I’d have been great if that was Wally. Barry is boring.

greatness.

I second Laura’s opinion. I like Barry, but Wally is just a better character. Waid and Johns run on the Flash book with Wally was, at its very least exciting, a much more interesting book than the Barry issues since he’s been back. There’s room for both in the new 52, especially with Jay on an Earth 2. Just bring Wally back.

Wally wasn’t a great character over night or by his inherent design. He became one over the course of years and years of handling after Crisis on Infinite Earths. There were some pretty terrible, boring Wally stories. Some of which portrayed him as a class-A jerk. Wally isn’t a jerk character (anymore) it was just how he was written.

But, just as there is nothing inherent about Wally that makes him a jerk, there isn’t anything about Barry that makes him boring. He’s just a character, albeit one that everyone has been hesitant to use too much because of his status in comics and, partially, because his story has sort of been told.

But reboot Barry’s story isn’t told. He’s not married. It probably won’t be referenced that he came back from the dead. He won’t be the Super-Dad to a whole gaggle of speedsters who barely know him.

So maybe they’ll dust him off and make him have a stronger personality. Personally, I liked the idea that he was a super-science Detective whose experience with Superspeed allowed him to deal with cases that would stump normal cops whereas Wally was a mechanic to had a very intrinsic and complicated view of the Speed Force and how it worked. But that angle never quite got followed up upon.

So we’ll see.

These automatic eye-rolls at everything to do with Barry bug me more than the shelving of Wally for the time being.

“These automatic eye-rolls at everything to do with Barry bug me more than the shelving of Wally for the time being.”

Well said, sir.

So I hear that DC is trying to attract new readers. Do new readers love variant covers?

The old readers sure do love them. And I’m thinkin’ that DC would like to keep getting “old reader” money. So what’s the problem? No one said you have to buy the variant.

“These automatic eye-rolls at everything to do with Barry bug me more than the shelving of Wally for the time being.”

Thirded. I fail to see how Wally’s inherently more interesting than Barry, especially when we haven’t seen the new writing team’s take yet.

Love Ivan Reis’ work, especially when he drew Flash in Green Lantern’s Blackest Night tie-in. Great work once again.

James, I will say that I thought the stories where Wally was a jerk are still among some of my favorites. I thought Baron and later Messner-Loebs did a great job setting the ground work and slowly developing Wally into the guy we all knew and loved. My only gripe with Barry is exactly what you said; his story was done and well with Wally’s marriage and children so is his. So why not someone new? One of my favorite elements of the Flash was the legacy. Give new readers a new character to grow up with. Just like my generation did with Wally. Just don’t throw out the baby with the bath water and just don’t force it like with Bart Allen.

I do agree with the automatic eye rolls, but can you blame them? Geoff and company have been doing the same thing to us for the last couple of years whenever Wally has been brought up. Turnabout is fair play.

James,

I agree with you completely. The idea of a super hero whose work in his secret identity overlaps with his costumed adventures is a brilliant one. CSI: Flash is an incredible concept. I really hope that Manapul and Brian Buccellato can succeed in mining that concept where Geoff Johns failed.

Also, the stories where Wally was a jerk were really interesting. Mike Baron is the man.

Wally sucked… Barry is THE FLASH and always will be….

i really really really really really ad infinutum hate, nay DESPISE, how the costume comes out of the ring now. little pieces that fuse together from the heat of friction from his super speed? seriously? how f**king dumb is that!?!? buuut, that’s just me… :/

Barry Allen is The Flash.
Learn to live with it.

@DamianWayne

The mere fact that a costume comes from a ring at all doesn’t strike you as dumb? At least it’s finally doing something interesting now.