The Flash by Mark Waid Book One

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When DC references their long and storied history of classic ‘Rebirths,’ they’re basically talking about Geoff John’s work on Green Lantern: Rebirth with Hal Jordan, and then the next era of Flash on our list. This will lead all the way to Flashpoint, the most Flash-centric event of DC’s 2000’s, and the impetus for the controversial New 52!

At this point, DC’s Year of the Villain event begins and the Death of the Speed Force arc happens during the event, but the continuity gets really confusing if you read the rest of the year of the villain event now, so instead I’d recommend reading the rest of Year of the Villain after Williamson’s run comes to an end. In 1996, Waid and artist Alex Ross produced the graphic novel Kingdom Come. [16] [20] This story, set in the future of the DC Universe, depicted the fate of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and other heroes as the world around them changed. It was written in reaction to the "grim and gritty" comics of the 1980s and 1990s. DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "Waid's deep knowledge of the heroes' pasts served them well, and Ross' unique painted art style made a powerful statement about the reality of the world they built." [21] Many of the ideas introduced in Kingdom Come were later integrated into the present-day DC Universe, and Waid himself wrote a follow-up to the series, The Kingdom. [22]Dean, Michael (June 8, 2001). "The Case of the Disappearing Gorilla: The Banana Trust Explains How Not to Start a Comics Line". The Comics Journal. Archived from the original on May 5, 2006.

After a couple of annuals by other writers that set the scene, Waid shows up for a multiple part story about Wally West's origin, why he is the focus of the book instead of Barry Allen, and focuses on introducing some side characters and villains, none of whom are Other Guys Who Run Fast. This book is the first in a series examining Mark Waid legendary run on the Flash, collecting Flash Special #1, Flash Annuals #4 and 5 and Issues 62-68 of the Flash. I saw "The Return of Barry Allen" on someone's "top ten DC stories" so I thought I'd give the Mark Waid version a try, and while it wasn't horrid it didn't hook me. The first story with Green Lantern isn't that clever or interesting - just Gorilla Grodd and Hector Hammond teaming up. Wright, Eddie (September 10, 2012). "Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera And Joe Rivera Talk Their Harvey Award Wins For Daredevil". MTV. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013 . Retrieved October 16, 2013. The House in the Wall #1–11 (co-written by James Tynion IV and Noah J. Yuenkel, drawn by Eryk Donovan, 2014)Ching, Albert (August 12, 2010). " 'G-Day': Comic Book Industry Remembers Gruenwald and Wieringo". Newsarama. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. In October 2018, Waid joined Humanoids Publishing as Director of Creative Development before being promoted to Publisher in February 2020.

But throughout his work for DC, Mark Waid’s greatest cause was his relentless effort to keep the rich 30th century world of the Legion of Super-Heroes alive. Let’s face it, when the premise of a story is that it’s set a thousand years in the future, that future is going to keep looking outdated as the decades roll on. But with the Legion’s many worlds, heroes and stories representing the ultimate future of the DC Universe itself, the Legion is worth preserving and worth reinventing. Which is why Mark Waid did it all three times. First as editor, by overseeing a “Five Years Later” time jump which would lend the Legion the maturity it needed in a changing comic book landscape by aging all of its players forward. Then in 1994, Waid was heavily involved in a complete Legion reboot around DC’s “Zero Hour” event. Ten years later, Waid did much of the writing around another Legion revival, sometimes called the “Threeboot,” attempting to synthesize the best ideas from the Zero Hour era and the classic, original Legion. It was a concept which Waid refused to give up on even when its future seemed bleakest—something that all of us with a sometimes-neglected favorite character can relate to. Marvel editors Ralph Macchio and Mark Gruenwald hired him as Gruenwald's successor as writer of Captain America, during which Waid was paired with artist Ron Garney. Waid and Garney garnered critical praise for their run on the title, [16] [17] [18] remaining on it until the title was relaunched with a different creative team as part of the 1996–1997 " Heroes Reborn" storyline. Rob Liefeld offered Waid the opportunity to script Captain America over plots and artwork by his studio, but Waid declined. [18] That storyline ran a full year, after which Waid and Garney returned to the title for another relaunched series, Captain America volume 3, issues #1–23. [19] Waid also wrote the short-lived spin-off series Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty from 1998 to 1999, having written 10 of the 12 issues (skipping issues #7 and 10).

Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business...

The two specials that open the collection don't work as a great introduction to Waid's run on The Flash. They are different in tone and style and don't flow as well as the Waid-penned issues. So anyway I finally opened up volume 1 and dove into the Flash by Mark Waid. This covers a couple of annuals and then we jump into Waid's run with a story of "what could be" wally's future and then his main storyline "born to run" as well as a couple of adventures after. Then we have a story focusing on the return of Dr alchemy a new one basically and how Wally fights against him is the big story and its so good, the way Wally uses his powers to defeat this new foe and then teaming up with Jay and yeah that was awesome!