Just finished reading The Flash: Emergency Stop by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar. The book contained the title story as well as Through the Looking Glass, Still Life in the Fast Lane (a Jay Garrick story), and Death at the Top of the World Part 3. (Parts 1 and 2 are apparently Green Lantern and Green Arrow stories. I still don’t entirely understand how comics work. I mean I get the concept of a crossover, but why would you only publish 1 of the 3 parts in a compilation? I don’t see why this was more of a Flash story than a Green Lantern or Green Arrow story, and if this weren’t Part 3 of 3 I would have been annoyed at not knowing the ending. But I digress.)
The Flash, specifically Wally West, is pretty much my favorite superhero. He’s just so exuberant and nice. Seriously, nicest superhero ever. I’d rather be saved by the Flash than anyone, I feel like he’d go out for a burger and shake afterwards and make sure I got home okay and put that ankle up. And he’s quippy. I love me a superhero who can save the day while throwing out some quips.
Prior to this, my main exposure to the Flash has been Justice League cartoons and some old Flash/Kid Flash stories from the Silver Age. This book made me realize another aspect of his character: his brain. And now I love him even more.
I mean seriously, the guy’s a genius. And it’s such a “duh.” I mean, of course the fastest man alive would read things quickly, learn things quickly. The first Flash, Jay Garrick, reads every periodical in the world, every day, and whenever he doesn’t know a language he takes “five or ten minutes” and learns it. Wally (spoiler for Death at the Top of the World) reads thousands of American law texts in the space of a day or two in order to find a loophole to save the day. And while running really fast helps, really Wally uses his brain to defeat the Mirror Master in Through the Looking Glass. In the Justice League, Wally is just kind of the cheerful guy who runs really fast, but in his own stories it’s clear that he’s so much more than that.
Because it’s not just that he is (they are) well-read. He applies his knowledge in a way that shows complete understanding. Wally can control the speedforce, the power that controls his speed, to make a supersuit that lets him be all Flashy with two broken legs. He can share the speedforce with a sort of fist-bump. He thinks quickly, he applies science quickly (or “science”). It’s even apparent in the Justice League cartoons; Wally’s knowledge of how speed affect something gives him even more powers than just running fast. He can make tidal waves, he can kind of fly. And he keeps learning to enhance his power.
So the Flash has been upgraded from My Favorite Superhero on a superficial level to My Favorite Superhero With Bells On. He’s supernice, cheerful, flirty, witty, and brilliant. Hot.
What about you? Who’s your favorite superhero, and why? Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Green Lantern, etc? I want to know! And tell me what to read to catch up!
