One of the subplots in the film involved Senator Palpatine, a man who curiously shared the surname and actor as Emperor Palpatine from the later films. Senator Palpatine's rise to power occurred as a mysterious and sinister cloaked Sith Lord named Darth Sidious--who also looked and sounded like the later Emperor--plotted with the Republic's enemies. On the surface, it was pretty clear that Palpatine and Sidious were the same person. There was a coy air of mystery hovering over the subplot, but both were played by the same actor, and we knew that Emperor Palpatine, who shared that distinctive surname, sure looked a lot like Darth Sidious. The connection seemed obvious.
So obvious, in fact, that I thought it was a trick. I was convinced leaving the theater and until shown otherwise, that the second film would contain a twist, that Senator Palpatine and Darth Sidious weren't the same character. Maybe the films would pick up an element from the various books, and the Senator would turn out to be the clone of Sidious, a puppet used to conduct public dealings. Maybe Sidious sought to assassinate and replace the Senator. But it was so obvious that the two were the same person that I was certain they wouldn't be.
As it turns out, I just gave George Lucas far too much credit. The coy air of mystery was an apparition, and the plot decided to stay close to the careful and obvious, refusing to give us any of the Empire-style plot twists that we'd come to expect from the franchise.
The same thing basically happened with Jeph Loeb's "Hush." Tommy Elliot was the only new character introduced in the story, besides the enigmatic villain. He was a plastic surgeon and the villain wore bandages. He was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne's, and the killer was intimately aware of Bruce's secrets. Even when Tommy was apparently gunned down in an alley, it was incredibly obvious that he would turn out to be Hush, which is why I was so certain that he wouldn't. I'd read Loeb's other Batman mysteries, I'd read his other work, and the man knew how to do a twist, or so I thought. Instead, the plot followed on to the obvious conclusion that Tommy Elliot was indeed Hush, and thus the most boring character in Batman's rogues gallery since The Eraser.

I can understand this ending, though. It was almost necessary. Bart Allen was a broken character, and had been ever since he came out of Infinite Crisis. Just take a look at his backstory: the grandson of Silver Age Flash Barry Allen in the 30th Century is raised in a simulated world due to his hyperaccelerated metabolism, and is brought back in time by his grandmother to be cured of his condition and to learn responsibility from her nephew, Wally West. Bart is taken under the wing of Max Mercury and develops into a competent-but-brash, happy-go-lucky teen hero, who eventually is forced to contemplate his own mortality, and to grow up fairly rapidly after a battle with Deathstroke. He wears the mantle of Kid Flash for some time, then helps drive Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force, where he spends four years (sort of) in another dimension (I guess) and comes back as a 16-year-old in a 20-year-old's body, wearing Barry's costume, with the Speed Force threatening to destroy him from the inside out.

If that sounds familiar, it's because we've run that track before, after the last big Crisis. Having stripped Bart of the personality traits and supporting cast that made him distinctive, the only way you'd be able to tell him apart from Wally was the hair color. And the repeated references to him being "a 16-year-old in an adult body," despite the fact that he never acted or thought like a teenager. In another stunning case of telling, not showing, in the Mighty Marvel Manner, we had other characters dictate to us what we should have been able to tell from thought captions, dialogue, and actions. That's just sloppy.

And how about the ending to JLofA #10? They didn't give Wally a funeral, because they "knew he'd make it." Guess it sucks to be Bart; the other heroes apparently had no such faith in his recuperative abilities. It's not as though being bludgeoned to death is the hindrance it used to be; just ask Jason Todd.
So, in the end, I'm fairly happy that Bart got a nice clean break and that the Speed Force was released. I wish Bart could have gone out in a blaze of glory, rather than in the midst of a one-sided battle. I'm very happy that Wally and his family returned (even though the twins being older means that my dream arc, seeing Wally try to balance superheroics with being a stay-at-home dad, will probably not come to pass). I'm not happy that Editorial has shifted its sights away from the Giffen-era JLU and has moved on to killing off Young Justice. Slobo was the first to go (and was dissed by Didio, saying that Lobo wasn't supposed to be a joke, or something), then Kon, now Bart. Aside from Robin and Wonder Girl, the rest of the characters have been consigned to comics limbo. When's the last time the Ray or Snapper Carr showed up? I know Empress has appeared something like twice since the end of the series, and once was miscolored.

