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 disturbing cults out there. I mean it's great for them that they're so sure of their afterlife, but still-- when Jay tells Jesse who mourns her father "Your father was a fine man... and, god, I'm going to miss him. But be glad for him, Jesse. After a lifetime of living in darkness, he finally saw a light that took him in and made him whole." (quoted from Flash #111) --it somehow bugs me. It's not only how content they seem to serenely seek out and embrace their death (joining with the field or not, they are still dead) when they feel their time has come, because the speedforce calls to them, which is vaguely disturbing to hear from people who are not terminally ill or in a lot of pain (which are the only circumstances I have encountered that sentiment), it's also that apparently to have their desired afterlife, they can't just wait for dying of old age in their sleep, they have to die through their form of ritualized suicide, by running as fast as they can, and then if they're lucky enough (or favored by the speedforce, or whatever), they can join with it. Which is what reminds me of some wacky cults who tell their members they have to kill themselves in some specific fashion to get into heaven.

I mean, I've been wondering whether in the aftermath (i.e. the funeral in Flash #112) the other speedsters told the assembled heroes that Johnny Quick didn't really die in the fight, but decided to join the speedforce because he "finally saw the light". It doesn't seem that way-- at the funeral Johnny's ex-wife Libby (the retired Liberty Bell) is grieving and fairly bitter, and blames it on the costumed adventuring that he's dead. It seems she assumes he died because of the fight. I assume the speedsters must have told her something about why they are so certain he's not going to reappear, because otherwise I have a hard time how anybody in the DCU would accept someone as dead without leaving a body behind this quickly, just because he apparently disappeared in a big boom of lightening.

I now want to know much of this stuff the speedsters share with their team mates, and what those team mates think of this. I mean I can't imagine that their views on this go over well with everybody.

Another thing I'm ambiguous about is that in Dead Heat we get to see Wally inside the field, which on one hand is cool to see, on the other hand I liked that it was left open and mysterious in Terminal Velocity, and in a way seeing it on page this time, made that less effective. However it's still a really cool sequence in Flash #111 (page 15, 16, 17/18, 19, 20), not at least because even though Wally is in (or at least only one step away from) nirvana-like bliss, he still has a sense of humor as he brings Savitar to join the other speedsters: "And the certainty that all those who have journeyed here before me take care of their own... however they must. So long Savitar. Learn to play well with others."

Comments

[adamlizz.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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 off with the knowledge that this arc was heavily hyped as "one of these speedsters will run their last race!" and it leaves me with the cynical feeling that Mark Waid decided to kill someone off because it's a cheap way to make a story more dramatic, picked Johnny because he wasn't important, and then botched the job.

[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.

The plot twist that Flash had to give Savitar what he wants actually worked for me, and I can see the speedsters' POV on joining with their power field, and yet -- on some level I find it disturbing that for them suicide at the right time is the perfect and most pleasant way to die, and seemingly the only way they can have the afterlife they crave, and that apparently for some, if they turn away from it, like Max did, they missed their chance and end up longing for having had that faith then the rest of their life. I mean, in a way Max kind of "atones" for his failure to take this drastic step by convincing others that they should embrace it.

[lcsbanana.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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!