I hope nobody minds me starting these "That _____________ Thread" posts. I kind of miss those from the old days. Plus, they're a nice catch-all when you're hunting around for a thread to post something under about a specific character.
This one is about the Flash, because I have a question, and I foresee more questions and comments ahead. Yes, this thread is entirely self-serving! :/
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I have been re-reading my way through Geoff Johns's run on The Flash.
It occurred to me during the first few issues that Johns later revealed that he had been waiting to write Barry Allen all along, and that's why eventually Flash Rebirth came about (the first Flash Rebirth, not the...oh, jeez, you know what I mean).
This has kind of colored my re-reading of his original run on the character of Wally West. For some reason, I'm reading it with the knowledge that he never really liked Wally as the Flash.
There has been some amount of (rightful) backtracking since then, obviously--given recent events, but I can't help but read these stories without thinking that they were written by someone who--at the time--didn't really like Wally wearing the costume.
I'm thinking that maybe I should just start to look at it from the new NEW point of view, that it's been written by someone who has since come around to love Wally.
I'm not throwing a pity-party nor asking for explanations. Sorry, I'm just stating a feeling of confusion as I read through the recent past.
It's plain to see in the last decade or so that Geoff Johns is a big fan of Barry Allen. Having read most of Johns' work on the various Flash titles, it's clear to me he prefers Barry Allen to Wally West as the Flash. It surprises me, however, that he would say he never really liked Wally as the Flash. Perhaps he didn't like that idea but he certainly, in my view, did right by Wally as a character. His run when Wally headlined the book (Flash 164-225) was good stuff.
ETA: Given that he wanted Barry back so badly and preferred him so much, seems ironic to me that he had about a five year run with Wally, but only wrote the 6 part Flash Rebirth and then a 12 issue run (Flash 1-12, in 2010-2011) which ended with Flashpoint which lead into the New 52.
The Flash was my favourite feature at one point. The stories I knew were Cary Bates/Irv Novick stories and John Broome/Carmine Infantino reprints. Back then he was a thinking but not super-genius hero who was inventive in his use of his powers and ultimately won by out-thinking the villains. His recurring foes were mostly costumed thieves who were outmatched but resourceful and endlessly inventive. In his secret ID he was a middle-class man who lived with his wife in the suburbs. Julie Schwartz edited the series up to The Flash #269 in 1978 (on sale).
In the later part of his run Bates injected a lot of angst, although he also did stories in his old mode, but now with Don Heck (whose 70s/early 80s work I can't like) and then Infantino (whose work I do). I don't like the pile-on-the-angst aspect of the period. I believe others here found the period around the death of Iris gripping, but I missed it.
Geoff John's entire run has been collected in three omnibus editions. I didn't pre-order them (which means a bigger discount), so I decided to wait for my LCS's annual sale. (This was in 2015.) They had been on the shelf forever, but someone else must have that idea, too, because by the time I got there, they were sold out. Now they're out of print. Sigh.
I don't mind at all. I'm delighted to see threads like this.
Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man said:
What I liked about the Silver Age Flash was, as said above, how inventive he was with his powers. And, yes, I learned stuff.
Later Barry (with the angst) and Wally (not as smart) didn't interest me much. I know most people here are big Wally fans, but I just didn't care about a guy who wasn't as good with his powers as the previous guy.
It's really amazing how utterly without merit Cobalt Blue was--nothing about that character worked, or gave the hint of enough potential to be worth fixing.
Thomas Lupo said:
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