The Four Color Media Monitor

Newsarama wrote an article a short time ago about Heroes in Crisis, speculating on the possibility Wally West isn't dead, although that doesn't make the "event" any less offensive and superfluous than it already is:

Wally West’s death is a major loss for the characters of the DCU. This version of Wally West had a pretty extensive past with the Titans and the Flash family. And although he was missing from this timeline during the New 52, his return during 2016’s “Rebirth” launch was accompanied by Barry Allen and a slew of other characters remembering who he was.

Yet this week’s issue of The Flash doesn’t even mention Wally’s death. Granted, the series is immersed in a story arc that has some pretty fast-moving revelations about the Speed Force (and other forces), but there’s not even a hint in this week’s issue that Wally West, one of the most important characters from the title — in fact, a key character in the recent “Flash War” event - just died.

We could probably write that off as merely a matter of timing to be addressed in a future issue but it doesn’t add up cleanly when compared to the way Roy Harper’s death (in the same issue of Heroes in Crisis) has been handled.

Again, even if Wally's not dead, that doesn't make the mini any less offensive with its premise, nor does it make Roy Harper's death any more valid. What I find disappointing about this kind of op-ed is its failure to go far enough, and say these kind of stunts have to got to cease altogether. Especially in a book that's basically a crossover event. As they note, Roy's death was the subject of at least 3 other books like Green Arrow, Red Hood and the Outlaws, and Titans. And if he's de facto dead, that's where the smart fan firmly objects. No hero should have to be sacrifice to the whims of disgraceful editors and writers who can say whatever they like but it's clear don't respect the creations.

But with the entire DCU effectively ignoring the death of Wally West (so far), it feels as if his death didn't stick outside the pages of Heroes in Crisis #1. Or maybe it wasn’t real at all?

Considering how pretentious and stilted the miniseries already is, it doesn't matter whether it's all a dream or a time travel tale. What matters is that it's tasteless, crude and a whole waste of trees. Why, before I forget, even Nightwing's suffered badly from bullet injuries in the wake of this crossover, if not death itself. That's not what the audience needs, and putting such a heavy emphasis on darkness only drags down the DCU even further for the sake of a phantom audience.

For now, what's clear is that Dan DiDio and Bob Harras disrespected fans of Roy Harper, most likely under the notion few consider him as important as Wally West, which isn't true. And that's why nobody should spend money on this atrocity.

Update: this sugarcoated article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer is truly awful, but it also tells something eyebrow raising:

Also on the deathlist in that issue were Arsenal, (AKA Speedy, the former partner of Green Arrow); Lagoon Boy; Hotspot; Commander Steel and Blue Jay. If you said "Who?" to the latter four you are not alone. None set the world on fire, though Steel was an interesting character when he was with the Justice Society of America. Of course, now that the JSA has been written out of continuity he has not been seen in years.

That the JSA's been jettisoned, and that this may not have changed, is no shock at all in an era where DiDio's done everything he could to drive away fans and casual readers.

Writer Tom King is right at the top of the list of hot scribes, so I expect good things from the mini-series, which is supposed to show how superheroes deal with death.

Nothing good comes from a story where character deaths are as forced as they are in this atrocity. This is one of the most tasteless articles I've seen to date on the subject.

Labels: bad editors, crossoverloading, dc comics, Flash, golden calf of death, Justice Society of America, moonbat writers, Titans, violence