The Flash #62 (May 1992)

The Flash has had a long and wild history ever since the original, Jason Peter "Jay" Garrick, debuted all the way back in 1940. And like many other superheroes, others have worn the lightning-bolt symbol over the decades of the character's existence. And one of the most prominent holders of the Flash mantle was a Mr. Wallace "Wally" West.

With the death of Barry Allen in Crisis on Infinite Earths, it seemed to make sense that Wally would inherit the mantle. After all, Wally was Barry's nephew by marriage, and he had a long career as Kid Flash both in the real world and in-universe, even being the founding member of two incarnations of the Teen Titans: The original 1960s incarnation, and the more famous Wolfman/Perez 1980s team.

Thing was...that was not the original plan. Turns out the original plan was to introduce a new character as the new Flash. This new character would be named Mackenzie Ryan, a single father with a young daughter named Jamie. Also, unlike his predecessors Jay Garrick and Barry Allen, Mackenzie would not be a speedster. Instead, he would have the power to manipulate various forms of energy, light, sound, that kind of thing. Mac and Jamie would be on the receiving end (and unseen) of a phone call in New Teen Titans #19 (April 1986). Ultimately though, as history shows, this never happened and Wally took up the mantle.

With a new Flash also came a new comic for the Scarlet Speedster, launching in 1987. This new series was launched by writer Mark Baron and artist Jackson "Butch" Guice. This series would have Wally be public with his identity and reside in New York City. Issue #15 would see writer William Messner-Loebs and artist Greg LaRocque take over the book. This run would be notable not only for introducing Linda Park, Wally's girlfriend and eventual wife, but also reintroducing the Pied Piper. The Piper was an old foe of Barry Allen's but became an ally to Wally. It was also established here that he was one of DC's first confirmed gay characters. The title won the first GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book in 1992. Loebs' final issue on the book was issue #61 (April 1992). Taking over for him would be Mark Waid.

Waid had been involved with DC Comics for several years at this point. His first story was published in Action Comics #572 (October 1985), an eight-page Superman story called "The Puzzle of the Purloined Fortress". He mainly worked as an editor around this time, overseeing various titles. 1989 would see him step down to be a freelance writer, although he still continued to work for DC, mainly in their short-lived Impact Comics line. However, it will be his coming on board The Flash as the new writer that would make him a big name in the industry. His run not only introduced the Speed Force, but his run would also emphasize the Flash's history and legacy. Waid's actual first Flash tale was Flash Special #1 (1990), a one-shot tale that was put out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Flash's debut, the tale being an overarching story involving the Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West Flashes. This story also introduced a new far-future Flash: John Fox. 

The comic we're looking at here is Waid's first issue as the then-new writer of the Flash's own ongoing comic book. Is it a strong start, or is it an early stumble? Let's look at Flash #62!

The cover is a Greg LaRocque and Jose Marzan Jr piece. It's pretty good. It shows a very young Wally West seemingly being blasted by lightning, this event taking the young boy towards his destiny as one of the World's Greatest Super-Heroes.

"Flash: Year One - Born to Run!, Chapter 1: Thunder Struck"
Writer: Mark Waid
Penciler: Greg LaRocque
Inker: Jose Marzan Jr.
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Letterer: Tim Harkins
Editor: Brian Augustyn
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

The story begins with Wally West, aka the third Flash, in the Central City Airport. He was waiting for someone when, in superhero comic tradition, he finds himself having to deal with something. Not a supervillain, just some mundane terrorists. They had committed some local bombings. The police managed to catch them, but there was still one bomb left. Turns out, the bomb was supposed to go off at midnight. And of the braintrust terrorists set it to go off at noon accidentally. The time now is 11:55 AM. 

Despite this, they refuse to tell where it is. Wally is fast, so he's able to quickly search the airport and can't seem to find the bomb, until he gets a brainwave.

It's an airport. Why work to hide something there? You could put it in a regular bag, "lose it", and then the airport staff unknowingly hides it for you. Wally looks through the lost-and-found area and finds his explosive quarry.

"This candy bar disguise is terrible!"

Wally realizes he has less than a second left before it blows. Zooming through the airport at Mach 3, he can see the bomb starting to go off. To Wally right now, a microsecond might as well be an hour. It gets him thinking about a game he used to play as a kid every Fourth of July. He would light a firecracker and hold on to it as long as he could before he threw it. He managed to get pretty good at it, and his dad gave him a whupping for it. Wally always thought his father Rudolph was overreacting, but this whole thing makes him think he may have had a point. Wally's lucky he still has all his fingers.

With the airport saved, Wally then meets up with the person he was waiting for: his grandfather Professor Ira West. A Nobel Prize-winning scientist, West has a brilliant mind, but can be rather addled by simple thing like where he put his glasses...while he's wearing them. Wally feels bad about him coming, as even though he's a super-speedster and Ira lives only twelve miles away, Wally never visits. But then again, family is a bit of an issue for Wally. 

Wally's face says it all about his family.

Ira had three children, two daughters and a son: Charlotte, Rudolph, and Iris. Charlotte is arguably the least famous of the West siblings, first appearing in DC Special Series #11 (May 1978). She was the eldest and always talked down to Wally. Rudy was next, and he and Ira were never close. But then, Rudolph never seemed close to anyone. And finally, there was Iris. She was adopted by the Wests, her biological parents coming from the future. Yeah, that was a whole thing.

