why do comic writers only tell like 3-5 flash stories? You have a
>Grodd/Gorilla story
>Rogues Story
>Reverse-Flash Story
>hero or villain cameo of the month story
and sometimes extraneous speed force-y stories
these get cycled through a lot. A great current example is Williamson's Flash. It's cycled through most of these stories so far and is 20 something issues in. Are flash writers just creatively bankrupt?
Barry's not a very interesting character so people just do staple stories with him.
There's also time travel stories but that's usually part of the ones you already listed.
Wally's shit was pretty frequently very different but that's because he had forward thinking writers writing him and he's a character with a very malleable and interesting premise.
Most currently Big 2 writers are creatively bankrupt.
Flash writers are creatively bankrupt because DC's editorial spent years throwing out everything else.
Honestly speaking, why write for Flash other than to write those few template stories?
Is he still a forensic scientist? You'd think they'd milk a couple of detective mysteries or something out of that.
They've tried wrapping in his forensics work into the comic several times but it's always really boring and forgettable.
Barry is most interesting with Batman.
Writers want to write ~iconic~ characters and editors encourage it since more people are fans of those characters and are more likely to buy.
Then writers want to create their own characters and villains just because they have to idea and also maybe the chance of said character appearing in other media
That leaves new characters appearing in like 10 issues total and the next writer ignoring them because they want to create new characters
its in part about the characters, but its the function of those characters that's the real problem. A reverse-flash story for instance is always going to be about him fucking with barry and/or time or both and a rogues story is either gonna be about revenge on someone or stealing something
Actually that is what OP is complaining about not happening. We get recycled villains/ideas instead of a breath of fresh air. No, Godspeed doesn't count.
What more succesful cape writers do is take pre-existing characters and redefine them. Hell, that's what Johns' career is based on. However, no one wants to make something new or redefine anything about the Flash formula.
Well you can see it's basically just people rehashing Johns. Maybe editorial should put a moratorium on using too many classic stuff at once so that when it actually deserves a revival we get something as good as Johns.
Flash should have remained a legacy character. There's so much you can do with Barry, and all they've done up to now is redo old Johns/Waid stories, and now Barry's early adventures redux with a new Kid Flash. But the main problem, most comic writers are creatively bankrupt, and the older ones are washed up.
Rebirth is good, but its only excellent if you are new reader and get to experience these stories freshly and new. If you are a lapsed one, they just feel repetitive.
Speed force ruined The Flash forever
agreedforce
So if one were to get into The Flash, what would be a good order for the volumes? Can I just go straight through, say, Flash Comics into latter v1 and then straight into v2 post-Crisis?
If I were just going to read post-Crisis pre-nu52 Flash, it's basically just v2 into Flash Rebirth into v3 into Flashpoint, right? Or are there other events/books that can be considered essential Flash reading?
It has gotten better with Williamson, even if ever so slightly but you are definitely right OP. Unfortunately for Williamson, he has to reestablish everything New 52 ruined.
>No, Godspeed doesn't count.
He's a rehash Zolomon though.
Jay's volume was called "All-Flash" rather than v1 and I haven't looked into why but the numbering in Barry's run starts with like #100 in v1 and also his first appearance is in Showcase. I haven't read much preCrisis to tell you more than that though.
There was the Bart run I think titled "Flash: Fastest Man Alive" without a proper volume number that kind of happens in the midst of v2, like around 240 or 250, then they go back to v2 numbering after it. It's kind of shitty though. Impulse is a good ancillary book but not really required outside of maybe crossovers.
Morrison had some great ideas.
The same can be said for other big DC characters as well. The big two is now creatively bankrupt. Morrison's Batman and Action Comics(and maybe Azzarello Wondy) was the last time we saw something interesting and fresh on a flagship DC character. DC is now more into fan service and characterfags want nothing more than comfy and bland stories.
Morrison's Action, while good, is not what I'd call fresh. It was very much a rehash of Superman's development throughout the ages.
It was a homage, but never a rehash. It easily stands apart from any Superman story since the seventies.
Batman went through the same thing in the 00's, Superman goes through the same thing all the goddamn time, Wonder Woman spends all her time having her continuity revamped. It's just a thing that happens when the editorial and the creatives don't really know where to go next, or when a single trait becomes too defining for the character for a while. It's not unique to Flash at all, and it will end eventually.
But... not for a while.
I think it could have worked so long as the cycle of Flashes kept changing. Or there was a reason Wally/Jay/Barry etc didn't become masters to it.
But the real problem is that there is only so much you can do with a character that has never ending stories from multiple authors.
Nah, other heroes have done just fine as one person or multiple, that's not really an excuse for repeating the same iconic stories over and over. As for too much power, Barry and Wally were OP from day one and they both have decades of good stories under their belt. Hell, Jay only became a great character when he joined the JSA and became much faster and more bullshit than under his own run.
Yeah, he's basically cleaning up the mess. It's not a job I envy.
>So if one were to get into The Flash, what would be a good order for the volumes? Can I just go straight through, say, Flash Comics into latter v1 and then straight into v2 post-Crisis?
Yes, although as the other user mentions, that does include Jay's Golden Age adventures. If you want to start with Barry, begin with Showcase #4, 8, 13, 14, and then pick up with Flash v1 #105.
>If I were just going to read post-Crisis pre-nu52 Flash, it's basically just v2 into Flash Rebirth into v3 into Flashpoint, right? Or are there other events/books that can be considered essential Flash reading?
You'd want to read Flash: Rogues Revenge just for a cool Rogues story, and read Flash: Rebirth #1-6 (from 2009). Plus Blackest Night: Flash #1-3.
>Jay's volume was called "All-Flash" rather than v1 and I haven't looked into why but the numbering in Barry's run starts with like #100 in v1 and also his first appearance is in Showcase. I haven't read much preCrisis to tell you more than that though.
Jay's series was primarily called Flash Comics, and it does form a good part of Flash v1. Jay's series ended with Flash #104, and Barry's series picked up about a decade later with #105. But you're right that Barry's first appearances were actually in Showcase #4, 8, 13, 14.
Jay did appear in a title called "All-Flash", but that was a different book.
>There was the Bart run I think titled "Flash: Fastest Man Alive" without a proper volume number that kind of happens in the midst of v2, like around 240 or 250, then they go back to v2 numbering after it. It's kind of shitty though. Impulse is a good ancillary book but not really required outside of maybe crossovers.
Yeah, I wouldn't recommend Flash: Fastest Man Alive.
I feel like there's a miniseries just waiting to happen where a speedster in a flash costume just runs around flashing people. and calls himself the Flash(er). And he uses the pp force in conjunction with the speed force to go faster than any speedster before so they can't catch him.