Wally West: The Flash Appreciation 2023

[Waterfall]

A stable, loving, relationship with Jay?

And? Time comes and people die. We've had content about their loving relationship and that's enough.

We have Iris and Linda in the exact same role as well. Flash is already a bloated cast, some people may face cuts.

And I find the idea of grieving the eventual parting with your loved one a new fresh potential for how Jay handles his own mortality.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, Jay's powers slow his aging, but he's not immortal. In fact it's implied he's died by the time Huntress takes on her vigilante identity, as we saw a woman in his costume in that era - an older Judy, presumably. It seems she and Irey (whose adult self from the same era was shown in The Flash in Adams' first arc) have taken over from their Dads as The Flash by then.

Yes, but the irony is that they can figure out ways for how not to deage *some* characters, but whenever people complain about Joan, Molly Maynes or Libby Lawrence, the standard response is that they would be too old in the present.
It’s a very clear double standard when it comes to the original Golden Age women.

Joan was a civilian, Molly was an unpowered reformed supervillain, and Libby was actually a metahuman (it's where Jesse's flight and strength come from). Of those only Libby's continued existence makes sense. Yet she was killed off anyway. The fact is, Libby would actually need to have stayed young (enough to remain fertile anyway) until at least 30 years ago. Jesse's only supposed to be about Nightwing's age, right? She was a Titan at one point (and I think, the only one to have been on the Titans, Justice League and Justice Society). Libby should have extended lifespan as one of her powers else Jesse's existence doesn't make sense.

Funny thing is that Michael Mayne would also be extremely old. Just like Jade and Obsidian should if their mother also died so long ago.

About Jade and Obsidian, Alan is immortal, so logically so are they - they absolutely should say that they're older than they look, and are NOT from the same generation as the Titans.

Changing the subject... anyone watched the Flash finale? A new character showed up, from Wally's era in the comics: spoilers:

Max Mercury.

end of spoilers

[Factor]

With the JSA, the best course of action for me is to have them and their loved ones be displaced in time for a few decades after the team originally disbanded in the 50s.
Having the Infinity Inc. generation older than the League and much older than the Titans doesn’t seem right.
This would fix most of the ageing problems we’ve been talking about, but would also need to ignore Johns’ “new” 70s era JSA team inspired by the All-Star Comics revival.

[Username taken]

I haven't gone through most of this thread but is Wally West going to continue as the main Flash or is Barry going to takeover the book again?

[Drako]

I haven't gone through most of this thread but is Wally West going to continue as the main Flash or is Barry going to takeover the book again?

He still is the main Flash in the new series that starts in September.

[Dataweaver]

You can come up with reasons for someone with powers to live longer... i.e. Alan and Jay. But civilians? Extended lifespan and eternal youth are superpowers too - you'd be turning her into a metahuman.

Right. That's why my preferred solution is time travel: specifically, recasting the Crisis on Infinite Earths as a time travel crossover that ended up bringing people from the 20th century (including the bulk of its heroes and their spring casts) forward in time to something like “ten years ago”, or however long ago it was that the JLA got caught up in the Crisis. Joann and Molly wouldn't be centennials yet; they would be at most in their eighties, and due to the Karkull incident would probably be closer to their 60s, biologically. And now that they're on the sliding timescale, they'd be likely to maintain their “entering retirement, but not on Death's door” status for quite some time to come.

With the JSA, the best course of action for me is to have them and their loved ones be displaced in time for a few decades after the team originally disbanded in the 50s.
Having the Infinity Inc. generation older than the League and much older than the Titans doesn’t seem right.
This would fix most of the ageing problems we’ve been talking about, but would also need to ignore Johns’ “new” 70s era JSA team inspired by the All-Star Comics revival.

Meanwhile, my preferred solution is fully compatible with Johns' “they were still active in the 70s” reveal. Heck, you can even keep Infinity Inc's founding date as 1984, one year before the Crisis transplanted them to the 21st century.

[Username taken]

He still is the main Flash in the new series that starts in September.

Thank you.

That puts a smile on my face.

[Digifiend]

Article about Flash #799. Though, they didn't seem to do any further research other than reading the previous two issues. They don't acknowledge that it's confirmed who the kids actually are!
https://www.cbr.com/the-flash-superkids-debut-dc/

[Alphaxman]

Is Barry still active or has he gone into simi-retirement?

And does anyone else think there are way too many speedsters? I only care about Wally because he was who I grew up reading about - from the New Teen Titans to her long running series. But I can see the need for Jay and a younger hero. I never liked Bart, but I get he has his fans - plus he has history and legacy on his side. Ace (Wally 2) can stay or disappear and I wouldn't care. Avery Ho has a place in China. I love Jessie Quick but DC doesn't seem to know what to do with her. And I'm not a fan of Wally kids being active heroes. I think they're too old anyway.

[Drako]

Barry is still active.

No, there aren't too many speedsters.
They are different characters that bring different dynamics to the table other than runs fast.

[failo.legendkiller]

It was weird seeing Wally in his maroon and silver suit again and what it's meaning?

[Digifiend]

Man, the first year of Wally as the main Flash didn't age well did it? He gets dumped by Francis Kaye a couple of issues in, and he gets straight into a relationship with Tina McGee, who was already married! And when he gets trapped inside Chunk's pocket universe, he flirts with another girl there! His love life isn't the only issue with that run (the writer left after only 14 issues) - several issues involve the Soviet Union (and Russians speak in text with backwards Rs), and there's talk of a border between Russia and Finland. Of course nowadays there's other countries between them.

[married guy]

Man, the first year of Wally as the main Flash didn't age well did it? He gets dumped by Francis Kaye a couple of issues in, and he gets straight into a relationship with Tina McGee, who was already married! And when he gets trapped inside Chunk's pocket universe, he flirts with another girl there! His love life isn't the only issue with that run (the writer left after only 14 issues) - several issues involve the Soviet Union (and Russians speak in text with backwards Rs), and there's talk of a border between Russia and Finland. Of course nowadays there's other countries between them.

Yeah. I think Baron took it too far trying to make Wally different to Barry. He really was written as a self centred arsehole.
Thankfully, Messner-Loebs took over and smoothed those rough edges.

[Waterfall]

Man, the first year of Wally as the main Flash didn't age well did it? He gets dumped by Francis Kaye a couple of issues in, and he gets straight into a relationship with Tina McGee, who was already married! And when he gets trapped inside Chunk's pocket universe, he flirts with another girl there! His love life isn't the only issue with that run (the writer left after only 14 issues) - several issues involve the Soviet Union (and Russians speak in text with backwards Rs), and there's talk of a border between Russia and Finland. Of course nowadays there's other countries between them.

It's for the better. His character development really what made him a pillar character compared to the rest of Titans bar Nightwing.

[Dataweaver]

Man, the first year of Wally as the main Flash didn't age well did it? He gets dumped by Francis Kaye a couple of issues in, and he gets straight into a relationship with Tina McGee, who was already married! And when he gets trapped inside Chunk's pocket universe, he flirts with another girl there! His love life isn't the only issue with that run (the writer left after only 14 issues) - several issues involve the Soviet Union (and Russians speak in text with backwards Rs), and there's talk of a border between Russia and Finland. Of course nowadays there's other countries between them.

Things like this are why it doesn't pay to take the original material too literally. In a similar way, the original Robin miniseries featured a plot involving counterfeit Euros from the not-yet-finalized European Union. And the post-Crisis Firestorm quickly got involved in Cold War politics, something that doesn't translate well to the recent past.