DC's still kept the premise that Barry Allen's parents died when he was young
2 Comments Published by Avi Green on Monday, July 09, 2012 at 7:08 AM.
Newsarama interviewed Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato about the direction they're going in with the Flash. They say it's a "revamped" origin, but that's actually happened already when Geoff Johns did his disrespectfully cliched Rebirth miniseries, and changed time and history for Barry Allen, so that his mother was murdered and his father framed by the Reverse-Flash. And that premise, or at least part of it, is still in effect here:
Nrama: Will there be some answers to the mysteries that may remain about his past in the New 52?Because they're not interested! If they've decided to keep on with the horrific retcon Johns set up even remotely, then they've only turned the Scarlet Speedster into the same thing as everything else today, which is the taint of darkness. And turning the non-powered Rogues like Captain Cold into metahumans instead of conceiving new antagonists with built-in powers only furthers the cheapness. And Buccellato doesn't make things any better when he says:
Manapul: Definitely, between the Flash Annual and issue #0 answer a lot of questions that people have, all the way from how the Rogues got their powers, how exactly did Barry Allen grow up after he lost his parents, and how exactly did he end up being the golden boy in Central City when all he's always doing is looking at the back half of these kind of cold cases and not doing all the work that everybody else is supposed to be doing.
Buccellato: Yeah, it will fill in a lot of blanks. A lot of people don't know where Barry went after he lost his parents. There's a story there that people haven't seen yet.
Buccellato: A lot of cool superhero origins give a context and reflect why they're heroes and why they do what they do. And we felt like Barry needed that.That's all I need to know why this rendition should be avoided. The motivation in itself may be valid, but within the context of the Flash's world, the reason they retconned in is just terrible and already long derivative.
I know the story of his mother was told in Flash: Rebirth, and that's a valid reason for his choice to become a hero. But we felt like we needed to go a little bit deeper.
Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, violence
"Hey Batman, do you remember when you and Superman were the only orphans in the Justice League? And Martian Manhunter lost his whole race, of course. The rest of us were pretty much just heroic and normal.
Boy, those were the days, huh?"
-Flash
Also, the losing-parents-dark-vigilante thing is silly for anyone, Batman included since it doesn't work that way in real life. To have it used for everyone just cheapens it, and also draws attention to it.
LOL, Flying Tiger. I agree with you. It's stupid how it's become fashionable for EVERY hero to have a tragic backstory, all for the sake more darkness and depression, just so they have a motivation. Not every hero has to be batman or Spider-Man. Whatever happened to becoming a hero just because it was the right thing to do? That's probably considered way too "simplistic" by the hacks in charge today.