Episode 1772 Talkback - Comic Talk
Adam_Murdough
Posts: 506
We catch a falling star and put it in our pocket in this episode, as we discuss the premiere of the stellar new CWTV series, DC's Stargirl! Plus many more multimedia maunderings. (1:28:43)
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I wanted to chime in regarding the discussion of GL: Rebirth and the subsequent squandering of Kyle Rayner ... though, tangentially.
With the COVID reality we're all living in now, three buddies of mine and I have been doing weekly online chats of old comics, for New Comic Wednesday, and calling it OCD, "Old Comics Day." Currently, we are going through the original New Teen Titans run by Wolfman & Perez (you all knew that), but prior to that we all read Geoff Johns's initial Flash run, from issues 164-225, over the course of five weeks. Though a certified Flash fan, I hadn't read much of the early issues of this run. it was fun to go back and reintroduce myself to what is a significant run of my favorite superhero -- though there were certainly lows along with the highs (many of which coincided with Scott Kolins on art), and I, admittedly, am still unsure how I feel about Johns's reimagining of the Rogues.
Anyway. Something I found quite interesting, in retrospect, was how much Johns was pushing Barry Allen into the stories he was telling. The first big push comes in Iron Heights, when he retroactively has Barry as the primary witness in the trial of new Rogue, Murmur (this "fact" of Barry being a major witness in Murmur's trial is referenced at least 2-3 more times in this run of issues, lest one forget about that "untold tale.") We also get the return of Barry Allen, TWICE: once in issue 200, and once more toward the end of "Rogue War," at the end of Johns's run. There are many other instances of Barry coming up in conversation, as well, throughout these comics. I'd read all of the specific issues cited above, but did not remember that Barry figured so prominently.
Geoff Johns is known for how strongly he worked to bring the Rogues to the forefront of the Flash series, during his tenure as writer in these issues. Not only did he bring back most all of Barry's original Rogues, but he also formed a new collection of Rogues -- ones who were darker (not just in characterization but also in costuming) and, to my mind, lesser than the originals, which may have been his intention to facilitate the building up of Captain Cold, Mirror Master, the Top, et al. This overshadows, even as it complements, the way in which Johns was pushing Barry further into the forefront of the series (as much as was possible, since he was, technically, dead). Hindsight being what it is, in re-reading these issues, it seems obvious that Johns was already working toward the resurrection of Barry Allen. He just needed to earn the authority for such a move, as well as a good story device to achieve it.
-chris