For years people told me to go back and read Waid's run which focuses on Wally. It's what made him what he is today! So I finally said fuck it, and went back to the late 80's-90's. It took me awhile because I'll be honest, It is/was hard for me to go further back in time because things are a product of their age. And dialogue can feel "old" or "out of time" and on top of that older art can feel...old? Like it's not as smooth.

So anyway I finally opened up volume 1 and dove into the Flash by Mark Waid. This covers a couple of annuals and then we jump into Waid's run with a story of "what could be" wally's future and then his main storyline "born to run" as well as a couple of adventures after.

The annuals that open this book are...well to put it lightly, terrible. I almost couldn't get through them. I had to gloss over them at points because the writing and art were...bad. But then we got to Waid's story of a "What if" Wally married a certain somebody and how is life as Flash would go. While nothing "mindblowing" I did end up enjoying this one.

Born to Run is Wally's origins retold and it's pretty damn good. It has all the right beats, training, emotional payoffs, and fun adventures. It also let me enjoy a story with Barry who I find usually pretty bland. On top of that it helps show Wally's voice, and Waid does it SO naturally that I love the guy right away.

The other stories are fun saturday morning cartoon adventures. Watching Aquaman being mind control is silly but fun. And then we get a weird future/hunter story. Good, cheesy, but I had fun with it.

Overall, this isn't the greatest product ever. Born to Run is a very very solid 4 out of 5, but the rest around a 3, and those opening annuals or whatever are fucking dreadful 1's.

So I'll settle on a 3 out of 5 for this. Will get into the next one soon!