I found a Barry Allen story I liked

On my plane ride back from Comic-Con International in San Diego on Sunday night, I re-read Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn and Mark Waid’s 12-issue JLA: Year One from 1998 in its entirety. It’s not the first time I’ve done this; JLA: Year One is one of my favorite trades I own and a story I like to revisit at least once a year for various reasons.

First, it’s wonderfully written as Waid doesn’t just turn in great work per usual, but is wonderfully complimented by Augustyn, who also helped steer his awesome Flash run as both an editor and co-writer. You won’t find many stories that better balance varied action with heartfelt character development while also throwing in resolutions and twists both clever and perfectly “comic book-y” in their fun goofiness.

Second, it’s Barry Kitson at his finest, and that’s saying a lot as I love Barry Kitson. He’s an artist who seems equally comfortable with Silver Age square-chinned heroism and bizarre sci fi flourishes as he is with modern dynamic storytelling and effects, so he’s the ideal choice to bring the tales of the original Justice League from the 1960’s into the present.

(At this point I guess I should note that JLA: Year One is the then-definitive and expanded telling of the Justice League’s first 12 months together with the post-Crisis On Infinite Earths, pre-Infinite Crisis/Final Crisis/New 52 continuity of Black Canary replacing Wonder Woman as a founding member as well as Superman and Batman’s roles having been minimized)

Third, it’s a giant Easter Egg fest with all my favorites from around the DC Universe dropping by in guest roles or cameos so Kitson can draw them, Waid and Augustyn can shoot them some dialogue, and you can get a sense where everything fits. The Justice Society, Superman, Doom Patrol and Green Arrow all get significant screen time—particularly the DP in an awesome two-parter—but there’s also nice bits for everybody from Batman to the original Blue Beetle, plus a funny little subplot with the Blackhawks and little in-jokes involving Ted Kord, Maxwell Lord and others.

Fourth and foremost (so I guess it should have been first), I love stories about super heroes coming together as allies and becoming friends along the way, putting the concept of a shared universe to full use. The five member JLA—Aquaman, Black Canary, Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter—start the series as tentative associates, but have their bonds forged, tested, broken and solidified several times over. I’ve always had a soft spot for team books in comics because I love camaraderie, and I’m a sucker for series like this or Joe Casey and Scott Kolins’ Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes where they take legendary groups that initially had pretty cut and dry “we’re teaming up to fight” origins back in the day and inject some heart and pathos.

However, this time around, I discovered yet another reason this is a great piece of work: It made me really like Barry Allen.

I think my negative feelings toward Barry Allen have become exaggerated over time, both by myself and others. I don’t hate Barry Allen, he’s just obviously not my Flash and as such I’m somewhat predisposed to look at him a bit negatively. I’m not against Barry Allen so much as I’m against anything that prevents Wally West from being the A-1 Fastest Man Alive and thus his flaws stand out to me.

My biggest knocks against Barry have always been that he was kind of bland and his heyday and also that his death was an amazing story but one that rendered him such an untouchable beacon of heroism that as a living character he becomes tough to relate to.

The first note is really a product of the period he was created in more than anything else; as the very first major hero of the Silver Age, Barry predated the more three-dimensional characters that would fill the next couple decades and thus emerged as a weird hybrid of stoic Golden Age champion and nerdy 50’s era science protagonist. He remained this way up through the 80’s and then missed out on getting reinvented the way most of his contemporaries did because he was the big Crisis sacrifice. Geoff Johns has already made inroads in updating Barry with a personality more compelling to a modern reader, but he had an uphill battle; I’m actually thinking the upcoming reboot will helps Barry perhaps more than many as being a couple years younger and having a cleaner slate could really benefit his development.

Then there’s that big Crisis sacrifice I mentioned. Barry Allen literally gave his life to save the multiverse by running so fast he destroyed the Anti-Monitor’s big ass weapon. You can’t really top that as a final act. He was perfectly cast from that point forward as the patron saint of the DC Universe; the role model Wally West can never really live up to and the hero of heroes everybody else speaks of in glowing reverential tones. It’s hard to pull a guy like that down from the heavens and have everybody treat him as just a dude again.

But in JLA: Year One, Barry Allen is years away from saving the multiverse and also anything but bland.

