The current on-going “Flash” title has come to end.  Wally is alive; his wife Linda is alive; and so are the kids.  The only significant thing that happened is that Wally has decided to take a break from the super-hero life and spend time with his family.  I wish this series would have ended with a better creative team in place so as to give the book a proper send-off.  “The Flash” Volume One ended with issue #350.  It had a very good ending and it had it’s longtime artist Carmine Infantino illustrating it.  This issue was illustrated by three different artists and three different inkers - it looked rushed in some areas.  We know Barry Allen is coming back in 2009, but Wally has been the Flash for over 20 years and he deserves some respect.

What makes this last storyline so disappointing is that it had Wally battling a B level villain in “Queen Bee” and not one of his normal Rogues. As a stand alone story, the issue was okay, but not in any way fitting to the character of the Flash and the last issue of a long on-going series. I won’t go into the details of the issue because the story is so insignificant to the over all picture of what is happening to the Flash: Wally is out and Barry is in.

I’m not sure what the world of the Flash will be like post “Rebirth” when Barry returns. We know that Wally does not die. Will he and Jay Garrick the Golden Age co-exist with Barry in a new on-going series? Although I’m excited to read Geoff John’s “Rebirth” mini-series, I feel like Wally is getting the short end of the stick here.

Thanks to writers like Mark Waid and Geoff Johns, Wally West has developed into a truly great character. Unlike Kyle Rayner who had a lot of difficulty taking over the mantle of Green Lantern, Wally became the main Flash to many readers over the years - including me. With John’s writing “Rebirth” it would have been nice to maybe have had him write a stand alone final issue of the series that would have then led into “Rebirth”.

It will be a hard pill to swallow when Barry returns as Wally has been the only Flash I’ve read over the years. (I began reading “Flash” in 1994 with issue #95.) However, it’s good news to know that Wally will be around. (As mentioned in one of my previous blogs here.) Johns did a fantastic job in bringing Hal Jordan back as the main Green Lantern in “Green Lantern: Rebirth” and I’m sure he’ll do it here too.

I think the problem with Wally towards the end is that DC painted themselves into a corner. With his marriage to Linda and the birth of their twins, it seems that his story has truly come to an end. Maybe that’s one of the reasons they felt now was a good time to bring Barry Allen back as the Flash. Whatever the case may be, Wally is out and Barry is back in. Cheers to Wally and long live The Flash.