The Official Flash thread

[LouFerignoDemon]

Nifty.

Was there an explanation for why Professor Zoom is using that silly-looking lightning staff thingy? Does it do anything or is it just a handy tool for slicing people up?

I didn't get a good look at it, but was it like the one used by the Legion of Three Worlds deal?

 

[Kevin Smith]

You mean beside the fact that everyone's been riffing off of Hal and Barry's gimmicks since they started?

You mean how Alan and Jay would pretty much be novelty characters had Hal and Barry not been created? They were pretty much collecting dust by 1955

Hal and Barry are "The one true" whatever you call it for the same reason why Bruce and Clark are "The one true" anything: There would probably be no franchise today had they not been created. People are just too bitter over the fact that Kyle and Wally arent the main players anymore to acknowledge it

 

[Kevin Smith]

I didn't get a good look at it, but was it like the one used by the Legion of Three Worlds deal?

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Barry's mom's death. We'll probably see the explanation for it in the next issue or two. But I think Thawne killing Barry's mom would be interesting, it would make sense as to why he could never identify the killer because the weapon he used wasn't from around here.

 

[Kevin Smith]

Well, it goes with Barry being connected to the Speed Force. Wally himself started turning into an energy being the more he interacted with the Speed Force during that time.

That's also true. But I really think that Barry being the speedforce makes sense and doesn't contradict any previous stories. I actually think it enhances them, and I don't think Barry being the speed force undercuts anything Wally has done or can do, I really don't. He still did them, and did them first it would seem. Just like Barry's return, IMO, doesn't undermine his death in Crisis, he still sacraficed himeslf, his return doesn't make him any less of a hero. That last bit isn't directed at you or anyone in particular, just me speaking my mind.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

You know, I still can't seem to get behind Barry being the SF itself. (Not Street Fighter. =D) It just seems like the Speed Force was made out to be this latent, behind the scenes universal force of such great energy and power, it would be all encompassing, as it's meant to affect everything it comes into contact with one way or another. Granting and taking away speed. I guess to me, it's almost like bottling up the universe inside a single person, and expecting them to still be comparable with other normal superhumans. I'm probably bloating the SF though.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I didn't think the Speed Force actually needed an explanation. It's the bit of the Source that deals with motion. Simple enough concept that's been implied in various comics since the SF was introduced.

But Johns loves to explain things, whether they need it or not.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I assume he'll use it to catapult into something else, the way he did with the recton in GL:Rebirth. It'll probably be good too, just like most of the GL stuff.

Still stupid

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Dude, I want him to go into great detail about Captain Atom's powers, and how they function.

Honestly. :l

 

[Tron Bonne]

I don't just want it, I demand it

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Isn't he still like a living conduit to the Quantum Field or something? Personally, I couldn't care less about Captain Atom at this point. He ain't living down that Monarch bulls*** anytime soon. I'll just reread Captain Atom: Armageddon if I ever miss him.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Oh, I don't care what his link is. I want an explanation how his powers work.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I just want to know if he actually created the Quantum Field or if the Quantum Field is actually one of many Quantum Fields that choose its host for the ultimate battle of Quantum Fields.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

It wasn't there till he became part of it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Heh, that'd make sense. Is that actually canon? I like that.

 

[Tron Bonne]

It wasn't there till he became part of it.

Oh, that's just what we think now, just how we thought that the Speed Force was a stand alone element at one time.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

As things apparently moved without the speed force before there WAS a speed force, particles held together before the scientific actuality was there. :P

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yep, just takes explanations (see:rectons), and Johns is the true master of explanations

 

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

You mean beside the fact that everyone's been riffing off of Hal and Barry's gimmicks since they started?

You mean how Alan and Jay would pretty much be novelty characters had Hal and Barry not been created? They were pretty much collecting dust by 1955

Hal and Barry are "The one true" whatever you call it for the same reason why Bruce and Clark are "The one true" anything: There would probably be no franchise today had they not been created. People are just too bitter over the fact that Kyle and Wally arent the main players anymore to acknowledge it

To being with...I'm no fan of Kyle, I didnt hate him but I really had no love for him either.I did like Wally thou.

Hal and Barry are NOT "The one true" whatever you call it for that very same reason.......because they were not the first to carry the name for that publisher or the the stories continuity.


And "novelty characters" or not both Alan and Jay are the original GL and Flash in both publication history as well as the books on going continuity.

 

[Tron Bonne]

You mean beside the fact that everyone's been riffing off of Hal and Barry's gimmicks since they started?

You mean how Alan and Jay would pretty much be novelty characters had Hal and Barry not been created? They were pretty much collecting dust by 1955

Hal and Barry are "The one true" whatever you call it for the same reason why Bruce and Clark are "The one true" anything: There would probably be no franchise today had they not been created. People are just too bitter over the fact that Kyle and Wally arent the main players anymore to acknowledge it

Yet both franchises probably wouldn't exist, at least not entirely as we know them, without Jay and Alan. So, how is that point valid for one generation of heroes, but not another?

 

[Anubis]

Don't bother, he never really makes any sense.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Chances are the franchises would've existed, but they'd have just had to keep the characters.


Rather, they decided to diversify in an interesting way. Honestly, there's no problem with that for me. There'll always be comparisons. In some ways yes, the first will always be THE version to aspire to, but in terms of characters where they start having like four or five of them, and they're not in that role for years, it stops being that way.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yet both franchises probably wouldn't exist, at least not entirely as we know them, without Jay and Alan. So, how is that point valid for one generation of heroes, but not another?

It's not. Hal and Barry certainly reinvigorated the franchises, but who's to say someone wouldn't have done the same with Alan or Jay down the line anyway? It took a few reinventions for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to continue being viable and popular as well; only difference is that they got to keep their original secret identities whereas the reinvented versions of GL and the Flash were played as new characters.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Chances are the franchises would've existed, but they'd have just had to keep the characters.


Rather, they decided to diversify in an interesting way. Honestly, there's no problem with that for me. There'll always be comparisons. In some ways yes, the first will always be THE version to aspire to, but in terms of characters where they start having like four or five of them, and they're not in that role for years, it stops being that way.

Well, I do think that these characters would have existed in some form, but with Alan and Jay, they were the originals. The names Flash and Green Lantern originated with them.

I mean they were out of the game by the time Hal and Barry were made, and the latter was a reinvention of those roles, but they still have a lot of roots in them. Plus, they were reinventions and you can't reinvent without something being invented and broken down first.

I agree with your latter point. I don't believe that there's a 'one true' when it comes to characters like Flash and Green Lantern. There is no 'iconic' character for those costumes. At least not in the broad sense, and that's really the only sense that counts.

 

[Tron Bonne]

It's not. Hal and Barry certainly reinvigorated the franchises, but who's to say someone wouldn't have done the same with Alan or Jay down the line anyway? It took a few reinventions for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to continue being viable and popular as well; only difference is that they got to keep their original secret identities whereas the reinvented versions of GL and the Flash were played as new characters.

Exactly my point. Thanks for flushing it out

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I've never really understood how Barry was a reinvention of the basic Flash formula, personally. I get Hal, obviously: he had the Corps and was a much more sci fi take on the "wishing ring" formula. But Jay was a scientist transformed by a freak accident into the fastest man alive and Barry was... a scientist transformed by a freak accident into the fastest man alive. Jay and Barry both ran around a city juggling their relationships, their jobs, and their superheroing. Barry always sort of seemed like Jay by another name when I learned about each of them. But I haven't read many Jay or Barry comics, so maybe I'm missing something.