ralphw@mit-eddie.UUCP (Ralph W. Hyre) (01/19/85)
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ralphw@mit-eddie.UUCP (Ralph W. Hyre) (01/19/85)
Well, it appears that Barry Allen, the Flash is gone. I suppose it's appropriate, since he 'started' DC's continuity problem by vibrating to Earth-2 and meeting Jay Garrick (the Earth Flash), but it would have been nice if the result of his murder trial had been mentioned. I guess they want to make sure they sell the last few issues (345-350). Anyway, I'm told that when a character dies or retires, his book will stop being published IMMEDIATELY following the incident in Crisis. So why the six-issue lag here? Any Ideas? I'd like to see the Death List posted as well. - Ralph Hyre (ralphw@mit-xx.arpa) (..!mit-eddie!ralphw)
afo@pucc-k (Flidais) (01/23/85)
Well, with the apparent demise of the Earth-1 Flash, one could
postulate upon two different explanations....
1. That the Batman was correct when he said it was a vision
of the Flash, and that poor ol' Barry didn't bite the
biggee.
2. That the powers that be have decided that they just can't
beat the dead horse any longer, and will let the Earth-1
Flash fade slowly from people's memories.
Now, let's look at the reasons and ramifications behind #2. First,
if you have been reading the Flash, you have probably realised that
the magazine has been floundering for the past few years. Even the
vaunted "Trial of the Flash" wasn't doing much for the story line.
The Flash had basically turned into a character who was around for
the sadistic jollies of whomever might be doing the writing (Cary
Bates, and others). The man has had his wife murdered (I don't think
Iris had told him she was pregnant before she was murdered), has had
his fiance go totally insane because of his refusal to identify
himself (obviously, if he had tossed off the cowl, as his Earth-2
did {by stopping his inner vibrations he was using to blur his
features}) poor Fiona (remember Fiona?) wouldn't be supporting
Roche-Hoffman. He is currently being tried for manslaughter, and
has had his face rearranged for him by Big Sur (another way you can
tell the writing is getting bad- stupidly named villians).
Obviously, DC isn't going to let their spot for 'the fastest man
alive' stay empty too long. What I would like to see (but probably
won't) the Earth-2 Flash be brought back in his place. I think that
character has a lot more panache (and a much niftier costume) than
any of the other possibilities.
And if we get *really* lucky, Kid Flash will kick off on his own!
Laurie Sefton
{harpo,ihnp4,allegra,decvax}!pur-ee!pucc-h!afo
Some people prefer top down programming; others prefer bottom-up:
Me? I prefer slash and burn...
--
Laurie Sefton
{harpo,ihnp4,allegra,decvax}!pur-ee!pucc-h!afo
Some people prefer top down programming; others prefer bottom-up:
Me? I prefer slash and burn...tjarks@ihlts.UUCP (Tim Tjarks) (01/23/85)
Well, I've seen two articles now assuming that Barry Allen of Earth-1 has kicked the bucket. I suggest people go back and re-read those panels in Crisis 2. One of the things the disintegrating Flash says to Batman (paraphased, since I don't have the comic in front of me) is "Iris may already be dead!" Anyone who knows anything about events in "the Flash" over the last few years knows that Iris died quite a while ago. It seemed obvious to me that what we was was the disintegration of Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth-37b (or somesuch) who happened upon Earth-1 in his panicked state. Further proof (?) of this is that Flash said the whole world was being destroyed, but we haven't seen any evidence that the destruction has reached present day Earth-1 yet (at least on a large scale). This has been asked before, but does anyone else have any speculation on who will die or on any of the major changes promised? I doubt that we'll see any cancellation of titles due to the main character dying (unless the title was marginal in the first place and not heavily licensed: any candidates?). I would guess there will be wholesale slaughter of old, obscure characters (I expected to see Anthro and company killed at the beginning of #2). I don't hold much hope that Kamandi will survive, and Kid Flash was marked for death a year ago. Major supporting characters and team members may die to provide the changes in long established title, e.g. consider the effects if Nightwing were killed, or Lois Lane, or the Guardians of Oa. Will Earth-2 be destroyed? Is Roy Thomas screaming bloody murder? Any opinions on this? -- Tim Tjarks AT&T Bell Laboratories ihnp4!ihlts!tjarks
disc@homxb.UUCP (S.BERRY) (01/29/85)
I just finished Crisis #2, and my opinion is that the Flash MAY be going to that great Cosmic-Treadmill-in-the-sky, but he hasn't bit the dust YET. What if what Batman saw was a raving, near-future Flash, in the last moments of life, careening between time periods, either under his own power or influenced by whatever it is that transported Mammoths to 30th century Earth-1... It would explain his comment about Iris, if he had just been in a previous time period. Or perhaps he was seeing his life "Flash" before his eyes (sorry, couldn't resist). It would also both foreshadow his death as well as explain why Barry could "die" before the trial is resolved in his book (#350 DOES seem like an awful convenient place to end a book's run...) "'Ow did you know THAT, DM?" "Simple, Penfold, it's right here in the script..." Scott J. Berry