December 6, 2006
DC's New Earth Appears in Flash #6 But No One Cares
Hokey smokes, the Flash has gone from the top of my reading pile to the very bottom, so I only read The Flash #6 just now. The writing is terrible; Bilson and Demeo seemed to get worse with each issue instead of better. There's nothing really written into Bart's character that makes me want to accept him as the Flash. I could go on and on, but this issue does have a surprise at the very end. If you've read Infinite Crisis and Justice League of America #0, you may have noticed hints that there is a new parallel Earth in the DC Universe. From the time I saw it in JLA #0, I always believed we would find Wally West tucked away on this world. Flash #6 proves that is true. Not only are Wally, Linda, and the twins there, but there is an alternate version of Jay Garrick. There's a scene on that Earth set just after Superboy broke out of prison, which looks like it was hooked up to a number of Red Sun generators. Wally passes the ring to Bart and sends him packing back to DCU Earth-1, loaded up with all the Speed Force in the world. Let's hope eventually Wally gets it back. Nuff said.
July 1, 2006
It's Official: Bart Allen is the new Flash
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.
Posted by Kid Flash at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)June 19, 2006
The Flash Volume 3 Debuts This Week
This is the week I've been both looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Flash Volume 3, Number 1, will be in comic stores this Wednesday, June 21st. Can a couple of TV hacks really reinvigorate this character? Will the Flash turn out to be Bart Allen or Jay Garrick or Wally West? I'm betting that things will start off leading us to believe the former and wind up with the latter at the conclusion, just like Wonder Woman is doing with the Donna Troy business. I have no doubts about Ken Lashley on the artwork. Blog @ Newsarama tipped me off to this article about Lashley on the Canadian MetroNews site. There's also a review of Flash #1 which doesn't really say anything, except to indicate that the first arc is another example of decompressed storytelling. Can't wait till Wednesday. Nuff said.
February 15, 2006
Speed Force 101: An Infinite Crisis Tie-In
A lot of people who are reading Infinite Crisis are not hardcore DC fans; even if you are a DC fan, you may not have read the Flash for the past 20 years. What is the Speed Force and who were those guys in Infinite Crisis #4? To answer that, we are going to go back to the beginning-to Barry Allen, the Flash of the Silver Age of comic books.
Barry Allen always assumed that his origin was tied up with a bolt of lightning striking his laboratory. The chemicals that splashed over his body supposedly transformed him into the scarlet speedster. But in a flashback shown in Speed Force Special #1 (1997), we could see that Barry started to doubt this theory. After an encounter with a villain called Cobalt Blue, who seemed to withdraw the speed power from both Barry and Wally West (Kid Flash at that point), Barry suspected a greater force was at work.
Everyone knows by now that Barry Allen died in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths mini-series. He went out like a hero, running circles around the Anti-Monitor's machine in order to destroy it. However, what most new fans won't know is that this is only half of the story…
In 1988, DC published Flash Annual 2 (Vol. 2), featuring the Secret Origin of Barry Allen. It was written by a wonderful writer named Robert Loren Fleming and drawn by Flash's co-creator, Carmine Infantino. In this story, which actually covered most of Barry Allen's life, we see at the end that he transformed into a creature of pure energy…
…and eventually became a lightning bolt, going back in time and striking Barry's lab full of chemicals. In effect, he created himself. Who knows if DC's current generation of writers remembers this annual? Is it still canon? But I like it, only if I can say that the lightning bolt is not an endless, repeating loop, and that it eventually goes to the Speed Force. We would have to wait seven years to ask these questions...
In Flash #1 Vol.2 (1987), we see that Wally West is making good on his promise to become the Flash (which he stated at the end of Crisis). His speed power is nowhere near Barry's, as he can barely match the speed of sound. A trip across America to deliver vital supplies takes an hour and Wally's so exhausted at the end that he has to scarf down a ton of fast food to restore his energy.
Wally's quest to regain Barry's speed was a recurring theme in the new Flash's first 90 issues. When Mark Waid took over, Wally's scientist friends kept telling him that it wasn't possible for any human being to run as fast as Barry. After a trip through time, (courtesy of Zero Hour) Wally runs past the speed of light-but he pays a price. In Flash 95, Linda stumbles through a doorway to find that Wally is becoming a being of pure energy!
