Saturday, January 07, 2006
Comic Art
For reasons entirely unknown to this fan, the image of the Kid Flash is one of the most enduring I have of my childhood reading. The costume is garish as can be, but when I was a kid I loved it, wanted to make one. He was the first I saw with the hair poking through the top like that, and it looked like a mask that might really work. Lots of people thought the costume goofy, but it has a certain endurance that is hard to match.He was the Flash's nephew -- Wally West who just happened to be in the same kind of place and suffered the same kind of accident his uncle did, giving him exactly the same powers. Made me wish for a superpowered uncle!
Well Wally is THE Flash now. His uncle has moved on and Wally has inherited the red tights.
But you cannot keep a great costume down. Another relative has shown up, this one from the future, sent back to learn from his ancestors - his name is Bart Allen and when he first showed up he was Impulse, but that wasn't going to last long, you could feel it in your bones.This image representes the first time he put on the Kid Flash outfit and it was spectacular. As you can see they have managed to improve on the original design.
For some reason playing with the colors on the Flash has always been a big deal. One of Flash's arch-nemisis is "Reverse Flash" - a character who has the same power, but is evil and whose costume is the Flash's in reverse. It was way cool the first time you saw it and I think that is part of the appeal of Kid Flash, the yellow, but enough of the red in the pants to let you know he's a good guy.
Anyway, Kid Flash is certainly the best looking of the sidekicks ever and he is the only one to grow up and take the name.
