I’ve been waiting until the flash annual to confirm or deny but since the internet and comic geeks are having a meltdown lets dive in. So for months dc has been teasing the return of Wally west one of their biggest legacy characters from the 90’s. alongside Kyle Rayner/green lantern and Connor Hawke/Green Arrow they were the big trio of the 90’s. Wally was quite possibly bigger than his predecessor Barry Allen.
A key point of who Wally was in the pre-new 52 world was his relationship with Linda Park, a woman of Asian descent. After Final crisis they welcomed their twin kids and were essentially Dc comics “super family”.
IGN reported:
“DC said they wanted us to re-introduce Wally West and they wanted him to be bi-racial, and I thought that was great,” Venditti said. “I’m all for diversity and those kinds of things. It was a story that didn’t derail us with what we wanted to do. Adding Wally into the series really expanded what we thought the series was going to be and has led us to take some really cool, very character-focused turns that really gave us a look not just at Wally but also Barry. Some of the most fun I’ve had so far is those scenes where Wally and Barry are playing off each other.”
Others details on this new version of Wally West include him being a teenager and half-brother of Iris West. Now while everyone is losing their minds I’m neutral to this development honestly. We have gotten a black Hawkgirl, two black supermen (President Superman and Val Zod of Earth 2) while we lost Onyx Adams and Connor Hawke to whitewash. DC is trying to shake things up and I can’t be mad at that. My Wally West had a good run and if I want to see him all I have to do is flip through an old comic. New 52 is not our universe especially if you grew up in the 90’s. Our Time Drake of the 90’s is also long gone since a central part of his characterization was being the smartest Robin/ a world class detective and being the worst fighter. In the new 52 version he is an Olympic level everything making him arguably just a miniature Bruce Wayne.
The only problem I have with this is DC has chosen yet again to not create an original black character and instead race swapping. They have also chosen yet again to ignore the diversity they have just begging to be used in Milestone Comics Characters. Why not use the Milestone characters? Is it that DC doesn’t want to pay the creators? If that’s the case why not just get out of the contract with Milestone and give them the freedom to reboot like Valiant and they can continue to just race swap their heroes? Food for thought I guess…
UPDATE: Here’s the first look at Flash Annual #3 below
Keep your eyes peeled as we are sure to review Flash Annual #3
What do you think of this new version of Wally West?
Is this a good development? Or a Bad one?
More as it breaks!
[Source: IGN]