silverflash

[silverflash]

transitioning saved her ❤️

[silverflash]

The Premise of Silver Age Barry Allen

There is a common misconception in Flash discourse, especially among newcomers, that Barry Allen had no story engine before the Nora Allen retcon in 2009. This message was partially spread by the writer of Flash: Rebirth himself, Geoff Johns, in response to how well CW Flash was received.

This sentiment is- and will always be- wrong.

A superhero with a dead mentor or parental figure is no stranger to Superhero Comics- Superman, Batman, Spider-Man are all examples. Even Barry Allen has served the role of dead mentor/parental figure to The Flash's own Third Iteration: Wally West. But not every hero needs such a backstory; and I would argue that forcing it into a hero who never needed it solely for the sake of "common trope = good story" is far more boring than not having such a backstory.

So what is the story engine of Barry Allen?

Simple.

Have you ever wished you were a superhero?

Have you ever wished you could be like the character you love?

Have you ever wished you could feel the freedom of running at the speed of sound?

Have you ever wished you could BE the Flash?

Then it's obvious who Barry Allen is. He's you.

Silver Age Flash is the ultimate tale of wish fulfillment- a comic book fan transformed into the hero he was raised on.

He'll do things he could only previously dreamed of, using his scientific knowledge and his newly-gained powers to fight colorful rogues, race men of steel, and ally with emerald knights.

He might even meet the very hero who inspired him.

But of course, all dreams have to face reality.

There might be a consequence of indulging yourself too much.

And maybe, maybe things might not always turn out for the best. Maybe a heroic dream means heroic sacrifices.

Was it all perfect as you envisioned? No. But was it worth it? I'd say so.

You touched and bettered the lives of so many.

And maybe one of them will be inspired, in turn.

[silverflash]

I would like to add to this point, however; I agree with some of the premise here, but I think there's some missing context that undercuts your primary point:

When Barry Allen was brought back in Final Crisis and relaunched in Flash: Rebirth 2009, Dawn and Don were clearly an afterthought.

Geoff Johns wanted to completely scrap Barry Allen's identity and rewrite him from scratch, and clearly did so via the Nora Allen retcon. When this was done, Don and Dawn were pretty much abandoned by the narrative, something that, like many odd things in Williamson's Run, is given attention but never truly examined.

To this day, Don and Dawn are still just. In the future. In fact it's worse because Barry and Iris seemingly know of their existence but have chosen not to do a thing about them? The resurrection of Barry Allen and de-aging of Iris, alongside the whole host confusing retcons and de-retcons that is the Post-IC->New-52->Rebirth continuity has essentially made Barry Allen an absent father, not as a genuine story direction, but as a result for a clear lack of care for the Flash's history.

Honestly, the only thing keeping the Tornado Twins still in existence is the fact that Bart Allen is too beloved to scrap, and Modern Flash's desire to return to Wally Flash's status quo without fully committing to undoing the damage The Flash: Rebirth (2009) and Flashpoint (2010) did. If Bart Allen didn't exist, Don and Dawn would quickly be retconned out of existence.

Among other things, this is one of many problems of modern Barry Allen that need some kind of reconciliation. Flash as a whole needs to finally let the Nora Allen saga go if the Flash's continuity and lore is going to make sense again, and finally letting Barry Allen age and be a father to his children is one of many things it needs to do.

"Barry Allen is such a bad dad he wasn't even present for his kids growing up!"

He was dead.

"Barry Allen was literally so messed up to name his kids Don and Dawn."

He was dead by they time they were born, that was all Iris.

"Barry Allen was so messed up to not take in Bart when he came back to the past."

He was dead.

"Barry Allen should ha-"

He. Was. Dead.

Note: this is in reference to the comics and the comics alone, no other form of media.

[silverflash]

Of course, I'm always going to reblog posts with an appreciation for the classic silver age design. It's very underappreciated

barry’s adventures in mapping the multiverse

[silverflash]

Hello!

This blog is something I've been thinking of doing for a long time. Silver Age Flash is an important, neglected piece of comic history that is often completely written off by people who either don't read comic books, or those who do, but chose, for whatever reason, to ignore the classics.

I want to correct that, and if I can convince at least one person to change their minds on Silver Age Flash, then I'll have succeeded in my goal, at least to some degree.

Remember that I am completely new to this website, so I definitely am going to have trouble navigating it and making things look and feel the best they can. Feel free to tell me if I'm doing anything wrong!

You can call me silverflash, my pronouns are they/he, and I hope you'll stick around for my analysis and ramblings on Flash, Silver Age and otherwise!