I've praised DC for giving Dick Grayson his due in my second posting here On The Fringe, and being more of a DC guy, I approve of most of the things they're doing with a lot of their "legacy" characters. Even though I'm not a fan of the Justice League currently consisting of some of the "also-rans" like former Wonder Girl Donna Troy (but seriously, James Robinson, who in the fuck is Congorilla and why is he allowed to hang with your flagship team?), it's nice to see that former Titans (Donna, Cyborg, Dick as Batman) and a former Infinitor/Darkstar like Jade have 'graduated' to the big seats at the JLA table.
But this is about the flip side of that mentality. What about some of the other characters who took up their predecessors' mantles and have faded into the background or been constantly shit on due to editors favoring their Silver Age counterparts?
Let me start off by saying I love the Silver Age characters at DC. I have always been a huge Green Lantern fan, and I really applaud them (and specifically Geoff Johns) for undoing the whole "Hal Jordan went coo-coo bananas and is a villain because we're trying to be hip and trendy by replacing him with a younger character" mess that brought us Kyle Rayner in the nineties. They found a way to bring Hal back and explain that he was possessed by Parallax, rather than Parallax just being Hal's supervillain name. They made the sharp 'heel turn' of Hal matter without saying "well, let's forget that happened," as they are apt to do when someone has a dumb idea in comics.
They didn't kill off Kyle when Hal returned; they merely folded him into the GL mythos and kept him relevant, even saying if not for him, the Green Lantern Corps would not have been resurrected. Kyle currently has his own spotlight, more or less, in Green Lantern Corps. But even with Kyle having regular appearances, he's still taken a back seat to Hal, becoming the least of the four human Green Lantern Corps members.
As much as I grew to like Kyle and matured with his character throughout high school, I still have a fondness for Hal. It makes sense; for a significant portion of my comic-reading life, Hal was the Green Lantern. Sure, he had some greying in his hair, but he was the GL most prominent to me for the longest amount of time, so I get the Hero Worship associated with the character. That combined with the abrupt way they wrote him out of his own book made him ripe for resurrection and redemption.
So, to counter-point: Hal's Silver Age contemporary and one of his best friends was Barry Allen, the Flash. Unlike Hal, Barry did not remain a prominent character into the nineties; no, Barry sacrificed himself to save the universe (perhaps all universes) during Crisis on Infinite Earths in the eighties. It was a ballsy move on DC's part at the time, to kill off one of their big names. Ballsier still was their decision to have his young sidekick step into his mentor's boots and carry on the Flash legacy.
I'm talking about Wallace 'Wally' West.
Wally was the nephew of Barry Allen. He had an accident almost identical to his uncle's that granted him the same super-speed, and he ran alongside the Flash as Kid Flash. He was a founding member of the Teen Titans alongside his best friend Dick Grayson for many, many years.
When Wally took up the Flash mantle, it was a novel concept at the time. I'm fairly certain this was one of, if not the first time, that comics had done something like it.
Wally had big shoes to fill. He went through a lot, coming into money (and losing it), having his secret identity go public (way before Spider-Man's ordeal), got lost in time (what is it with comics characters getting lost this way?), got married, and discovered the fucking Speed Force, the power source of all DC's fleet-footed characters. His wife grew pregnant; his nemesis, Professor Zoom, made her miscarry. He had Hal Jordan (as the Spectre) make everyone forget (even him!) he was the Flash. He and his wife finally had twins and they decided to retire to an alternate reality, passing the Flash colors down to Bart Allen, Barry's grandson.
His retirement was short-lived, but his comic was cancelled and he was relegated to guest appearances (he did have two super-powered brats to try and raise now).
In summation, Wally was the Flash for over twenty years. He joined the JLA when the 'big seven' took over the title again alongside his contemporary, Kyle Rayner. He had a starring role in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated shows (still the best DC cartoons ever), and was favored over his dead uncle as the Flash in many fans' eyes.
Wally was my Flash. He was my generation's Flash in that he's been the Flash to us longer than Barry.
During the recent Final Crisis and Flash:Rebirth, they resurrected Barry Allen. The latter was well-received and entertaining as all hell, featuring almost every speedster and incarnation of the Flash, from the Justice Society's Jay Garrick (ya know, the guy with the goofy helmet), to Wally (who received snazzy new Flash togs), to Bart Allen, former Impulse and Flash and current Kid Flash. It looked like good things were ahead for Wally, even with two super-powered brats. I figured Mr. Johns would give Wally something to do and keep him around, as he had done with Kyle.
But I was wrong. Besides showing up in Rebirth and Blackest Night, Wally hasn't been seen. Now I realize he'll probably turn up in the pending Flash crossover, Flashpoint, but that's like a consolation prize to this Wally West fan. Where the fuck has he been and what the fuck has he been doing when not involved in DC's giant crossovers? I get that he has kids now, but let's ask Bruce Wayne if having Damien around has slowed down his crimefighting and starring in three or four titles a month.
Just because editorial lets you bring back your favorite iteration of a character doesn't mean you have to shit on the ones who've carried the torch in their absence, or forget about them almost entirely. There's plenty of room for three Flashes, if two Batmen and thousands of Green Lanterns are any indication. In fact, Wally would fit in nicely among the other former Titans in the current League lineup. Hell, his best friend is now Batman! Don't you think he might have dropped by Wayne Tower to chat with Dick about the burden of carrying on a mantle? Wouldn't it have been cool, when Dick was having his doubts about being Bats in Bruce's absence, to have Wally speed into town and give him a pep talk?
Or does that make too much sense?
So, DC, Dan DiDio, and Geoff Johns: find something to do with the torch-bearers. Don't act like the Silver Age versions are any better than the contemporary out of preference or misplaced nostalgia. The readers invest time and money and emotion into these characters; I get that you don't want to kill them off because it's 'lazy' writing and you're not aiming to piss off their fans, but having them fade away is barely preferable.
DC has a rich history of characters that thrive on the fact that there are legacies and traditions of names, costumes, mantles and powers being passed down. In an age where one Wolverine is allowed to star in half a dozen titles, DC is unique in that they can have several different characters of the same name and give them plenty to do. There's very little excuse for having them go unused until you need them for your next big event just to remind us they're still around.
Wally carried on the Flash legacy for two decades and made his uncle proud. He became the Flash to a lot of us growing up in the eighties and nineties. And while the Silver Age fever currently running rampant at DC is understandable for a disgraced and mishandled character like Hal, Wally doesn't deserve to go away now that Saint Barry (also referred to across the internet as "Boring Allen") has returned.
Uncle Barry may have died saving all possible worlds ages ago, but how many times has Wally saved the world since? He deserves better, DC. At the very least, he deserves something to fucking do between your mega-crossovers.
-Swift
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