Too Many Flashes?

There has been a certain amount of consternation, in relation to the return of Barry Allen lately. A number of people...perhaps rightly...fear the diminuation of Wally West's position as Flash. Some don't see the need for Barry's return, saying that he died a sincere and meaningful death way back in the original Crises. Some are simply rolling their eyes at the perpetual revolving door of Death in Comics. Some people just don't like Barry much.

Frankly, I like Barry, and I'm glad that they are bringing him back. The thing is, is that I like Wally too, along with Jay, Max and Bart. Well...I liked Bart as Impulse. I really HATED him as the Flash. That's one development that I wish could be retconned as soon as possible. But you see, I'm a Green Lantern fan. And the thing about Green Lanterns, is that they ALL have more or less the same powers, they just USE them a little differently. There is practically an infinite variety to the number and nuances of Green Lanterns. I think that it is a fabulous concept.

There are TONS of Batpeople. For a supposed "loner", Batman sure has a huge supporting cast. He's practically got sidekicks coming out the proverbial wazzoo. For being the "Last Son" of Krypton, Superman has a crapload of cousins and pets and various other relatives. There are even a ton of Green Arrows. Considering that being able to shoot pointy sticks at people is a bit of a sucky superpower, there are a LOT of Arrow minions out there. Heck Ollie has managed to practically sire an entire basketball team's worth of mini-arrows all by himself. Diana isn't the ONLY Amazon running around.

I guess my point is, that there is ROOM in the DC Universe for more than one or even two Flashes. Are Wally's powers going to change, now that Barry is back? That is very possible. In his latest issues, it is being hinted at, that he won't be able to go faster than the speed of sound anymore. I'm actually fine with that. Just below the speed of sound is STILL FREAKIN' FAST!
It would be nice if each of the Flashes has a different method, or skillset or way of applying their powers. Wally can do that siphoning thingie, that I don't think Barry can do. I'm sure that Jay can do things that neither Barry or Wally has ever thought of, simply because he has so much more experience. I know that Bart is technically "dead", but we all know how lasting THAT is likely to be...I'm pretty sure that he's simply contained in the lightin rod that the Legion nabbed a while back. I DO hope, that if Bart shows up with those uppity Legionnaires, he'll be young and back to being Impulse again...just to drive them all insane.

Besides...Barry's just nice. It would make Iris happy. And I've always liked the whole CSI thing, which could be used in a very interesting way...sort of like how Dr. Midnite is the super doctor, Barry could be the super forensics guy. Batman can't do EVERYTHING after all.

There IS one teensy little problem with Barry's return however.


I'm not exactly sure what Barry's talking about here, but Hal is looking a tad uncomfortable. And you just KNOW that Ollie's going to be jealous. Didn't he always snip at poor old Barry over Hal in the old days? Honestly, I don't know WHAT it is that Hal has, but they should figure out a way to bottle it.

I think that they should just go ahead and have a League, that consists of nothing but formerly dead people. That would be one HUGE League1