The Flash
Warning : SPOILERS up toThe Flash#50
Times have rarely been as exciting for fans ofThe Flashas they are thanks to DC’sFlash Warevent , climax in the in style issue . But when the dust settles fromThe Flash#50 - after Barry Allen and Wally West run head to head andbroke the Speed Force , after Bart Allen returned to life , and Wally West remembered the kid he had lost - it becomes clear that the tangible heart of Josh Williamson ’s time onThe Flashmay be what happensnext .
Considering what ’s transpire in his post - Rebirthrun already , that ’s articulate something . We had the chance to ask the comic writer about the unexpected twist andgame - changing reveals ofFlash War , and where the story leaves every member of The Flash Family . His word may have some fans worried for their favorite speedster , but from the phone of it , Williamson is too dedicated to leaving his mark for the history to underwhelm .
They may still be grievous in the end … but only for the verybestof reasons .
Well countenance ’s lead off with the one matter that is manifestly go to delineate your first fifty issues : Youmade Flash formally faster than Superman .
[ Laughs ] Did I ? I do n’t have a go at it , I find like it ’s always been that way . I entail , that ’s kind of The Flash ’s affair , right ? He ’s the fast humanity live , it ’s right there . I feel like we ’ve all been saying it this whole sentence . I ’m sure there are Superman fans that are disappointed , but I mean Superman can do everything else . He ’s Superman .
As a longtime sports fan of Wally West read the ' XC comics , seeing him return in Rebirth was a immense minute . But this experience like , in a fortune of way , the big Wally West level we ’ve been build towards . Was that a priority ?
In a fashion , I suppose . I ’ve been a big sports fan of The Flash home , and I grew up with Wally , too . Barry ’s my favorite Flash now but I definitely grew up with Wally and Bart . And I think ever since Rebirth pop , I remember I got the job on The Flash , and I think about two or three hebdomad later I found out that Wally was coming back . This was at the goal of 2015 - ish ? So this was retentive before Rebirth had come out . So I got to be affect in a quite a little of the clobber really early on , and await at the process of what they were doing when they were developing what was decease to become Rebirth , and the poppycock with Wally .
So for me going into this tarradiddle , I was want to crop with Wally for a farseeing metre but it just never worked out . And I always say this when we talk about it , you ca n’t just go to them and say , ' I require to do this because … ' You have to have a narration , you have to have a reason . essentially it comes down to that . So with FLASH WAR , I blend to them and I said , ' I want to use Wally , I have a really big idea . ' At the clock time I was call it War of The flash - so I was like , ' I want to do War of The Flashes ! ' - and it was n’t just about Wally , it ’s a Barry story too . I really desire to tell a story about both of them .
I realise Wally takes a a full-grown spotlight in this storey because he is the major catalyst with Hunter [ Zolomon ] being in there . But I did n’t experience like I wanted to tell ' The Wally Story , ' to get back to your original interrogation . I feel like Wally ’s floor is very openhanded and very much a part of the heart of what ’s been going in the DC Universe the last two years , and it ’s just my crook in the relay race race , you sleep with ? My turn powerful now to kind of continue on that story , and fade it on to the next matter .
His story is far from over , you could order at the end of this exit . And that ’s really the thing with FLASH WAR in general , it ’s just a piece of a really big tale we ’re tell . I ’ve been saying this whole time with FLASH WAR that it is n’t the end of a story , it ’s really the beginning , it ’s the next step in a really adult write up . you’re able to kind of see that in [ The Flash # 50 ] .
Well in the final page of the issue , you feed through all of the self-aggrandising … not needfully closed book that you ’ve localize up , but the new problems that will ask to be dealt with . The bad one , which I intend fans of the TV show and now the movie will notice , is that The Flash ’s clock time travel is no longer on the mesa . Obviously nothing in comics is permanent , but how committed to that twist should fans expect it to be ?
Yeah , I mean that ’s kind of how … [ Laughs ] . That ’s a funny question to ask , like you said , nothing is forever in comedian . That is the status quo for right now . The interrogative you have to ask next is … what would have to befall for Barry to realize he has to get time travel back ? So that will be part of the query over the next class , and part of the story with the Flash Family . properly now they ca n’t travel through time , which is okay because Barry does n’t wish to , he does n’t want to . But eventually something is going to befall and he ’s going to have to travel through metre . That ’ll be part of the level that we tell apart in the book over the next year or so .
evidently there ’s also the subplot – well for now a subplot , which is the approaching of The Still Force introduce in the Justice League comedian . Since it was n’t a Flash comic , some reader are going to be a little unfamiliar . Is there an easy way to tantalise out what ’s at work there ?
