Catch-Up: Wally West (Titans #4-5, The Flash #9)

[zapbiffpow]

Sometimes, heroes need someone to talk to. And sometimes the someone is your time-displaced older self from an alternate reality.

Plus, would this Flash trap work? How do you (properly) trap a Flash? And how do you skin it to yield the best-tasting meat? Check it!

Titans #3: (5 pages)

Abra Kadabra, gunning for Wally's nearest and dearests, has kidnapped Linda Park. Dick Grayson talks a terrified Wally down from his freak out:





I didn't want to derail this Wally post with a 'Dick being awesome' bit, but I liked this too much to not include it. Anyway:



The overclocked magical clones of the Titans kick their asses, leading to this:




"...if he runs too fast now?"



Titans #4: (4 pages)

Kadabra pulls the trigger on the scattered Titans, forcing Wally to go with Kadabra's trap.









I'm kinda on the fence about this trap: this is the Flash who evacuated Chongjin in picoseconds. But I like the idea of a magician using audience participation and equivocation - probably just needs a few tweaks (and a less-powerful speedster) here and there.

Anyway, Wally does escape (coming next issue!), and so we do a little Speed-Forcin' of our own and time-jump to Flash #10 (4 pages):

The Story:

Barry introduces Young!Wally to Regular!Wally. Someone (implied to be Zoom) possesses Barry, forcing him to reveal that Daniel West / New 52 Reverse Flash was Young!Wally's real dad.

After Kid Flash runs away, Wally tracks him down and talks to him:




I like how Wally acknowledges that Barry's kind of intimidating. Not because of a shitting-on-Barry way, but because Wally likes him too much to be afraid for Barry to see him in anything but his best. Probably.






"Don't let him." I like that! It's very family-insider-y.

Anyway, after training with Young!Wally for a bit, Wally and Barry meet up. Barry asks him why Wally hasn't talked to Iris yet.



And then Barry tells him he saw Jay Garrick's helmet, hinting at the Original Recipe JSA's return.

Couple last things! One: Wally should probs meet Superman, since I understand they're refugees from different copies of the same timeline, right?

Two: for the record, barring Roy's bow, I dig that Titans cover! Cover!Donna's kind of cute. Next post is on Green Lanterns, time permitting!

Comments

[aperturedreams]

Superman and Flash are set to meet in Titans issue 7: http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/titans-cvr-7-204832-600x911.jpg

[zapbiffpow]

So it is! Just got back from checking the solicit. Thanks for the heads up!

[lieut_kettch]

Lately, whenever I see one of the Flashes going all out, THIS starts playing in my head.

Damn you, Berlanti.

[burkeonthesly]

Might I recommend a substitute?

[lieut_kettch]

That's the song it replaced, sadly.

[burkeonthesly]

Aw, sad.

[zapbiffpow]

Hey, I remember reading about this when I was just getting into comics! Good times.

[zapbiffpow]

Yeah, that song's like brainlocked in my head now whenever I think Flash theme!

The song at the end of Flashpoint Paradox (when Barr runs away from Wayne Manor, If you're watched it) does it for me, too.

[sarahnewlin]

Is this the one with Jericho/Joseph?

[zapbiffpow]

That's a negatory - I think Jericho's going to be handled by Priest for the foreseeable future. This lineup is the lineup, I think.

[xakko]

so does anyone else feel that Abnett may have had the Hamilton soundtrack on repeat while writing this?

[zapbiffpow]

On repeat

Ha! Well, that or 'It's A Small World'. But I project.

[wizardru]

So I'm reading this and I'm like "huh, this isn't just good, it actually gets the character voices and beats RIGHT. Dick is spot-on and this is the Wally I remember...but it makes all of the heroes more interesting, even Barry Allen."

And then I see the writing credits and go "Oh,...duh."

I'm thinking I start needing to catch up on stuff.

[zapbiffpow]

Yeah, character voice is one of the things I like! It's like an art form - consider Dick's friendly "I love you, but calm down", and then his Leader Mode "that's the bottom line" line, and then Wally's whole mature-but-tracingly-former-Kid-Flashian dialogue with Kid Flash.

++Abnett's been killing it on Aquaman, too, at least characterization-wise. I'd love to do a catch-up post on it sometime.

[icon_uk]

New52 Wally is looking kinda short there isn't he? I don't remember him being that young/small in the Teen Titans comic.. but I might be conflating him with Wally from the Flash TV show.

And yes, the Titans comic has been very enjoyable, and I like Abra Kadabra (someone the other Flash Rogues never felt comfortable around as he was WAY more powerful than they were and was just generally... weird) is the villain.

[kamino_neko]

I think he looks about the same in Teen Titans...it's hard to get a good idea of relative heights, due to blocking and angles, but he feels around the same height as Beast Boy and Raven, and the three of them only slightly taller than Robin.

(He generally looks taller in Flash, though.)

[zapbiffpow]

I kind of dig Abra Kadabra's Sixth Man status, too. I remember Reverse Flash taking him out of play way back in Flash: Rebirth, because "there's only room for one 30th Centurist here," or something like that. Maybe that was more out of fear than spite.

[firstmoonie]

I've seen some people complaining about Kadabra being picked instead of Zoom and I was like "Dude! We're finally getting a Flash villain that's NOT a speedster and you complain???"

I admit he's not for everyone and his motivations are just petty but the nostalgia brought a smile on my face.

[featheredserpent]

Needed: Obama-style "HOPE" poster of Dick.
Possibly a rear view.

[zapbiffpow]

I don't have the execution, but I do have the source material:

[firstmoonie]

I don't think anyone understood Kadabra's plan perfectly:

Once Wally hits lightspeed, Speed Force starts sucking him in, Linda's love keeps him grounded. Since he no longer has her love, he can't do any of his speed tricks anymore. That's the "key" of Kadabra's plan.

The actual problem is maths. Any Flash is capable of doing this at Mach 5 I think. Abnett should have done it less then 6 secs (1 sec maybe?) or picked the locations from different parts of Earth.


Anyways I LOVE this book. All characters are spot on & Wally brought back such joy to DC that was missing for a long time. I can't wait to see how it all ties up next issue!

[zapbiffpow]

Yeah, no, that's pretty much what I thought A.K.'s plan was.

The actual problem is maths...

I actually had the same thought, of cutting it down to 1 second! Granted, since Kadabra only gave him broad locations, Wally'd have to do like 3 citywide scopes (Coast, Metropolis and Gotham) plus the travel distance between them, straining his Speed Force Resistance meter all the while, but they probs should've reduced the time limit to be sure.

Anyway, glad you liked it! Not the most polished of traps, but still a quality read.

[firstmoonie]

Yeah, it's pacing is a bit...off and I would have loved more focus on Wally & Dick's relationship beyond throwaway lines BUT....This book is a much better "Flash book" than the current series, so that's something.

[zapbiffpow]

Glad you liked it!