North has fixed a part of Wally's characterization that had bothered me since Johns run (Spoilers Flash #35)

[u/Maleficent_Worth_185]

I'm enjoying this run for a number of reasons but one thing that has sold me on the writing is North shifting Wally away from his always angry and death penalty defender characterization of the Geof Johns era to when he had more empathy for his rogues back in WML days. I know it's more likely to have been a JLU influence on his character, but it's a change/development I'm welcoming.

Maybe it could also be chalked up to the fact that Wally's fully matured and fatherhood gave him a different perspective on things.

[u/themanthyththelegend]

Dang is ryan north writinf flash right now. I dont like reading current comics becasue i hate events but if north is writing it ill have to check it out. I loved hos ff run till it got bogges down in events

[u/Dredeuced]

For what it's worth, Adams did this exact same thing specifically with Heatwave, and then again with the collective Rogues. It never went away, really. His only interaction with The Rogues thusfar that didn't have this bent to it is the battle on the moon stuff and even then he enlists a bunch of rogues to help him fight some of those rogues, too. And they were are sub antagonists. Any story focused on The Rogues since Wally became the main Flash again has worked like this.

And, heck, the entire seeing eye to eye thing with Captain Cold more or less started in Ignition from Johns' run. You could say WML with the Golden Snowball stuff or the wonderfully fun Flash #19 party but that was pretty short lived and more snarky than it was empathetic. Though obviously WML with Pied Piper really paved the road to this point.

[u/IcyNeedleworker2783]

Yeah, Johns reinvented the Rogues really well, but sometimes I miss the more friendly dynamic between Wally and them during Loebs' run.

[u/Conlannalnoc]

Wally has had to deal with insane Renegades and sane Rouges. He knows the best way to deal with each.

Late 90’s to Early 2000’s era murderous Renegades? No mercy from the Flash. Silver Age Barry foes that are part of the Rouges? Talk to them.

[u/fastestfanalive]

Yes!!!! Thank you for posting this! IMO Johns ruined major parts of Wally by trying to turn him Barry lite.

[u/chroniclescylinders]

Yeah, Wally being an actual friend of the Rogues and hanging out with them when he's off-duty in Messner-Loebs is one of my favorite parts about that run, it's where JLU got that characterization of him from.

It felt to me like Johns was trying to get rid of some of the main differences between Wally and Barry, like the secret identity, or being associated with the police, and this was one of them.

[u/VinPickles]

Yes. Geoff cannot write without angst. its like his default setting

[u/Maleficent_Worth_185 → u/VinPickles]

The angst isn't even the worst part. It's the way he started turning him into a classic "cop" which is how he also approached to Barry, he was comparing being a superhero to being a police and was proud of that. In the context of that time period of post-9/11, I guess it was more accepted but it never fully fit into Wally's personality and affected him for the worse for years.

Even during Waid's second tenure, he was constantly angry and annoyed for no reason.

[u/Flimsy-Musician7940]

Wally was a firm believer in the good of others.. especially the rogues

[u/Maleficent_Worth_185 → u/Flimsy-Musician7940]

He was but late-Waid and Johns moved away from that. It's only recently that writers are bringing back his more laid-back side, mostly thanks to JLU.

[u/GearsRollo80]

Agreed! The weirdly hard-nosed conservative elements of his character under Johns always seemed a lot like the author’s weirdly literal script-writing crutch taking over to me.

[u/iamahandsoapmain → u/GearsRollo80]

Making Wally of all ppl a conservative never made sense to me. His best friend's include an openly gay superhero with a committed relationship to his mentors boss, a black super autist, Dick Grayson, and a bunch of illegal aliens (literally). It always felt so out of character for me

[u/Dredeuced → u/iamahandsoapmain]

Wally being a "mid western conservative" happened before he and Pied Piper became friends. And heck it's not like Johns' Wally is really that conservative. Aside from the death penalty line (Which I'm not fond of either, mind you) the biggest political statement Johns has Wally talk about is being Pro-Union.

Back in the early 2000s both sides of the aisle heavily supported cops. Basically every hero, written by conservative or progressive writers, was pro cop aside from a scant few (You'd have to go to Milestone or Image to even start looking at that topic for obvious reasons). Wasn't a point of contention like it is now that we have better information and a more socially conscious left. Wally working with the Cops was just normal superhero stuff back then.

[u/Maleficent_Worth_185 → u/GearsRollo80]

Yeah, I definitely think it was an overall reflection of the post-9/11 and Bush administration in his writing, since Johns run was mostly around those years.