The Flash #110 (1960)
by John Broome & Carmine Infantino
I’ve already reviewed the cover story, which is the debut of Weather Wizard.
But the second story is indisputably the most influential one.
We begin with Barry Allen being introduced to his girlfriend’s nephew, Wally West.
He’s the biggest Flash fan.
At this point in history Iris doesn’t know Barry is the Flash, so he has to come up with an excuse to get her away.
In another series this might involve dumb shenanigans, but it’s extremely straightforward: he just asks!
Because it’s 1960, Wally doesn’t find it weird that the Flash is hiding in the closet of his best heterosexual friend.
Barry is able to move so fast that Wally doesn’t even notice the costume change. In fact, he doesn’t even acknowledge Barry has vanished… which I don’t hold against him, considering he’s just meeting his personal hero.
It’s always fascinating to see early Silver Age writers trying to figure out how to write characters younger than themselves.
Incidentally, John Broome was 47 at the time of publication.
Also of interest is the fact that the Flash is aging ALMOST in real time, considering he mentions he got his powers 2 years earlier when in real life it’s been 4 years.
Also, in future retellings Barry is the one to make sure all the chemicals in the lab are the same that were struck by lightning in his origin.
This time, apparently it’s just a coincidence.
And in what was originally The Mother Of All Coincidences, until it was retconned multiple times to almost make sense, Wally gets the same exact origin.
Wally is remarkably calm after being almost stuck by lightning and doused with chemicals!
Even withough the part about gaining super-speed, I feel like that lightning striking you while inside a building is already less likely than a billion-to-one chance.
Barry, I understand that jumping the gun is on brand for a speedster, but you’re going WAY too fast making him a superhero!
With a costume like that, it was either Kid Flash or Mini Flash.
Yeah sure, leave the kid who got earth-shattering superpowers five minutes ago completely alone and unsupervised, what could POSSIBLY go wrong?
I mean obviously there’s nothing to worry about, because Silver Age…
…but imagine if Wally didn’t instantly know how to use his powers. He could have flattened this guy at Mach Infinity.
You heard WHERE, Kid Flash? Also, couldn’t we have seen that moment?
Kid Flash manages to save the animals before Flash even shows up.
So Barry trusts Kid Flash with the power to ignore all laws of physics AND to keep his powers secret, but he doesn’t trust him enough to tell him he’s the Flash?
Sounds legit.
Historical significance: 10/10
Wally will become one of the cornerstones of the DC Universe. For quite a while, even more so than Barry in my opinion.
Silver Age-ness: 1,000,000,000/10
Only in the Silver Age you wouldn’t even TRY to explain such a colossal coincidence.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
This is not really a story, it’s just an introduction. It does its job fine, but we don’t really learn anything about Wally as a person and the action, despite the inimitable way Infantino draws super-speed, is anything but memorable.
How close is this to the modern character? 3/10
The story would be retold post-Crisis from Wally’s point of view in Flash Vol2 #67 in 1992.
It’s also the first Flash story by Mark Waid, who is THE quintessential Wally writer.
It does add some stuff, like Wally helping Flash before they meet officially.
Instead of using the closet to hide, Barry’s cover story is that the Flash is using his forensic lab.
And as I mentioned, Barry is the one to make sure all the chemicals are the same. I’m pretty sure this detail carries through in other retellings.
Barry would eventually decide to trust Wally with his secret identity ten issues after his origin, on The Flash #120.
After a few adventures in his Mini Flash costume, Wally finally graduates to his own look on Flash #135. You would think he would just get a new costume, but not in the Silver Age: it’s the result of a weird science ray transmuting it.
Comics, everybody!
It’s not COMPLETELY random, because the ray just materialized the costume Barry was thinking about.
I can’t possibly cover ALL of Wally’s pre-Crisis adventures, but I have to mention that he would be among the founding members of the Teen Titans in 1965.
And he would be a stable member of that team for decades, despite their political disagreements.
I’ll bet anything that when Marv Wolfman established that characterization (to contrast him with the rest of the team), he never imagined that Wally would eventually team up with Fidel Castro during Invasion.
Speaking of post-Crisis differences, Wally would inherit the Flash identity in 1986 in what is still THE gold standard for a hero passing the torch to a successor.
Unlike Barry, Wally broke tradition by having a public identity.
Superheroes with a public identity, especially if they need to carry a regular series, were very few before the 2010s; in fact, before Wally the only ones that immediately come to mind are the Fantastic Four.
At DC in particular, secret identity were THE norm for the longest time.
Wally’s Flash feats would greatly surpass Barry, discovering and mastering the source of all speedsters powers: Suspension Of Disbelief the Speed Force.
Also thanks to his love interest Linda Park, who Wally would eventually marry in 1998.
Owing to Wally’s public identity, the ring bearer was Impulse…
…and the best man was Nightwing in disguise.
After many, many, MANY shenanigans… it’s superhero comics after all… in 2005 Linda gave birth to Wally’s twins, Iris and Jai.
Named, of course, from Wally’s aunt and from Jay Garrick.
Thanks to time travel shenanigans, they eventually became superheroes on their own: Irey became the new Impulse and Jai took the codename Surge.
Unfortunately that was around the time when DC was really, REALLY pushing Barry Allen as the Flash. And that apparently meant treating Wally like garbage for YEARS, to the point that “DC keeps crapping on Wally” became sort of a meme.
Killing him off, bringing him back but erasing his children from history, making him insane…
…tying him to Metron’s chair, because the thing you want from Flash is HAVING HIM SIT DOWN ALL THE TIME…
…but eventually, after MUCH pressure from the fans, DC relented.
Wally West is back as the Flash, balancing his superhero career with being the parent of two speedsters…
…or possibly three, with his son Wade being born in 2023.
I had completely abandoned the Flash franchise after they brought back Barry Allen, so you cannot imagine how infinitely glad I am finding out that not only Wally is back, but they also progressed his character development instead of resetting him to a more simplistic version.
Now if only Marvel could have a tenth of this courage with Spider-Man…
In conclusion, I can’t possibly articulate my thoughts about Wally West better than the writer who is most associated with him.
I think Wally’s unique in that his personality is defined by his power. People ask me ‘What would Wally West be doing if he didn’t have super-speed?” I have no idea. Wally would have no idea because it’s a dream come true to him. As a child, he wanted to be just like The Flash. He got his wish. To me Wally is one of the few guys in comics who gets up every morning and says, “My God, I have the greatest job on Earth. I can’t wait to be Flash today.” That is core to Wally’s personality.
MARK WAID
