The Flash #773: First Day on the Job

[superboyprime]

"I always feel like everybody's flinching a little bit when it comes to that they're doing something with Wally West. I just want to assure fans that as long as I'm writing Wally West, we're going to have fun adventures." - Jeremy Adams

Comments

[lordultimus]

"Next: Doctor Nightmare!"

Attorney at Law?

[tinygaylaura]

HA! HA!

Nightmares!

[cygnia]

Have Heatwave and Firefly ever teamed up (or tried to one up each other)?

[blues32]

I doubt they've ever teamed up and as for trying to one up each other...Firefly doesn't stand a chance. That gun of Heatwave's makes his look like a pilot light. It melts Flash's friction resisting boots.

[blues32]

Okay, this idea is poorly thought out. Heatwave's costume isn't made with asbestos. Nobody makes a costume out of asbestos anymore. Certainly not a guy who knows the ins and outs of setting fires like Rory does. Whatever his costume is made of, it not only is flame retardant, it keeps him cool the whole time. He uses the best because his gun requires it. Heatwave's gun is to flamethrowers what Captain Cold's gun is to freeze rays. It takes the concept to the next level. It HAS to in order to be of any use against Flash.

[mazway_75]

It's established the Rogues need a tailor with specific stuff. There's a bit in Johns' run where Axel Walker runs down the tailor and Weather Wizard snaps. "look at my suit. This has to sustain hundred-mile-hour winds, lightning, snow and more, you think just anyone makes these?"

So yeah, it's not a standard asbestos, a mix of materials both real and only in DCU so this is a rough take even though I get what he's going for.

[blues32]

Yeah, I remember. In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge, Heatwave fought a "replacement" Libra sent after him. Rory was pissed as this guy had killed his tailor. He proves how good the guy was by just taking everything the impostor throws at him and remarks that he's not even sweating. His opponent, however, dies from it due to an inferior costume.

[dan_ingram]

Minor correction, the Tailor survived.

The replacement Heatwave, did not.

Pick your gimmicks carefully!

[blues32]

None of the replacements lasted. They were just a bunch of people Libra slapped together. The Rogues are a tightly knit group of very experienced crooks and he sent a bunch of rookies who just got their toys.

[icon_uk]

Paul Gambi is the Rogue's tailor, a regular fixutre in the Silver Age and named for long time Flash fan, lettter writer and later DJ on British radio, Paul Gambicini.

He appeared in the Black Lighting TV show as Jefferson Pierce's equivalent of Lucius Fox.

[mazway_75]

Was blanking on the name for a second. YEah, loved him since the Silver Age, just how this run-of-the-mill small shop guy crafts these special suits.

[akodo_rokku]

Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if back in the day Heatwave was written as having an asbestos suit, but we've known about the toxicity of asbestos too long now for comics' sliding time scale to make this sensible.

[blues32]

It's practically a joke now. I mean, Marvel literally had a guy named "Asbestos Man". He reappeared in "Fear Itself". Think he "fought" The Great Lake Avengers...X-Men...Champions...whatever.

[tinygaylaura]

As a counterpoint

Mick Rory is a guy who spent every day of his life on the run after burning his families home down as a child. He never even went to high school. He is entirely self educated and his main interests for most of his life were burning things and robbing banks so him using an asbestos suit isn't outside the realm of possibility

Its possible that the asbestos suit was an early suit Heat Wave wore before someone came along and said "No actually thats going to give you so much cancer" but by the time he changed to a normal suit the damage was done

[blues32]

Hm. I suppose so. Rory would have based his suit on his own observations. Whatever burned the least when he set it on fire is probably where he'd think to start.

[tinygaylaura]

Also this is America

Its not unlikey someeone would make him an asbestos suit if it was cheap and easy

Mick: Is it dangerous?

Suit maker: technically I have to tell you YES but honestly how could asbestos be THAT dangerous? It has the word BEST in the name!

