Bart Allen Appreciation!

[Assam]

DC Forum Appreciation Thread rules:

1) No negative comments about the honoree of this thread. It's an appreciation thread, not a non-appreciation one.

2) No negative discussion about any competitors of the honoree of this thread (i.e. John Stewart in the Hal Jordan thread). No ifs, ands, or buts. Find another non-appreciation thread to do that, just not here.

3) No negative comments about other versions of the character. For example, if you like the DCU version of Cyborg, but hate the DCnU version (or visa versa), just appreciate the earlier version and keep your comments about the latter to yourself.

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Bart Allen, one of DC's greatest speedsters and most fun characters, definitely needs their own appreciation thread!

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[Lightning Rider]

Bart is the man. My local store once had dozens of impulse comics in the 25 cent box and I got them all. Very glad I did.

[Assam]

Bart is the man. My local store once had dozens of impulse comics in the 25 cent box and I got them all. Very glad I did.

A very good idea indeed!

What actually got me to make this thread finally was that I've been re-reading through all of Impulse, and I just got through Mercury Falling. Even though I knew the story, I was still tearing up at the end. It's probably my 2nd favorite 'Flash' story.

[Atlanta96]

I love Bart. I know him from Young Justice and he's a great hyperactive character who brought lots of fun and energy to the DCU. His first Teen Titans version wasn't as good but I still liked him fine. The Flash Family is seriously broken without him around.

[shadowsgirl]

Typical Bart

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[shadowsgirl]

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[sakuyamons]

Ah, Impulse is great.

I have two Impulse issues (I bought them in my country, and old comics were cheaper than current ones) and I really liked how light-hearted they are. And the other day I bought Mercury Falling and I got to admit it got me emotional
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[brandnewfan]

The Impulse book from the 90s was/is fantastic.

Such a shame that DC has let Bart (and all of us) down since then.

#BringBackBart

[Fuzzy Barbarian]

Randomly decided to google if CBR had a Bart appreciation thread and apparently that was very well-timed!

I'm not a big fan of Bart, but only because I've never really read him in anything. I've read all of Mark Waid's Flash run (unless it's an annual not relevant to whatever story was then ongoing, because Comxiology sucks about that stuff), and I liked him in that stuff, especially his relationship with Wally and Linda. And I like the scans I've seen too. A shame that DC hasn't reprinted Impulse into those thick trades they're doing now.

I've been meaning to get into Young Justice for a while now, is it a good showing for Bart? And aside from that, what series (in trade) would you guys recommend to someone who wants some more Bart?

[Red obin]

Surprised Bart did not have an appreciation thread previously!

Impulse was such an amazing series and was very 90's but in a goody way. If I was to recommend any of it, I would say track down to 100 page spectacular from 2010 which reprints #50-53, including Batman team up and inertia's first fight with Impulse. It is easier to track down, cheaper and has better quality printing.

Btw we need more 100 page spectacular, we had some for Robin War, Titans hunt and a couple overs in late 2015 but we need more, especially due to rebirth's emphasis on classic characters.

[Assam]

I've been meaning to get into Young Justice for a while now, is it a good showing for Bart? And aside from that, what series (in trade) would you guys recommend to someone who wants some more Bart?

PAD's Young Justice is an AMAZING title, second only to Puckett's Batgirl as far as my favorites go, and Bart is consistently awesome in it. However, a few instances aside, he's mostly comic relief in the book. All of the nuances of the character are better showed off in Bart's incredible solo book. Even so, DEFINITELY check out Young Justice. A new fat trade of it just came out.

If you're only interested in trades, you've sadly only got a few options.

There's this: http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-nove...-in-the-family which contains most of the first 13 issues of Impulse. They left a few issues out, but you still get to meet Bart, Bart's friends, who are actually a really great supporting cast, especially his best friend Carol, you get to see Bart's relationship with Max, which is one of my all time favorite comic book relationships, and you get to see Bart meet my 3rd favorite member of the Flash Family, Bart's cousin, XS.

Then there's this http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-nove...ercury-falling which you should ONLY read once you're familiar with Bart, his friends and family, his relationships, and his villains. However, if you go into it with all that, you will LOVE it. I personally think it's second only to Return of Barry Allen as far as 'Flash' stories go.

Despite those being your only real options that focus on Bart's solo, Bart was also involved in the major Flash events of the time, such as Dead Heat and Terminal Velocity, which have been collected in trade, and as such include issues of his book.

Also, AVOID the Geoff Johns TT at all cost! While it wasn't Johns idea to make Bart Kid Flash, he DID completely change Bart's personality to the point of making him a completely different character. Also, AVOID Bart's run as the Flash, as they somehow got his character even MORE wrong there.

Bart ended up dying at the end of that book, BUT, the story in which he came back to life, Legion of 3 Worlds, is the closest we ever got seeing Bart act like himself post-2003. (The Kid Flash Flashpoint mini got him decent, but it wasn't nearly as good.)

So yeah, check out those trades above. I can't actually recommend Legion of 3 Worlds to you because it's one of the few Legion stories that actually IS impossible to understand if you aren't a Legion fan.

