Why doesn’t it matter that Wally West is now black?

February 3, 2015February 22, 201537 Comments

So, normally on this blog I respond to question posed directly to me or posted around the web. Today’s post is a little different as I’ll be covering, on a point-by-point basis, all the arguments for why changing Wally West’s ethnicity in the New 52. Also, why most of them are ridiculous at best and racist at worst.

I think it’s important to note: I’m not a DC apologist, nor am I, by pointing out why some arguments are wrong, saying that everything DC does is right. Twisting the argument to this, as people often seem to do, is ridiculous and it’s perfectly possible to admit that a company like DC has a long way to go and that people opposing them starting to make those changes are wrong.

Furthermore, Wally West is my Flash. Yes, I’m a Golden Age nerd and love Jay Garrick, along with Barry Allen, Bart Allen and all the rest in the Flash Family Tree. However, I was born in the same year Crisis on Infinite Earths hit the stands and Wally will always be the true scarlet speedster – so this is not coming from a place of someone who doesn’t care, deeply, about the character.

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Climbing through the Flash Family Tree

January 21, 2015February 22, 20155 Comments

On January 21st, 2015, /u/Cyber85 asked the following on /r/DCcomics:

Can you also explain the flash family tree because there are so many flashes and I get confused on which is which.

The Flash family and then some!

OK, so this is a bit of a big one so we’re going to break it down into stages to make it more manageable. We’ll be covering three main areas:

The New 52 Flash Family Tree(s) – simply, by Flash standards
The pre-New 52 Flash Family Tree – this is where it gets complicated
Even more members of the Flash Family – yep, it just keeps going…

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What’s with speedsters, like the Flash, creating energy constructs like Green Lantern does?

December 8, 2014February 22, 20152 Comments

On December 8th, 2014, /u/Hippieslayer555 asked the following on /r/DCcomics:

So, I read up on Flash on the DC Comics wiki, and it is stated that Speedsters have an ability called Energy Construct Creation that allows them to create objects like Green Lantern can, not exactly the same but the principle is still the same.

I’ve got to ask, I’ve read all of the New 52 series and Rebirth and I’ve never seen this ability demonstrated, do speedsters actually have this ability and how often do they use it?