Some Cold-related ramblings.
Most of you know I’m a big continuity nerd. I was re-reading the Wonderland story arc a while back, and was struck by one of Cold’s internal monologues in Flash v.2 #165. Now, this was Johns’ first arc on the Flash series, and doubtlessly he ended up revising some of his ideas for Len and the Snarts…but is there any way we can painlessly merge this into continuity, or does it have to be thrown out entirely? Read it and see. I’ve emphasized some of the weirder parts of it.
"The place reminds me of my parents’ house. Smells like cigarettes and Pine Sol. All my dad did was smoke, my mother cleaned. They didn’t drink much. That was me and my sister’s job. Sometimes I miss her. But most of the time I’m glad she’s dead. We didn’t get along in the end. I never was much for family. Nothing but problems anyway. Only real family I ever had was with the Rogues. Scudder, Rory, Mardon…Allen. But most are retired or-"
Okay, Johns later revised things to make Old Man Snart (wish he had a name) an alcoholic. That’s just a straightforward change, although it makes this iffy continuity-wise. But Len being glad that Lisa’s dead is just weird all around. And when I first re-read this, I was like “He considered Barry one of his family? Really? Maybe that’s just a brain-fart and Johns/the letterer was supposed to have written ‘Dillon’…” (as unlikely as *that* seems). But then I re-read an old Johns interview from 2001 or so, and he confirmed in it that it was supposed to refer to Barry Allen. So…that’s odd. As much as Len might have respected Barry, it does seem strange that he would consider Barry to be more his family than, say, Lisa. Even moreso when you throw in Johns having him mope and angst over Lisa later on.
So personally, I think this whole monologue has to be ditched from continuity, unless you want to claim that Len was strangely lying to himself in his own thoughts for some reason. There’s self-delusion, and then there’s this.
And, just for interest’s sake, here’s part of the new JLA picture from the latest Wizard. It shows the new team lineup, which I don’t care about, but Len appears in the background.
Remember, Lisa’s weeks start Dec 15!
"The place reminds me of my parents’ house. Smells like cigarettes and Pine Sol. All my dad did was smoke, my mother cleaned. They didn’t drink much. That was me and my sister’s job. Sometimes I miss her. But most of the time I’m glad she’s dead. We didn’t get along in the end. I never was much for family. Nothing but problems anyway. Only real family I ever had was with the Rogues. Scudder, Rory, Mardon…Allen. But most are retired or-"
Okay, Johns later revised things to make Old Man Snart (wish he had a name) an alcoholic. That’s just a straightforward change, although it makes this iffy continuity-wise. But Len being glad that Lisa’s dead is just weird all around. And when I first re-read this, I was like “He considered Barry one of his family? Really? Maybe that’s just a brain-fart and Johns/the letterer was supposed to have written ‘Dillon’…” (as unlikely as *that* seems). But then I re-read an old Johns interview from 2001 or so, and he confirmed in it that it was supposed to refer to Barry Allen. So…that’s odd. As much as Len might have respected Barry, it does seem strange that he would consider Barry to be more his family than, say, Lisa. Even moreso when you throw in Johns having him mope and angst over Lisa later on.
So personally, I think this whole monologue has to be ditched from continuity, unless you want to claim that Len was strangely lying to himself in his own thoughts for some reason. There’s self-delusion, and then there’s this.
And, just for interest’s sake, here’s part of the new JLA picture from the latest Wizard. It shows the new team lineup, which I don’t care about, but Len appears in the background.
Remember, Lisa’s weeks start Dec 15!