The best parts of this arc though, was watching Wally travel across the future on his way back home. On a visit to his grandfather’s, Wally uncovers an old scrapbook made by his late aunt Iris chronicling his days as Kid Flash. Waid was expanding a universe and building on his stories without feeling the need to telegraph every plot point. Since the tragic death of Barry Allen during the Crisis, Wally West has held the mantle of The Flash.

After a quick chat with the speed guru himself (Max Mercury) he realizes he can't be everywhere at once, and that's ok.Once the universe settles itself post-Zero Hour, the Flash must face down Kobra’s infiltration of Keystone City. The lightning bolt, the radioactive spider, the quick, physical event that "caused" the powers to show up. Once the origin story is over, we have a couple of mediocre short stories involving Not Aquaman, and a revamped Abra Kadabra. So Barry Allen got his Flash powers from a one in a million accident where lightning struck a shelf of chemicals and him and then stuff happened to Flashify the dude.

As Rakzo already pointed, Messner-Loebs' run is also pretty good, but it has sadly never been printed in trades. The opening 50th-anniversary issue is a typical, albeit somewhat fun, look into the history of the three main Flashes (Garrick, Allen, West) and a solid introduction to a future Flash (Fox). We also see more of Jay Garrick and the beginning of the Flash Family that would soon grow in the upcoming months. In the wake of the Zero Hour, Wally West has transcended space and time, becoming a being of pure speed.His words seem to come alive and you'll find yourself enjoying the time you spend reading Wally's thoughts. The events of World's Finest would later set up the events of Batman vs Robin and " Lazarus Planet", also written by Waid. In October 2018, Waid joined Humanoids Publishing as Director of Creative Development before being promoted to Publisher in February 2020.

The first story has a far future Flash traveling back in time to gather past Flashes (Jay Garrick the Golden Age Flash, Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, and Wally West) to help against a world-ending disaster in the far future. Waid’s run on The Flash represents some of his earlier work, and you can still see him working through the transition from lifelong fanboy and professional editor to spinner of tales, but the knack for imbuing his superheroes with relatable problems (struggling with family issues, confidence, etc. Waid is the original detective of why a hero is how they are - he turns their situations, origins, histories and unique motivations over in his head until he finds the root of it all - and then he makes certain that anything he adds to the mythos is solidly grounded, not just random story-of-the-month nonsense. He gathers together speedsters young and old: Impulse, The Golden Age Flash, Johnny Quick, Max Mercury, and Jesse Quick. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH).This triggers a series of flashbacks that retells Wally’s first short-lived run as Kid Flash (he would later go on to a much more prolific tenure as a member of the Teen Titans). The Flash Book One by Mark Waid, is a collection of a number of Flash stories, focusing on the early modern age Flash, Wally West. Honestly though, I wasn’t left with any strong feelings at all - and I suspect it’s because I really don’t like the Flash as much as I thought I did. The two annuals included reminding old timers like me that our nostalgia for the bloated crossovers in the annuals is unfounded as those stories feel painfully padded to meet the 64-page requirement.