It has been fun to put up most of my Barry Allen comics on IG these past 2 weeks. But today, I wanted to focus on Wally West, the kid flash in the 70s and early 80s. Wally got his turn at being the scarlet speedster after the death of Barry in ‘crisis on the infinite earths.’
Wally’s turn as the flash came in 1987 with his new (volume 2) “Flash” comic. The previous “The Flash” (vol 1) had ended over a year before with issue 350! I read the volume 2 series on release and was a subscriber. What strikes me looking back on it, is that not just with this book but all the post- crisis DC comics actually made an attempt to be - dare I say it- more like marvel! Here is what I mean, it is said that dc superhero’s are like gods that pretend to be human but marvel stories are about humans with godlike powers struggling to deal with them. I see that concept with dc after 1986 when they completely obliterated their continuity during the Crisis on the infinite earths.
Wally West, the new flash, is a prime example of this as he, due to events of the crisis, could only run at the speed of sound, not light as Barry could. Also, every time he ran, it had a profound effect on his metabolism such that he had to consume food immediately to compensate for the spent energy. This real-world problem was dealt with in his monthly stories. I think this is the example of dc being more like marvel and having heroes that are more relatable to the common person.
This was not just with Wally but a few other titles DC re-started that were more real world like Green Arrow, the Question and the Specter jump to mind as well. All of those titles were also listed as “mature readers” and dropped the “approved by the comics code authority” label as well. However, I think it still fits the point of having heroes that were not simply godlike beings whose secret identities completely hid who they were and allowed them seamless integration into real life. Instead, a hero’s actions had consequences for their personal life and vice versa. Again, I think these made for compelling story telling. A direct rif off Marvel, or a subconscious one? Who can say…thanks for reading. Jon
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