[KrustyKid]

Love me some Bart Allen

[Fuzzy Barbarian]

PAD's Young Justice is an AMAZING title, second only to Puckett's Batgirl as far as my favorites go, and Bart is consistently awesome in it. However, a few instances aside, he's mostly comic relief in the book. All of the nuances of the character are better showed off in Bart's incredible solo book. Even so, DEFINITELY check out Young Justice. A new fat trade of it just came out.

If you're only interested in trades, you've sadly only got a few options.

There's this: http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-nove...-in-the-family which contains most of the first 13 issues of Impulse. They left a few issues out, but you still get to meet Bart, Bart's friends, who are actually a really great supporting cast, especially his best friend Carol, you get to see Bart's relationship with Max, which is one of my all time favorite comic book relationships, and you get to see Bart meet my 3rd favorite member of the Flash Family, Bart's cousin, XS.

Then there's this http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-nove...ercury-falling which you should ONLY read once you're familiar with Bart, his friends and family, his relationships, and his villains. However, if you go into it with all that, you will LOVE it. I personally think it's second only to Return of Barry Allen as far as 'Flash' stories go.

Despite those being your only real options that focus on Bart's solo, Bart was also involved in the major Flash events of the time, such as Dead Heat and Terminal Velocity, which have been collected in trade, and as such include issues of his book.

Also, AVOID the Geoff Johns TT at all cost! While it wasn't Johns idea to make Bart Kid Flash, he DID completely change Bart's personality to the point of making him a completely different character. Also, AVOID Bart's run as the Flash, as they somehow got his character even MORE wrong there.

Bart ended up dying at the end of that book, BUT, the story in which he came back to life, Legion of 3 Worlds, is the closest we ever got seeing Bart act like himself post-2003. (The Kid Flash Flashpoint mini got him decent, but it wasn't nearly as good.)

So yeah, check out those trades above. I can't actually recommend Legion of 3 Worlds to you because it's one of the few Legion stories that actually IS impossible to understand if you aren't a Legion fan.

Good to know about Bart in YJ. I put of getting that new trade, just because A LOT of trades came out last month (seriously, way too many) and I have almost zero shelf space left, but I was also concerned with how the characters were written beyond humour. I love PAD (his X-Factor Investigations run is one of me faves), but I've heard about how Robin couldn't appear in public or something because of the "urban myth" rule in the Bat-books, so I wasn't sure if it was a series that got lots of editorial interference like that, like stuff regarding Bart from the Flash editors.

Oh, I've read Bart's involvement in Waid's Flash run, and the issues of Impulse that were involved. I'm glad I never shelled out for the older Wally trades, what with the Waid run being reprinted.

I know that Bart fans tended to not like Johns' TT, along with YJ fans as a whole, and tbh, despite it being one of my first pieces of exposure to the Titans, I don't like it either. It's... okay. At best, and required SEVERAL characters to act incredibly out of character to tell its really, really average story. And apparently Johns was where that series PEAKED.

I just finished the recent Legionnaires trade, and I like XS too! While I always knew she existed thanks to some stories here and there, I never knew what type of character she actually was. It WAS a bit weird for me tho, as someone who started reading the Reboot Legion with the DnA run, but it was great to see an inexperienced Legion with a member who had a reaction a lot of people probably would.

I know about "The Fastest Man Alive", trust me. I've about three issues, and I feel that even his DEATH was bad, especially in how it was explained later. I mean, I've yet to see a single interview or anything where someone defends the decision to make Bart into the Flash, though it'd probs be something like "it's a CoIE callback!"

I didn't really enjoy him in Legion of Three Worlds, but I didn't enjoy a lot of the characterisation in that story, and I have no clue what Johns was going for with Bart and Kon's dialogue, but it was just awkward. Oh, and I read some of that Flashpoint mini (completely forgot it exists), and it was... okay. I'm more interested in how it may serve as a way of bringing the real Bart back, given how Rebirth is actually taking stuff into continuity like it is.

As much as I don't like Johns' Barry Allen Flash works, how was Bart in that to you guys? I know he had this ""I want grandpa to love me" thing going and I'm not sure how I feel about that, but how did YOU guys, as Bart fans, feel about it?

[Assam]

As much as I don't like Johns' Barry Allen Flash works, how was Bart in that to you guys? I know he had this ""I want grandpa to love me" thing going and I'm not sure how I feel about that, but how did YOU guys, as Bart fans, feel about it?

I didn't read Johns' Barry run. I've always thought that Barry coming back was a mistake, and Flash Rebirth just confirmed that. I have not purchased a Flash comic since.

[sakuyamons]

For me, Kid Flash: Lost was the closest thing for a decent Bart characterization in a long time and imo if they remember it happened, it could be a decent way to bringing him back, maybe he had a hand on helping Wally to come back and all.

Tbh, I like Wally and all (bought Waid's first run today) but him and Barry treated Bart like sh*t imo. Who needs them when u have Max Mercury.