Unlike Charlotte and his father, Wally has nothing but fond memories of Iris. She was like a second mother to him, but she passed away three years earlier. Yeah, she was seemingly murdered by Professor Zoom in Flash #275 (July 1979), but then her life-force was brought back to the future and she was resurrected. Yeah, that was whole thing. Presumably, Wally is unaware she actually is alive in the future.

Since then, Wally hasn't seen much of Ira. When he gets to Ira's home, he looks through some of old Iris's effects. Mainly, her scrapbooks. Iris kept many scrapbooks of Barry Allen's time as the Flash. Wally wonders if she did the same for him, but he shakes it off. He wasn't Barry Allen. Barry was King Arthur, he was the court jester. But then, he finds another scrapbook. This one yellow with a red lightning bolt on it.

Wally should not have been surprised she kept a scrapbook about him.

Yeah. She was just as proud of Wally during his time as Kid Flash. It gets Wally thinking back to one particular summer: the summer he was ten years old. It was during that summer that he got spend time at Central City with Iris. The young Wally thought that Central was the coolest place in the world. Cooler than Disneyland, cooler than the Moon. Why? Because it was the home of the Flash. In particular, the Barry Allen incarnation. He went there by bus. It was a long ride, but Wally endured it. When he arrives at Central, Iris offers to take him to the Flash Museum. However, as it is in superhero comics, we get some action. In particular, the Flash dealing with some armed jewel robbers.

"This is better than the movies!"

It seems to go well...until Barry falls thanks to some of the thieves' ill-gotten gains spilling on the ground.

Wally is left wondering what to do, until he sees a handyman with a large wrench. And he gets, well...a bolt of inspiration.

One of the robbers has the Flash dead to rights and is about to provide a bullet to the speedster's brain...until a geyser of water hits him in the face.

"Aw, man! Why couldn't it have been a beer wave?!"

Wally decided to take a cue from AC/DC and let the robber have a drink on him. You see, growing up in the hot summers of Midwestern America had taught Wally an important lesson: Fire hydrants are a great way to cool off and can pack a watery punch. It didn't KO the thieves, but it did buy the Flash several valuable seconds to recover. And when you're the Fastest Man Alive, a few seconds are plenty to work with. The Scarlet Speedster easily takes down the robbers, leaving them nice and KO'd for the cops.

Before he leaves, he thanks Wally and says the kid's his hero today. So yeah, Wally's day just got a lot cooler. Iris returns (having called the story in), and then introduces her to her fiance, forensic scientist Barry Allen. In comparison to the Flash, Wally finds Barry Allen a rather dull man. Barry and Wally heads to his apartment, as Iris has to work. It's here that the forensic expert reveals something to Wally: He and the Flash...

...are friends.

Actually, this makes a bit of sense. Barry just met Wally, and he likely feels he doesn't know the kid well enough that he can be trusted with the knowledge of his secret identity. Keep in mind, it also can be implied at this point, Iris is unaware Barry is the Flash, so...yeah. To prove to young Wally he's not making this up, Barry uses a little bit of his speed and a bit of trickery.

"Yes. I am awesome!"

Wally is in awe. Barry Allen, the rather dull CSI is friends with the Flash? Yup! Heck, Barry even has his own lab that he lets the Flash use if he needs to crack a case. He thanks Wally again for saving his life earlier and asks how he can return the favor. And Wally's basically like:

Well, more in the manner of utter amazement than confusion like Spidey here. The Flash doesn't tell Wally who he is under his mask, but he is happy to tell Wally how he got his speed powers. Basically, Barry was working in a lab during a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning hit him and a wall full of chemicals. Now, normally, this would result in a man getting royally toasted. But instead, Barry got powers. Wally thinks that's the coolest thing ever and wishes something like that happened to him. And wouldn't you know it? There's a thunderstorm brewing over Central City...and Wally is standing next to a wall of chemicals and a window. Certainly something like that couldn't happen again? Barry doesn't think so. After all, lightning never strikes the same place twice, as the old adage says. As if the lightning bolt wanted to prove Barry wrong, said bolt strikes the shelf of chemicals, dumping their electrified contents all over Wally. And that's how the story ends. Be careful what you wish for, folks. You just may get it.

I thought this was an enjoyable issue. This issue is clearly meant to be a jumping-on point, familiarizing readers with the character of Wally West, who he is, and how he first gained his powers. We get the idea that even though Wally comes from a dysfunctional family, he still highly values it. They are important to him, even if it seems like he wasn't important to most of them. We see how much he especially valued Iris and Barry Allen. Not to mention there was a good chuckle had about Ira's absent-mindedness. I can't help but wonder that if this was written today, Ira would be seen as suffering some form of dementia. The beginning is also rather exciting, showing Wally's brains and experience.

Greg LaRocque's art is really good. It's very clean and detailed. The characters are expressive, and there's some strong storytelling. I also love how he, Marzan Jr, and Whitmore render Wally's suit. To me, it makes Wally's Flash suit look like it's meant to be shiny, helping differentiate his suit from his uncle Barry's. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2016 trade paperback The Flash by Mark Waid, Book One. Thaks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!