Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Wally And Bart Sidelined in 2010


Kelson's excellent Speed Force Blog has posted some unfortunate Flash-related news:

So…DC’s latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio video has some bad news for fans of the extended Flash family. He answered my question about the Flash and Kid Flash books, explaining that they’ve decided to go back to “the original game plan” and focus on a single Flash book starring Barry Allen.

Wally West’s backup stories, by Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins? “On hold.” [Edit: This may be the result of DC restructuring the second features.]

The Kid Flash book by Sterling Gates? “On hold.”

He goes on to say, “Your Flash fix will be Barry Allen, pure and simple, for 2010.”



Kelson goes on to say:

Congratulations, Dan. You’ve just lost yourself a reader.

I’ve been hanging on through Flash: Rebirth hoping I would see something in it that would convince me that I might actually want to read stories with Barry Allen, but I just haven’t seen it. The announcement of backup features starring Wally West gave me something to look forward to. The Kid Flash book starring Bart Allen was something I wanted to read. The lead stories with Barry? I was hoping they’d grow on me.

But you know what? I just don’t care anymore.

Honestly, at this moment, I don’t care about reading the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth. I don’t care about the new series. I don’t care about the Secret Files. It’s even killing my enthusiasm for Blackest Night: The Flash, which I actually liked.


Click here to read the rest of Kelson's (completely legitimate) rant. He pretty much echoes my thoughts. One wonders if DC is interested in keeping readesr these days.

posted by Mr Saturday Morning @ 1:30 AM  

23 Comments:

  • At 4:55 AM, Anonymous USS_Titans said…

    Why am I not supprise.
    Very typical of Didio.

     

  • At 6:23 AM, Blogger Thomas said…

    I don't think it's that DiDio isn't interested in keeping readers these days; it's more like his not interested in keeping hardcore fans like us. His sights are already fully on the casual B&N-style readers, which is why, I suspect, every one of the characters is being reset to something approximately akin to the more popular perceptions and the world is now this untra-violent, twisted world..

     

  • At 6:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    lo unico que intenta este tio es volver a lo que habia en DC antes de Crisis en Tierras Infinitas. Asi de simple. Dejemonos de chorradas, ese Didio es gili....!

     

  • At 9:00 AM, Blogger Mr Saturday Morning said…

    Thomas, you say, "I don't think it's that DiDio isn't interested in keeping readers these days; it's more like his not interested in keeping hardcore fans like us."

    Hardcore fans like us, no. But hardcore fans who think "blood and sex" equates to "mature"? Yes. It seems there does exist a contingent of hardcore fans that want that. They want SUPERFRIENDS as directed by Quentin Tarentino, minus the quality.

    A lot of casual fans and Marvel readers peeked into the DCU around INFINITE CRISIS, but many left after ONE YEAR LATER. Sales indicate that not enough have left, though, because we are still getting this dark, dour, depressing DCU.

    I mean, the DCU has become pretty darn inpenetratable with its confusing characters and continuities. Somehow, I don't think DC's current reader base is anything but a large contingent of fans that has been reading since the SUPERFRIENDS were on the air.

     

  • At 12:38 PM, Blogger MetFanMac said…

    F*** this s***.

    Or, in a vein more appropriate for the holidays: "Bah, humbug!" >:-(

     

  • At 1:55 PM, Blogger EoRaptor said…

    No, he's not interested in any of the hard core fans OR the casual B&N fan's... he's playing to the gamer/shock-jock mentality of "if some blood is good, a lot of blood, gore, and a few rapes is better"

    I'm a casual (well maybe more than casual, but not hard core) B&N fan... and this Sh- stuff doesn't appeal to me in the least. I started getting BACK into DC and Marvel and Darkhorse and the imprint labels a year or so ago after being a TV and DVD fan for some time... and am remembering why I stopped reading in the first place... I know 15 year old fan fiction writers who can write more involving story. (and I know some serious fan fiction authors who can write circles around published works, but that's a different topic)

    DC and Didio are trying to shed weight from a sinking ship, but their throwing out the food and the gunpowder along with the bling.

     

  • At 1:57 PM, Blogger EoRaptor said…

    forgot to subscribe myself *meh*

     

  • At 2:08 PM, Blogger Kory Stephens said…

    DC's new name will be FanFic Central

     

  • At 2:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I still can't understand why Barry came back I mean he was'n around for about 20 years ad I'm afraid that's gonna happen with Bruce and Dick in abbout a year or so

     

  • At 7:37 PM, Anonymous Red Robin 3.0 said…

    Didio is lets be frank, arrogantly believes that because he wants something that its what everyone wants. Is anyone actually surprised by this? I hope not, because we've been watching him make these bad decisions for years.

