at some point there will be non-Flash related content posted again...

[ratcreature]

...just not not right now. Ahem.

I've finished reading Dead Heat (Flash #108-111 and Impulse #10-11), and overall I enjoyed it a lot, not at least because I like stories with the speedforce playing a prominent role, however one thing bugged me: The way the speedsters talk about Johnny Quick's suicide made them sound like one of the more

Comments

[adamlizz]

Wishing to die in order to join something greater than you, "ritualized suicide", is something I adore and like to toy with - perhaps I don't go and do it, but I enjoy the concept and would love to touch it more in my writing. It's *interesting* to get into the mind of a speedster and deal with his feelings on that subject.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I actually agree that it's interesting. It's just that if you look at it from the outside it really sounds like a wacky cult. I mean, because in the comics we see the speed force form the speedsters' POV it becomes kind of understandable that they want go there, but I really wonder how well a conversation between Flash and a non-speedster superhero on this subject would go. Like if at one point Wally and Dick were talk about Johnny Quick's death, and Wally is all "sure, I miss him, but I'm glad for him that he's now one with the speed force" ... Okay, it's probably not a realistic scenario that they'd talk about this stuff, and yet, it must seem weird to the others.

[adamlizz]

I agree on the cult thing; only this one really works. You can actually become one with your "god", see the inside of the speed force. Feel it. So it's like a wacky cult - that's actually true.

It would be interesting to see someone trying to explain it to an outsider; it would be like explaining religion to an atheist, or a multiorgasm to someone who never had an orgasm at all. Pardon the.. choice of examples.

[greenygal]

The death of Johnny Quick is the big, big problem I have with Dead Heat. (Well, that and that I don't think Waid is the right kind of writer to be able to pull off the irony of fighting for six issues to stop the bad guy from doing something and then at the last moment decide to let him do it instead. On a logical level I understand what he was going for there, but on an emotional level it was like "so what was the point of all this?" Anyway.) It feels like Waid wanted to combine "Johnny sacrifices his life for his daughter" and "Johnny accepts the Speed Force" and the results were both ineffective and downright disturbing. Particularly if you have something against seeing your heroes commit suicide in the middle of a fight. The editor of this book, incidentally, made an online claim that Johnny did not commit suicide, that his assumption into the Speed Force was involuntary. (Also that he knew Jesse had been saved by his actions.) Which is nice for the editor, but, uh, really isn't how it looks on the page, huh? Top all this

[ratcreature]

What? How was that involuntary?!? Okay the "boom effect" helped in the fight, but it really did not look like Johnny didn't have the option to stay, Max asks him to continue to fight after all. And Johnny *says* he doesn't want to turn back, and he has this blissful and serene expression ("I can feel it calling me... finally. It's...it's gonna be amazing, isn't it, Max? It's up to Flash to beat Savitar. There's nothing more we can do. And as for Jesse... tell her I love her, Max. And tell her I'll always be a part of her. Now... more than ever.") and later Flash explicitly states that the field won't hold anybody who isn't ready, who doesn't want to stay, who hasn't made "peace on the mortal plane". There is no way "involuntary" fits into this

[some_stars]

mmmmmm. i REALLY like the idea of the speedsters being part of this semi-cult that freaks out other heroes. there should be fic. Because...dude, yes. SO culty. And they really are *different* in some qualitative sense, from the other heroes.

I need more speedster in my life. *sigh*

[ratcreature]

there should be fic.

I heartily agree with that. Tell me if you find some? Or you know, you could always write it. =)

[adamlizz]

I support the "there should be fic". A lot.

[thawrecka]

This just strengthens my determination to write of the fic someday. That's all so fascinating and has all sorts of interesting and somewhat disturbing possibilities.

And, well, Wally/Linda, la, la, la!