Jai West
now - Hunter Zolomon tries to kill Linda Park. Wally West runs directly into the Speed Force to outrun time itself to save her, using her as a lighting rod to ground himself and return. The trauma triggers her labor, and their twin children Jai & Irey West are born.
We gave very real thought to actually just having one page for Irey & Jai. At this point in the timeline they're newborns, basically two similarly shaped sacks of flower that just make double the diaper duty, so their timelines are as identical as two characters can be. Also, if we want to show them as infants, there's really not much art depicting them separately. This means we have two pages with the same image on top, which just makes me bristle.
So why did we wind up making two separate pages? The fact is, there really is quite a bit to say about both characters. They've been really well adapted into modern comics, with each of them reading as their own person with their own story. If we were going to do these two justice, they each needed their own space. (Yes this introduction appears on both pages. Just.. go with it.)
So why did we wind up making two separate pages? The fact is, there really is quite a bit to say about both characters. They've been really well adapted into modern comics, with each of them reading as their own person with their own story. If we were going to do these two justice, they each needed their own space. (Yes this introduction appears on both pages. Just.. go with it.)
Jai's Comic HistoryWhile Irey West was a reference to a character from the Non-Canon story Kingdom Come, Jai was an original character when he and his sister were born in The Flash #225 in 2005. The twins, along with their parents, vanished in the pages of Infinite Crisis, only to return about a year later over in Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America , having aged up to approximately 8 years old. The twins powers were unstable, and there was the possibility that they could spontaneously age up again. They had Speed Force related powers but were not specifically speedsters themselves; Irey could vibrate through objects while Jai could "temporarily superaccelerate the myofibrillar hypertrophism in his muscular tissue", giving himself temporary superstrength before needing a nap. The twins were a featured part of the Flash's stories for several years.
Eventually Barry Allen returned, taking over the book. In the transition it was revealed that the reason the twins powers were unstable was because they were sharing a speed force connection. To save her brother, whose powers were painful, Irey absorbed the full connection and became a full speedster, taking on the name Impulse while, for a while, Jai was depicted as kind of a sullen little kid, angry about the loss of his powers.' Wally's family vanished from continuity with the New 52, but eventually they were returned, and Jai is now a regular part of the series, still dealing with his strange offshoot powers, which we actually think presents us with a really interesting story opportunity. |
Jai's Story & Possible FutureEarlier readers might notice that, while we previously mentioned the birth of Irey on the site, we never actually planned to use Jai. We don't generally do 'future continuity' here, so anything that might happen in their future is just speculation, but it stands to reason that Irey is going to grow up to be a speedster hero, and we didn't really see the need to have more than one.
However, that's not really what Jai's story is about. While Irey takes to the Speed Force like a duck to water, Jai's powers have always been stranger, and we couldn't help but wonder what that must be like for the kid. It doesn't even have to be about his powers functioning differently; it could simply be that, as a result of their traumatic birth, Jai was simply born with a minor birth defect that effects how his muscles develop... making running hard? He could still use the Speed Force in other ways... but what if it wasn't easy? What if it even hurt? Imagine growing up as part of such a big superhero legacy. Not just any legacy... THE FLASH. Even if no one is putting pressure on him, imagine the pressure Jai would be putting on HIMSELF to fufil that legacy? Imagine the guilt this kid would feel if he just didn't like it, but was doing it out of a sense of obligation? The deep sense of inadequcy? Then imagine if his sister, and his parents, who love him so much, said to him... It's okay? If this isn't who you are, Jai, we love you no matter what? I think that would really be something, wouldn't it? |