Flash by Mark Waid Free
Mark Waid | 432 pages | 09 May 2017 | DC Comics | 9781401268442 | English | United States The Flash by Mark Waid: Book One by Mark Waid
The following is a column that originally saw virtual print on 24 June at ComicBookResources. It is lightly edited Flash by Mark Waid reformatted to fit on this site better. You could watch the budding artist mature, becoming more confident and comfortable in his work. What started out stiff, awkward, and looking like a thousand decent budding artist portfolios would grow into something more polished and fleshed out. At the start in issue 80, Wally West was a lumpy, non-descript superhero. There are proportion problems Flash by Mark Waid and there. It looks like Kevin Maguire may have influenced Wieringo on some of the pages. As a superhero, Flash ran with a wall Flash by Mark Waid red light laced with yellow lightning trailing behind him. His costume is sleek and shiny. When the time comes for a super dramatic pose or reaction, Wieringo delivers. The run starts off slowly. But things kick into gear, I think, with Flash by Mark Waid second story, where an untouchable tough guy named Razer wreaks destructive havoc on the city. In the melee, Flash makes a decision Flash by Mark Waid comes back to haunt him a few issues down the road. The batch of issues that Wieringo draws forms a clear arc, with stories building upon themselves. Waid adds layers to the story. This is all A plot with consequences from each rolling over to the next. Each story is self-contained; the impact is felt in successive Flash by Mark Waid. Wally is a hero, but also Flash by Mark Waid bit of a hot head. He loves being The Flash, and he lets that show with his sense of humor. His captions are often terse and direct. Waid is also clever when he deals with the superheroic angle of the title, as well. He crafts situations for Wally to be in that work against his powers or against his personality. Honestly, that might be my favorite issue of them all. He saved ten Flash by Mark Waid people in that moment, sure, but leaving that one woman to be hurt is too much for him. Then he speeds up so much that time effectively stands still. Heck, even when he is in the right place at the right time, he might not be able to save anyone. Yes, the bulk of the issue feels like a talking heads thing. Not only is the town stuck in time, but we see interesting moments in that time. Wieringo adjusts his style to accommodate the frozen time Flash by Mark Waid, dropping out lines and making solid black areas slightly sketchier. The changes are very subtle, but they work. Inker Jose Marzan, Jr. He keeps the detail where it counts and drops it out to accommodate the stillness of the scene. He had been dropping hints about it for months, but here it pays off. Young Wally lives in a small town. His parents are constantly fighting. His father expects him to get a normal job and to stop dreaming. This is hardly a unique story in the world. And, Flash by Mark Waid Wally even mentions in the issue, a lot of Flash by Mark Waid comes from the right place. While there is a superhero universe framing sequence to this issue, the real story is what happens between those moments. Waid pulls that off beautifully, with a story that fills Flash fans with hope. Whether they realized it or not, it also strongly defined him for a generation after that. His left his stamp on the title. The concepts he created there still reverberate in the DC Universe. For a year and a half, Mike Wieringo joined him on that ride. It was the start of a creative partnership that would only blossom into something better a decade later, but it was a very good start. He learned the ropes in public and Flash by Mark Waid a pretty good job along the way. Comics, yet…. The only issue I missed was the one that introduced Impulse. Eventually, you could, but you had to pay top dollar. I think DC collected it in a trade at some point, but I never picked it up. I had two letters printed during this run of comics, in issues 87 and I bet some of them had been sitting in there for longer than 15 years. Let me show you what happens when a comic stays on the same backing board for that long. On the left is the back cover. On the right is the backing board it was sitting on, pressed into a longbox. I use Silver Age size bags and boards for Flash by Mark Waid extra bit of room, which is why you see a little extra border around the board. Let this be a lesson to all of Flash by Mark Waid to change out those bags and boards every decade or so. One or two will likely look new, or make you catch your breath all over again. We will apparently strongly disagree here. Yet I powered though lower periods of Flash Comics in the past, like the Trial of Barry Allen when Infantino was barely a shadow of his former self and Pasko was just biding his time until curtain call came with Crisis. This reads like bad FanFic. New characters more powerful than the hero show up out of the blue with long pasts that you have never heard of. The villains always more and more powerful, storylines dragging for issue after issue, interminable subplots, seemingly invincible