The Return of Barry Allen

[iamrman]

The Flash #75. The Flashes team up to take on the Combine, an up-and-coming criminal gang.

The Flash #76. Wally and Barry investigate Combine headquarters, but get caught in a deathtrap.

The Flash #77. Barry goes on a rampage to punish the city that forgot him. Jay Garrick recruits other elder speedsters to stop him.

The Flash #78. Jay’s team try to clean up Barry’s mess while Wally realises who he really is and heads to the Flash Museum.

“It was me, Wally!”

The Flash #79. Reverse-Flash: Origins.

Comments

[mazway_75]

I loved Waid's explanation in #77 letter page on how fans pestered him on "when's Barry coming back" and hated it so he decided to play on it. And how he crafted the tale well so it worked nicely. Shame what was meant to kick off "Wally the one true Flash" undone years later.

[scorntx]

Maybe it's because of the last decade-and-a-bit of his being used quite a lot elsewhere, but it turning out to be Eobard is slightly less impressive after that.
Because it's always the Reverse-Flash.

And yet... the build-up and the reveal, and the fact it's not just petty "It was me!" antics. There's clearly something wrong with "Barry" and then the readers have to have figured out quicker than the characters that whoever this maniac is, it isn't him.
Then comes the reveal.
Powerful stuff.

(And that's speaking as someone who, generally, isn't taken with Waid's stuff most days.)

[mazway_75]

His talk with editors was fun on "someone shows up with speed, everyone's going to think it's Zoom" and editor going "yeah but...what if...it's Zoom...somehow really believing he's Barry?"

[dan_ingram]

Brave of Waid to give readers what they've been demanding for decades.

Professor Zoom's naked ass.

[tcampbell1000]

Fond memories of reading this with my teenage brother, many years ago.

This still rates as some of Waid's best work, and one of the best all-time Flash stories...and of course, dozens of stories since then have tried to channel it, with limited success at best. Even Waid was falling into that trap toward the end of his otherwise stellar run on the series (the less said about Cobalt Blue, the better).

It's interesting how sympathetic Thawne's story is. Despite all the time he's spent trampling Barry's legacy, a change comes over him when he talks about his past. His face softens into love, or something like it.

The hero and villain as mirrors of each other has become a cliche in some respects, but it really works here, because Thawne's devotion to Barry's memory...twisted by what a petty little shit he is, but genuine all the same...said a lot about a similar devotion that had defined Wally at this point. It's a devotion Wally would need to move past to win the day here, in more ways than one.

[zylly]

Always really liked that costume for Wally. The Batman eyes, the slightly different lightning pattern, and more burgundy red…

Only costume I’ve liked more was his red and silver Rebirth suit.

[deh_tommy]

Man, I never knew Mark Waid had been around for so long.

[blues32]

Wow...the face on Thawne's plaque does NOT look like him.