[tinygaylaura]

I really liked seeing the Flash reach out to Mick here

Wally is a good egg

Of course Amanda Waller has to come along and ruin everything by putting Heat Wave in her murder squad :(

[blues32]

I think that was always the difference between Wally and Barry. When the Rogues heard the original (Barry) Flash was coming back, they took it as a threat because the old Flash never cut them any slack. Meanwhile, Wally became a good friend to Piped Piper. Wally doesn't see things in the black/white, hero/villain mindset.

[icon_uk]

Barry didn't cut them any slack, but he also ensured they were distracted from realising how powerful they were by making it more of a srt of ongoing game between them, as Wally and the Rogues discussed one time...

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1635265.html

[silverhammerman]

Rolling Heatwave directly into the Suicide Squad really does seem like kind of a sour note here. Going directly from empathy and understanding with Wally to having Heatwave fall into the hands of Amanda Waller, who in the modern comics is imho one of the actual worst people in the DCU, the living avatar of the prison industrial complex and the 13th amendment's wiggle room, is odd whiplash.

I do think there's maybe something interesting to that whiplash, that Wally being a nice guy doesn't mean he's not partaking in a broken justice system, but somehow I don't think that's about to be examined.

[scorntx]

If I was to give this issue the benefit of the doubt, I'd say Wally's being written as just now knowing the system is broken, and given his portrayal here of not knowing how to use them new-fangled com-pu-ters, there is a possibility of him just being a naïve doof.
Buuuuut it was Wally's run that introduced Iron Heights, so this is something he really should be damn well aware of.

[scorntx]

Okay, so, Waller's been running her Suicide Squad for what is technically known as A While Now, right?
And by and large the supervillains of the DCverse either hang out or at least go to the same bars, so they should know about what happens to people who go to Belle Reve.
Kind of surprising more villains don't fight like tigers to avoid winding up there.
(or gang up to just try and eliminate Waller. There's no chance they'd ever succeed, but they could try.)

Not that it's at all surprising the guy with an actual mental illness is dumped in a prison, rather than somewhere he can get support and help.

[iamrman]

What? Mental illness actually getting treated? In a comic book?

[scorntx]

Terribly sorry, don't know where that came from.

[iamrman]

I am still anazed that the higher-ups at DC allowed the Flash to be fun again!

[scorntx]

Let's see if it lasts more than twenty minutes.

[iamrman]

Yeah, I'm still waiting for them to pull the rug from under us.

[lordy_co]

What's everybody's opinion on Wally's costume? My understanding is that they're trying to channel the look he had in the 90s, but it looks very weird and even a bit creepy to me g.g

[scorntx]

What's so weird about it? It looks exactly the same as the Flash outfit has since the 50s.

[lordy_co]

I think it's the solid white on the eyes plus the dark shade of red. I dunno if it's because I'm more used to Barry's modern costume by now, but it's really off-putting to me XD

[deepspaceartist]

I have to admit, the blank white eyes look doesn't really work for me on Flash costumes anymore. Heck, it doesn't really work for me on any mask that's not supposed to have lenses of some sort in the eyes like the Bat family suits.

The idea of 'you put on a mask and suddenly your eyes turn blank white' just doesn't really work with modern art styles, I think.

[lordy_co]

Agreed. I'd say that, in conjunction with the darker shade of red, it makes Wally seem even a bit villainous to me y.y

[phantomfo]

I think that his costume is supposed to have lenses. That's the way I've always read it. I also consider his glossy 90s look as an upgrade over Barry's matte outfit, but that's a subjective thing.

[lucean]

I love Wally. Just wanted to write that here.

[remial]

AMEN! Wally is best Flash. I really liked the short run of an adult Bart as Flash, but Barry is ummm...

I don't want to get political.
(where is Barry currently?)

[lordultimus]

Protecting the Multiverse as part of Justice League Incarnate, last I checked.

[scorntx]

Barry Allen... protecting the multiverse?
That doesn't sound right, for some reason.

[tinygaylaura]

He's protecting it by being kept busy so he's not destroying it