I’ll say, just from that headline it sounds complicated.

 

Really? Huh, first I've heard of it. You got a link to it?

Yes, I really dislike his portrayal of Lois, especially so early in his run, which is why I dropped off during Man of Steel and haven't looked back. When Bendis gets certain characters, they're really excellent, but man when he gets em wrong, they're really screwed up.

I wish someone working at DC the past few years would one day let us know the background stuff happening during this time - because Wally has been yanked all over the place ever since Geoff Johns' role at DC was reduced.

 

Wally West murdered a bunch of characters, there is no redemption for him.

 

Wally West murdered NO ONE. If you're going to complain, at least read the story. Or if not that, at least read a synopsis.

I don't know. I read so many articles and interviews every week, the chance of pinning that down is pretty remote. I think it might have been Newsarama? One of the articles announcing the return of the Legion?

 

Erm characters like Hal Jordan, Wolverine, Phoenix, Cyclops, etc did the same and they’re pretty much redeemed.

Despite the in story explanation, again doesn’t help that DC themselves have allowed Wally to be described as the murderer in various articles including their own solicits/press releases.

As for Bendis/Jon, I’ve never run across that, all I’ve read so far is basically Bendis saying how he’s a big Legion fan, how excited he is to handle the book and he basically asked for it the moment he came into DC. Which after all the stuff that he spouted out before doing Superman doesn’t really inspire confidence.

 

Phoenix paid the price and died. At least, originally.

Hal Jordan also died originally.

When did Wolverine and Cyclops murder people?

No thanks. I'm not wasting my time with modern day shit shows. And I did read a synopsis, it said Wally West killed a lot of people with a huge lightning attack. Only Poison Ivy survived because of her plant abilities.

 

Heroes in Crisis character assassinated Wally West, but the deaths he caused were not technically intentional murder. The story is that in a moment of emotional crisis, he "lost control" of the speed force energy and it killed everyone around him who was running to help him. Leave aside the fact that the speed force has never been shown to do that before, and that some villains would love to have this ability to kill with lightning, Wally caused those deaths unintentionally. His real character assassination was in having him cover it all up and frame Booster and Harley for it, something I just have a hard time buying.

If Didio wonders why readers prefer older material, look no further than books like HiC, which treat much loved characters like crap. Why editorial persists in thinking that we want to see these characters put through the wringer like this, I have no idea.

 

Rucka's Lois Lane book rides a weird line between being really good and uncomfortably bad. There's enough in it to keep me reading and enjoying, but I could see myself suddenly dropping it in disgust, too.

 

Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a minute...

 

Cyclops killed Professor X, and yes I guess you could argue he also "paid the price" in becoming an outlaw and dying. Wolverine, well it's a long list, tho he's also died and come back. So I guess if Wally did the same he's redeemable?

Yep that's technically the worst thing he did in HiC, but DC and the press choose to go with the more sensational "Wally killed people (unintenionally) using the Speed Force" angle

It's an unintenional effect of what I believe started with Alan Moore, suddenly many fans/writers/editorial feel characters had to be edgy/put through the wringer for stories to be good/matter.

 

It's not pretty and absolutely ruins Wally as a character.

Some characters being killers is okay. Wolverine killing people is fine. Wally, even unintentionally, killing people is ludicrous at best and does nothing for his character. The unintentional murders still aren't as bad as him going out of his way to cover up said murders by making them appear as if Boosters and Harley committed said murders. HIC was a poorly crafted story from start to finish. Even the way Booster and Harley acted throughout the mini didn't make a whole lot of sense. Harley is allegedly crazy, but that insanity seems to change based on the requirements of the story. I don't have a problem with her level of insanity changing between writers, but when said level changes from issue to issue under the same pen, it starts to come across silly.

To say Wally didn't murder anyone is also not entirely true either. It may not fulfill the legal definition of murder, but lives were lost through Wally's actions. I'm hoping there will be a story that removes his culpability -- something like the yellow parallax bug.

 

I've already thought of a really easy one, and I'm kind of hoping Johns will use it since that's the angle he's been exploring anyway in Doomsday Clock - Doctor Manhattan caused the Speedforce explosion, and his breakdown - tada, clean slate for Wally, but knowing DC, nothing's ever that simple or easy.

 

After HIC, I've pretty much given up on DC. I only know the little that I do from reading the posts in this thread. HIC was such a travesty of a comic that it killed my desire to read anything from DC for the foreseeable future.

If they fix Wally (the entire universe needs to be reset) then I might come back, but as it is, it's not looking likely.

I've already given up on Marvel (2017).

I'm not the biggest fan of Johns currently, but he has fixed some continuity headaches in the past, so I have hope he can fix Wally.

 

Really? They’ve got some good books going currently. Immortal Hulk, Nick Spencer’s run on Amazing Spider-Man(with Tom Taylor writing Friendly Neighborhood), Jason Aaron’s run on Thor(but that’s about to conclude), Donny Cates’ runs on Venom & Guardians of the Galaxy, and Jonathan Hickman’s run on X-Men(which just started).

Everything else is simply a matter of opinion.

 

I am reading Immortal Hulk. It's backburning at the moment, though, as I am rereading Perez' run on Wonder Woman again.

 

If not him I'm sure you could blame it on someone like Zoom.

 

DAN DIDIO 'Concerned' About 'Nostalgia' Driving the Comic Book Market
Maybe if you wrote current stories with plots and characterizations the along the lines of the nostalgic stuff people seem to want to buy people would buy more of the current stuff..... you know make product your audience wants.....

JIM LEE: DC's Digital Comics Sales 'Plateauing' and 'Disheartening'
Maybe if your new digital stuff didn't cost as much as your paper issues..........

 

Amen to that.

 

He can't have it both ways. He can't complain about the market being nostalgia-driven when they create no new content or properties, and rely completely on regurgitating the same company-owned characters from 50-80 years ago. DC and Marvel are the ones who created this diseased atmosphere that is built entirely on exploiting nostalgia rather than innovating or actual creation. And worse, they've been conditioning US audiences to not only be okay with that, but to reject anything new. Then trying to turn that around on the fans is victim-blaming.

 

I think that's a little unfair to Didio. Between the New 52 and... whatever that failed artist-driven subline was, he's tried to launch a number of new titles and characters. They just all failed, which is probably why he's so salty about people wanting more Flash and Green Lantern instead of Damage or Prez.