Lies, damn lies, and Flash Facts
April 21st, 2012

Lies, damn lies, and Flash Facts

^ 29 Comments...

  1. Iwritecomicsundermybed

    Oh Dan Didio, you truly are an endless fountain of befuddlement.

  2. Ciro

    Why make that fuck Wally West “joke”?? it’s so far away from anything that really happened, you guys are just shitting on DC comics and the character of Dan DiDio for the sake of it…

  3. Ciro

    …now.

  4. BringTheNoise

    It’s not though. The first two panels are exactly the reasoning DC put out for returning Barry to life, but in more direct language. As for panel 3 – well, a lot of comedy relies on hyperbole, you know?

  5. Linda

    This is how Comic Con panels go in Dan DiDio’s dreams.

    I stopped reading DC when it became obvious that “Fuck Wally West” was pretty much the company line. Seriously. If you ask about him at panels, you basically get a sanitized version of that response. I’m sure it has NOTHING at all to do with Waid parting ways with DC.

  6. Bob

    And yet Barry Allen in the New52 (at least in “Justice League”) acts like Wally West. What the hell, DC?

    But really, the important factor in all of this is the quality of the content. If DC had brought back Barry Allen using good storytelling, solid characterization, and respect for both the characters and the former creative teams, then the “why” of it all wouldn’t even matter because no one would be asking that in the first place. Exhibit A: The Winter Soldier.

  7. Bob

    Also, you guys should come to C2E2 next year because Chicago is a world-class city and C2E2 is a fun con with a wide range of pop-culture attractions, but one with its foundation firmly planted in comic book culture.

    Just sayin.

  8. Iwritecomicsundermybed

    @Bob

    Winter Soldier is a perfect example. They brought him back and everyone went ballistic. That was one of the main rules, Never bring Bucky back. Most of, if not all, of their reasoning was sound. They explained everything and they gave him a reason for coming back.

  9. Bob

    Sorry, should have been clearer: I cited Winter Soldier as a good example of how to bring back a character. Sure, they explained the reasoning well, but I think it was much more important that they had a good idea (and it was executed well) in the first place.

  10. Oscar

    There’s a big prob with Wally, if Barry doesn’t date with Iris, Wally will not meet Barry and Flash. So If Barry continues dating with Spivot, we will miss Wally a lot of time.

  11. JLAer

    Look, if all you guys know of Wally West is the JL/JLU cartoon, if that’s the biggest claim to fame, then you guys aren’t true Wally West fans. That was a watered down version of The Flash, sure, he was funny, but that was how they would have wrote him regardless of who was under the mask. When he appeared on Superman: the animated series, they left the implication that he could have been either Flash, despite all the Barry Allen references. Just about the same character is used in The Batman episodes, and that Flash was Barry Allen. The JL/JLU Flash combined all the versions into one big amalgamated Flash. They even gave him Barry Allen’s origin and job, pretty much the dude’s whole life for petesakes. Has anyone familiar with the comics even watched the show? You guys would not know the “real Wally West” if he hit you in the face.

  12. JLAer

    And the new Flash book is actually pretty awesome. F*ck Before Watchmen though…

  13. Iwritecomicsundermybed

    That’s what I meant. I’m glad they brought him back, I’m proud of the way they did it and It generally had a positive effect In terms of the overall storylines that happened afterwards that The Winter Soldier was involved In.

  14. Wally East

    I would be less annoyed with DiDio saying “I like Barry and I hate Wally” than with real-sounding but fake answers which all have logical flaws.

  15. Zen

    I think the DC Universe is big enough for both characters. Or at least it should be.

  16. JLAer

    Guys, as soon as Wally shows up people are going to expect him to take over from Barry as The Flash one day. WHY would DC do that when Barry Allen is just starting out? Especially when it’s such a fantastic series too. If anything, I would have maybe de-aged him and made him Kid Flash, but then you worry about pissing of people because his story and “character” development are no longer there. This is the best way to go for now. I hope Buccellato and Manapul keep telling stories for a LONG time.

  17. Iwritecomicsundermybed

    The thing is, as soon as Geoff Johns came in, he wanted to bring both Hal Jordan and Barry Allen back. He did. It screwed everything up. He decided to reboot the entire universe. He did. People miss the other flash/green lanterns’. DC’s angry. We’re angry. Who wins now?

  18. Wally East

    Sorry, JLAer, I disagree. Wally can be The Flash while Barry is also The Flash. Works for the Robins. Works for Green Lanterns. It even worked for The Flash back when Wally was The Flash and Jay Garrick was also The Flash.

    If DC can’t come up with a way to make one of their five most popular character exist in their new universe, then that shows a shocking lack of creativity and/or a stunning misread of their audience.

  19. Kelson

    Don’t you just love it when someone sets himself up as the sole arbiter of whether you’re a “true fan” or not?

