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I was highly disappointed by the new Flash #1. The writing was clumsy as well as the artwork. I didn't quite grok that Bart getting "the Illyana treatment" (instantly aged into a young adult) was a permanent change. I didn't initially review Flash #1 because I had hoped that Wally would turn up as the Flash later on in the arc. Sad to say, this is not longer the case, as Didio explained at Heroes Con:
Responding to a question about the Flash and Bart Allen becoming the new Flash as a result of Infinite Crisis, Didio said that he felt a change was needed with the character as he stood because, as he said, there was something very generic about the Flash. Themes were repeating, he said, and he wanted to bring a new generational aspect to the forefront again. In noting that Bart is the Flash for this new generation of the DCU, Didio added that Wally West is gone, but not forgotten.
I can't see anything generic about Wally West as the Flash. He had a great run under Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, and Geoff Johns. He discovered the Speed Force and became the only man to merge with it and come back to reality. I suspect the real problem was the one writers faced back in 1986: the Flash is powerful that they cannot come up with threats deadly enough to threaten him. Witness the awful last arc by Joey Cavaleri that closed out the Flash's second volume.
Didio must think he's going to pull off the same trick as DC did in the 80s with Wally appearing in Flash #1. There are some parallels--Wally wasn't a very likeable character in the first two or three dozen issues. He took money to deliver a heart to the West Coast and slept with every bimbo in sight. As the series went on, Wally became a better person and a more reliable hero. I think we stuck with Wally as readers, because we had a two decade history with him. We had already invested a certain amount of time, from Wally as a teenager in the Flash to a college student in Titans. Bart has had only a decade or less. I could actually see sticking with Bart if they hadn't made him into a sucky dude drinking in pubs. It might have been better to have him learn how to control his Impulse-nature into something more mature. The big question is whether this new Flash will lure in any new readers than Wally West. Nuff said.