To make matters worse, Wally's seen a glimpse of the future-that he will die saving Linda-dissipating into pure energy. Despite all of Wally's best efforts to avoid his fate, it comes true at the hands of Kobra. In Flash 99, Kobra fires an energy weapon at Linda. In order to stop it, Wally must run faster than ever before. He saves Linda and explodes in a flash of light.
In Flash 100, Central City has a big problem. It is sealed off from the rest of the DC Universe, and Kobra's terrorist cell is in control. Linda Park proves she is no pushover and manages to survive on her own. Just as Kobra finally corners Linda and gets ready to kill her, Wally returns, surrounded by bolts of lightning. He defeats Kobra using speed powers we've never seen him wield.
Wally tells Linda that he made it "…to the other side of the light. I became part of some force…some power." Of what, he isn't sure: "I remember less with every passing second. It was like looking at the face of God. I couldn't comprehend a billionth of it…and yet it's a part of me now…more than it's ever been for any man alive. I have a direct line to the force of speed." He's the only man to ever merge with the Speed Force and return to our plane of reality. Wally returned because of love, the love he had for Linda Park, which is restated in Infinite Crisis #4.
We see evidence of his new powers in Flash 101, when he lends his speed to Linda for a little jaunt. In Flash 102, he's powerful enough to beat Mongul. Wally's power grows in his own title and in Grant Morrison's JLA series.
More mysteries of the Speed Force were revealed during the crossover event "Dead Heat". A new villain called Savitar is menacing the entire line of speedsters. He knows more about the Speed Force than Wally, yet he lacks one talent that Wally has-he can't merge with it. By drawing the speed from Wally's allies, Savitar hopes to attain that goal. Impulse, Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, Johnny Quick, and Jesse Quick (his daughter) invade Savitar's palace along with Wally. During the battle, Johnny Quick runs faster than ever before to save Jesse, and takes a one way trip to Speed Force central.
The climax to "Dead Heat" features a race between Wally and Savitar, as the latter races to kill Linda in retribution for the destruction of his palace. During the race, Wally realizes the only advantage that he has over Savitar. He takes Savitar directly in the heart of the Speed Force, becoming a being of energy once again.
Now Wally fully realizes the nature of the Speed Force: all speedsters eventually come to reside there. As long as Wally has Linda, there's a focus for him to return to. This special ability is what makes Wally unique, no matter how many speedsters are in the DC Universe.
In Infinite Crisis #4, we saw three people emerge from the Speed Force: Barry Allen, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury-the mentor of Bart Allen when he was called Impulse. How did Max wind up in the Speed Force?
It was explained in the last issue of Impulse (#89). An adversary of Jay Garrick's called the Rival was imprisoned within the Speed Force. The Rival lured Max Mercury into the Speed Force and swapped places with him. Max is imprisoned in the Speed Force while the Rival is running around in a time machine. (At least, that's the last I saw of him.)
Where did Wally go at the end of Infinite Crisis #4? He tells Linda that it's not the Speed Force-something else is calling him away. Linda kisses him and refuses to let him go alone. How can she go without any super powers?
The answer seems to be within Wally and Linda's kids. Wally's energy spreads around as he kisses Linda, igniting the powers within their children, who seem determined that the whole family stays together. I didn't realize this when I first read this issue, but the boys over at Comic Geek Speak posited this theory and it is sound. We know that the children of speedsters usually inherit their powers.
When you first hear about the Speed Force, it sounds corny, like a bad Star Wars ripoff. But there's no hokey religion associated with it. On a Fanboy Radio interview with Brian Augustyn (the Flash editor during this period), I posted a question that Scott asked him: Why was the Speed Force created? His answer (as I remember it): it was created as a way to tie all the speedsters together. To preserve the legacy that started with Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and continues to thrive with Wally and Bart Allen. And that's why I love the Flash…that sense of history and evolution. Nuff said.
