Wally West non-news at C2E2

[dreg]

www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=31396

After demuring to answer a question about Flash Wally West, a number of topics became "Wally West territory," including rumors of Geoff Johns on "Justice League" and Oracle's new code name.

Obviously, they're keeping mum about Wally's presence in Flashpoint. Given that it doesn't spoil a lot to say "Yes, Wally West will play an important role in Flashpoint!," I'm guessing that this isn't good news. Killing off Wally would certainly fit Didio and Johns' treatment of the character as of late. He's essentially in unofficial retirement now, and the appearances he's made have been more to build other characters up than to explore his own identity.

It's a shame that DC let such a great character fall into disrepair over the years. I know all it takes is one great writer to turn that misfortune around, but after reading Wally in Infinite Crisis and Flash: Rebirth, I no longer think that Geoff Johns is the guy to do that.

[micka]

I've been pretty dismayed at wally's fall into comic oblivion. Having grown up on wally's flash more that barry's, I look at him as the flash I want to see in my comics. A strong, and more interesting character (to me anyway), not that I have anything against barry, just hate seeing my favourite comic character reduced to a footnote

[dreg]

Yeah, Barry's a decent character. I think most Flash fans have realized that you can have both. I just hope DC's editors and writers make that discovery soon. They wonder where a lot of the Hal vs. Kyle and Barry vs. Wally rivalry comes from, and I think the most obvious answer is that it really comes from them. They generate it by subscribing to the belief that one character needs to be buried in order for another one to shine.

The comic book industry is really the only place where this mentality exists. Could you imagine if all industries adopted this business model?

"Hey everybody, we got a huge problem."

"Oh no, what is it this time?"

"The customers love two of our products."

"Oh no, that's terrible."

"Yeah, they love regular Coke, but they also love Cherry Coke."

"Well damn, we don't want Cherry Coke to outshine regular Coke. Regular Coke is an American icon. It would be disrespectful of our roots to allow another one of our products to compete with it. I'll tell you what, take Cherry Coke off the stands completely. We'll give this another couple of years to cool down, and once regular Coke has a better hold on the market, then we'll re-introduce Cherry Coke. But in a limited capacity. Only 3-liter bottles."

"You, sir, are a marketing genius."

[aleclom]

Or it could be that he plays a huge role that doesn't fit in with the info we've been told (like maybe he was able to avoid the changed timeline or something) and they're trying to keep from spoiling key story elements.

If they REALLY planned on killing/retiring Wally, why go through the trouble of giving him a whole new outfit?

[perplexio]

Mar 22, 2011 10:01:14 GMT -5 aleclom said:

Or it could be that he plays a huge role that doesn't fit in with the info we've been told (like maybe he was able to avoid the changed timeline or something) and they're trying to keep from spoiling key story elements.

If they REALLY planned on killing/retiring Wally, why go through the trouble of giving him a whole new outfit?

Nor do I think they whould have gone to the trouble of making Irey the new Impulse had their plans been to kill off Wally.

I think they have long term plans for Wally but they've put him on the back-burner for the time being because they're still trying to re-establish Barry as the Flash. I don't think they're quite "there" yet. And I think Flashpoint is going to be the event that seals the deal in fully establishing Barry's return. Once that's done they can pull Wally back into the mix. I believe they're still discussing a Flash team book for the future and I wouldn't be surprised if Wally plays a vital role in that.

[dreg]

But see, it makes no sense to keep Wally out of anything to "re-establish Barry." He's already had 3 of DC's biggest events ever to establish himself: Final Crisis, Rebirth, and Blackest Night. If these events haven't done it yet, I'd question how many are needed. I don't recall Wally ever being the featured player of a major DC event, and he established himself just fine. None of the other Flashes are kept out of anything. They all have regular series. Even Jesse Quick has a new regular book in JLA. They aren't regularly featured in the main title, but they all have solid places in the DCU. Keeping Wally out of books does nothing to solidify Barry's place in the DCU and only serves to weaken Wally's place. If and when a second Flash series spins off, Wally will have NO momentum going into it, because DC has purposely swept him under the carpet. They're sabotaging their own sales by not giving readers a single reason thus far to pick up a Wally West book after Barry Allen's return. That's just not smart business.

As for "Why did they go through all the trouble," etc., remember, there were major changes to Wally's status quo before they dumped him for the first time. He just had twins and regained his secret identity before being shuffled off in Infinite Crisis.

Heck, why did they go through the trouble of making Irey the new impulse and then not use her since her introduction for more than a year? Why did they give Wally a new costume and then not have him make regular appearances?

Because it's all sleight-of-hand. It's done to make you think they have serious plans for a character to get you excited for that next issue. And so you buy the next issue and the next one, and before you know it, you've bought a year's worth of comics and still don't have the issues you really wanted.

[aleclom]

Meh, I think it's gonna be similar to Kyle Rayner's treatment. He didn't have a whole lot to do between Green Lantern Rebirth and Sinestro Corps War, which established his new place as the headliner of Green Lantern Corps. By the end of Flashpoint he'll finally have a solid place in the DCU again.

[dreg]

Kyle was a major player during 52, wasn't he? That was before Sinestro Corps war. And that was smart, because it kept the character in the reader's consciousness so that when Corps launched, he had momentum.