villains and ultimately a lousy last-minute cop-out payoff, the invention of the speed Flash by Mark Waid for a magic resolution of everything. Also sadly, Waid would do it again in Kingdom Come, and later the invention of Hypertime, sort of like a Best Hits of an old rock group. But since Waid has been raised on Comics, as opposed to the previous generation of writers wwhich was classically trained. The results, as I said, is mediocre FanFic, with moderately apt dialogue. The Flash TV show is particularly guilty of that. The first three seasons felt like a time loop, Same big Bad speedster, same ex-machina resolution at the last minute. Arh Augie could I love thee more. First you give me Asterix then you turn you eagle eye to Wally West Flash, the entire issue run is great, steered as it is by four main creative forces. Its followed by my favourite. William Messnor Loebs delievers one of the truly great and under-rated comic runs of all time. If you need tempting read issues a three issue Gorilla Grodd story that is simply superb. Still it round the series off nicely if you ignore those horrible last 5 issues! Thanks, Colin. I do need to get back someday to reading those first 79 issues or so. I own a page of original art from the Gorilla Grodd issue. What a great series that was, particularly the early issues with Ramos…. Hey and post up that art sometime. His style was always there, but using it to good effect took some extra on-the-job training. Superpowered Creativity Waid is also clever when he deals with the superheroic angle of the title, as well. Nostalgia and Covers Mine is autographed, as you can see. Tags: Mark WaidMike Wieringo. JC Lebourdais 24 Jun Reply. I meant Bates, not Pasko. Lousy memory. Colin Taylor 24 Jun Reply. Augie 25 Jun Reply. Colin Taylor 25 Jun Reply. What do YOU think? First time commenters' posts may be held for moderation. Cancel reply. Close Menu. The Full Run: Mark Waid's Flash (Part 4) - Comics Bulletin
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Barry Allen. The death of Barry left Wally the fastest man Flash by Mark Waid the new Flash. Now, somehow, Barry has returned--as a violent and paranoid speedster determined to eliminate what he's created! Is Barry really back? A journey full of humor and drama, this story shows just how much Wally West loves being the fastest Flash by Mark Waid alive. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Flash by Mark Waidplease sign up. Be the first to ask a question about The Flash by Mark Waid. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Jun 19, Chad rated it really liked it Shelves: The Flash was the first character Mark Waid really got to put his stamp on writing the book for almost 10 years. Volume 2 is where Waid really starts to define the character. Here is where Waid begins Wally West's journey on the prototypical hero's quest where with each Flash by Mark Waid arc he gets better and better, leveling up in video game parlance. It's not bad but filled with some goofiness like this. Then comes a short story from Justice League Quarterly that should be a throw away story but is one of Flash by Mark Waid best stories in the book. The Flash witnesses an assassination while trapped in a glass elevator between floors. Now he has to figure a way out before the bullet reaches its target. Next up is a revamp of the old character Dr. Then comes The Return of Barry Allen. This is where Waid really begins to establish The Flash mythos. Several years after Barry's sacrifice in Crisis, Waid seemingly brings back Barry in a story many Barry loyalists Flash by Mark Waid even as Wally West supporters and those who wanted his sacrifice to mean something dreaded it. He begins to establish the speedster lineage and during this run lays the groundwork Geoff Johns continues to run with in his JSA book, extending that lineage throughout the DC universe. Greg LaRocque handles Flash by Mark Waid of the art. I'd forgotten just how good of an artist he'd grown Flash by Mark Waid during this run. He's Flash by Mark Waid of the unsung artists of the 90's, never quite getting his due while providing really solid work. Aug 01, Peter Derk rated it really liked it. Nothing like a super speedster teaming up with a space cop and a Flash by Mark Waid chimpanzee to stop a guy with an enormous head and another guy who's a psychic gorilla from finding a space rock that will give them more superpowers. May 12, Simon Farrow rated it it was amazing. The first volume was a little bit of a let down after reading Mark Waid's Flash is generally considered the best run of all time on the character. This volume though is simply incredible and now I can see why that is the general opinion. I really don't think there is a better writer of superhero's currently alive, and while they're better comic book writers, Mark Waid is the best in this genre with only Geoff Johns running him close. Flash by Mark Waid 12, Shannon Appelcline rated it really liked it Shelves: comicscomics-dc. A crossover with Green Lanternwhich was then undergoing a good, well-characterized run by the now-disgraced Gerard Jones. Unfortunately, this cross-over isn't the