Continue reading "Speed Force 101: An Infinite Crisis Tie-In" »
Posted by Kid Flash at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)February 9, 2006
Justice League Unlimited Flashes Back to TV
According to the Comics Continuum, Justice League Unlimited is back on Cartoon Network this Saturday. The new episode is called "Flash and Substance". Yum, yum, an all-Flash episode with his Rogues Gallery: Mirror Master, Captain Cold, and the Trickster are slated to appear. Plus they worked Linda Park in there. Now, what is really funny is that over on Ain't It Cool, people in the UK are watching the penultimate episode of JLU already! For once, our friends across the pond get to watch something ahead of the United States. This means...that all these JLU episodes are already torrented. Yep. Nuff said.
January 24, 2006
Flash Forward to the TV Writers
Dan Didio spilled the beans (here on Newsarama) about who will take over the writing reins on The Flash when it reboots with a new #1 issue. In case you weren't keeping score, there was plenty of speculation as to who this might be; Mark Waid and Grant Morrison were two of the names mentioned. Who is it really? Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. Wha-huh? I knew the names right away--they were the producers/creators of the Flash TV series which I reviewed just the other week. Talk about serendipity, getting an 16 year old TV series (which they probably never thought to see another dime from) collected on DVD and then getting to write the comic book series a few weeks later! Ken Lashley will be doing the artwork (click to expand his developmental art work on the right), although it might be cool if Bilson and De Meo were paired with Howard Chaykin (their co-producer on the Flash) as the artist. Lashley is just fine, but Bilson and De Meo had better be freaking outstanding. Interesting comments from Didio on the Flash's role in generational change within the DC Universe. I totally agree. Nuff said.
January 21, 2006
A Pathetic Last Issue For the Flash
Flash #230, written by Joey Cavaleri, marks the last issue of the Flash's current run. Instead of wrapping up 20 years of history with a touching farewell, it is just pointless filler material. It tries to bring Wally's adventures full circle, by having him fight the same villain from Flash #1: Vandal Savage. I couldn't get into the story. Savage is so over the top, with his little space cult, and dropping names like Chairman Mao. It really has no meaning or impact on Wally's life and really suffers in comparison to Johns' last two years on the book.
Long time Flash fans will remember Flash 350, which was the final issue for the Barry Allen character. Written by Cary Bates and appropriately drawn by Carmine Infantino (the greatest silver age Flash artist), this issue wrapped up two years worth of plotlines and reunited Barry with his wife Iris--who we all thought had been killed by Professor Zoom! It gave Barry and Iris a brief bit of happiness in the future--enough time for them to conceive twins. The ominous caption in the last page read "They all lived happily ever after...for a little while."
DC should have ended the series with Geoff Johns' final issue, which had a great sendoff to Wally West. It eerily paralleled Flash V1 350, by resolving the most tragic event in Wally and Linda's marriage--losing her unborn babies. Wally undid the tragic event in a near-fatal confrontation with Zoom. He ran off down the road with memories of his past adventures, like a cowboy riding off into the sunset.
The events in Infinite Crisis #4 are really intriguing. The Wests are leaving Earth for another place, but where? A new Earth? Or perhaps the future, where Barry found refuge? I can't wait to find out. On the other hand, I'm not too excited about Bart becoming the Flash, but I'll give it a chance. Wally becoming the Flash was a big event, but it felt like he earned it with numerous Flash appearances, short stories, and as a founding member of the Teen Titans. I'm sure younger fans can say the same about Bart. Flash #1 with Bart feels weird. Nuff said.