The cast in JLA: Year One is roughly analogous to the cast of a high school movie/TV show; Green Lantern is the cocky jock, Black Canary is the hot girl with an attitude, and Aquaman and Martian Manhunter represent the two stereotypes of foreign exchange student: brooding loner and well-meaning outcast. Barry Allen is the nice guy who lacks the bluster of GL, but is more confident than J’onn and more comfortable than Aquaman; Black Canary shows a romantic interest in him because he’s clearly the most well-adjusted and likeable of her options. If JLA: Year One were The Breakfast Club, Barry would be about halfway between Emilio Estevez and Anthony Michael Hall, which happens to be exactly where I think most readers—certainly myself—would identify themselves (Hal Jordan is halfway between Estevez and Judd Nelson).

Waid and Augustyn retain the heart of Barry’s Silver Age incarnation by showing his work life and having him display his scientific knowledge, but they don’t let his—for lack of a better term—nerd side define him. It’s not hard to figure out why a bombshell like Iris West is interested in him as while he may be chronically tardy, he is demonstratively caring and considerate toward her, not closed off and cerebral with a love interest just because the formula dictated it. Likewise, the dynamic between Barry and Hal makes sense; they may have different personalities, but they also have a starting commonality in this super hero life and look out for one another. I like the scene where Barry super speed paints a machine Hal needs to move yellow to blue so GL won’t be embarrassed that his ring won’t work on it, not because he’s trying to win the cool guy’s affection but because he’s a nice guy and they’re genuinely becoming friends; it’s a little thing, but it makes him more human.

The romantic subplot between Flash and Black Canary is one I enjoy as well. For one, the cool girl gravitating towards the soft spoken gentleman as opposed to the bombastic loudmouth will always be a winner with the geek crowd. But Barry’s end does a lot to flesh him out as well. Of course he’s attracted to the gorgeous girl he can talk to about the things he needs to hide from his fiancée and who is expressing interest in him over the more obvious choices; again, he’s only human. That he weakens, that they share a kiss, builds the drama but also adds a layer of vulnerability and flaw to him that he never had in his original incarnation; that he ultimately chooses Iris makes him a guy we still look up to.

But without a doubt my favorite scene really in the entire series is when the entire team is on the verge of breaking up despite the threat of an alien invasion looming because they feel like they can’t trust each other, as they’re going their separate ways Flash pulls off his mask and then it flips to a full splash page close-up of his face with him saying “My name is Barry Allen. I’m a forensic scientist with the Central City Police Department.” The rest follow suit, revealing their identities, and then the Justice League charge off to save the day.

It’s not running to his death on a treadmill of doom to save countless universes, but it’s still the turning point moment and it’s still The Flash who gets it done.

Barry steps up in that moment because he is the leader of the team, though that’s a fact they’ve only just acknowledged. He’s the leader not because he’s the loudest, the most confident or the most powerful, but because they trust him. Because he’s a good guy. He’s not the token scientist or the guy who gives his life to save reality; he’s just a good, solid guy doing his best.

That’s a Barry Allen I’m very interested in reading more about.

Upcoming in September, a new era begins for The Flash and there’s great potential we could be following the adventures of a Barry Allen more along these lines. He’s going to be younger. Hopefully he’ll be a bit more at ease with himself as he was in this series. Hopefully he won’t have the Crisis sacrifice hanging over his head like a Sword of Damocles forcing everybody around to walk on eggshells around him. Francis Manapul seems like he’s got great enthusiasm for the character so I’m excited to see where he takes him.

And I implore him to check out JLA: Year One.

My Five Favorite Martian Manhunter Artists

I said it a couple months back, but The Martian Manhunter may be the most underrated character in comics.

When I was a kid, I barely knew who J’onn J’onzz was. Most of my childhood comic book fandom came long after the original Big Seven era of the Justice League, just following Justice League International and prior to Grant Morrison coming in, so J’onn was more or less a non-factor; just that dude who pretended to be Bloodwynd and then led the Justice League Task Force.

However, as I grew up and became a more sophisticated comics fan, I came to appreciate The Martian Manhunter to the point where he’s become among my favorite characters. He occupies a unique place in the DC Universe a living hub for so many facets, he’s incredibly versatile as far as the potential to transcend genres, he’s got a rad power set and his whole warrior poet persona is just plain cool.

There’s a great Martian Manhunter ongoing or anthology book out there just waiting to happen, and I give Geoff Johns and Pete Tomasi credit and appreciation for getting the ball rolling with detective story/sci-fi mash-up they’ve been weaving in Brightest Day.

That said, as much potential as J’onn has, it can all be scuttled by the wrong artistic portrayal. The Martian Manhunter has a unique design to say the least, one that gives artists a lot of room to play and create either something incredible or something laughable. I mean, those criss cross suspenders alone can be a pitfall waiting to happen for even the most seasoned of pros.

So here are five guys who have made J’onn J’onzz look good—and two more for good measure and honorable mention.