best for Jones or Waid, as it spends too Flash by Mark Waid time in fisticuffs and menticuffs with the antagonists, a very non- scary Grodd and Hector Hammond. Still, there's some nice characterization for the two heroes, some nice continuity connecting together the two brainiacs, and nice plotting in Flash by Mark Waid first two issues, which only sort of crossover. Assassination JLQ Alchemy A dark and gritty reinvention of Dr. Yeah, that's very '90s. Still, he's OK, even if his battle with Wally drags. The Return of Barry Allen When this arc originally ran, I think many of us were horrified that Barry might be back, and that he'd replace Wally, the star of The Flash now for more than half a decade. Unlike some folks, Mark Waid knew better than that and so used the story as a way to grow Wally as a hero. This story also offer Waid's first attempt to really extend the speedster mythology. So, we have Jay and Johnny back and we also see the introduction of Max Mercury. Bloodlines Annual. Like most in The Bloodline annual event, this is a pointless fight and gore fest. Argus was interesting enough to stick around for a while, but he's not really worthwhile here. View all 5 comments. Aug 07, Dan Trudeau rated it liked it Shelves: graphic-novelssuperheroes. The good news: this collection includes The Return of Barry Allen, which is one of the all-time great Flash stories. The not-so-good news: this collection also has several other stories that I'd classify as passable. Entertaining, but nothing I'd slap down good money for. I'm a big fan of Mark Waid and his run on The Flash is where I think he really started making his mark on superhero comics. In the last collection, Born to Run was a great story-line surrounded by okay material. The same thing ha The good news: this collection includes The Return of Barry Allen, which Flash by Mark Waid one of the all-time great Flash stories. The same thing happens Flash by Mark Waid, but I think he was able to hold the higher level of quality going forward which we'll see in Volume 3. I'd tell anyone this collection is worth their money for The Return of Barry Allen. If the intent of the story was to shake off the ghost of Barry Allen and make Wally the definitive Flash of his era, it accomplished its mission. Going forward, through stories like Terminal Velocity, Waid was able to deepen the Flash mythology with concepts like the speed force Flash by Mark Waid also adding layers to the Flash and his supporting cast of characters in a way that really stood out in its era. The Big 2 publishers seemed unsure how to take their characters past the 90s bubble popping, and Waid helped point the way. He understands, and embraces, what makes these characters timeless. Apr 02, Justin rated it really liked it. It's a fun story, full of Silver Age goofiness The Bureau of Amplified Animals, for example and takes place during the time when Hal was sporting white hair on the sides, which I love unreservedly. Most importantly, the bulk of the collection is taken up with the "Return of B This collection starts off with a 4-part crossover with Green Lantern where Wally and Hal team up against Hector Hammond and Gorilla Grodd. Most importantly, the bulk of the collection is taken up with the "Return of Barry Allen" storyline, which is considered by many to be the high point of Waid's Flash by Mark Waid on the book. I think there are better stories, but this one really tunes into the legacy of the Flash while also being a great Flash by Mark Waid study and bringing in new ideas. I think the story is the incredibly solid foundation on which Waid builds his reputation. Greg LaRocque does great work here as well, finishing his stint on the book with panache. These comics are from my lost period and while I've read much of what's here before, I hadn't read them all. Revisiting and discovering these issues of Flash over the past month has been great fun. Sep 14, Alex E rated it Flash by Mark Waid it. Ok now I'm starting to see the appeal of Mark Waid's run! So while there are some throwaway stories in this volume, the main story, which deals with the return of "Barry Allen", was great. I really got into the mindset of Wally and how he felt not only having a friend return from the grave, but to then reassert his position in the world as the flash. Is he THE flash, or just a copy of the original? Wasnt his whole deal that he was wearing the colors as a tribute to Barry Allen? Mark Waid - Wikipedia
