IIRC, Pat McGreal and Ron Lim did a funny Flash fill-in about the Turtle time traveling. Brian Augustyn and Ty Templeton did a nice Turtle story as part of the Silver Age event.

And technically, Wally did gimmick the brakes. What actually happened was that he was looking for the missing piece of the brakes (he was working in an auto-body shop for police) when a news report came in on the Penguin being in Keystone. He dashes off to see to that and forgets about the brake piece in the excitement.

However, the first thing he does is tell his boss that he made “a horrible mistake” and then go and tell the cops exactly what went down.

Johns has said that part of his run on Flash was about making Wally into the “moral center” of the DCU, a guy who would do his best to do right at all times and for the right reasons. I kind of agree. He’s a good hero.

Johns on Flash:

In my eyes, Wally West grew into the moral center of the DCU in Identity Crisis,” Johns said. “I think his ideals of what being the Flash means are so high in his head, he’s aspiring and succeeding in living up to them. He wants everyone to get along and more than anything he believes they can. Even if the betrayal of Batman is revealed.”

It’s interesting to compare this to Wally early in the series, since he was kind of self-centered.

Wally is in the police station being questioned by two detectives (Morillo and Chyre) on exactly why the breaks went out on a police vehicle he serviced… when that vehicle belongs to the wife of Hunter “Zoom” Zolomon, particularly since Zoom caused the miscarriage and almost death of his wife. The cops smell “revenge” but can’t prove anything.

Wally’s hanging out and suddenly everything slows down to null. He thinks, “Aw, crap, the speed force kicked in. As if this wasn’t taking long enough…” before he realizes that he isn’t doing it. Time is still going. The Turtle froze everyone in town except Wally due to the speed force. Even better: that means Wally can only move about as fast as a normal person. He mentions how much it sucks having to put the costume on at normal speed. He feels like a normal guy.

The Turtle’s in Keystone and explains that he can permanently absorb energy as well as stealing it. King of like a kinetic energy vampire, I guess, but with less biting. They do the super-hero fighty-talky thing and Wally makes it back in time for the cops to not even notice that he’s gone.

I hadn’t realized it until now, but it also answers the question of relative time when speeding. Wally says that he can “zone out” and make distances that should seem like days go by in an instant.

I think that The Turtle is one of the few DC villains to have aged in real time (though there’s some plot devicery going on here I think), along with The Mist out of Starman. That’s kind of cool.

DC needs to print more of the latest Flash series in trade. I’ve got all the Johns run, I think three Waid trades, and that’s it. I want the Messner-Loebs run and all the rest of it.

Sorry, I’m a Flash fan who is trying very, very hard to like the post-Johns Flash. I may end up going the same way that Greg did if it doesn’t pick up soon. It’s just kind of hard to follow up “Rogue War” with, uh, “The Adventures of Surly Bart & His Idiot Friend.”

Just to let you know, we’re putting this out in a very limited quantity with a cardstock cover so that makes it a little spendier, but it’s absolutelt worth it.

-dc