DARK NIGHTS: DEATH METAL SPEED METAL #1

[superfangirl1]

Comments

[iamrman]

Heh. 'Batman who tries too hard'.

[thediiem]

Honestly that made the issue for me.

Side note: My partner is tired of the occasional but far-too-long rants about how tired I am of the Batman-Who-Laughs.

[lucean]

I... As a huge Wally fan, this really hit me. I mean I haven't kept up with Flash in ages, but this felt like the one story that not only treated Wally's arc with some kind of respect, but also seemed to acknowledge in a meta way how messed up DC's treatment of him once Barry came back was while also making him the hero of the story.

Damn. And I'll also admit that I giggled like crazy at 'Batman who tries too hard.'

[beyondthefringe]

Anything that can rehabilitate poor Wally is fine in my book.
I keep hoping they'll just straight-up retcon Heroes in Crisis away.

[thezmage]

They've already half-retconned it

[lucean]

It's not even just rehabilitating Wally after the horror show of HiC, but even just treating with him respect and considering him as equal to Barry after spending two decades telling that story.

By the way, another story that just seems to imply that Johns really doesn't have that much creative impact over at DC anymore as I just don't know how that finish was possible with his views on characters.

[silverhammerman]

I'm not a huge Wally West partisan, but this is nice.

That said, between Rebirth, Heroes in Crisis, and now this, we've had three comics all talking about the treatment of this character with no actual change being made. If after Death Metal Wally doesn't take over the main Flash book, or Barry's role on the Justice League, or something, then this is still meaningless.

[lucean]

Pretty much this.

What also makes it really frustrating is that it feels pretty clear that the majority of the Justice Leagure writers are clearly writing Wally as the Flash, just calling him Barry. So just let Wally take over the JL role and everything would be so much simpler.

[thanekos]

" Hey, Batman Who Tries Too Hard. "

Restating the criticism does not alleviate the issue therein.

[deh_tommy]

Certainly a better way of incorporating the metanarrative into the actual narrative than Heroes in Crisis at least.

[tcampbell1000]

"Could we stay inside the Speed Force forever?" Why is that a question, heroes don't...oh, whatever.

I feel like the recent attempts to rehabilitate Wally's continuity are born of an optimism that's too much even for my generally optimistic outlook. The real problem here is that you can't have Barry as both the youngish idealist that the comics have presented lately and essentially a grandpa.

Batman and Nightwing have a similar issue, but the comics have, er, "resolved" that one by keeping Dick from ever taking those last big steps that would mark the generational passing of the torch, like a family and legacy of his own. Whatever their comic history is supposed to be, if you look at Dick, or Speedy, or Donna Troy, you can imagine them early 20s. You really can't do that with a guy who's got two eight-year-old-looking kids, no matter how many times you use the phrase "aged at superspeed."

So either Wally has to go (again), or Barry has to start being treated as more of a middle-aged hero, or there's going to be this weird disconnect whenever anyone talks about the Flash family. You can't tell good comics stories if the pictures don't make sense.

[jaxjyls]

Wish Wally used a different finger for that panel

[mesmiranda]

I have a strong suspicion that's intentional on the part of DC editorial. ;)