Tom King on Wally West

Interview here.

"There's a big takeaway, and this is the goal of the whole thing," King said of the popular hero. "We took this character that I love -- my first introduction to DC Comics was Wally West. He's my favorite Flash, and he's really the Peter Parker of the DCU. He's our every man. And for over ten years he's not had his own book and has been at the periphery of things. Basically, since before the New 52, he's been gone. This story puts Wally back at the center of the DC Universe, where he belongs.

"I think that is part of what the takeaway is. It's my job to pull that off and make people ask 'What happens to Wally next? Where does he go from here?'

There's a very important reason why Wally hasn't had his own book. Geoff Johns talked about plans for doing more for the Flash brand after Barry came back. He wanted all of the speedsters to have their own book called Speed Force. But it never happened. Didio has stated why he doesn't like legacy heroes. Johns brought Wally West (the red head version) back to the DCU. There were plans in place with Johns (otherwise why introduce plots) and his return was one of the best moments in recent DCU history. It was fairly obviously that Abnett wanted to do more with Wally and Linda but kept getting set back.

If DC sincerely wants Wally West to be front and center they shouldn't repeat their mistakes with Cassandra Cain. Don't give him to Tom King again. Let Geoff Johns write him and give him the creative freedom to undo this mess.

"I think [Wally's] in a place to be launched into something huge, which is worthy of him. I think that's good. I think the same for Dick," the writer said. "Dick Grayson, to me, is the fourth pillar of the DCU. No one can kill him. You can only injure him until he comes back, which I think is cool. I don't feel like I changed him in that way. But what happens in that book is not for me to say. Nightwing is their book, not mine. And that's fine."

I haven't minced words when it comes to Heroes in Crisis. It was a disrespectful take on mental health and beloved characters. Nothing short of retconning can salvage this disaster. Wally not only accidently killed heroes he tried to cover it up to frame the two other survivors. Seconds are a life time for speedsters, this has been said in many, many comics meaning that Wally's actions weren't due to panicking. For him it would have felt like days went by before the bodies were even cold. I'm not sure what the point of this interview was as King doesn't seem to know what's going to happen with Wally or Dick. He just thinks something can be done with the two of them after he sent them both down their current paths.