    I mean, lets be frank, did anyone aside from Didio WANT the Multiverse back? A subject that became so convoluted and confusing that they had to erase it in the 80's to make things easier for everyone? Did anyone really want Barry Allen's death undone, despite the fact that Wally West has been our Flash for roughly 20 years now? Did anyone feel we needed 52 weekly issues of a storyline that made absolutely not sense? Did anyone feel we needed another Crisis that made absolutely no sense? Did anyone want to see assorted characters mutilated and killed in the most morbid fashion imaginable?

    No. He wanted that and we're just expected to deal with it.

    The man has a bizzare sense of story. He wants everything to be like how it was during the Silver Age, with characters like Barry and Hal. He introduces obscure plots that NO ONE remembers, and morphs those events into something far darker and more sinister than they were initially intended to be. He believes that all characters are expendable, because murder, rape and death is good storytelling.

    Didio only understands angst. To him, characters must be constantly suffering physically and emotionally. They can never be happy or well-adjusted like they used to be. If they show signs of being well-adjusted, they immediately undo it. Teen Titans is the perfect example. None of those kids are happy with who they are or what they do. I'm surprised they haven't all started cutting themselves and writing livejournal poetry about how much life sucks.

    I think all of us were waiting anxiously for KID FLASH, because it was expected and hoped to be something DIFFERENT from what we've come to expect. We were all hoping for something like IMPULSE and YOUNG JUSTICE. A comic that didn't take itself too seriously and that wasn't driven by angst.

    I'm not arrogant enough to say that we the readers always know better than the writers and creators of these stories. But after a point, they have to realize that sometimes what we want should be put into consideration. I mean, Marvel constantly uses the term "Because YOU demanded it."

    Wally and Bart were the only Flash characters that many of us ever knew. We invested decades into their development. Now they're being pushed into side-characters or limbo and Superboy is losing his book to be made into an other Emo-Titan.

    Makes you wonder why we even bother reading DC in general.

     

  • At 10:58 PM, Blogger Mr Saturday Morning said…

    well said, Red Robin

     

  • At 11:02 PM, Blogger EoRaptor said…

    agree with most of that RedRobin. though I do think a lot of it is chasing a market segment which is marginal at best.

     

  • At 10:58 AM, Anonymous Flash Fact said…

    As a Barry fan, I'm upset. I expected Barry and Wally to be treated equally and fairly. et alone Bart, whose book would be the one all Flash Fans would probbaly agree on. Barry Flash is my all-time favorite character, but because of this treatment towards great characters like Wally and Bart, I may not get the new book.

     

  • At 11:01 AM, Anonymous Flash Fact said…

    Oh yeah, please excuse my spelling and gramma. Fanboy rage can make you write like an idiot. Also, well-put Red Robin.

     

  • At 3:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This is why World War 3 made me walk away. My only regret is I didn't do it during Identity Crisis. But i was hanging on for the sake of certain characters. Well, one of them is dead, two of them are unrecognizable, one is okay, and one is doing sort of okay in backup features.

    That's 1.5 out of 5.

    Calling Dan Didio a fan of the Silver Age is kind of like calling a serial killer a fan of his victims. I'm more of a fan of the Silver Age *as it actually was* then Didio is.

    I would like to believe that whenever the day comes when Didio leaves--and I know that might take another half dozen years--that he'll be replaced by someone who a) Cares and b) Has a clue. I would like to believe that, yes. But lest we forget, Didio didn't start things going down the wrong path. He just accelerated it. There's no guarantee that his eventual successor will be any kind of improvement.

    If said successor DOES turn out to be better (that's *better* as opposed to merely being *not as bad*, important distinction there), then I can start reading at least some of the books again.

    If not...

    Then maybe...

    Just maybe...

    ...it's time to walk away.

    For good.

     

  • At 3:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey, Met - instead of "Bah, Humbug," shouldn't it be "Bah, Ambush Bug!"???

     

  • At 9:22 PM, Anonymous GSO89 said…

    Didio, you utter bastard!!

     

  • At 12:36 AM, Anonymous Red Robin 3.0 said…

    Anonymous, Dan is a fan of the Silver Age. Or rather the CHARACTERS of the Silver Age. He loves old school characters like Hal and Oliver and Barry because those are the ones HE grew up with.