Posted by Kid Flash at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)January 12, 2006
The Flash DVD: A Bad 80s Acid Flashback
Now you gotta know, based on my name, that the Flash is my all-time favorite character. I love the Broome\Fox\Infantino version, the Baron\Guice version, the Waid\Weiringo version, and the Johns\Kolins version. And this was way before 1990, but I had fairly good memories of the TV show that premiered that year. Yesterday I received the Flash DVD set and watched the pilot episode. Oh my god. It stunk worse than a crate of thousand year old eggs. All the characters dress in the excesses of the 80s. It's like all the extras and rejects of Miami Vice and MTV showed up on the Flash set. Paula Marshall plays Iris Allen and wears clothes that might have looked good on Boy George. The sets were decorated in primary colors (blues, purples, etc.) which reminded me of Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy movie. The pilot features the threat of a--gasp--motorcycle gang, who peddle around the studio set very slowly lobbing lime green balls that are powerful enough to explode buses and set cars aflame. The actors don't seem to have much enthusiasm, except for John Wesley Shipp as the Flash and Tim Thomerson as his brother. When you see ol' Jack in a piece like this, the quality speaks for itself. Although I think he's probably the best actor in the pilot!.
Watching this, you see how far technology has come in modern TV shows. In some of the action scenes, the movement of all the actors and stunt men is way too slow. The way they portray the Flash running around the streets, they just took some film and sped it up. The Smallville episode with Kid Flash had small Matrix-like effects to convey the sense of speed. Kid Flash could run on the water with no difficulty. His race with Clark Kent at the end looked pretty good, too. I don't know if I can watch anymore 1990 Flash. I had some good memory of the Trickster episodes...but it's Mark Hamill. Nuff said.
Posted by Kid Flash at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)September 7, 2005
Satan-spawns of Meloni Thawne!
One year ago, we had an Identity Crisis, or more specifically, the characters in the DCU had one. During this “crisis” we discovered that Captain Boomerang—a villain who went after the Flash with giant Aussie-made weapons that went around in circles—had a son that he tracked down and tried to reconnect with. We found out that the kid, Owen, had his father’s penchant for throwing weapons but also, a Super-Sprinter—capable of short bursts of speed. This gave him a promising start as a new adversary for Wally West.
But who was Owen’s mother? This has been a secret plotline dangling over us for an entire year. Many of us speculated that it must have been the Golden Glider. I can’t figure out why. Glider didn’t have any speed powers, nor did she romance Captain Boomerang. One theory was that Boomerang possessed Barry Allen’s body for a short time and had a quickie with the Glider. I kind of like that, because if I took over Flash’s body or Superman’s body for a few hours, I’d go out and bang a whole bunch of hot chicks. As it turned out, that speculation was pure rubbish.
In Flash #225, we know the truth: the mother of Owen is Meloni Thawne. Meloni Thawne? I’ve heard the name but it’s never been a significant figure in any Flash story that I remember. I had to look her up on Hyperborea’s encyclopedia of Flash facts. Meloni was one of the rare good Thawnes (Prof. Zoom being the most notorious) who married Don Allen, Barry Allen’s son, and has made a minor time traveling appearance in Impulse—where we found out she was Bart Allen's mother. And yet, Meloni resides in the 30th century. I couldn’t fathom how Boomerang met her until one message board poster pointed out that in Flash #224, we see ol’ Boomer falling through time as a result of Zoom’s attack on Wally. He apparently falls into the 30th century and is greeted by Meloni (and you can bet it’s her by that weird haircut that Bart used to have).
Talk about serendipity! You fall thru the timesphere and wind up sitting next to the daughter-in-law of your arch enemy—and she’s hot to trot! This is weird. Why would Meloni Thawne, wife of Don Allen, want to ever fuck Captain Boomerang? What kind of taste does she have? Don was a stud like his father--I would imagine he can go all night on an inexhaustible supply of speed force. Boomerang is quite the loser, I imagine a night with him would be over prematurely. How on god’s green earth could this happen? Did Boomer carry a supply of Foster’s Lager, the formula for which might have been lost in the 30th century? Did he catch a couple of rangs, and Meloni went giddy enough to do a rhumba on his thumpa?
Of course, I am bummed for my namesake—Bart Allen, aka Kid Flash. How disappointed he’ll be to have such a brother as Zoomerang. How Bart’s heart will break when he finds out that his Mom was so slutty. What kind of bitch gives birth to Owen and then dumps him in the 20th century? I don’t get it. They better explain this one good. I don’t think those Thawnes can ever reform. Strip the whole family line from history! Nuff said.
