route, showing that Daniel did indeed have a good side to him and that his time spent with Wally, even in the guise of his Uncle, was not "faked" or anything, and that good side shown through in the end.

So, not only did this issue and arc do right by Wally/Kid Flash, it did right by Daniel/Reverse-Flash, too. Once again, a beautiful read.

[Frontier]

It's almost fitting that we had this story as a sendoff to the Daniel West Reverse-Flash and it ends with the restoration of the one, true, Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne .

But I'm really curious about what the heck happened to Thawne.

One minute he's locked up, the next he's hit by lightning and suddenly he's transformed into the classic Reverse-Flash, right down to remembering Flashpoint and that Thomas Wayne killed him. It basically restored New 52 Thawne to his old self, a true revival more or less from his existence getting wiped out in Flashpoint.

The lightning was blue...was it supposed to be Manhattan somehow? What does he gain from restoring Thawne? Does he want to stop Barry from figuring out the Rebirth crisis by fully-reviving his greatest nemesis?

And this very efficiently sets the stage for "The Button" crossover, as Reverse-Flash sets his sights on Batman in revenge for his "death" in Flashpoint.

If the covers weren't already enough indication, it looks like Flashpoint and it's role in Rebirth is going to be central to the crossover. And Barry and Thawne's renewed rivalry is going to be a central conflict going forward in the book.

[J. D. Guy]

It's almost fitting that we had this story as a sendoff to the Daniel West Reverse-Flash and it ends with the restoration of the one, true, Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne .

But I'm really curious about what the heck happened to Thawne.

One minute he's locked up, the next he's hit by lightning and suddenly he's transformed into the classic Reverse-Flash, right down to remembering Flashpoint and that Thomas Wayne killed him. It basically restored New 52 Thawne to his old self, a true revival more or less from his existence getting wiped out in Flashpoint.

The lightning was blue...was it supposed to be Manhattan somehow? What does he gain from restoring Thawne? Does he want to stop Barry from figuring out the Rebirth crisis by fully-reviving his greatest nemesis?

And this very efficiently sets the stage for "The Button" crossover, as Reverse-Flash sets his sights on Batman in revenge for his "death" in Flashpoint.

If the covers weren't already enough indication, it looks like Flashpoint and it's role in Rebirth is going to be central to the crossover. And Barry and Thawne's renewed rivalry is going to be a central conflict going forward in the book.

As someone who really likes Daniel West's character, and who also totally loves how cool his Reverse-Flash look is, all I can say is that, through the hoops of "Comic Book Magic" or by other means, I hope we haven't seen the last of him, and that maybe Wally can have that talk one day. (The bomb he was caught in was technically meant to take those affect back in to pre-historic times. Daniel's time-traveled before, so it's not impossible to say he was just transported back in time if they choose to do so. Also, I kinda-sorta resent that "one, true" comment, though I know you didn't mean it in offense.)

As for Thawne, I dunno know. I was really confused by that ending, too. It was so abrupt and vague. I kinda feel that it didn't strictly work as well as a "next arc sequel hook" as KF's moment did for him leading into this arc. It's probably because KF's wasn't as vague as this one was.

[Calvinr]

Enjoyed this issue, was a fitting end for the n52 reverse flash, it gave Wally some closure at least, Eobard returning was interesting maybe it's linked to what's happened in superman, now that he's merged the timeline is starting to solidify? Probably not but maybe.
So glad he is back though , and with the way Williamson has handled the rest of the Flash gallery im confident he'll look after him.

[Rakzo]

Just for the record, we don't know if New 52 Reverse-Flash is actually dead. Captain Boomerang is just saying what he saw but people who (sadly) read Sean Ryan's New Suicide Squad can remember that the bomb that exploded had a connection to time travel so Daniel might just be lost in time.

For the issue itself, I really liked it. Once again, Williamson knows how to give Boomerang respect by making him competent and even create subtle moments of characterization for him like when Wally tells him that he's just looking for his father and Digger instantly tells him the truth (which is most likely related to his own history with his dad based on Geoff Johns' notes). The scenes between Barry and Wally were also well-executed.

Really excited for The Button now (although not so excited that this is going to be a crossover with King's Batman since he fails most of the time in terms of execution).

[Mister BoMan]

This was a good issue and looking forward to what is ahead.