The Flash #84-90
Originally released in 1993
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Barry Kitson (#84), Mike Wieringo (#85-88, 90), Rob Haynes (#86), Kris Renkewitz (#89)
Remember the Flash? He's back! In Pog form.
After the death of Barry Allen in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally West (the former Kid Flash) took up his mentor's mantle and became the Flash. I had started reading Mark Waid's run on the Flash, having just recently finished a story called "The Return of Barry Allen" where Wally has to overcome his feelings of inferiority towards Barry that are causing him to put a mental limit on his speed - he feels like he can't surpass Barry. Based on that alone, and his goofier nature as the Flash, I like Wally more than I liked Barry based on what I've read of Barry Allen's time as the Flash. Barry was more straight-laced and serious, which has its place, but Wally's goofier and more impulsive nature feels like a better fit for his powers.
Mark Waid's writing is great, though my problem with these issues is that the art isn't super consistent. (the artists that I've listed above are just the pencilers; that's not even getting into the colorists) Some issues have Wally being lean and toned, while others have him having this big bulky build with a square jaw. I get that it was the nineties, and that was the style at the time, but it doesn't really fit the Flash and it just looks odd.
The issues wound up forming a more connected story than I expected at first glance. What starts as a new villain destroying property in order to get ransom money turns into a question of what Keystone City expects of the Flash, and what Wally expects of himself. During this crisis, Wally is told that a burning store was evacuated and he turns his attention to stopping a crashing elevator.
However, it turns out that it wasn't evacuated - the owner was caught inside, badly burned and lost the use of her legs, and chooses to sue the Flash for negligence. Wally's identity is publicly known at this point (even his address is known, with well-wishers sending him gifts at Christmas time), and the victim seems to expect that Wally needs to know and see everything, which seems like it would cause all sorts of legal issues. (for example, would an inhabitant of Metropolis, or anywhere on DC's Earth, try to sue Superman because they were injured at some point and Superman didn't stop it?)
Unfortunately, one of those people with unreasonably high expectations for the Flash is Wally himself, who pushes himself to his limits and feels like he should be everywhere at once. Not helping matters is that a villain from the 64th century, Abra Kadabra, who uses technology so advanced that it might as well be magic, is lurking in the background, aiming to make things worse for the Scarlet Speedster out of spite.
Wally is a well-developed character throughout these issues, and while his girlfriend Linda Park doesn't get as much focus, she gets an issue where she's the central character, following Flash as he runs around the city in a self-destructive race to make up for his perceived inaction and ultimately convincing him to not push himself past his breaking point.
Despite the uneven artwork, Waid's writing kept me hooked and wanting to see where this story was going. These issues didn't quite reach the heights of "The Return of Barry Allen" from a few issues beforehand, but it was still an enjoyable and interesting storyline.
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