Well it ’s all connected . That ’s one thing , I intend I work with Scott [ Snyder ] pretty closely , I talk to him nearly every day and we spill about all of this stuff . Last class we part talking about these new forces , they were go to be tied into Flash like the Still Force , the Sage Force , the Strength Force … and some of the other mysteries we ’re building with those forces . The idea that the Still Force was the accurate inverse of the Speed Force . The thought of entropy , the idea of not moving , and standing still . He ’s research a lilliputian minute of that in Justice League aright now , and then we ’re going to blame it up in a bragging mode in Flash . That was a way of us attempt to show that we ’re trying to tell this really big chronicle , and everything is link . So the funny thing is , it got put in like … when was that ? That was …
Oh , not that long ago .
A month ago ? Yeah , proper ? We know that though , we love that going into it , so there was a conversation like , how do we do this in a way that pee-pee mother wit with the timeline ? So you ’ve beat it all together and you see that it ’s all connected . The Still Force , and the new forces . At first Barry ’s go to make out with the Still Force in Justice League and the new personnel in this Holy Scripture , and then by the surrender it will all get to collide . And Barry will have to deal with all of it .
Should we wait that this young Commander Cold from the hereafter will be a subaltern story ? He ’s been kept intentionally mysterious so far …
With the Flash playscript it ’s kind of weird . I have a chart here that has all of the subplots we ’ve been build up since Issue # 1 , and there ’s a hatful of things we teased , and a tidy sum of matter we put out there and we pick up later , and you see that in the al-Qur’an . The hooey with the Renegades , we put that in the Annual . Some of the stuff they lecture about in the Annual ended up happen . The poppycock with Gorilla Grodd we were planning out since the very beginning . And there ’s sure things that are still in there that we have n’t really partake on yet , but we ’ve been teasing out ,
With Commander Cold , he ’s blend to be another one of those subplots we have where he and Barry do n’t really get along . But to figure out what ’s going on with these new force out they ' going to have to ferment together . That ’s a fully grown part of the next spark in the script , that ’s why he ’s on the screen of Issue # 52 .
Will Leonard Snart be inquire as to who the heck this Modern cat is ?
Yes and no ? [ Laughs ] There s ' going to be a lot of people … I ’ll say this : that mistaken identity affair pass off a lot over the next three months , after Issue # 52 . Because # 51 is an epilog to this that form of deal with a little bit more Wally and Barry , and what happens after FLASH WAR . And then # 52 through # 56 deal a luck with the newfangled forces and how Central City is at the center of those new strength . But also Barry carry on with all the leg of not being the fastest man alive anymore , and how he needs to study how to be the fastest humans alive again , necessitate to learn to be faster so he can trance up with Orion and catch up with all of these affair that are going on .
masses keep meeting Commander Cold and retrieve he ’s Snart , or agnise at once that he ’s not Snart … some citizenry will meet him and are like , ' Huh ? ' And some are like , ' Well , I know you ’re not Snart , I can severalize the difference , ' that kind of thing . Right now Leonard Snart is in Suicide Squad . I hope to do a narration that crosses over the Rogues with the Suicide Squad finally , I just do n’t know when we ’re going to do it .
On that melodic theme of misguided identity , a lot of people will be hoping it ’s Jay Garrick call out to Wally from the Speed Force , but one of the large reveals of the effect is the return of Bart Allen . How much playfulness is that to bear , jazz what peoples ' reactions are go to be ?
Oh military personnel , I still do n’t believe it , a little bit ? [ Laughs ] I mean I always severalize this to people : when I was a child … I start reading Flash during like , right after Born To Run but during Return of Barry Allen . That ’s my favorite Flash story of all time . Right after that , about a twelvemonth - ish after Return of Barry Allen they acquaint Bart . I was about the same age , I was like thirteen , fourteen years old and I was a hyper little nestling , or hyper adolescent , and I freak out loved Bart . And I ’ve missed him , you know ?
In my twenty I became a Wally lover , and now as an adult , you know , I ’m a Barry devotee . But I still miss Bart . It was funny because I had these conversations over the last two geezerhood would come up of whether I was go to be able to apply him or not . And it ’s the same thing , you ca n’t just say , ' I wanna use him , ' there has to be a story in play , there has to be a plan , there has to be some kind of affair we ’re move to do . It it was one of my dreams for FLASH WAR to be able to bring Bart back , that was a vainglorious part of it . To have this idea of being able to put him in the book , have a plan for him … I ca n’t get too mystifying into it but sure thing kind of array , certain things like the principal kind of align in the correct dapple , the correct clip , and I was able to cant using him and it work out .
