DC’s First Flash Finally Calls Out Barry Allen for His Flashpoint Disaster

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Jay Garrick: The Flash #6

Summary

• Jay Garrick reveals he doesn’t believe speedsters should use time travel in
  Jay Garrick: The Flash
  #6.
• Past time travel mistakes, like in
  Flashpoint,
  still have consequences in the present-day of the DC Universe.
• Jay Garrick will always be the North Star of the Flash Family, even after spending years in the Speed Force thanks to Barry’s time travel mistake.

The Flash is a legacy that has been passed down through generations of heroes, but the original Crimson Comet – Jay Garrick – still holds a special place in DC’s pantheon of heroes. A surrogate grandfather to the Flash Family and to the hero community at large, when Jay speaks, his allies listen. And now, Jay has subtly spoken out against his successor Barry Allen’s greatest mistake – Flashpoint.

Jay Garrick: The Flash #6 by Jeremy Adams and Diego Olortegui sees the titular speedster racing against the clock to foil Doctor Elemental. Pushing himself to the limit to save his daughter, Jay knows he’s slower than his successors, saying that he can’t time-travel — before claiming that no speedster was ever meant to.

Concentrating, Garrick says, “We’re made to look forward. Good or bad. To face joy and defeat head-on.” And considering how Flashpoint spawned from Barry’s messing with the timestream, it’s hard not to read this as a partial rebuke of the second Flash’s greatest blunder.

Flashpoint
by Geoff Johns, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, Alex Sinclair, and Nick J. Napolitano is available now digitally and in collected editions from DC Comics.

Jay Garrick Knows Time Travel Is Always a Mistake

The Flashes Are Still Recovering from Flashpoint

Barry Allen is one of DC’s iconic heroes, but the scars left by Flashpoint are still prominent in the DC Universe as a whole. The Flashes in particular have spent a long while recovering from the timestream’s alterations, only fully reuniting the Flash Family in recent years after the majority of speedsters – like Jay, Impulse, and Wally West – were trapped in the Speed Force for years. Having spent years out of time, it’s no wonder that Jay would still be a little bitter, but odds are his words are meant to be more inspirational than admonishing.

The Flash Family are an iconic piece of DC Comics lore, and more so than many other corners of the DC Universe, these heroes play fundamental roles within the cosmic tapestry of their multiverse.

As the first Flash, Jay Garrick has always been a signpost of DC’s hero community, racing towards the future with a wink and a charm that can’t help but inspire his successors. This Flash truly believes that it’s the responsibility of heroes to move forward, guiding the way for those they inspire, and his legacy within the Flash Family lends that belief a lot of credibility. To Jay, the legacy of the Flash is about facing tomorrow with hope, not getting tangled up in the past – a fact all too forgotten by many of the younger speedsters out there.

The Flash Legacy Will Always Move Forward

Nobody Inspires Other Speedsters Quite Like Jay Garrick

The Flash Family are an iconic piece of DC Comics lore, and more so than many other corners of the DC Universe, these heroes play fundamental roles within the cosmic tapestry of their multiverse. Whether it’s a crisis in time or the multiverse, a Flash will be there to help save the day by looking forward, not backward. And with the original Flash back to his place of prominence among the Fastest Family Alive, Jay Garrick will be there to keep his successors moving forward.

Jay Garrick: The Flash #6 is available now from DC Comics.