Comments on: SDCC Thoughts on Flash: Rebirth

By: Lothor

Lothor — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:21:12 +0000

The first sentence of my above post should be in blockquote. I don't know why it didn't format properly.

By: Lothor

Lothor — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:17:35 +0000

â€œWouldnâ€™t it be funny if this series mostly just reversed the whole â€œthe Rogues blast Bart Allenand then kick him to deathâ€ story â€ How about if they whisked him away from the end of that beating, just before he died, but he knows he'll have to go back there someday so he'll live his life to the fullest now? I hear that's a good idea for bringing back characters... I don't have a horse in the Flash race (to mix a metaphor). But what about writers actually, y'know, potentially writing the character differently? All the people who complain Barry's got no personality - well, he's a fictional character, writers can write him any way they want (barring Executive Meddling). Maybe someone will write him good? I don't know how many times I've read "If you told me last year __ would be the best book on the market I'd've said you're nuts" but it's been a lot. And I don't mean to suggest by the following comment that all comics should be the exactly same as when I was growing up. But c'mon, this is Barry Allen, the definition of the beginning of the Silver Age of Comics. If he doesn't deserve a 'rebirth' no one does. And it's not like they just killed him off forever last week or something, it's been 23 years.

By: Chris Griswold

Chris Griswold — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:56:48 +0000

Wait: Really?

I had no idea!

By: John Cage

John Cage — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:27:18 +0000

Re: Chris Griswold -- FunkyGreenJerusalem was referring to the issue just prior to Milligan's run (#115), which was reversed in Milligan's second issue (#117) when he brought back the character that'd appeared to die in the earlier issue.

Have a good day.
John Cage

By: Chris Griswold

Chris Griswold — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:33:52 +0000

@FunkyGreenJerusalem: I think you are mistaken about X-Force. In the first issue of Milligan's run, he didn't kill off the original X-Force, he killed off a new team he created for that issue.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:36:27 +0000

Well, at one point we had Jay, Wally, Bart, Max, AND Jesse...
What's wrong about Jay, Wally and Barry?

The three greatest Flashes! (Flashes Through the Ages!)

The only annoying thing is that the Silver age Flash comics are going to go up in price, making it even harder for me to complete my run...

I love Johns' work... Sure GL Rebirth was messy, but in the end, it cleared the way for the Sinestro Corps War...

And Barry's history was never that messy...

By: Rohan Williams

Rohan Williams — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:05:42 +0000

I think this could be great. A lot of people said bringing Hal Jordan back was a bad idea, and that worked out pretty well, with the exact same creative team. Ideally, Johns will bring back Barry and Bart without getting rid of Wally, and we can have some kind of 'Flash Corps' spin-off title as well. Everybody wins!

By: Mantistotem

Mantistotem — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:54:08 +0000

I'm a fan of Barry, but if they bring him back he should retire. Let Wally be the Flash; he's earned it. Let Barry have a life; he's earned it. Have Barry get together with Ray Palmer and start their own independent science/forensics lab. They could train new/young heroes part time as well.

By: FunkyGreenJerusalem

FunkyGreenJerusalem — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:28:14 +0000

The original X-Force dying and then, despite being replaced by Milligans team, showing up for no other reason but to show they weren't really dead, was like two issues apart.

By: Chris Griswold

Chris Griswold — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:25:36 +0000

My Flash is named Wally.

He doesn't have Incredibles children.

Kid Flash is named Bart.

By: bryesque

bryesque — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:21:58 +0000

"Wouldnâ€™t it be funny if this series mostly just reversed the whole â€œthe Rogues blast Bart Allen and then kick him to deathâ€ story (I see Johns is already sorta addressing the silliness in Rogueâ€™s Revenge)?" I'm down with pretty much anything that brings Bart Allen back from the dead and undoes all the damage done to his character - but honestly, his death was just the rancid icing on a a crap cake years in the making at that point. If they bring him back as a teenager, and make him Impulse again? Then there's a good chance I'll check it out. I was a huge fan of the character in the '90s, and I'd love to see him restored in all his fun, goofy, ADD-afflicted glory.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:45:50 +0000

Hmmm Magneto/Xorn anyone?

YES!

I think that's the winner!

