MattBrady

Stealing a page from other mainstream comic book coverage, The New York Daily News is giving away what was supposed to be a secret, surprise ending in this morning’s edition, and is reporting, well…hang on….

SPOILER WARNINGS FOR DC UNIVERSE #0

SERIOUSLY…

The Daily News is reporting that Barry Allen returns in the last panel of DC Universe #0 due in comic book shops today.

Defending the move (though technically neither writer confirms the return via a quote), the Daily News quotes DC Universe #0 co-writer Grant Morrison who said:

"We can do anything with them, and we can make them come back and make them defy death. And that's why people read comics, to get away from the way life works, which is quite cruel and unheroic and ends in death."

And speaking about the importance of the character to modern comics (Barry Allen was the first Golden Age character revived in a new, more science fiction fashion by DC Editor Julie Schwartz, a move which jump-started the Silver Age of comics in 1956), the Daily News quoted Geoff Johns saying, “Without Barry Allen, we'd still be reading comic books about cowboys."

Johns also adds: "When the greatest evil comes back to the DC Universe, the greatest hero needed to return," with Morrison adding, “He's the God of the modern world. People are doing more everyday, moving faster and I think the Flash can be their hero. I do think he's a superhero for now."

Also, interestingly, the newspaper refers to Johns as the co-writer of the new Flash comics.

Look for an interview with DCU executive Editor Dan DiDio about the issue this afternoon on Newsarama.

SoopDawg

WOW!! I'm getting 2 copies of this. I can't wait!!!

md62

What???

Beefcliff

Well, most of us saw this coming anyway. Just hope the story is good and they have a plan to use him correctly!

chrissama200

I hope he's not back for good. I loved the character and had been optimistic about Final Crisis, but if he's back for good, I'll be disappointed. After the way he died, what else is there for the character to do? If he ever returned to his own book, the stakes would never be as high as when he sacrificed his life, and there have been newer incarnations since his death that fans have accepted and grown fond of. I haven't read this issue yet, but going on the article, I hope it's just something like "The Return of Barry Allen" story and not the real thing.

nietoperz

I really hope he's not back for good.

Michael Heide

I'm having a very bad feeling about this.

dmarvp

I wasn't going to read this article but then I said to myself... it's barry allen, who else could it be ? well... I just hope that they make this return worth. And I have faith in Jhons and his good use of older ideas and characters... tough I have to say that this move was the one thing that I tought he was never going to do.

Punchy

Bad idea.

bsmith

I totally agree - back in his run, G. Johns said that Barry A. would come back 3 times, and I think he came back twice in Flash. So one more time for the Big One would make sense.

But having him back permanently? Destroys the impact of the ONE DC death that actually means anything! And like you mention, what else can the guy do? Flash is the one legacy character that has been established as such for a long time, why not celebrate that.

K*.

Tomwaitsfan

I love Barry but I am not so sure this is such a good idea. Remember Fastest Man Alive?

dmarvp

you are right, last night I remembered about the three times barry said he would come back. I hope this is the third and last he was refering to (and obviously there must be a super important reason for it to be). But also, I don't think I want him to stay either.

I don't know, I trust Johns, but I'm confused about this

speedfreak

I'm torn.

On the one hand I think a DCU with Barry Allen in it seems a more concrete, balanced and cohesive universe than one without him. And I like the metatextual implications, of how you're now able to view the Barryless years as a chapter in the history of the DCU as a whole in the larger context of a history that once again stretches from the golden age to the present.

At the same time, I wonder what'll happen to Wally, and other people's points here about what is there left for Barry to do etc. may have some validity.

Weird, I don't think I've ever read a Barry Allen Flash story aside from the first Crisis, but I'm almost willing to come out in favour of this move.

snikt_city

He's a skrull

Agreed with Beefcliff. It was only a matter of time before he was brought back. Let's just hope that it's done well and is exciting. I'll take my chances with Morrison and Johns bringing him back as opposed to say, Countdown.

Wormdrink

maybe barry is gonna be the Flash of Death? i saw that pic a while back of a Flash in a black outfit and a skull-looking face. i'm sure i'm wrong, but i'd almost rather have that than have him back on FT basis.

and if Barry's back full time, then where does that leave Wally?

#O.N.E

I don't think Barry is the greatest hero...

Dave Phelps

Disappointing news, but not unexpected. (Didio said the last panel would show where "they're taking the DCU" - apparently it's back to the 70s.)


I agree completely. Bringing him back for one last hurrah would be fun. Bringing him back for good, not so much.

To be honest, this would pretty much kill DC for me. The sense that "anything could happen" that came from DC killing him off in the first place is what solidified me as a DC fan in the first place. Bringing him back just says to me there isn't a story out there that won't be messed with if you wait long enough. That just makes it hard to care about any of them.

StripedTiger

Well I know folks will hate the idea, but like Wildcat says in JSA....there have been two or more Green Lanterns around for years. Why not two Wildcats?

...or in this case, Flashes? Wally could stick with the Titans and raise his kids while Barry did the JLA thing.

...or they could just kill one or the other again just for the hell of it... A 30 year old Barry running around after a 65 year old Iris could be a little too "Harold and Maude" for DC's tastes...

vbartilucci

Well, bringing him back would come under the umbrella of "anything", wouldn't it?

But I'm with the folks who think this is the "third time" Barry spoke of.

But of course, if they play him up and do as much with him as they did the assorted characters in 52 and Countdown, in nine months we'll be yelling about how they DIDN'T keep him alive after doing so much with him.

No pleasing us, is there?

Guicho

Freakin Yay! These characters are all bigger than life anyway.
Good for them.
All they need to do to justify his return is prove the character still has life in him by writing good stories with him.
That is what matters.

Boomtube

It might work. Lord knows the Flash franchise needs a shot in the arm right about now, and given the creative and financial success DC and Johns had (and continue to have) with the resurrection of Hal Jordan, this move shouldn't come as a huge surprise to anyone.

Lupek

THANK YOU DC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Now please sell me a Barry/Flash book!!!!!!!

dmarvp

you are right, last night I remembered about the three times barry said he would come back. I hope this is the third and last he was refering to (and obviously there must be a super important reason for it to be). But also, I don't think I want him to stay either.

I don't know, I trust Johns, but I'm confused about this

nietoperz

It's true - as I recall, Barry told Wally he'd reappear on the three worst days of his life. We've had two of those, I guess Final Crisis will see the third.

MCaputo

I love the fact that after all the kajillions of bytes devoted to slamming Morrison as a writer who works over the heads of most readers, he gets the most and most wide-reaching press of his career in the Daily News.

And best of all, he gets why we read comics.