InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Are you coming or staying?"

batcookies (batcookies) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-05-07 01:14:00

Entry tags:

char: flash/barry allen, char: wonder woman/diana of themyscira, creator: geoff johns, publisher: dc comics, title: flash rebirth

One panel from Flash Rebirth 2, a bit of an interview, and a little discussion about the issue
There were a couple of things I wanted to talk about from Flash Rebirth 2.

And yes, some of it has to do with how Johns writes Wonder Woman.

There were a couple of things that drove me nuts in the latest issue of Flash Rebirth.

The first was Johns' take on the bow tie.

It's not that Barry is naturally the sort of dweeb that really goes for bowties.

Barry's bowties are clipons. Barry doesn't really do ties. He's an open collar, leather jacket kinda guy. The clipon bow tie is just a quick way to "dress up" when he needs to make a court date or something. First one is actually left over from a policeman's ball, and is given to Barry by a coworker when he's running late for a court appearance and isn't dressed suitably.

Gone is Carmine Infantino's Barry Allen that showed up for his first day wearing a bow tie like it was the most natural thing in the world.

And then there's his parents.

Barry's mother is murdered, Barry's dad is framed. And in the latest issue we learn Barry's father died in prison. Barry's motivation to become a forensic scientist is a desire to prove his father's innocence. No, it's not just that he loved science or anything simple like that.

Okay, now comes the bit where people say "maybe he's going to undo those Flash flashbacks". Maybe it's a red herring. Maybe all these changes to the character are meant to strike us as wrong, and he's going to put things back to normal. Maybe. But he sounds to me like he's serious.
____
IGN Comics: Knowing so many fans will be unfamiliar with Barry, how are you planning on introducing him to a whole new generation?

Johns: Well the whole idea is to introduce Barry Allen to everybody, period. I think even people who know Barry Allen will find things in issue #1 that they've never seen before. We've never really visited Barry Allen's past before he got hit by the bolt of lightning. And so some of what Rebirth is going to do is delve back into the past and reveal some things about it that previously weren't there.

IGN Comics: You're speaking specifically of the whole tragedy involving his father and mother?

Johns: Yes.

IGN Comics: That's interesting, because as far as I know, the character never really had any tragedy in his life up until the big Professor Zoom story right before Crisis. Why did you think it was important to bring some tragedy into his back-story?

Johns: What we'll find out is we'll see what drove him to adopt such a strong sense of justice. I really want to explore what drove Barry Allen to adopt his uncanny sense of wrong and right. You're not just born with that. Barry Allen strove for that and was somewhat obsessed with it. Also, it's about why he got into forensics. What led him to that area of work? Why not become a cop or a prosecutor? Why forensics? That's something I really wanted to explore – what drove Barry Allen to this life that he chose? What made him Barry Allen before he was hit by the bolt of lightning?
____

Make your own call, but I'm definitely leaning toward thinking Johns is going the Hunter Zolomon "heroes need tragedy" route.

And then there's how Barry gets back his secret identity.
The cover story is that he's back from being in Witness Protection.
Who set that up? Oracle? Mr. Terrific of Checkmate?
Nah, they turned to the person you should always turn to for anything having to do with the US Government. The person with the well established secret identity working for the government, who is clearly in a position to do this sort of thing, and quite skilled at constructing complicated and detailed lies that will stand up under the scrutiny that would reasonably be expected.

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kd_the_movie
2009-05-07 04:49 am UTC (link)

I'm going to say it like this:

Flash: Rebirth as in the story of Barry coming back so far=Interesting. I hate the fact that Barry's back and even tho the "OH NOESSS IM THE BLACK FLASH!!!" is a bit parallax-ish, it's a twist i didn't expect.

BUT...the retconing of Barry Allen=pretty fucking stupid. Here's the thing: I didn't want Barry back. Wally was just fine. Wally inherited everything that was Barry's and stepped into (and excelled at,) the role just fine.

But that doesn't mean i didn't like Barry. Barry (thanks to Mark Waid) always appealed to me because in a room with: a fearless, arrogant daredevil with a death wish, an obnoxious, loudmouth liberal archer, an eternally pissed off alien-cop-reincarnated-pharaoh-person, a martian, and etc. he was the only mostly normal person who just got lucky with getting super powers.

He had no motivation besides, "well cool i've got powers and I believe in justice, lets go be a superhero" and that worked just fine, particularly because it's why mostly everyone would use their powers for good.

