#max&bart

[yyyeowza]

Inspired by The Flash: Rebirth

I think Wally has no idea how much of a role model he is for this guy I think

[apollo-arts]

Speedsters!

[andstuffsketches]

"Bart, I love you! I've always loved you! Tell me it's how you feel, too! ...yeah, figured that would do it."

[rmbunnie]

This is literally just Bart Allen

[radioactive-earthshine]

Impulse (1995) is a direct story about an at-risk teen in foster care, and it's not even allegorical. Some of the situations are more fantastic than anything that would really happen, but the themes and experiences of a teen in foster care mirror this story in many, many ways.

Bart was in a system of abuse and neglect in that Earthgov facility - which Iris rescued him from.

Bart was unable to live with kin (Iris and Wally) in the 20th century due to many factors, so he was placed with basically a stranger for guardianship and it was strictly supposed to be temporary.

Bart is often treated as an overly challenging or burdensome teen with behavioral issues, with some degree of truth - this is a stigma that follows a lot of teens in foster care, and is a true experience in many cases as children placed in foster homes struggle with mental health due to past trauma and neglect.

Meloni came back into Bart's life and tried to raise him but her environment was unsafe so she had to surrender her parental rights - this is also an experience those in foster care go through, sometimes multiple times.

Ableism and abuse in the foster home - while Max didn't intend to abuse Bart, he did approach him in very ableist ways which led to a neglect in the type of care Bart needed. Bart did not suffer physical abuse in Max's home, and the abuse he arguably did experience is not as severe as real life cases, it is still an experience that mirrors foster care experiences. Bart's emotional health and well-being for a good chunk of his solo was being neglected by the adults in his life as he was left to just "figure things out on his own" while he had a roof over his head. Max also made it clear on a few occasions that his role was never to raise Bart, just teach him how to use his powers. Eventually, this did subside as love grew in the home but the love was almost not enough.

Relocation - Bart was originally not given a choice about relocating upon Max's disappearance into the Speed Force, but eventually agreed to move to live with Jay and Joan. Relocating between multiple households is a very common and heartbreaking foster care experience.

Bart Allen's solo series was originally meant to be a sitcom, but Mark Waid put in the foundations for a heartbreaking story about a unique and special teenage boy navigating an alien world with adults who barely tried to understand him, and almost completely failed him.

[paljordan]

impulse 1995 essentially

[sharksandjays]

barts, max, and a backstory

[sydney-sargent-superfan]

is this anything

[scitaliss]

Did my best to incorporate some hints of Max Mercury in this Bart design. Maybe I'll revisit this later when something else inspires me, but 🤷‍♂️

[bobbinalong]

pérez doesn't seem to know bart's supposed to be older than fourteen any more than deodato did but spurrier is in my good books for now for the fact alone that he's aware of how important max and bart are to each other.

The Flash (2023) #7

[briarmoon1015]

Speedsters :)

[speeedsters]

do NOT separate!!!!! they are a SET!!!!!

[andstuffsketches]

photo in max mercury's wallet

[likurggg]

Bart in Max Mercury merch

and also i messed up with boots bruh

[boopeey]

Some sketch dump

[radioactive-earthshine]

I would love it if Guy was the one to clock Bart Allen as autistic like within twenty minutes of actually interacting with him and Guy being just like "Look. Yes the kid can be a lot for people, but we're obviously a lot for him too, I think that kid needs to be screened for autism."

And ofc there is some push back (bc there almost always is🙄) from either Max or Wally is adamant "there is nothing wrong with Bart he just needs to learn how to be normal" and Guy is just left there mentally trying to decide how to unpack that like...