Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "wally-west"

Titans, Volume 1: The Return of Wally West by Dan Abnett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


DC Rebirth's key plot was the return of the original Wally West, one of DC's most beloved characters who was sidelined with the launch of the New 52. This book continues his story as he is able to get his best friends , The Titans to remember him and then face off against the man who made him disappear.

This is a solid story. The writing really taps into the emotion of Wally West, who has lost so much and the ideas of friendship, love, and heroism make this a compelling story from start to finish. It ranks up with the Superman stories for really capturing the emotion of this admittedly fantastic situation.

If the book has any pitfalls, it may be that for a team book, it's too Wally West focused. You only get vague impressions of the rest of the Titans and who they are. Hopefully, they'll be fleshed out more in future volumes. Overall, this is still a very impressive and enjoyable read.



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Flash by Mark Waid Book One by Mark Waid

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is the first in a series examining Mark Waid legendary run on the Flash, collecting Flash Special #1, Flash Annuals #4 and 5 and Issues 62-68 of the Flash.

The book kicks off with Flash Special #1 which is a fiftieth anniversary story for the Flash and features all three Flashes (in separate adventures) as well as a future flash that's written by Waid. In fact, the future Flash (John Fox) is the only part of this actually written by Waid. That doesn't stop this from being an amazing linked graphic novel. The different creative teams for each section evoke the Flash of the Golden, Silver, and Post-crisis era with Waid doing a good job on John Fox.

Flash Annual #4 takes a look at Wally in the future, having gone into witness protection but being found by the people he's hiding from and having to fight to save his family after spending years in retirement. He has to fight a series of villains. It's an epic story that has a bit of the flavor of Amazing Spider-man Annual #1 with Spidey fighting the Sinister Six. Waid tells a good story with a twist that manages to avoid forcing Wally towards a pre-determined outcome.

Issues 62-65 is a Year One storyline for Wally West. Considering that Waid was a new comic book writer in the 1990s, giving him a Year One story to write was a gutsy editorial move, considering that Frank Miller was the man who wrote Batman's "Year One," this just isn't something typically given to a rookie writer. However, Waid deliver brilliantly with a story that updates but still respects Wally's silver age origin but also gives Wally's character some depth.

Issue 66 has Wally going on a cruise ship in a trip in which he faces a sea based villain and meets Aquaman. This story is okay. There's some nice action and art, but it's probably the least remarkable part of the book.

Issues 67 and 68 has the Flash meeting Abra Kadabra. It's a good story that gets really interesting in the second part as the Flash travels to Abra Kadabra's world and makes a startling discovery.

Annual #5 is all about the Rogues as the Flash battles them, while the Rogues are beset by a challenge from within as Golden Glider believes someone in the group has sold her out and has planned some tests to find out who it is. It's a tale with a lot of twists, none greater than the ending which was part of some event...which it would have nice if DC had explained.

Still despite the issues with the presentation, the comic book issues are great and a sign of what was to come for Mark Waid who would prove to be far more than...a flash in the pan.



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