And the bowtie thing.....I mean shit are we going to explain that Ollie only like chili because it was the one thing he had never eaten before he got stranded on that island? Let characters have their quirks for gods sake.

And the Wonder woman thing? Well they do have a status quo to push, like it or not.

(Reply to this)

balbaroy
2009-05-07 05:27 am UTC (link)

I think the bowtie thing makes sense, actually. The context of the bowtie has changed since the 60's - these days, it signifies either that you are the late Sen. Paul Simon or a serial killer. It's the sort of stylistic touch that would come off more as hipster affectation or an alien's failed attempt at assimilation into human society than the sign of a Joe Schmoe forensic scientist comic nerd. And for a lot of white male geeks of Barry's in-universe era, the leather jacket is kinda analogous to the bowtie: anachronistic, but unconsciously so.

I agree wholeheartedly on the dead parents angle. It just feels really stale, in general and within Geoff Johns' body of work.

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icon_uk
2009-05-07 05:45 am UTC (link)

As noted in CSI, for someone who works in a lab who doesn't want an open collar, a bow tie IS the most logical thing to wear as it doesn't dangle into experiments so doesn't get caught, stained of dissolved.

And yes, bollocks to that "I really want to explore what drove Barry Allen to adopt his uncanny sense of wrong and right. You're not just born with that. Barry Allen strove for that and was somewhat obsessed with it."

Well, A) Yes you can be, B) Most people get it from their parents, which Barry did, up until this mess-up and C) This IS the Barry Allen who was shown to have sanctioned magical brain surgery and mindwiping heroes who didn't agree with him, isn't it?

We've never really visited Barry Allen's past before he got hit by the bolt of lightning.

Aside from, y'know, the times we BLOODY MET HIS PARENTS!!

I didn't really want Barry back, I REALLY, REALLY, don't want THIS Barry back.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

daningram
2009-05-07 08:24 am UTC (link)

In all fairness, the difference between real life and fiction is that fiction has a point. So alot of times, motivation needs to be emotional, logical and connected to what they're doing now when it comes to fictional characters.

But that said, it doesn't need to be that way with all characters. I personally loved it when Flash told Zoom that he didn't need tragedy to make him a better hero. People who do the right thing because it is the right are rare yes, but they exist in real life and fiction.

Honestly, I think it woulda been cooler if Barry was like that. Like Tim Drake, Justice or Nemesis (Tressor when well written). But honestly, I don't think Johns likes those kinds of characters. Tim's sense of justice was acknowledged by Johns, but never used and he pushed for Tom to be killed because he had his own Nemesis he wanted to use and didn't 'get' the current one (though I may be misremembering an interview there).

But I guess Zoom was right, huh? Sigh...

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	greenmask 2009-05-07 06:25 am UTC (link)
	Nyaaauuuuurghh OF COURSE YOU CAN BE BORN WITH A STRONG SENSE OF JUSTICE! OR EVEN, GEE WHIZ, BUILD ONE UP IN THE PROCESS OF BECOMING AN ADULT HUMAN! Those Power Girl panels are great, though. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	arilou_skiff 2009-05-07 06:56 am UTC (link)
	... I'd seriously object to the idea that you are born with a strong sense of justice. Certainly the few feral children we have examples of don't have it. A sense of justice seems to be something that we (including apes) develop in a social context. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	greenmask 2009-05-07 07:59 am UTC (link)
	Well, I did say can. And haven't feral children usually been treated incredibly badly so as to cause possible suppression of any such thing? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	majingojira 2009-05-07 08:54 am UTC (link)
	That greatly oversimplifies things. The current literature on teh subject of Nature vs. Nurture is that Nature is predominant, but Nurture brings things out. A good analogy is with dogs. Beat one breed of dog and it will cower in fear around humans to avoid bneing hit. Beat another bread of dog and it will attack humans to defend itself to prevent being hit. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	majingojira 2009-05-07 08:57 am UTC (link)
	Option B was probbaly some form or Rape, and since Rape is played more for comedy against men, it wouldn't fly. God, I feel dirty just for saying it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-05-07 10:43 am UTC (link)
	... Johns apparently missed the "Diana no longer has government connections, they all got blown up" memo, then? Though honestly, at least he's giving her some respect as a powerful and useful asset to the League and an ally to the Flashes, which is a step up from the last time he had her interact with a speedster. (Reply to this) (Thread)