Which is why I question the importance of Barry "re-establishing himself." Really, he has no need to re-establish himself. He headlines the main Flash book, which already has a dedicated following. He doesn't need to re-establish a readership. Any new Wally West title would truly have to establish its own readership, because one doesn't currently exist. That's where the risk is. It's not in getting Flash fans to continue reading the Flash, it's in convincing people that there's a reason to buy a second Flash book when they're already buying Barry's book. And DC has done nothing to keep readers excited about Wally West. He didn't have the Rayner treatment; he didn't get a spotlight in a major DC event, nor did he get his own miniseries (Ion). If they launch a new "Speed Force" book without making any attempt to make readers care about Wally, it's essentially setting him up to fail.

[perplexio]

Mar 22, 2011 13:55:09 GMT -5 dreg said:

But see, it makes no sense to keep Wally out of anything to "re-establish Barry." He's already had 3 of DC's biggest events ever to establish himself: Final Crisis, Rebirth, and Blackest Night.

He barely appeared in Final Crisis and it wasn't a Flash specific event. Blackest Night was much more a Green Lantern event that crossed over to the other DC titles (including Flash) so it wasn't Flash specific either. So, of the three you mentioned the only major Flash-specific event was ReBirth. And that merely re-introduced Barry as THE Flash and set into motion some back-story for Professor Zoom in FlashPoint

Of the issues of The Flash that I've read it feels like Geoff Johns is still trying to get comfortable with writing Barry. In contrast, in Bart's brief run as The Flash. His status as the Flash was established early on. His first story arc was HIS and it was about him accepting his role as the new Flash, at first reluctantly, but inevitably embracing it. Reading Barry as the Flash, he just feels like he's still trying to get used to be being back. It doesn't feel like he's comfortable in his shoes (or yellow boots) yet.

[dreg]

Mar 22, 2011 15:08:56 GMT -5 perplexio said:

Mar 22, 2011 13:55:09 GMT -5 dreg said:

But see, it makes no sense to keep Wally out of anything to "re-establish Barry." He's already had 3 of DC's biggest events ever to establish himself: Final Crisis, Rebirth, and Blackest Night.

He barely appeared in Final Crisis and it wasn't a Flash specific event. Blackest Night was much more a Green Lantern event that crossed over to the other DC titles (including Flash) so it wasn't Flash specific either. So, of the three you mentioned the only major Flash-specific event was ReBirth. And that merely re-introduced Barry as THE Flash and set into motion some back-story for Professor Zoom in FlashPoint

He played major roles in all of those series, being a critical part of their resolutions. He had a starring role in those series, which elevated his standing in the DCU. It established him as among the greatest heroes that exist in the universe. Whether they were Flash-specific or not, they were company-wide crossovers where he was featured as a lead character. The reason why these events were not Flash specific is also because Flashpoint is the first Flash-specific event that ever existed. Barry is the first to have a Flash-specific company-wide event.

Of the issues of The Flash that I've read it feels like Geoff Johns is still trying to get comfortable with writing Barry. In contrast, in Bart's brief run as The Flash. His status as the Flash was established early on. His first story arc was HIS and it was about him accepting his role as the new Flash, at first reluctantly, but inevitably embracing it. Reading Barry as the Flash, he just feels like he's still trying to get used to be being back. It doesn't feel like he's comfortable in his shoes (or yellow boots) yet.

Maybe the character hasn't settled down, but that has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the book. The book is supported by DC's best and brightest talent, and also the longtime readership. It also has nothing to do with Wally West. Wally West is the Kevin Bacon of the DC universe. He knows everybody and has ties to everybody. One could still find him a place to guest-star, or put him on a team book without infringing upon Barry's solo time. The fact is, after Barry returned, Wally was actually kicked off of his teams: JLA and Titans. They removed him from team books that he already had membership in. They put Wally West in a vacuum when there were plenty of opportunities to find him a home. And that's not smart business if they're thinking of building a book around him. Barry doesn't need the support from a sales perspective. His book is doing fine. Wally West, if he's going to star in a new book, needs the support. And he's not getting it.

[marriedguy]

I HATE the way the character Wally West has been treated by DC.
Johns' retcon of Barry generating the Speed Force was one the things that REALLY irritated me. I'm also not real happy on the way he's been presented over the last 4 years.

At one time it was established that Wally had surpassed his uncle, and was generally agreed in the DCU that he was just the hero, if not better than his idol Barry.

Now, when we're lucky enough to see him in uniform, he's portrayal is less than stellar.
The sooner TPTB remedy the situation the better.
We've currently got 3 GL titles, I think we could easily accommodate a second Flash book. So long as the writers take advantage of the great characters they've got and not piss all over them to elevate the current corporate favourite

[jonqcitizen]

Wow! Everyone making intelligent, good points (that doesn't happen often in Forums).

I hope that DC & Johns go against the Coke-Cherry Coke marketing strategy set forth by Dreg (great analogy by the way!) and bring Wally West back into the forefront with Barry Allen. Both characters are established and loved.....and I believe could co-exist each with their own monthly.

On the other hand; unlike the Green Lantern Franchise, is there room for too many Flashes? Maybe, maybe not. In that case, I think Jay Garrick should get the "axe". Barry Allen could then become the Flash of the JSA and Wally West the Flash of the JLA. Then let the FANS decide by voting; in the same fashion as the "should we kill Jason Todd?" scenario, which Flash should "rule".

I am keeping faith that Geoff Johns (a comic-writing genius in my opinion) knows what he's doing and will do the right thing for Barry, Wally, and the Flash franchise as a whole.