The Flash is known to be the fastest hero in all of DC Comics, but his super-speed also has the bad habit of making his life a living hell when he isn’t using it to save others. Living between ticks of a second, The Flash, whether the man under the mask is Barry Allen – or in this case – Wally West, has always had relatively precise control over his Speed Force powers, but in some instances, being unable to control his speed at all leads to huge problems, especially when he’s out of costume.
Explored way back in The Flash #174 by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, this issue sees Wally West continuing the legacy of the Scarlet Speedster, while delving into the idea that Wally’s speed powers aren’t always what they’ve cracked up to be. Gearing up to talk to the father of his main squeeze, Linda, to try and get to know the guy and make some kind of connection outside of the spandex, Wally isn’t looking forward to a meeting that he can already tell will bore him beyond all reason.
Knowing that Linda’s dad is all about the business of money, Wally almost immediately loses focus as their conversation turns to stock and bonds, a subject matter that Wally clearly isn’t interested in. But as Linda’s father continues to speak and Wally loses himself in thought, Wally begins to mull over the fact that he has two levels of perception related to his Speed Force powers, “normal” and “speed mode”, one of which is about to kick in and make his life a little more hellish than his conversation is already making it.
Thinking to himself that he usually has direct control over switching between the two, Wally then reveals that sometimes his speed mode will kick in automatically “under high duress or when I’m in danger.” Usually acting as a pretty useful tool when defeating the newest threat out on the streets, “speed mode” has some disadvantages too, especially when the third qualifier for it to kick in is during instances when Wally is bored out of his mind.
Clearly feeling this way based on the conversational topic at hand (and probably wanting to pass the time by taking a nice micro nap, too), Wally’s “speed mode” inadvertently kicks in just as expected, making the situation he’s currently stuck in feel like an eternity and a kind of living hell that he can’t help but comment on. Saying that it’s taking Linda’s dad, “…practically an hour to ask me one question,” Wally goes on to think that he can’t even watch the sports game on the television because it’s moving so slow that he can, “…watch the electron gun in the set create every frame. Pixel by pixel,” a problem for a guy who usually employs this advantage to get the drop on the bad guys, not sit in a perceptively agonizing conversation that could last relative hours.
So although The Flash is and always will be The Fastest Man Alive, his speed isn’t always the best super power to have, especially in situations that don’t call for his specific brand of justice. And even though Wally West – and by extension – Barry Allen and the rest of The Flash Family have found ways to successfully deal with this tiny wrinkle in their super hero power set over the years, it doesn’t change the fact that it can make their lives a living hell at the most inconvenient times.