"Wally?"
"I don't know." Wally reached out and touched the air. It didn't crackle around him like it usually did...like the energy he'd felt since he'd been so much younger and carefree. It felt...different. Like it did and yet did not exist. Also cold. So very, very cold.
Standing next to him, his wife, daughter, and son paled. They all knew that Wally was a mainline for the speed force. If he didn't have an inkling where they were...well, that was downright scary. This was worse than t hat time when he'd been fighting Superboy Prime.
Then, the speed force had been warm.
"We're stuck then?" Linda swallowed her fear even though it felt like she was suffocating in thick molasses. She had to be brave..for the sake of her kids and for her own sanity...she was not going to freak. "Surely there's a way out?"
Wally offered her a wan smile, clearly also not wanting to alarm his family. "I'm sure Barry or Jay will come looking for us soon. I mean...they've got to start wondering where we are. It will be okay."
Linda looked down to where her feet met...nothingness. Wally tried not to do the same. For all they knew, Jay and Barry were also trapped in this...limbo of non-existence. He quickly added. "Plus, there's the Justice League. I mean someone's going to notice, right?" They had to notice! It wasn't like he was a nobody. Sure, he wasn't like Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman, but he was nearly as famous.
He'd saved the Earth, for God's sake. Saved it loads of times.
"Right." Linda hugged him closer. She felt a chill and hoped it was only because of the temperature around them. Yet...Wally was usually so warm and...she still felt cold. Why was Wally not radiating heat? Was she warm? Were the kids? Were they...alive? She bite her lip. "Right. Not like you're forgettable, Twenty years a Flash, a member of the League, annoying the hell out of Kyle, Jay, Max, and Batman, saving Barry Allen, saving the world more times than I can count."
The air got colder.
The universe got colder.
"Linda?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, Wally."
It was so cold.
a/u: As of next week, anything you see of Wally West in a new DC book is based on memories. Wally is banned from the new Flash comic book. Likely all new Flash cartoon appearances as well as the toys will be of Barry Allen. Didio (bigwig in DC) prefers Barry to Wally and is afraid others-especially new readers-might find they like Wally better as the Flash than Barry so Wally is being swept away. If you want to see Wally as the Flash, you will have to get books published no later than Flash: Rebirth (not recommended) or the two DC Retroactive Flash books coming next mid and late August. After that...looks to be just Kid Flash and not even the Kid Flash in the new DCnU book...Just the cartoon based Young Justice and the pre-adolescent book Tiny Titans.
DC doesn't care that you like adult Wally West. They are offering you the August books and that is it. Grow to love their personal fave Barry Allen or go without. So says DC.
Ain't that big of 'em?
Reviewer responses: (and a lot of ranting)
No, TI, they can't. Any showing of Wally being awesome as a Flash (as stated by Geoff Johns back during 2009) would only show *possibly* divert new fans from a love of Barry. Didio can't take that chance...so Wally's Flash is *poof!* never existed. I hope you bought the trades and the JL animated dvd set because that's it. Personally, I'm not touching the GJ Omnibus Flash books with a ten-foot pole. Stories from Waid and Messner-Loeb or even Baron? Heck yeah! Johns? As much as I loved Crosswinds-Ignition I'm trying to get the bad taste out of my mouth that I now associate with that writer's name. Of course my ire for Johns pales in front of that for Kollins and I utterly loathe Dan Didio.
Mayhem: as long as Didio rules we might as well save our breath. Best we can do is buy Flash stuff that featured Wally and leave off buying things with Barry unless they hit deep discount second-hand store bins. I hate to do that as I have nothing against Manapul or the character, but $$$$ may be the only thing Didio understands (although even a profit might not get it through his thick headed fanboy skull if the IGN poll didn't do it. I mean, if he truly was interested in DC's new Flash book being a success...well, Wally as #4 favorite all-time character versus Barry Allen at...what was it again?...#47 or #49? The fact that more young viewers 18-34 are likely to remember JL's Wally than Batman Brave & the Bold's single episode of Barry? Yeah, I don't think Didio is interested in business reality. Unless he's counting on the upcoming Flash movie to be a major success and push Barry's name to superstar status.