So the idea that Hunter makes them break the Force Barrier , you think that all is lost , you think that Hunter win . Wally even says it , ' Well Hunter gain . ' But in a path he did n’t , good ? He trounce them emotionally , but what he did n’t clear was that he ’s allowed Bart to get out . Bart has essentially been in there since Flashpoint , because Bart during the Flashpoint had that Kid Flash miniskirt where he got trapped in there , and he cogitate he died . One thing I think people should think about is that … in DCU : Rebirth , when Wally come out of the Speed Force he was wearing a Kid Flash costume . Here we ’re in the same affair , he ’s coming out wearing his Impulse costume . To me he ’s still Impulse but that ’s a whole other affair .
I ’m really excited about it , man . It ’s passing surreal . There was a moment where … I never told a soul , but I was in the office the week that this was go to impress , and I would walk by someone ’s desk and they would have a printout of just that splash varlet . And I would just be like , ' Oh my god , put it forth ! ' I was so neural I did n’t require to even see it , like I would gaze at it . Even when the Sir Frederick Handley Page come in … Howard [ Porter ] drew that awesome splash pageboy of him and I was just like , ' there ’s no way of life that this is gon na happen . ' But it work out , and there ’s some fun stuff coming with him . I ca n’t get too inscrutable into excuse it , I do n’t do it when it ’s operate to be denote , the stuff with him . But yeah there ’s really a fortune of coolheaded poppycock , I cogitate lover of him will be happy .
Just to be sure , I ’m assuming you also have not forgotten about Jay …
Oh of course not , I mean … this is my reply . And I always say this to everybody , when it comes to anything with the Flash mythology is that from the very beginning , I ’m a big Flash lover , and I desire to verify that when I leave this Christian Bible that I have no regrets . That eventually when it ’s my time to pass on to another writer , that I do n’t bequeath the Scripture retrieve there were things I wanted to do that I did n’t do , or fibre that I wanted to drop a line that I did n’t get to … that by the time I get done writing this volume , that I get to make for with every single character that ’s out there someway or another . So trust me , I have not forgotten anyone .
The issue ’s Epilogue is a heck of a teaser , and I imagine a luck of citizenry will scan to that final page and ask if they ’ve miss something . A baddie so bad that even Eobard Thawne knew to take him down and interlock him up ?
[ Laughs ] Yeah we ’ve been building to that for a while , at the offset of the Annual that came out in January , Commander Cold was lecture about that same thing , Iron Heights … that the only good thing Eboard Thawne did was catch this one mortal and lock them up . It ’s part of a really big story we ’re going to be tell in Flash for a while , I ’m not certain how longsighted . It ’s a really big villain that we ’re going to kind of tease out over a while of buildup , and something involve him vs the Flashes . It will be really interesting to see how we seed this story , and what people peck up , and clear . It ’s definitely going to be one of those things that change a stack of poppycock about the Flash .
From the very beginning I ’ve been severalise people this is something that ’s the origin of a enceinte Flash story . And , how do I word this … it ’s just the origin , that ’s really it . This is the beginning , and this [ villain ' Crisis ' ] is go to be a major part of the Flash book moving forward . But at first he ’s hold up to be one of those thing in the shadow building until you realize how much of a big wallop he ’s going to have on The Flash and the DCU .
As this chapter comes to a close , Wally is not only leaving Barry , but for maybe the first time since Rebirth he has a end ahead of him . A pretty emotionally charged one that fans will be … peradventure impatient to see addressed , since this story hinges on the emotion and threat of what Wally ’s deal out with decently now . Is his path out of this book going to be just as desperate ? Or a bit more calculated ?
Oh , that ’s rough . I ’m going to say out of those two options , definitely going to say desperate . It ’s going to be a intemperate test for Wally . Issue # 51 is all about Wally , it ’s all about Iris and Wally . Barry is definitely in it , Kid Flash is in it , Commander Cold is in it , there ’s some other guest stars by other DC characters , but it ’s by all odds all about Wally . You ’re go to get response to a lot of what ’s go on with Wally past this . Because the whole way out , we had that little two page epilogue at the destruction of this , but really # 51 is all an epilog to FLASH WAR . It ’s kind of like how # 46 with the Zoom stuff and nonsense was a prologue to FLASH WAR .
They are very much bookend to eachother , which is one of the things I ’ve been really happy about with FLASH WAR is # 46 and # 51 are both by Scott Collins who is one of the best Flash artists of all clock time , and really a heavy part of Wally chronicle . And then in the midriff , its all draw by Howard Porter who was also really big creative person on The Flash during Wally ’s hayday . And so we get to kind of tell this handsome story with those character in that way .
But I think a lot of the stuff people are going to demand and wonder about with Wally , and want to know where he ’s going , and how he ’s doing , what he ’s doing , will all be in # 51 .
