Flash #233: something just doesn't seem right about this
Published by Avi Green on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 12:47 AM.
I looked at a synopsis for Flash #233, and I wonder if Mark Waid is succumbing to PC-ness, by injecting something like realism where it doesn't belong:
Why exactly should a couple of superheroes who've long taken teen protagonists under their wing, training them to deal with situations as dangerous as anything they could, be concerned that the Crimson Comet is doing the same? It sounds to me like a forced injection of the possibly recent, negative view of having teen heroes in a fictional world, just another reason why comic books are suffering such a loss in story value. Does that mean that Waid may have even lost faith in his own teenaged creation, Bart Allen, suggesting another reason why we haven't heard any expression of disappointment over Bart's offing?
Does that mean that DC didn't have much faith in the Flash and his wife having children to begin with?
And the idea that the Flash would train his children to be superdoers because they may not have much longer to live is also insulting to the intellect. For one thing, they should, if anything, be analyzing their health to see if it's possible to ensure that they won't end up dying young. For another, if they really do care about Flash's kids, they wouldn't approve of his training them out of what sounds like a view that they're expendable.
Maybe that's why sales have been sinking for this as well?
The story is wrapped quickly, but then the JLA pose an intervention with Flash and Linda. They are concerned that they drag their kids into dangerous situations. It's an interesting twist on today's world telling people how to parent.Forget the t-shirt, what I'm wondering is, for example:
During the confrontation Flash erupts, especially at Batman, at the JLA's questioning his love for his kids. It's a good exchange and we watch Wally explain how his kids are aging rapidly with no end in sight. They could be dead within a couple of years at their current rate. It's really not that surprising because they did age 10 years or so in one, so I would think most people would have seen this coming.
The JLA buy into the reasoning that Flash will let his kids fight crime because they might not be alive much longer anyway and they leave the Flash family in peace. One of the kids was eavesdropping which can only damage his psych down the road. Although, he looked cool in his Robin t-shirt.
Why exactly should a couple of superheroes who've long taken teen protagonists under their wing, training them to deal with situations as dangerous as anything they could, be concerned that the Crimson Comet is doing the same? It sounds to me like a forced injection of the possibly recent, negative view of having teen heroes in a fictional world, just another reason why comic books are suffering such a loss in story value. Does that mean that Waid may have even lost faith in his own teenaged creation, Bart Allen, suggesting another reason why we haven't heard any expression of disappointment over Bart's offing?
Does that mean that DC didn't have much faith in the Flash and his wife having children to begin with?
And the idea that the Flash would train his children to be superdoers because they may not have much longer to live is also insulting to the intellect. For one thing, they should, if anything, be analyzing their health to see if it's possible to ensure that they won't end up dying young. For another, if they really do care about Flash's kids, they wouldn't approve of his training them out of what sounds like a view that they're expendable.
Maybe that's why sales have been sinking for this as well?