    Anyway, I wanted to come back and let you guys know that this strip got me thinking about recent (and not so recent) things Dan Didio has said about Wally West, what he means by “iconic” characters, and where Barry and Wally fit on the change vs. illusion of change spectrum. If you’re interested, here’s the article I wrote up yesterday:

    http://speedforce.org/2012/04/wally-west-story/

  20. Iwritecomicsundermybed

    I do find this witch hunt towards accused “true fans” quite funny. It seems the balance has shifted from bashing “non-true fans” to bashing people who are too arrogant and claim to be “True fans”.
    In the end, this topic is about DC’s slicing of history. Believe it or not, people truly liked Wally West. These people also liked Barry Allen. DC needed to use Barry Allen more (my assumption – and this is strictly my own opinion – is that they’re trying to assert him back as the true Flash in order to pave the way towards more media deals such as a featured movie and/or tv series. Now people feel as if Wally West is invalid In the eyes of the DC creative staff.
    Regardless of one’s favoritism, most people would agree that that seems unfair to a character as beloved as Wally West. But hey, maybe that’s just me.

  21. Looking In

    I agree with Iwritecomicsundermybed, especially considering Flash is the is the only major character they haven’t used yet in the non-DCAU movie franchise or TV show concept on his own.

    One thing I think has a role in this is their current TV series Young Justice- Wally West as Kid Flash in that is going to screw up Wally West as the full-fledged Flash in the comics world with all of their tie-ins with the show.

  22. Alex

    DC (or rather it’s spokesman) can make all of the “logical” reasons they want for keeping Wally away. At the end of the day though, they don’t use him in the new DCU because they just don’t want to.Look at all of the GL & Batman history that they are picking and choosing to keep. If they wanted to keep Wally, they’d find a way to make it work.

    If they wanted to…..

  23. mnk

    I feel bad for Wally fans – I got into comics when Barry had just come back, and though he never really did anything for me I never built up an attachment to Wally, either. I was just kind of Flash-neutral.
    But then came Francis Manapul and Brian Buccelato, and they made Flash – starring Barry Allen – my absolute favorite DC book at the moment. Their characterization of him as this sort of endearingly dorky guy, as opposed to Johns’ painfully stiff “troubled” hero, works really well for me, the story is interesting, and above all the art is some of the best I’ve ever seen, month in and month out.
    So I basically forgot until now that Wally vs. Barry was even a thing. If anyone is avoiding the current book because they’re still mad about Wally getting the shaft, do reconsider! It’s so good. And no matter who’s in the cowl, the book is pure Flash.

  24. Bob

    mnk refers to Barry Allen as “endearingly dorky”, which sounds about right and makes me wonder if I should check out the new title. Again, a good story is the best way to make up for bad motivations.

    As I mentioned, the only New52 book I’ve read with the Flash in it is “Justice League” and that guy is Wally West through and through (this is coming from a reader of Messner-Loebs’ and Waid’s run on The Flash, as well as his appearances in Giffen’s various Justice League books, so let’s drop the whole “true fan” b.s.)

  25. Vic Sage

    In defense of the JL/JLU cartoon, JLAer, I found the depiction of Wally to be completely in tune with the portrayl of Wally from the JLE/JLI era. There Wally was constantly hitting on Power Girl, worried about his taxes, eating a tremendous amount of food to maintain his metabolism. Sound familiar? I thought it did. The last few years of the Wally West days were not the only way of viewing that character.

  26. Vic Sage

    I just want to know where the hell my Vic Sage – Question is in this “rebooted” DCU! No Vic Sage, No Ted Kord, talk about a soft reboot.

  27. Sean

    Vic, you’ll want to check out the “New 52” book DC put out for Free Comic Book Day.

    And then you’ll probably want to forget it.

  28. Anthony

    SCREW DIDIO & HIS EQUALLY SCREWED UP NEW 52!! I WANT MY REAL DC UNIVERSE BACK!!!

  29. Anthony

    So what have a lot of us have we learned? well if I wanted to I could give a list if I wanted. But I will say this : I learned they took my favorite character from DC and ruined and bastardized them and making them into something their not and messing up a lot of their personas, added sexual acts, literally, overly done blood and gore. if that be the case, I would not let my nephew come anywhere new them. It was basically a big smack in the face for long time fans like myself. they wanted new readers, but in so doing, they kicked a lot of us long time fans, who we loved our character that has inspired us and captured our imagination and replaced them with characters who are darker and edgier and yet at the same time, with have less quality and values and morals. Not to mention bad writing, etc. In short terms, the new 52 is a total nightmare and it has messed up and ruined and crossed so many line, which NEVER should have been crossed. They have done the same thing with masters of the universe and I am very disgusted and I never should have trusted them with it It’s botched up in so many ways, it not even funny. I, personally, I am GLAD it’s sales are plummeting and that it is FAILING. I believe that indicates a sign of hope in having our older dc universe back. For those who doubt that, well, never say “never”. So, in shorter terms, the new 52 is messed up in so many ways, it’s not even funny anymore. And at this point and time, ……I ACTUALLY MISS THE REAL DC UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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