Welcome to The Full Runwhere we review every issue of a comic book run we like in Flash by Mark Waid a few lines, because we're lazy and so are you. This time we'll look at the final part of Mark Waid's Flash — Will Waid's last two storylines on the title live up to the undisputed classics he produced during his first few years? Read on for the definitive take on the subject. It's probably just smooth sailing for them from now on, right? This issue gets 10 points for the Bowie reference in the title. It's Wally and Linda's wedding day and everything seems to be going swell, until he puts the ring on her finger and she magically disappears — not just from the church but from everyone's memories. And from this comic, for like a year. If you've been paying attention, you can probably guess which villain is responsible. It was a cool series, but honestly, most of the tie-in issues were pretty skippable and this is no exception. Pretty typical stuff. Flash December — "Like Wild Fire". At last, the epic return of Cobalt Blue! Who the fuck is Cobalt Blue, you ask? A fake Silver Age Flash villain with speed-stealing powers who supposedly fought Barry The Previous Flash Allen once and never showed up again until now! That's not the biggest retcon here, though: That would be the last-page revelation that Cobalt is also Barry's previously unrevealed twin brother. Alright, so I might as well mention that this storyline gets pretty convoluted, and it starts here. In this issue we learn Cobalt Blue's tragic life story: As a baby, right after being born to Mr. Allen, young Cobalt was given away to a family of con men by a drunken doctor. Later, Flash by Mark Waid gained superpowers from a magic crystal and used them to seek revenge on the brother he never met, Barry. Also, he's the ancestor of Barry's enemy from the future, Professor Zoom. Wally looks into Cobalt Blue's magic crystal and sees a prophecy: Flash by Mark Waid Blue's descendants will "consume" two Flashes at some point in the next thousand years, and then Barry Allen will die. At his supervillain twin Flash by Mark Waid hands this time. Wally gathers the Speedster Squad and sends each Flash by Mark Waid them to a different time period to warn the future Flashes. Jay The Old Flash Garrick and the other speedsters arrive at different points in the future and help the Flashes of each era defeat Cobalt Blue's crystal-powered descendants, then they send those guys to other time Flash by Mark Waid to warn even more Flashes about the prophecy. Let's try not to think too hard about it. Wally jumps in time again to pay Flash by Mark Waid visit to another major dick: Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash. Just to mix things up, in this time period the current Flash is evil that would be Zoom and Cobalt Blue is a good guy and a distant relative of Wally. That was the best part, actually. The jumping Flash by Mark Waid con tinues, with future Flashes hooking up left and right. Unfortunately most of them aren't terribly interesting. Also, Jay gets possessed by the crystal, turns evil and changes Flash by Mark Waid a sweet Madman-like costume. Then Barry Allen shows up. Wally and Barry seemingly defeat Cobalt Blue's curse, but then the crystal kills Barry anyway, which is a bit of a problem because he Flash by Mark Waid supposed to die a bit later from his point of viewsaving the entire universe, no less. As a result, the universe is totally fucked. A Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-in, sort of. Wally travels back to and attempts to replace Barry at different points during the Crisis, but it doesn't Flash by Mark Waid. Eventually he remembers he can just travel in time to save Barry at the moment when he was killed and does just that, then dispatches Cobalt Blue with his usual "running really fast until the villain disintegrates" method. The end of this double-sized Flash by Mark Waid makes it clear that Wally has died saving Barry so that Barry himself could die 15 minutes later under the correct circumstancesbut then, on the last page, a mysterious Flash in a dark costume appears on the present, thus kicking off the Dark Flash saga…. Flash August — "Territorealis". This is a flashback story from Wally's days as Kid Flash, in which he teams up with a talking gorilla called Montague to prevent a war between the talking gorillas and the talking humans. Flash September — "New Kid in Town". Dark Flash fights Dr. Alchemy, but Flash by Mark Waid only takes up like two pages of this issue. The rest is devoted to Wally's friends trying to figure out who this guy is and getting worried because Wally hasn't come back from the future yet. We also see Linda for the first time in about a year, escaping the room Flash by Mark Waid she's been trapped all this time only to fall into some kind of limbo. Flash October — "The Folded Man". Dark Flash versus a new villain called The Folded Man, a guy who can move between the second, third and fourth dimensions by, you know, folding himself. I remember reading this issue as a kid and being utterly confused, but it all seems so simple now. Meanwhile, Linda lands in an alternate reality where Wally's name is Walter and he's a wanted psychopath. Flash November — "Dimensionally Challenged". Also second part of Linda's adventures in psychopath land, where she learns that this version of Wally or Walter lost his mind after she was killed by Kobra during the events of Flash Walter starts going all psycho on her, but then another Wally shows up…. Flash December — "Payback Unlimited". After the end ofWally the real one got lost in Hypertime remember Hypertime? Flash by Mark Waid in the main reality, Dark Flash fights The Replicant, a guy who copied all the powers of the Rogues Gallery villains so like Amazo, but with a more limited scope. Wally and Walter are in the middle of