    JBut his insane ideas towards storytelling. He wants Silver Age character with Tarentino stories. It's like Nightwing said "They want SUPERFRIENDS as directed by Quentin Tarentino, minus the quality. "

    And these disturbing stories began when Didio took control. I mean, before him there would be an epic-cross-series storyline every couple of years. Under his watch, its two or three every year.

    Yes, there is no evidence that a successor will be any better than Didio, but hopefully the person who takes over will not be so self-rightous. He'll understand that 'less is more'. Killing characters is more effective when its not by the dozen. Major Crisis storylines are more forbidding when they didn't just have another Crisis the week before. And also they will stop promising stuff to fans, only to revoke that promise after the fans.

     

  • At 12:39 AM, Anonymous Red Robin 3.0 said…

    (Sorry for the double Post. Accidentally hit Publish, instead of Preview. Please delete first one if possible.)

    Anonymous, Dan is a fan of the Silver Age. Or rather the CHARACTERS of the Silver Age. He loves old school characters like Hal and Oliver and Barry because those are the ones HE grew up with.

    But his insane ideas towards storytelling. He wants Silver Age character with Tarentino stories. It's like Nightwing said "They want SUPERFRIENDS as directed by Quentin Tarentino, minus the quality. "

    And these disturbing stories began when Didio took control. I mean, before him there would be an epic-cross-series storyline every couple of years. Under his watch, its two or three every year.

    Yes, there is no evidence that a successor will be any better than Didio, but hopefully the person who takes over will not be so self-rightous. He'll understand that 'less is more'. Killing characters is more effective when its not by the dozen. Major Crisis storylines are more forbidding when they didn't just have another Crisis the week before. And also they will stop promising stuff to fans, only to revoke that promise after the fans got excited about it.

    I mean, how many stories were promised and then tossed aside? Batwoman, Kid Flash, All-Star Batgirl, All-Star Wonder Woman, etc...

     

  • At 2:32 AM, Blogger EoRaptor said…

    Well, Batwoman was pretty much always a stunt; "come see out forward-thinking lesbian crime fighter!" Which is a shame, I know a lot of people who are dying for a strong non-traditional female lead in a book, and Powergirl just won't satisfy like that.

    But yeah, the rest is pretty much bait and switch, as is the "20 questions" crap and letting out info about the books six months to a year in advance. Its a good sign the plots are being written entirely by the editorial staff rather than *le gasp* the writers. And the Crisis? It's pretty much every year now. It's not always CALLED Crisis... (this year it was blackest night for instance)

     

  • At 2:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'm hoping (and I know how feeble it is, but I am the eternal optimist) that this means that Bart will be back in Teen Titans, and a valued part of the team that lets him develop in the pages of that book. I'm more worried about Wally, and what the return of Barry means for his character. Same thing with Dick . . . we already know that Bruce is returning, and there is a new Nightwing in the Super books. Where does that leave Dick when Bruce returns? I'm enjoying him as Batman, but like him best as Nightwing with the Titans (when written well, I should say). I like where Pete Tomasi was taking him. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, and enjoy our back issues.

     

  • At 10:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Live Girls

    Sexflat Blog

    Porno Weiber

     

  • At 11:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    A comprehensive fitness program tailored to an solitary will very likely pinpoint on sole or more definitive skills, and on age-[3] or health-related needs such as bone health.[4] Many sources[citation needed] also cite disposition, sexual and emotional fettle as an superior part of whole fitness. This is regularly presented in textbooks as a triangle made up of three points, which show natural, poignant, and psychotic fitness. Material well-being can also hamper or investigate various chronic fitness conditions brought on by way of ailing lifestyle or aging.[5] Working out can also remedy people sleep better. To live sturdy it is important to preoccupy in physical activity.
    Training

    Certain or task-oriented [url=http://www.pella.pl]fitness[/url] is a living soul's gifts to fulfil in a identified with activity with a sober expertise: seeking example, sports or military service. Individual to training prepares athletes to appear as wonderfully in their sports.

    Examples are:

    400 m sprint: in a sprint the athlete should be trained to work anaerobically from one end to the other the race.
    Marathon: in this case the athlete requirement be trained to production aerobically and their perseverance must be built-up to a maximum.
    Scads blazing fighters and patrol officers subject oneself to level fitness testing to determine if they are masterly of the physically exacting tasks required of the job.
    Members of the Partnership States Army and Army Governmental Convoy have to be proficient to pass the Army Physical Good shape Check-up (APFT).

     

Post a Comment

<< Home