Posted by Kid Flash at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)September 5, 2005
Flash #225: Long and Winding Road
Spoilers abound, so be warned. Flash 225 came out last week, bringing to an end the Geoff Johns era. When he started the book, it was in minor disarray in the wake of Mark Waid’s absence. When Flash was rebooted in the wake of the crisis, the popular thought about the defect in the character was his great speed. Waid and his collaborator\editor Brian Augustyn made it plain that there was no problem in great speed, only in examining issues of character. For Wally West, it was dealing with the legacy of his mentor and coming to terms with the mysteries of the speed force. When Johns took over the series, Wally had great powers and the respect of the Justice League, but no credible villains. The Rogues Gallery was a joke, most of all Captain Cold, and his greatest enemy, Professor Zoom, had been killed by Barry Allen a long time ago.
Now in his last issue as the Flash’s writer, Johns brings all these characters that he revitalized. What’s more, Johns set a new trend at DC Comics for reviving old characters—I doubt we’d be seeing Catman as a great character in Villains United if it weren’t for this historic run. Rogue War started off with a bang. We watched the new Rogues, led by Captain Cold, on a hunt for the body of the recently deceased Captain Boomerang (who died in Identity Crisis). This brought them into conflict with some reformed villains led by the Trickster—but how reformed were they? Not very, as we saw from the Top’s brainwashing, another by-product of Identity Crisis. Throw Zoom, the new incarnation of the Flash’s foe, and the old Professor Zoom—no way this couldn’t be more exciting.
The trick in any superhero story is making you think the character is going to die; failing that, that they will suffer a major loss. We’ve always been worried frantically about Linda Park Allen. In Flash #200, we watched in horror as Zoom caused a sonic boom that destroyed the lives of Wally and Linda’s unborn children. It was the type of Gwen Stacy moment from Spider-Man, when something horrible happens but it works as the most powerful fiction does, and you remember it for decades afterward. The hardcore Flash fans knew something was coming: it was foreshadowed in a book called "The Life Story of the Flash". Written by Iris Allen (Mark Waid), several years into the future, the book foretold of a tragedy that would happen to Wally’s twin children. That apparently came to an end when Linda miscarried after Zoom’s attack. In issue #225, Wally is forced by both Zooms to watch this horrible tragedy over and over until he’s saved by…Barry Allen. This isn’t Barry’s first appearance. He appeared in that same issue #200 saying that he would appear during the three hardest days of Wally’s life: 200 being the first, 225 being the second, and what do you want to bet Infinite Crisis will be the third?
As tragic as the loss of the children from issue #200 was, it fit the story completely. The event alluded to in Iris Allen’s book was revealed. Barry appeared along with Hal Jordan, who at that time was the Spectre. Jordan used his powers to transform Wally’s world so that no one remembered his secret identity, except for Batman and Zoom. Wally’s world changed (with the brilliant addition of artist Alberto Dose) and became darker. This remained until Wally regained his knowledge and revealed his identity to his wife, the other Flashes, and the Justice League—just as ex-JLA artist Howard Porter became the penciller of the series.
So…the driving force of the past twenty five issues was this terrible event. And now, through the fight between Wally and Zoom, it’s all undone. Linda doesn’t miscarry. Back in the present (which will learn is months after issue #200), she almost dies, but rebounds and then has the twins. It’s a fast one—Johns had us thinking that Linda might die, creating an enormous tension in the story. Then he pulls the rug out from under us, by showing the twins. I don’t quite like it. I’m all for happy endings, but I had really bought into the tragedy and thought it made Wally into a finer hero. Time travel as a device to get out of trouble really bothers me when it’s used, because it’s too cheap and opens up so many questions. Zoom himself became evil because Wally wouldn’t use time travel to under Hunter Zolomon’s accident. The difference is that Wally didn’t use time travel deliberately; it was Zoom’s second attack that actually wound up saving Linda when Wally defended her.
It isn’t the best way for Johns to bow out of the series. Yet he does, and his farewell page reminds us of the characters he breathed new life into. Now we have to read a few months of fill-ins while we wait to see if Wally survives the next Crisis any better than his mentor did. Nuff said.
Posted by Kid Flash at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
