InsaneJournal

It's harder to pin Piper down to one defining moment because there are just so many of them - how do you choose? Is it the time he kicked Mirror Master's teeth in while lecturing him on the evils of "the customer is always right"? Is it the time he took down the whole lot of the Rogues single-handedly? Is it the time he stopped a runaway locomotive with a tune? Is it his coming out, long lauded as one of the best handled examples of the subject?

After Barry Allen died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Wally West stepped in as the Flash, William Messner-Loebs took him on a coming of age journey. At this time, he took the Pied Piper and turned him from a rather stock villain into a modern-day Robin Hood. He also became Wally's 'big brother', the sort of older brother who understands when you get into trouble. He didn't lecture Wally, but instead put him into scenarios that confronted Wally with his lessons -- gay people aren't out to harm you, homelessness doesn't go away when the media gets bored with it, and super-heroes can leave a lot of damage in their wake. In this gentle but elaborate way, he taught Wally that the world just isn't as black-and-white as his uncle Flash would have had him believe.

I once read an article that described the Pied Piper as "a super-villain as lame as his name" and that sort of hurt, because if the author knew nothing more about Piper than that he was gay, he should have done a little research into the sorts of things Piper does. And if the author did know, well he just pooh-poohed the work of all the unsung heroes who do the sorts of things that Piper does.

So what does Piper do? Piper works with the homeless, sheltering them in the Turtle's old underground lair, 'stealing' excess food from local restaurants (health regulations and managerial tight-fistedness prevent them from donating it, but it's okay if a Rogue and his gang of thugs *cough*Wally*cough* steals it) and teaching small-time metahumans how to control and use their meagre powers. ("This is Warmth. He can raise his body temperature 30 degrees at will! ....Not much good for foiling bank robberies.")

In this issue of The Flash v2, #58, Wally and Doyle Christie, sister of the late Icicle, are fighting over the inheritance that the Icicle left to the Flash, to be used to set up a charitable foundation. Doyle's lawyers argue that charity diminishes people and that the poor and homeless are just lazy; Wally wants to skim off the proceeds for himself. Piper 'kidnaps' both of them and 'forces' them to be his thugs as he makes his rounds. The whole issue is one perfect moment of Piper. Lame? Well... I think he's awesome.