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I'm in the middle of a massive Flash Comics binge - I'm reading from #1 (1987) to issue #225 (2005) and I'm about halfway through so I'm going to tweet a few thoughts about Wally West, so feel free to ignore me...
I've always preferred Barry Allen to Wally West, but the reason why is actually a testament to how great a character Wally is. He's such a fully realised and distinct character that I actually don't personally like him...
Obviously I love reading Wally's stories immensely, but the actual person depicted on the page - smug, self centred, arrogant, self righteous, a bit right wing - is not someone I would choose to hang out with...
During the early runs by Mike Baron and William Messner-Loebs these traits manifested themselves in more childish behaviour and were often mined (successfully) for humour. During the following runs by Mark Waid and then Geoff Johns Wally matured and underwent a level of...
... character development seldom seen in mainstream superhero comics. Wally began to act more responsibly and heroically, and yet these core personality traits were still present. He was still arrogant, smug, and self righteous, as well as self centred...
Johns in particular began to emphasise Wally's right wing politics again, portraying him as a blue collar conservative. But this isn't me criticising Wally. He's an amazing character. There aren't many superhero characters that feel as authentic & recognisable as Wally...
...But this authentic personality that's been conveyed so successfully is the personality of someone I would probably consider to be an arsehole if I met him in real life. Not a bad person, just an arsehole....
Barry on the other hand, while not as fully developed a character as Wally (probably because he was dead for almost half his existence), is usually depicted as more of an old fashioned, humble dork...
For me, he's just more fun to be around especially when I'm looking to superhero comics to provide me with some "comfort food". Also I tend to gravitate towards the older brother/father figures in fiction for whatever weird reason..
So whenever I tweet about preferring Barry to Wally, it's never a reflection on the quality of the character. Wally West is one of the most fully fleshed out, authentic characters in mainstream superhero comics...
As much as I enjoyed aspects of Heroes in Crisis I honestly don't think DC Comics realise what a rare and amazing character they've got on their hands with Wally...
It's almost like such a real character with a concrete backstory that's actually shaped and defined him doesn't fit into DC's ever shifting, big sales event driven continuity. He's a victim of his own quality...
This is also why it bugs me that every time a writer has Barry crack a joke the fans always seem to complain that "Barry is just being written like Wally". There's so much more to Wally West than "he makes jokes". And Barry Allen isn't defined by being utterly humourless...
That's my Flash thread. Hope I haven't lost any followers cos I bang on about comics too much. I just bloody love the Flash.