AS: Yeah, I understand. For me its a principle thing. Giving them more money amounts to okaying their decisions. Didio is not evil, but I really loathe his actions and am not going to support them in any fashion whatsoever. Barry is an okay character. Manupal is a great artist. So is Kollins. But...yes, for me it is definitely the principle of the thing.
LRtD: It took me three years of believing the promises and then these ComicCon announcements to truly believe that the Wally we knew is gone so I can understand the disbelieve of anyone who is just now learning of this. Thanks. I wrote it kind of fast...it was more to help me calm down as I'd already exploded at another forum and got called on it.
Anyone know John Fox? He was supposed to show up post Flash: Rebirth. This just in: Geoff Johns admitted talking the Kid Flash Lost writer out of using Fox for Hot Pursuit. My Fan Rage Cup boileth over again.
Soraskybeauty, it's DC's decision as it's their property. All we can do is not grumble and not buy into the new decrees. Does this truly suck? Hell yeah! They'd promised us a Speed Force book featuring the other speedsters including Wally while Barry had the main book. Now Jay is 'resting' with the rest of the JSA, Bart will probably be unrecognizable, and Wally is gone or will suffer the same fate as Bart...scewed totally out of character.
Aggie D: Hopefully, but I'm more of a pragmatist. The truth is that without new canon stories Wally stories will get less and less. They haven't played JL for a long time now and any new cartoons will feature Barry as the Flash with any Wally being Kid Flash (and I wonder how long before they get rid of him in YJ?) I've noted this on too many fandoms. Without new material, fans get pulled to other shows and forget. It's natural...sad, but natural and Didio is counting on that very thing.
Crazy Chick, you got it right. They've been letting slip that characters who were to be resting are coming back. Only most of the JSA, Donna Troi, and Wally have yet to be given any hope and that mostly goes for the last too. Donna is too much like Diana, they say and Wally takes away from Barry's 'uniqueness'. Totally grinds as more 'young' fans remember Donnna and Wally than the Silver Ager's and supposedly DC is courting younger viewers? Right. Afraid it far more likely that they'd axe Wally and bring in Bart than axe St. Barry the Golden Calf. DC isn't the only one against married couples and kids. Marvel's Spidey is no longer married...are the Fantastic Four Reed's still hitched? I'm told they are going after shippers because shippers are more fanatical and will spend more and stay longer. Oh yeah...until the main character playboy starts dating someone else and wooooboy! The angry fans will come afresh. What a smart strategy, DC.
Medicus and all: I'm growing less and less hopeful. Add to that, seeing a review of Flashpoint: Legion of Doom along with what I already learned of Citizen Cold...it's like now that they can do whatever they want...because it's all gone September anyway...the sheer brutality of villains killing heroes...is this what the writers and artists really like? It's 180-degrees from what I like. Granted, I like a some angst and some sad stuff now and then...I like a lot of genres...but graphic, gleeful violence against another...especially where the villain wins with no justice being done...it sickens me. I'm actually sickened by what scans I've been seeing and it makes me wonder:
Were mom and dad right about comics? They were always more perceptive than I. Maybe this stuff (beyond the fun and kid ones) actually is harmful to the soul.
Case in point...once I calmed down about Wally and started to truly accept that I may not be going any further into comics...part of me was happy about it. I was deliriously happy when I first saw DCAU: JL and most of the animated shows, Tiny Titans is really cute and light...but these 'teen' books...some are good and some just make me...want to go watch puppies play or something. See something wholesome. Like washing off diseased material.
So I have to wonder...were mom and dad right?
I honestly don't want to write anything even remotely dark right now and haven't for some while and I think the spectre of Wally's death (now reality) has been the reason. Comics just aren't so fun anymore.