Favorite Flash

[kkhohoho]

So, after doing the DC and Marvel polls, I decided I rather liked doing them, though with both Marvel and DC covered, where is there left to go? The individual characters, of course. Both Marvel and especially DC have had a number of heroes put on the masks of their most biggest and most iconic characters over the years, and everyone's bound to have their favorites. And first up is none other than the Scarlet Speedsters themselves: The Flashes. (Also, one may be puzzled as to why of all people Jesse Quick is on the list. As turns out, she was actually a Flash! ...For a day, at least. It was really just some ploy of Wally's to make Bart (still Impulse,) get his head in the game and motivate him to learn and improve, as well as save his girlfriend. In hindsight, Wally should probably have been upfront with Jesse about it rather than being a jerk, but hey, regardless of the reason, she was the Flash, (and not one of several future Flashes either,) so she counts.)

For me, it has to be Jay Garrick, the very first. Sure, he doesn't get as much attention as Barry or Wally, but even in those old Golden Age and Silver Age stories where there's not much characterization in general to speak of, he has this natural sense of command and respect; similar to Captain America, actually. It's mostly the way he wass drawn, but in era where the art was about all you had to help characterize somebody, that was more than enough. As the decades went on, Jay's writers started to latch onto how he'd been drawn, and fleshed him out into a nice, respectable old man, but one with plenty of gumption. (Again, like Captain America, especially nowadays, what with Cap now being even older than Jay usually was. The 90's and early-mid 00's though was, like Wally, where he got the chance to shine, and while he'd long ceased being the star, he was still a major supporting player in both the Flash and JSA, and he was awesome nearly every time he showed up. I like Wally and Bart, and Barry's OK, but for me, Jay was, is, and always shall be The Flash. (That WC show should have been about him, darn it! At least he's gonna' show up next season...)

[Tomato]

Wally. Hands down.

I really shouldn't have to explain this that much... I've said before how much I love Legacy characters, and Wally pretty much exemplifies why that is: a "sidekick" who had to step up and fill his mentor's shoes. Where Barry was self-assured, confident, and often felt generic... You could relate to Wally as the guy trying to fill those shoes. He wasn't perfect, he made mistakes, but he still managed to step up his game and be a worthy member of the JLA. Hands down my favorite Flash story is "The Return of Barry Allen" which, despite the name, is Wally's story... the point where Wally finally steps up and fills his mentor's shoes in a big way.

[JeyNyce]

It's a toss-up between Barry and Wally.  While I grew up with Barry being the Flash, I started liking Wally during the JL animated series and now that the Flash TV show has Barry in it, it just hard to choose between the two.

[Podmark]

Wally, though I could make an argument for Bart but not as the Flash.
I like Barry, but it will always bother me that they brought him back.

[kkhohoho]

Wally, though I could make an argument for Bart but not as the Flash.
I like Barry, but it will always bother me that they brought him back.

Same here. Barry's OK, but like Jay, he had his time in the sun, and while Jay was still around, he wasn't the star anymore either. Though I at least know why they did it. One is that Geoff Johns and others in various positions of office loved the Silver Age, and so they wanted Barry back. It's the same reason they brought back Hal, though at least that resulted in redefining the Green Lantern mythos as many people know them, and all of the other human lanterns still got some limelight.

But aside from that, they actually tried to continue the theme of legacy by having Wally and Linda disappear, and let Bart take on the mantle of the Flash. Problem is, the book apparently sucked, so much that it got cancelled after 13 issues, so they brought Wally back... with his kids. Some people thought the book focused too much on the kids, and that lukewarm reception probably helped Johns and crew in making their decision to just bring back Barry, so there we are.

And all of this baffles me because Johns apparently wrote the second best Wally run which also single-handily brought back and updated the Flashes rouges' gallery, after previous writers largely dispensed with hit, so why he would suddenly go on a Barry frenzy and implode the very legacy which he helped to develop is beyond me. (Unless, of course, he only wrote for Wally because he couldn't have Barry, and then when he got enough pull to bring back Barry, he did so and never looked back. So there's that, I suppose.)

[Cyber Burn]

Wally, without hesitation. While I enjoyed his stories when I was younger, it was the "Return of Barry Allen" Storyline that really cemented his place as the "Flash". Anyone who hasn't read it yet, needs to. But ever since then, while I like the other Characters who have held the mantle of the "Flash", whether it be Jay, Barry, Bart, whomever, Wally will always be the "Flash" in my eyes.