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:17:01 +0000

Blech. Wally has been the Flash my whole life. Barry coming back from the dead completely destroys the concept of death in comics. He and Bucky were as dead as Batman's parents or Uncle Ben my whole life. Now they're back. And Barry really has no reason to be back. His story was told, and it led to a more interesting, more liked character in Wally. And with Barry around, Wally will be pushed into the Titans full-time and possibly even booted from the Justice League. yeah Barry's a CSI, but is that enough justification to bring him back? Didio's reasoning that this needs to come full circle as the last Crisis is ludicrous. Why do you feel that to celebrate a story you need to undo everything it did? Why not try something new?

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:14:00 +0000

My favorite bit where they described the Flash story as one that constantly moves forward, in an article describing the return of a character who was killed off over two decades ago.

By: buttler

buttler — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:53:40 +0000

Yeah, Green Lantern: Rebirth to me was like making sausage -- I was happy to have Hal back, but how they made it happen wasn't pretty. It's funny, I have no major investment in Wally and can't stand Bart, but even so, I'd rather they let Barry rest in peace. I don't have much faith that he could ever live up to the inflated importance he's been given since his death.

By: comixkid2099

comixkid2099 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:41:16 +0000

well i just want to say this thrills me to see so many people who do not want to see Barry Allen brought back. I thought i was the only one who wanted Flash to remain Wally or Bart. Either one would work, because both of them have more personality than Barry did, and this has already been adressed, i know that many other silver age heroes were flat and one dimensional as well, but most of them gained a personality in the seventies, while Barry never did. This is a bad idea in my book, and i just think that DC should merge Barry, Wally and Bart into one massive Speed Force creature like in Kingdom Come. That would make fans of all three characters happy and they could have the personality traits [or lack of] of all three appear in that amalgam of characters, and it would be cool to have something different.

By: comicfreak

comicfreak — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:37:30 +0000

@Ghost Detective
I do have some kind of faith in the creative team. But my faith is slightly diminished by the fact, that their former collaboration was a certain "Green Lantern: Rebirth" Series, which was nice to read, to nice to look, but was still utter bulls***. I mean "Yellow Fear Monster"? Talk about a fanfic made official!
Geoff Johns is a great writer. I like his work on the Justice Society, which is currently my Must-Read. But he has his moments, where his inner fanboy, appearantly a fan of the Silver Age Stories, takes over and produces something like "Green Lantern: Rebirth".
And Ethan Van Sciver is one of the most amazing Artists currently working in the business.

By: Ghost Detective

Ghost Detective — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:25:36 +0000

I totally support this move. Great team, even greater concept -- I've been waiting 23 years for this (the 5 year old in me still weeps at the fact they killed him off. ).
Barry naysayers will finally understand why Barry kicks so much ass.
Please have faith in this creative team. You won't regret it...

If you do, well I'm sure they'll bring Wally back.

By: comicfreak

comicfreak — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:12:19 +0000

@Kirk Warren
I think the teenage Speedster will be XS. She's the Speedster from the Post Zero Hour Legion and a descendant of Barry Allen and Wally West. I think one of her parents is the child of one of the twins from Barry.

Re "Flash: Rebirth": When I read that announcment I felt, like someone just punched into my stomach. If Barry Allen returns, I fear that Wally West will be pushed aside like Kyle. Then the Focus will be on Barry and Barry alone. Wally will be lucky, if he will have a few guest spots in the Flash-Series oder a Spot in a B-Team. That's just wrong, what DC is doing.

By: buttler

buttler — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:47:36 +0000

Wallyâ€™s been an integral part of the DCU for well over 20 years now, and he doesnâ€™t deserve to get shoved aside just for nostalgiaâ€™s sake. Wally has, in fact, been an important part of the DC for almost 50 years now -- but yeah, he's been the Flash for more than 20 of 'em. I'm very dubious about this. I'm firmly a Satellite-era reader, so Barry is "my" Flash, but he went out in a great way and has gained more prominence and honor through and after his death than he'd had for a long time, maybe ever. My own feeling is that I'd prefer to leave it at that. It's kind of the opposite of Hal Jordan, who went out in a truly horrible way in a horrible story, and so I was thrilled to have him restored, no matter how many stupid continuity tricks they had to use to get him back.