BRYAN HITCH
He only spent a few issues really on JLA before making his way over to The Ultimates, but during his short tenure, I’d say Bryan Hitch perfectly captured the raw power as well as the defining tragedy of The Martian Manhunter.

TOM MANDRAKE
I’m pretty sure nobody has quite the tenure on J’onn J’onzz that Tom Mandrake does, having drawn his one and only ongoing series for nearly three years. I can’t say Mandrake’s take was necessarily my personal favorite, but he did lend the character a regal majesty and in many ways defined his modern look.

5. SAL VELLUTO
The 90’s were a crazy time where pretty much every iconic super hero got at least one iconic makeover, be it a mullet or a leather jacket; Martian Manhunter more or less kept his traditional costume, interestingly enough—I mean the guy does wear a red harness and blue pirate boots—instead hitting the gym a bit or the dealer behind the gym a lot and putting muscles on top of his muscles on top of his muscles. That said, Justice League Task Force artist Sal Velluto made the roided up Last Son of Mars look pretty damn awesome, accentuating his buff bod with a focus on facial “acting” that could range from goofy to intense.

4. HOWARD PORTER
As the initial artist on Grant Morrison’s JLA, Howard Porter was tasked with restoring the Justice League to a glory they hadn’t experienced in some time, which he did admirably by tapping into what made each character a legend in the first place, brought it to the visual forefront, and put a coat of polish on to bring them into a new era. When it came to The Martian Manhunter, Porter took the tested approach of using J’onn’s musculature to show he was a bad ass super hero, while conveying emotion through his face, be it that furrowed beetle brow or seemingly endless ruby eyes. Howard Porter proved that classic costumes and looks don’t necessarily need to be reinvented to make them great, just treated with reverence and enthusiasm.

3. DARWYN COOKE
In his classic DC: The New Frontier series, Darwyn Cooke brought The Martian Manhunter to the forefront of his tale of the DC Universe breaking into the Silver Age, paralleling his arrival and emergence on Earth with the birth of a new age of heroes. Cooke took great pains to not only give J’onn the depth needed to take the lead in such an epic, but he did so in every step of his evolution, from bizarre alien invader to frightened captive and finally to virtuous champion for justice with a stop as hardboiled detective along the way. As I’ve said, what makes J’onn such a great character is how many varied sides he has to him and how many worlds he walks in; Darwyn Cooke took incredible care and added such delicate craftsmanship to each facet of the Martian Manhunter that he demonstrated not just one phenomenal portrayal, but several. It’s not easy to make the squinting, grinning J’onn J’onzz of the Silver Age look as cool as he does in New Frontier, but Cooke more than pulled it off.

2. KEVIN MAGUIRE
People tend to forget, but The Martian Manhunter spent years as a cipher and unsung hero really until the birth of Justice League International, and while Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis deserve tremendous credit for infusing him with personality, Kevin Maguire should get perhaps just as much for helping that newfound character shine through. Like I mentioned with Howard Porter above, Maguire felt no need to make any drastic—or really any—changes to J’onn’s costume, he just accentuated the strong points that made it stand out to begin with, and then played to his own biggest strength, that being his status as perhaps the best comics artist ever when it comes to faces and expressions. Maguire had a lot of fun playing Jonn’s oversized cranium for laughs, conveying sadness in his eyes or putting a grimace on his mug that let you know this was one pissed off Martian. He may have been an eight-foot-tall green dude in a weird unitard, but Kevin Maguire’s Martian Manhunter also felt look he could be the guy next door (in some bizarre universe).

1. DOUG MAHNKE
I’m a little disappointed that the only piece by Doug Mahnke I could find on the entire freakin’ Internet has J’onn not in his classic costume or even normal form, but on the other hand, I think it backs my case that the current Green Lantern artist can at least lay solid claim to being the best Martian Manhunter artist of them all. Just look at those eyes: Mahnke packs a soul into J’onn J’onzz’ eyes, making him incredibly distant and otherworldly, eerily compassionate and unquestionably mysterious just with those two little orbs. Mahnke uses caricature just as effectively as detail to bring his characters to life, and from his JLA run on, he has adopted the Manhunter From Mars as one of his signature darlings; it makes perfect sense, as J’onn possesses that quirkiness Mahnke loves to twist around and create beautiful art from, but also a powerful and pure design he pays homage and respect to each time he draws him. Mahnke drew one of the very best Martian Manhunter stories in Joe Kelly’s underrated “Trial By Fire,” he was the perfect choice to lay him to temporary rest during Final Crisis, and any time he gets his pen on the character it’s a haunting and memorable visual treat.