Reverse Flash Runs into the New 52

[zabilac]

Reverse-Flash will make his debut in the New 52 in Flash #17 in February. However, according to Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, he WILL NOT be Eobard Thawne or Hunter Zolomon.

Comments

[writeofway]

Anyone else hear Johnny Weismueller's Tarzan yell when you see Barry looking like that?

[darkm1993]

Not Eobard Thawne?

That's disappointing. (As much as i don't like the character, i do see pretty interesting opportunities they could exploit with his revival after the Flashpoint death) They could've had an interesting story opportunity if they had him return in a world that was supposed to have been fixed by The Flash at the end of Flashpoint with only him remembering and him reminding the Flash to make him guilty of it as revenge for his defeat in Flashpoint. (I'd be mainly interested in how they'd handle The Flash's reaction to it)

As for the excuse of "that'd confuse new readers and miss the point of the reboot" well:
1: Their cherry-picking of continuity already beat them to it and
2: It really wouldn't. Flashpoint started off the reboot with it's end so it's not really even old yet. It won't be that difficult for people to find it.

Also, i also hear the Tarzan yell when i see that. xD

[silverhammerman]

I like that idea. But I think that the Flash series has made a really clean break from the old DCU and I quite enjoy that. Not that I'd necessarily be confused by them reintroducing the old Reverse-Flash, but I just like what they've been doing.

[jlbarnett]

well considering Flashpoint wiped out the West family I imagine Wally would be pretty pissed

[darkm1993]

He most definitely would if Thawne knew that little detail and told him that part. Something i'd expect him to definitely do if he was aware of it.

Mostly i'd just expect The Flash would feel a ton of guilt due to his part in changing DC history into the reboot.

(By the way, do you mean Barry? because i thought Wally West was one of the ones that got wiped out)

[darkknightjrk]

Wait, what? You mean from the New 52? 'Cause that isn't the case here--Iris is still around (well, as in she exists, she's just trapped in the Speed Force right now) and there's a Daniel West running around now...

[jlbarnett]

I mean Wally, Linda and their children

[spacebetween]

They have said that Wally does exist in the New 52, they have just benched him for now. But it doesn't help that his time as Kid Flash and Flash has been erased completely.

[silverhammerman]

Apparently they're emphasizing the "Reverse" part of Reverse-Flash, complete with a new design and a new mission. Which is interesting.

They said in an interview that he's acting in direct opposition to the Flash's purpose and readers can piece together his mission if they've been paying attention to the series so far. Interesting.

I'm kind of conflicted about the Flash as a series, it's not great, but I think it's been a really competent sort of journeyman-level series. I didn't care for the first arc so much, the art was fantastic, but the actual story was painfully slow. Then the second arc was really good as far as I'm concerned, introducing each of the Rogue with an issue devoted to both.

[jaybee3]

For my part, I think part of the problem with the Flash series is that it seems that the writers are being held back or dictated to by Editorial. Based on what we KNOW - Manapul wanted to use Wally in some fashion and was denied, the decision that the Rogues had powers and were no longer just blue-collar crooks in suits was not the writing teams as was it seems the decision that Barry and Iris are not a couple (though how that explains Bart's existence has never been explained). That's not even going into what decisions Editorial has mandated that we DON'T know about.

[silverhammerman]

That doesn't surprise me, DC's been pretty weird about the editorial mandates and I'm not surprised that they'd give edicts like that to the writers who aren't big names. The bit about the Rogues getting actual powers did strike me as very much an attempt to make the characters "cool" and "modern" so in retrospect it being a decision from editorial seems obvious. I'm a little annoyed to learn that DC stopped them from using Wally though, it's just such a bizarre embargo for them to have in place.
I wonder how much better the series would be if the writers were given free rein though, because personally my problems have been mostly with the things like the pacing.

[jlbarnett]

I didn't realize Barry had a particular purpose

[silverhammerman]

I think it was explained in the issue in Gorilla City, but the idea is that time is somehow unstable, and it's prone to random hiccups, which are what destroyed certain South American civilizations and so on. Barry acts as sort of a release valve, so his running is what's keeping the timestream stable and keeping things from being sucked into the Speed Force. (Stuff getting sucked into the Speed Force when he ran was a problem for him earlier in the series, but it was eventually was revealed to be the result of the character Turbine interfering rather than actually something Barry was causing)
I assume that Reverse-Flash wants to destabilize the timestream or something along those lines.

[icon_uk]

So help me, if Reverse Flash turns out to be Wally I may not be held accountable for my actions.

[his_spiffynesss]

Hell, the appropriate casting for the role would be the previous universe's Barry Allen, vainly trying to return things back to the previous continuity.

[jlbarnett]

well, in the build to Flashpoint they did use another universe Barry Allen

[naebler]

come on if Wally is trying to reverse the world to get his family back, I could see it. Only if he wins at the end though. Or somehow gets his family back. Be the new Powergirl kind of character.

[icon_uk]

Wally West, Donna Troy and Stephanie Brown are... The Timelost Trinity!!!