Monday, July 27, 2009

Bart Allen is back. More back than he was before!

Comic Book Resources did an interview with Geoff Johns here that's mostly about his work on various Flash-related things, and a little bit about Blackest Night. But only as it's related to Flash-related things.

During the interview, which I've got mixed feelings about (more on that later), he mentioned that Sterling Gates is going to be writing a new Kid Flash ongoing. Yay, Bart! Boo, Kid Flash, but yay, Bart!

I love Bart. I think I've been pretty clear about my love for Bart before. He's definitely my favorite Speedster by far, and as one of the six people that actually liked him as the Flash, I was pretty sad to see him die. But he's back! And after Flash: Rebirth he's getting his own ongoing.

Of course, he's stuck with being Kid Flash. Meh. That's just never anything I'd imagine Bart would settle for. But I've written about that before. I'm looking forward to seeing him grow up some at the hands of Gates, who's done a great job on Supergirl.

Johns also mentioned in the interview that Blackest Night takes place after Rebirth, which means Barry is... fine. Well okay then, so much for that cliffhanger. And since we're seeing a new Speedster by the end of it, one who may not actually be new, and Barry sticks around as the Flash, I'm guessing Wally takes a new name, gets a new uniform, and on we go from there. I'd actually rather have that happen than have some brand new speedster introed (or have someone like Owen Mercer become prominent or whatever), because with Barry back we've got plenty.

Meh, Barry's back. Whatever.

Anyway, things I'd like to see from the Kid Flash ongoing, in case anyone that has any say in these things stumbles across my blog, decides I have decent ideas, and feels like listening:

Bart grows up. Not in a complete, lose -his-Bartness sort of way. But let him adapt and change and move beyond just being the guy who used to be Impulse that's now stuck being Kid Flash even though he's not a kid... but he is again. Ahem. Tim's doing this over in Red Robin, and hopefully Kon will do this in Adventure Comics. I want Bart to move forward, not just stay the same old Bart.

Bart deals with his death. Not just "hey, cool, I'm alive!" but in a legit way. He was brutally beaten to death. I don't care if they brought him back with no memories of the incident. That can be retconned.

Bring back Arrowette! Hey, Mia's over in England doing nothing in particular (or so I like to pretend). And Arrowette was first introduced in Impulse back in the day. Last we heard she was going to school with Cassie, who's still out heroing. And while it's nice to see a hero walk away, she's one I want back. She's a good foil for Bart (Don't believe me? Check out canon to the left!). And I think this could relate well to the first two requests: she's had to deal with both Kon and Bart's deaths, and we haven't really seen any of that. We focus on Cassie, but not Cissie, because Cassie is Wonder Girl and Cissie is just a retired hero. So that could be cool. Also it is my personal fanon that they would be a great couple. But that's really just a side-issue, I swear. (No, really, canon. I don't want this to turn into a Bart/Cissie post, but I'm just sayin'.)

So my favorite Speedster is back in his own title, written by a writer I already know I like, and I'm excited. I'm also excited that the entire Flash family is getting more attention (even though, again, I'm meh about Barry). I'm excited that they're all going to be involved in the upcoming Flash title, even Bart.

Some more positivity! Not bad for a Monday.


5 comments:

  1. Yay, another of the six Bart Flash fans, I knew I'd run into one eventually. I'd like to see him not just thinking about his own death but also the life he had, I really liked the police academy angle they were starting on.

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  2. *hands up as another Bart as Flash fan*
    Would he deal with his death ok though? he got really freaked out in the Impulse run when one of his duplicates died. Mind, i can't remember how that got resolved so maybe this is a pointless point?

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  3. @James - Yay! Bart-as-Flash fans unite! I liked the police academy thing, too. I just want to see Bart grow up without losing too much of what makes him different from Barry and Wally.

    @Saranga - That's a good point, but that could be deal with, too. I know he stopped using the Speed Force Avatars after that duplicate died. But that could even be related to his death and help him deal with it, or something. He's grown up a lot since that happened, so he could potentially handle it much better. And even if he's NOT okay (though he's been fine in the appearances he's made in other titles), that's okay, too... it's not really something you SHOULD be okay with right away.

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  4. *hands up as another Bart as Flash fan*
    Would he deal with his death ok though? he got really freaked out in the Impulse run when one of his duplicates died. Mind, i can't remember how that got resolved so maybe this is a pointless point?

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  5. @James - Yay! Bart-as-Flash fans unite! I liked the police academy thing, too. I just want to see Bart grow up without losing too much of what makes him different from Barry and Wally.

    @Saranga - That's a good point, but that could be deal with, too. I know he stopped using the Speed Force Avatars after that duplicate died. But that could even be related to his death and help him deal with it, or something. He's grown up a lot since that happened, so he could potentially handle it much better. And even if he's NOT okay (though he's been fine in the appearances he's made in other titles), that's okay, too... it's not really something you SHOULD be okay with right away.

    ReplyDelete