like lightning

first of all, here's a solemn sendoff to Bart Allen, the newest Flash, who wears the mantle and holds the title of the fastest man alive for 13 issues. and since there can be only one official Flash in any given era, i'm sorry to spoil your day because Bart just bit the dust (heh) ...

Impulse/Kid Flash/Flash, 1994-2007

Bart, as Flash, loses the Speed Force (the thing that powers all Flashes, except Jay Garrick), and proceeded to get a royal beating courtesy of his Rogues' Gallery. but he went out like a hero, buying enough time (with some help from his grandma Iris, wife of the greatest Flash, Barry Allen) for his love Valerie Perez to prevent a Speed Force backlash that would destroy the West Coast (there goes the Oden/Durant sweepstakes - wait, so that's why Kobe was trying to get traded!).

child abuse! child abuse!

geez, being beaten to death by your best villains ... that's kinda humiliating. but i am looking forward to this guy exacting payback within the next six months ...

you know what this means ... yes, another Flash relaunch!

as it turns out, with the conclusion of "The Lightning Saga" in Justice League of America #10, the entity the Legionnaires wanted to bring back with their lightning wands was none other than ... Wally West! (missing since Infinite Crisis and the second-greatest Flash ever)

wooohooooooooooooooo! now the world is right again! Black Canary wastes no time in making Wally a JLA member ASAP.

is it just me, or does Ed Benes draw everyone too muscled? in the scene below, its like hugging industrial-sized throw pillows. or huge cement blocks.

of course, a sad/happy ending in a comic universe would not be complete without dangling plot lines. why is Legionnaire Karate Kid (not that wimp Ralph Macchio - wait, not that Marvel guy either) still stuck in the present? what does Starman mean that worlds will die again now that Wally is back? hint, hint, two words ... Countdown and Monitors. and since the Legion can do this stunt, can they bring back anybody else who "died" or is missing? (yeah, if Geoff Johns decrees it).

and who did the Legionnaires get in exchange for Wally? is that Bart?

i think i read JLA first before the Flash issue, but then it doesn't really spoil the whole thing. although one can't do without the other.

i'm out like Bartholemew!
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Flash #13
Justice League of America #10