duking it out when the villain mastermind behind all this confusion reveals himself: freakin' Kadabra! When confronted with an even bigger asshole than himself, Walter sees the error of his ways, puts on a dark costume and trav els to the last page of Flash — becoming the Dark Flash to replace Wally who is lost in Hypertime, again. Flash February — "Setting the Stage". Kadabra explains his plan: He kidnapped Linda way back in and erased her from everyone's memory to Flash by Mark Waid with Wally. Honestly, what happened to just shooting people? Anyway, now that Wally is apparently dead, Kadabra wants to destroy his replacement, Walter, aka Dark Flash, and teams up with Replicant and Professor Zoom, because why not. Posing as Zoom, Wally tricks Kadabra into ending the Linda-vanishing spell and he is defeated. Is this the start of a Big Love -type situation? Flash April — "Whirlwind Ceremony". Since he's from another reality, he can't stay in ours for much longer or the world will explode or something. Walter goes off to explore the multiverse as Wally and Linda finally get around to finishing their wedding, 17 issues after starting it Chunk cameo! Wally and Linda try to get some alone time during their honeymoon, but everywhere they go they keep getting interrupted by Kobra, who has fallen on some hard times. This issue is more notable for being the first one penciled by Scott Kolins, although he's barely recognizable under John Holdrege's inks. Flash June — "Honeymoon in Vegas". Another fill-in flashback story, this one set in the s: a just-married Jay Garrick is trying to celebrate his honeymoon in Las Vegas when the Flash by Mark Waid Society and some villains decide to stop by. No, not for an orgy, although interestingly, there are some panels of young Mrs. Garrick in a nightgown that Flash by Mark Waid like someone's tried to trace them… oh, that's just my copy? Flash and Captain Marvel versus the Y2K bug! No, seriously. Sorcerer Felix Faust was so disappointed when the coming of the year didn't kill every machine on the planet he literally sits in front Flash by Mark Waid a TV and goes " Blast it! Wally and Linda set things right, with Cap tagging along as the third wheel. Flash August — "Heartbeat". A clever fill-in story before Geoff Johns took over the Flash by Mark Waid that mostly takes place in the span of a single second as Wally runs across the country to prevent various DC heroes from interacting with bomb-rigged objects, without them ever knowing it. Mark Waid and his co-writer for this last batch of issues, long time Flash editor Brian Augustyn did a tremendous amount of pre-planning for these last two storylines, especially "Chain Lightning": Cobalt Blue showed up as early as in short stories included in Flash Secret Files and Origins 2 and the Speed Force Special. Waid then had a full year to work out the details of his time traveling epic while Grant Morrison and Mark Millar filled in for him on the title. Add that to the fact that they managed to score Paul Pelletier the single most Flash by Mark Waid Flash artist since Mike Wieringo and it's like this storyline had everything going for it. Unfortunately, the result feels a little like paint-by-numbers storytelling — it's all so carefully calculated that there's no room for spontaneity. I get the impression that they'd left some space in those issues to develop the personalities of the future Flashes, but Flash by Mark Waid inspiration was Flash by Mark Waid gone by the time they actually got around to writing that part and as a result most of those guys are pretty forgettable and in fact, as far as I know they've never shown up again. On the other hand, the "Dark Flash Saga," despite getting a hundred times more confusing than the already convoluted Chain Lightning, did manage to bring some much needed new energy Flash by Mark Waid the title with its mysterious main character, a new love interest and a couple of interesting new villains. I've pointed out before how overused Abra Kadabra was in this particular run this was the fourth time a mysterious figure in the shadows turned out to be himbut this being Mark Waid's last storyline, the choice was appropriate. Honestly, if they'd gone with Captain Boomerang or something I'd probably be asking "Where the fuck was Kadabra? For me, one of the coolest moments in Waid's entire run comes from Flashwhen Kadabra hits Walter with energy bolts Flash by Mark Waid he keeps getting up and speeding up his metabolism to cure himself, aging his body in the process and slowly turning into the older, scarred version of Wally we saw under the Dark Flash's mask a few issues earlier. Still, as much as I enjoyed this saga with its gloriously labyrinthine twists and turns, I have to admit that it loses a lot of its mystique when you already know the ending — reading these issues for the first time back in and speculating on the Dark Flash's identity was half the fun. I should have probably mentioned that before going ahead and spoiling everything for you, huh. You can find out more about Maxwell Yezpitelok at twitter. Home Columns. Flash January — "Nature vs. Flash May — "Honeymoon on the Run".