Whatever happened to the Scarlet Speedster?

Oh DC, what have you done now?

(SPOILERS for the New 52 Flash and the tv show Young Justice)

You returned a fan-favorite character to the DC verse, and used a racial stereotyping canvas on him?

Yes, I’m talking about a certain scarlet speedster – Wally West.

Wally West is probably the best evolved character in the DC universe, ahead of good friend Dick Grayson aka Nightwing. Both started in the shadows of a big name. Dick was the first Robin to Batman while Wally West was the first Kid Flash to the Silver age Flash aka Barry Allen.

Wally was the nephew of Iris West, the wife of Barry. He idolized the Flash and after learning how Barry became the Flash, the ginger tried to replicate the experiment and succeeded.

Wally had to go through many changes, and became loved for that. He suffered for years due to an inferiority complex as he was slower than Barry, but after Barry passed away, he came into his own as the new Flash.

He graduated from the Teen Titans to the Justice League, married and became a father. Dick Grayson didn't manage that, sadly.Wally was the herald of many concepts to the Flash mythos and became the face of the character in Bruce Timm’s DCAU.

He became so popular during that time that fans have been clamoring for him in a Flash live-action film instead of main Flash Barry (who returned a few years ago in comics during the last DC ‘Crisis’ – Final Crisis). He was a main character on the first season of the critically acclaimed Young Justice, and became one of the most popular characters again.

It can also be argued that he was a major catalyst that helped to reinvent the Rogues (Flash's primary group of villains), who became quite complex and attractive after years of being a joke.

DC had a marketable hero, who was loved both in young and adult versions of the character.

But it seems the DC editorial has something against sidekicks becoming bigger than the main heroes. While it was widely believed that Dan Didio, the editor, wanted to kill off Nightwing during Infinite Crisis (Superboy still died) and backed down later, Wally has been pushed around for a long time – first, he suffered from some near death situations, and then was lost along with his family. And on Young Justice, he became relegated to cameo character in season two and was killed off in the end.

Flashpoint came and went (an alternate universe Wally suffered the indignation of being frozen to death early on) and New 52 arrived with Wally non-existent.

Fears grew as the Reverse Flash arc came and we saw Iris’s brother as the new longtime Flash villain. No Wally again.

But with a new team on the book, Wally was designated to return. A big yay went up….only to be replaced by groans as the first picture came up.

Wally went from ginger haired grown up superhero to….. a stereotypical black teen. And how was he introduced? Dead, a victim of a car crash.

With the preview of the Flash Annual #3, we saw that the teen emerge with more stereotypes – he was tagging a Flash symbol and Barry was a little obnoxious as the 'white man handing him over to the feds'. What next? He’s in a gang?

Look, I’m not against racial diversity in comics. In fact, I welcomed Miles Morales as the new Ultimate Spidey (despite Peter being my fav superhero) and Simon Baz as the newest Green Lantern.

Both, alongwith longtime hero John Stewart, were not just stereotypically put in. Stewart was his own man, and his race figured little in the grand scheme of his character. Simon Baz was a representation of all the post-9/11 fears, and he rose above them.

Miles had a tough job replacing the most popular hero in the Ultimate universe, and lived up to it.

It’s early days for the new Wally, and I hope he can rise above the stigma of being a reverse whitewashing of an established and well known character. It’s one thing to be a totally new character, like the above examples, and another to be this.

Other characters have suffered whitewashing in the new 52 – Connor Hawke, Onyx and change in sexual orientation like Alan Scott. I believe creating an entirely new character is far more credible than changing an existing one, and far more difficult. Changing race, gender or sexual preferences of established heroes feel more like cheap shots at fans than trying to introduce a new form of storytelling.

For now, New 52 biracial Wally, you’re under the scanner.