#flashfam

My answers are probably so basic, I’m sorry, but:

The obvious one is Linda. Linda is the single best supporting character and it’s not even close. You have no idea how happy I was to find that she (largely, barring her powers during the pregnancy with Wade) remained a civilian cast. Not every love interest or side character needs to become a regular fighter. I love how intelligent and witty she is, and how her sensibility contrasts so well to Wally. It makes sense she’s his lightning rod when he goes into the Speed Force, you know? Not just because of their love (which I could opine about for forever; how does one corrupt Neron with your “power of love” alone, holy power couple Batman????), but because she is literally a grounding force.

Besides that, I love Jay, but I feel like this is cheating because I also love the JSA as a whole, which he’s part of. Loved Geoff John’s run, if you haven’t gotten the chance. The vibe of that era of hero resonates with me for a reason I can’t articulate. It’s the simplicity of their altruism, maybe. Their warmth. I dunno. But, alas, I can’t double dip. If I restrict myself there, then I think my favorite “supporting speedster” would be Max Mercury. Not only is the mentor character always a favorite supporter of mine, but his relationship with Impulse. He and Bart kill me. Lord, when they tried to reach for each other in the Spurrier arc with the other force nonsense, that hurt a little.

I drew Avery and Jay pins!

You can find them on my ACGGoods! Ships to anywhere!

What do you think are necessary elements to writing Wally West in your opinion?

Like things that must happen or character traits and flaws of his

Gosh, I was about to say you should ask a “better” fan, but I guess I have read a pretty good chunk of his appearances. Like I’ve done all of his team book appearances and all of his post-Crisis Flash runs. So I might be helpful?

The thing I’ve found with Wally is that he’s a lot more like Dick than people act. I called it out here, but it’s really true. He’s kind, altruistic, optimistic, impossibly loving, and all of those wonderful good things, but just as what happens to any well-written character, their best traits often come back to bite them.

For one, he’s a perfectionist with an Atlas complex. There’s this thing in Waid’s run where Wally is put on trial for a woman being burned, and he confesses that he “never had to choose” between lives before. He still struggles to do so to this day, because he is simply so powerful in his own right that he struggles in instances where he is not all-powerful. He pushes and pushes until he can’t, and then continues pushing more. He does not believe he is allowed to fail.

Not only does that weigh on him, but his belief in his power and his responsibility can become outright arrogance, at least until he’s reminded of his own limitations and his humanity. He’s known to keep secrets because he believes he can handle things alone, or that he should, or even that other people are not capable of helping him and would instead hinder, or be put in harms way. This also extends to his persona, where he is performatively lighthearted at times because he feels it part of the obligation when playing the hero. It’s that admirable altruism sometimes turning into an “I know best” mindset.

Wally is also easily jealous, especially when it comes to loved ones. Like, jealous jealous. Petty jealous. Opining jealous. All kinds of jealous. Barry and Linda are probably the two biggest sources of this.

But fast forward to the mid-2000s post-infinite-crisis JSA run and once she gets her speed back, Jesse is pretty comfortable being a speedster on the team alongside Jay