But that's a story for another day. Unlike Jay, apparently, I don't expect Bart Allen to stay dead for any length of time, not when there's a backdoor like that to be exploited. For now, though, I mourn. Bart Allen, Impulse, Kid Flash, Flash: we hardly knew ye.
7 comments:
It's scary how much we think alike: I too expected more from the Palpatine/Sidious setup (the "Clone" Wars referring to a clone of the Emperor, maybe) and from "Hush" (I thought it'd be Hugo Strange).
However, I really didn't expect Bart to die. (Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice ... you've fooled me again.) Now that I've spent all this time invested in Bart's fate, watch -- he'll come back, just like you said.
That thing with Bart's 'scouts' or whatever it is... you know who else had that ability? Roger Rabbit. Not in the movie; in the novel.
I think DC is being obvious with their covers for sales. It may not tell as much of an interesting story, but it will grab people.
Also, isn't The Ray in Uncle Sam & The Freedom Fighters?
Tom: Glad to hear I wasn't the only one. My friends at the time thought I was crazy for suggesting that Sidious and Palpatine weren't the same person.
Matthew: Interesting; it really is kind of a cartoony ability, which is why (I imagine) it worked so well for Impulse.
Justin: I commented on the "spoiler cover" before, and while I liked it for the Manhunter and 52 covers, it seems like it works best when it comes out of left field or resolves a long-running mystery. When all the signs, cover included, keep pointing to the character's imminent death, the smarter move seems to me to be to drop the optimistic twist in at the end.
It's so hard to describe this feeling, honestly, because it's so convoluted. On one hand, the story proceeds absolutely logically, and every point follows from what came before. The problem is that the end result is unsatisfying; when the story proceeds logically and obviously in one direction, you expect to be jerked in another. It's like a roller coaster ride that only goes up. The way this story went, there was no climax. Just "Bart's gonna die, Bart's gonna die, Bart's gonna die, Bart's dying, Bart's dead." It was totally flat.
It's the difference between "Yes, Luke, I killed your father" or "Soylent Green is nutritious and tasty, with no nasty secrets whatsoever!" and the endings we're familiar with. Some stories are just screaming for a twist, a heroic turn, something. This is one of them.
One minor point. From internet posts made by the writer, Bart is killed by getting zapped by the 3 Rogues, the scene where it looks like Trickster/MM/Piper/Inertia are beating on him? Thats supposed to be the first three beating up Inertia...
I've seen the panel and it doesn't even vaguely look like that. So I guess the book had a really incompetant artist...
Really excellent post, and I love your "back door" idea for bringing Bart back. Too bad he won't be back for a while even if they decided to go in that direction...
I just kept waiting for some piece of Bart's old personality to shine through, for him to spray-paint "Hanson sucks!" all over a room one last time, but it just never came to pass. At this point, I think they were just putting him out of his misery, the poor boy.
When's the last time the Ray or Snapper Carr showed up?
I can't speak for Snapper, but Ray Terril came back toward the end Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, replacing the "darker and edgier" new Ray that was introduced in the beginning.
Um... I'm pretty sure Arrowette and Secret are living perfectly normal lives as regular teenagers, and Red Tornado may not be written well but at least he's still in one piece (hah). And as for Lagoon Boy, I think he's too obscure for even C-List cannon fodder.
Personally, I'd do something different from Bart. Since his character has been a wreck since Infinite Crisis, I'd just have him spontaneously appear out of nowhere in the Kid Flash costume saying: "Hey guys, what did I miss?" Turns out the guy masquerading as "Bart" was Cobalt Blue...or not. It depends on what DC does next. Regardless, it basically allows me to say this series of the Flash never happened.
Bart then becomes the voice of anti-angst among the Teen Titans, and reverts to Impulse after realizing that he was caught up in the same angstiness as his friends (said ansgtyness is revealed to be caused by an external force of old Titan villains). I'd have to get rid of Miss Martian (not dead, just in limbo) to bring back Secret.
As for the death of Kon, Bart's like "Oh, he'll be back", even thought Empress new superteam, made in honor of Connor's death, seems to think Bart's in denial.
Post a Comment