The idea for this first blog came about because I was reading other blogs referencing the recent DC Comics reboot: The New 52. Specifically, The Flash #1 that came out on the 28^th of September. Let me preface this real quick by saying that I LOVE the Flash. He is now, has always been, and always will be my favorite superhero. As awesomely powerful as Superman is and as just plain awesome as Batman is, neither one can hold a candle to the Flash. I won’t get into great detail as to why he is by far the best superhero of all time (at least not in this post) so I will merely state it as fact and you should just accept it as such.

And he damn well knows it too.

The reason I felt the need to make my own post of the subject of The Flash #1 isn’t because the other bloggers bashed it (though some did) or didn’t give it it’s proper due (though some didn’t). It wasn’t that I had a problem with their opinions or standpoints (because who the hell am I?). It was merely that they didn’t really focus on what I thought was truly the most interesting facet of the issue: THE NEW FREAKING FLASH COSTUME! Now, the costume of the Flash has pretty much been the same for the last 50 years (with a few minor tweaks to make it a little more modern or a little flashier…no pun intended…mostly). Barry Allen (technically the second Flash) designed a costume that not only would he use for almost the next 30 years, but that two other Flashes would don for the following 20 (those being Wally West…the original Kid Flash and the Flash most people know nowadays; and Bart Allen…Barry Allen’s grandson from the future who went from being Impulse to Kid Flash to the Flash and then back to Kid Flash). Wally made a few minor changes to the costume (he lost the boot wings and it became a little shinier and he had a Batman eyes thing going on) but it was essentially the same costume. And then Barry came back and reclaimed the mantle of the Flash and pretty much brought the costume back in line with its original design. That is until the reboot.

Hello there Sexy!

Some people really don’t like the new costume. I can’t entirely blame them. I am as much a comic book purist as anyone else when it comes to costumes (I still can’t get over the fact that Tim Burton changed Batman’s costume in the original movies…followed by Joel Schumacher going just plain ape-shit insane on it, though for some reason I’m a little more lenient on the changes the new Batman movies made. And don’t get me started on the costumes for the X-Men trilogy), but the fact is…the changes really aren’t all that outwardly drastic.

Now with 0.73% more Newness!

Yes his cowl has a chin guard now (which I personally think looks a little cool), the boots are different, and the whole thing has this weird seaming thing going on that looks like it has yellow piping everywhere (more on that in a second). There are a lot of little differences that do make the overall costume noticeably different. But the fundamentals are still there. The red skin tight bodysuit, the red cowl that shows his lower face, the ear wings, the yellow lightning design separating the gloves from the rest of the uniform, the yellow boots and lightning design belt, and the lightning bolt in the white circle. It is all still there. But even more than the subtle design changes to the costume (which were mentioned a little in other blogs)…the thing that stands out so much for me and makes the costume even more amazing is the way the Flash changes into this new costume.

You see, the original costume was pretty brilliant in its application to begin with. Barry Allen was/is a scientist. Specifically he is a forensic scientist who works for the Central City Police Department in their Crime Lab. For Barry this meant he was really in the know when it came to Chemistry (remember he started back in the day when there weren’t computers everywhere to analyze everything and spit out results like electronic magic 8 balls and CSI employees didn’t even WEAR sunglasses on the job).

Forensic Science!

Back in Barry’s day you still had to take samples and use certain chemicals to elicit certain results denoting the presence of certain substances. Well…I’m sure there are still things in a crime lab that require that…but Barry didn’t have all that high tech equipment and stuff like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry had only just recently been developed back in his day. As a matter of fact, Barry got his powers in the first place when a lightning bolt smashed into his lab and crashed through a rack full of chemicals causing the electrified chemicals to douse him in such a manner that he developed superspeed (remember…in the 50′s science could do anything). Anyway…to make a long story short,

Too late!

one of the things Barry used his knowledge of chemistry for was to develop a special substance he coated his costume with, which, when exposed to a special gas, would shrink said costume down to a tiny fraction of its original size, allowing him to store it in a specially designed ring. When the ring was opened and the costume was exposed to the oxygen in the air it expanded to its full size. It really was a clever idea.

Clever and somewhat alarming!

That way instead of pulling a Superman and wearing your costume under your other clothes (which seems like it might backfire way more often then it does), or having to lug around a briefcase with your costume in it (like Batman would occasionally do)…the Flash’s costume was always right at hand (literally). Well with this new version of the Flash that hasn’t changed. The Flash still wears his Flash ring, but the way the costume is put together is what has changed. Instead of ejecting a full (albeit miniaturized) costume when the ring is activated, the new Flash ring spits out panels of the costume with the Flash emblem on the ring face expanding to become the chest emblem. The panels then form the costume around the Flash (kind of like some versions of Iron Man) and seal together (which is why you get the seams) to form the finished costume. How do the panels seal together and with what?

Magic?

Hopefully they will take the time to explain it because otherwise it will very likely drive me insane.

Now I’m sure you’re saying to yourself (though more likely you aren’t since you’ve grown bored of this whole thing nine paragraphs ago): what’s the big deal? Its still utilizing miniaturization to hide the costume in the ring. True. But the important difference isn’t in how the costume is stored…it is in how the costume is put on. Essentially with this new costume the Flash kind of just “runs” into the thing and it forms around him (and seemingly even over his street clothes). This is an important feature because think for a second about how he would have had to have put on the old costume? Remember, the old costume came out as a full and complete costume (and as a matter of fact it even appeared sometimes as if the boots were connected to the whole outfit). Have you ever tried to put on a one piece, head-to-toe outfit?

It isn't freaking easy.

Even if the sections were just loosely held together and you could take them apart it still leaves the simple fact that, while in the middle of action (because remember, the Flash was usually changing into his costume on his way directly into a fight), the Flash is having to change this clothes in the same way any of us do. Granted, he is doing it really fast, but to him he is still going through all the motions…we just can’t see it. He is standing there…just a little ways away from whatever crisis he is trying to avert…either taking all his street clothes off (which means he is getting naked in front of everyone) or putting his costume right on over his street clothes. But he is still pulling the top and the bottom on (or slipping into a one piece), pulling his cowl over his face, struggling to get into his boots (because I don’t know anyone who can just slip on boots) and then having to get back into the mindset to go into battle. Most cartoon versions of the Flash represented this whole thing by the Flash merely spinning rapidly around in a circle like a superspeed figure skater (which frankly makes even less sense because I don’t know anyone who can spin around like a top and still manage to put clothes on…at least not without becoming severely dizzy). Any way you slice it…this is really not an efficient way to get a costume on (and once again there is the fact that he is very likely getting naked in front of everyone for a nanosecond…which was actually brought up by Wally West’s mother in one issue when he changed into his costume in front of her). This new approach is just genius. It allows him to keep his forward momentum into battle and not go about flashing (pun totally intended) the world at superspeed. In fact…the only time the Flash had a better way to get into his costume was when Wally West was able to actually condense the Speed Force around him to act as a costume rather than actually having a real costume…but that is far too complicated a discussion to get into here.

Shown Above: Far too Complicated.

So bravo to whoever thought the new costume up. I will even accept the fact that you changed the classic and iconic symbol of the greatest superhero of the DC universe because frankly…you just made it all the more awesome.

Oh…and the story and writing were really good too. Actually I had been worried since over all the writing for the rebooted titles has tended to be fairly atrocious. But I was not disappointed. Hopefully they will manage to keep it up…and explain in greater detail what makes the Flash’s new costume work.