So much try is put into Comics and TV and Movie superheroes trying to give them a motivating that really justify their action mechanism . When you show Wally his kids , forget and imprisoned , is it almost a free pass ? That Wally can do almost anything and people wo n’t hold it against him ? Or is it a balance enactment of trying to keep from being too dark since Wally is still a Heron , right-hand ? But what would n’t Wally do from here on out ?
Yeah , we ’re trying to change the room these characters shape a little bit , and put your stamp on them , add a little twist on them . I think with Wally , it ’s going to be a rough meter . It ’s emphatically pass to be hurtful for him , and an excited rollercoaster ride . I think about this material a caboodle , you know . When we first started out again , I could n’t just say I want Wally and Barry to fight … I had to posture down and really imagine about both side , and make the two really have a conversation and think about what Wally was go through , and what Barry had gone through . Because Barry went through what he did , Barry had his mother exact away and he give-up the ghost back in clip to seek to fix it , and he caused the Flashpoint which do a heap of psychic trauma .
So Barry definitely understand that like … I do n’t know , how do you excuse that to somebody ? How do you tell someone you have to do this because of this ? It seems so big , it ’s such a large affair . And it does n’t feel as personal that you … a person can say I ’m going to risk it . That ’s fundamentally what Wally did in this story where he was thinking he was going to break the Speed Force , and he broke the Force Barrier , and Hunter sort of won that . But I intend he looks at it and he ’s like , ' I need to be smarter about this , I ’m not lead to make the same mistake that Barry made . But I ’m not just go to sit here , I ’m going to go find them . I ’m going to see this out . '
And we ’ll see in # 51 the emotional impact of that first . But that storey , I intend dude , that story is so big and just getting begin and revving up , you know ? And part of it is this is somebody else ’s narrative too , because that ’s going to move on from me a little . So I do n’t want to get too much into it , but there ’s a lot of clobber that ’s going to be happen in the DCU . Those bits and slice with Wally was really me getting him over to those areas so people could proceed to tell that big story with him .
So you ’re really going to be assign Wally West fan through the ringer in the foreseeable time to come .
Well not me wholly , but … the matter that I was trying to do with Flash # 50 is - and I ’ve done this before , it ’s interesting to me - even from the beginning , one of the thing I ’ve been doing on The Flash book is when the Speed Force tempest hit Central City , and the lightning went around and caused all these different speedsters , we played with the thought of , ' if there ’s a bunch of speedsters out there , why am I special ? Why is Barry Allen special ? ' You kind of learn that it is n’t the powers that name him a hero , and we fiddle that up again when Grodd is like , ' I ’m take on the powers away because a speedster is nothing . That ’s Barry ’s fear .
One of the thing I like to play around with is what makes The Flash ? Is it just that he ’s the fastest humans alive ? Is it just about speed ? So now in # 50 Wally is the fastest man alive , he wins the race , you see he wins the race in # 49 . In # 50 Barry tells him , ' you ’re the fastest man alive , I ’m not the fast man alive anymore . ' But one of the things that Barry does in # 50 is he motivates and urge on Wally to run for faster . Which is very much their relationship , and very much who Barry is . Barry is the character that inspires people to be hero . He exalt citizenry to do better , and that allows Wally to do well .
I make out a raft of people have always been say , ' well Wally is the fastest , he ’s the debauched , he should be The Flash because of that . ' And my solvent back is like … really ? That ’s it ? It just take the speed part , like that ’s all it hold ? I think that ’s the thing that Barry is going to be exit through too . Barry is thinking , ' do I deserve to be The Flash ? Do I deserve these thing ? ' He has to figure out , on top of ' how do I become the fastest man alive anymore , ' but ' how do I become the dear flashgun I can be ? ' And that ’s what the story is going to be like with Barry move onward .
But then it gets interesting . You go back and count at Wally from the whole first hundred issues of his test , it ’s all about him essay to be as full as Barry . And him say , ' I ’ll never be as fast as Barry , I want to be as fast as Barry . ' And I ’ve kind of flipped that function now , where Barry is the one saying ' I ’m never going to be as fast as Wally , I involve to be as tight as Wally . ' Part of my goal was to twist that relationship around with FLASH WAR . But I hope that Wally fans are glad with this whole account book , I experience like I seek to paint him in a light that is heroic , and would be willing to take risks . Which is something Hunter has always say about hoagie : you should be able to take risks . '
I hope lover of both quality are well-chosen with the stuff we ’ve been doing … and see this is all us moving these character forward , which is always a big part of The Flash . Trying to move these part forward .
The Flash#50is available now fromDC Comics .
