Kid Flash

5 years ago - 12-year-old Bart Allen is sent back in time so Wally West can bleed off his speed force powers. He is adopted by Jay & Joan Garrick, becomes Impulse, and joins Arsenal's Teen Titans.

4 years ago - 13-year-old Bart joins Young Justice.

3 years ago - 14-year-old Bart is recruited by Cyborg into the new Teen Titans. After he is shot in the knee by Slade Wilson, he chooses to become Kid Flash.

1 year ago - 16-year-old Bart joins all the surviving Titans on the homeworld of the Titans of Myth to save Donna Troy.

2995 - Bart Allen is born with a hyper-accelerated metabolism, the son of Don Allen & Meloni Thawne. His aunt Dawn Allen designs a virtual reality environment to keep up with his accelerated growth.

2997 - After aging 12 years in 2, Bart's parents Don Allen & Meloni Thawne go to Querl Dox, who sends him back in time so Wally West can bleed away his residual speed force energy.

Bart Allen is fun and hugely important to the story of his entire generation of characters, but his origin is more than a little tricky. We're trying to AVOID time travel, and for his story to work there have to be two major time travel elements. One, we've already set into place; Barry Allen's dive into the Speed Force to save Iris from the Reverse Flash. We can simply establish that Barry managed to drop Iris back into the timestream where she became a resident of the 31st century and gave birth to his twins.

We have some work to do from there to make sure Bart works, but he's very worth it. Bart is just such a wonderful character. He's the perfect example of a classic archetype, and any story with him in it is better for it.

Bart Allen's Comic History

The name Kid Flash was of course originally coined for Wally West, sidekick to the original Flash, in 1959. He served as Kid Flash for almost three decades before he became the new Flash in 1986, after which there was no character to use the name for some time. Bart Allen, meanwhile, was created by Mark Waid while he was revitalizing the Flash series in 1994. Bart was the grandson of Barry Allen and Iris West from the brief time at the end of their career when they lived in the 31th Century. Bart's speed-force powers were running rampant, causing him to age at a hyper-accelerated rate. The only hope they had for him to survive was to send him back in time to Wally, a man who had achieved a greater degree of speed-force control than any speedster before or after, who could safely bleed away the effects that were threatening Bart's life.

It was a bold move on Waid's part, to dip into the time-traveling lunacy that so defined the Barry Allen era of the Flash. It could easily have introduced all sorts of narrative complications, but instead it was handled with a deft and confident hand, and we were gifted a fantastic distillation of the manic energy of a young Flash in a new child hero; Impulse.

It took less than a year for Impulse to get his own spin-off series also written by Waid with art by Humberto Ramos, whose cartoonishly kinetic style would come to define Bart's signature style. The character's infusion of humor and fun would carry over into his membership in Young Justice, a book which also managed to maintain a playful tone while also delivering the traditional superhero team drama that makes those books so fun to read. Both series enjoyed long, successful runs until they were wrapped up with the introduction of Geoff Johns Teen Titans in 2003. This new book allowed all of the young heroes of Young Justice to experience all sorts of character growth. None more so than Bart, who chose to embrace the role of Kid Flash. He was a standout part of the series until, during the events of Infinite Crisis, Bart was aged up to an adult to become the latest Flash. He starred in his own series that ran for 13 issues before he was killed, With Wally West returning to the role back in his old series.

Bart of course returned a few years later, and of course was the first Kid Flash when DC went through it's new 52 reboot, but for the most part we haven't seen a return to this classic version of this incredibly well conceived and executed character.

Our Bart Allen Story

Before we did anything with Bart, we had to make some decisions in regard to his origins, because they involve time travel and we always try to handle this carefully. His hyper-accelerated metabolism and the threat it poses to his life sets up the idea that his family needs to seek out Brainiac 5, one of the only characters we've allowed to have access to time travel. Querl can easily determine that Bart NEEDS to be sent back in time in order for the timestream to function properly, especially since he recently did the same thing for a time-displaced Connor Kent. This actually all works out especially well, thanks in no small part I'm sure to the tight plotting of the original story by Mark Waid. It thankfully don't even confound the story that much, as Bart was effectively an infant and doesn't have any memory of future events.

With the logistics of his arrival in our time worked out, his story is pretty streamlined. Just like in the comics, he will come to live with the original Flash, Jay Garrick. He joins Young Justice and then the Titans, becoming friends with Tim, Connor and Cassie, and slowly growing from an impetuous, irresponsible kid into a young hero earning the right to use the name of his mentor.

Bart Allen's Costume

Bart's costumes are pretty straightforward. There isn't a lot that needs to change; his Impulse suit is iconic and totally works for his time using that name. In some of his later appearances you saw some artists add some very clever elements to it, like the buckles on his gloves and the textured tread of his boots. It all spoke to how well designed the character was, and all those little details should stick.

Of course, Bart's evolution into Kid Flash came with a slightly rethought yellow and red uniform. We of course won't diverge from that too much. but what I'd like to adjust that uniform just a tiny bit, and use the Kid Flash costume worn by Wally West in the animated Young Justice series. In the comics Bart's Kid Flash costume looks very traditional, with the exception of some very armor-y, tech-y boots that, in my opinion, were just a little over-designed. It worked just fine for the character at the time, but it's nowhere near as well thought out as the costume from the cartoon. The differences are subtle; slightly armored shoulders and elbows, red highlights on his chest, and best of all; the inclusion of red goggles that mirror the goggles worn by Bart as Impulse. It's an absolutely fantastic look that would work perfectly for Bart's version of Kid Flash, so I suggest we use it. We just have to imagine him with a mop of brown hair instead of as a redhead.

Bart Allen's Future

In the immediate future, Bart and the other Titans will soon undergo a change that sees them forming a new team, returning to the name Young Justice. While Connor and Tim are in the middle of evolving into new versions of themselves, Bart's growth is already a huge part of who he is. He loves the challenge of becoming Kid Flash, and still considers himself to be earning the right to fill the role. Unlike Superman or Batman, who are reaching points in their lives where their supporting characters are beginning to take up larger parts of their legacies, the current Flash is still young and will keep the role for a good long time. Perhaps Bart might, someday in the distant future, feel like he has earned the right to take over for his mentor as the Flash, but that's a long way off. For now, I think Bart is very happy to keep the name Kid Flash, and serve alongside his friends.

In the future, of course, there will come a day when Wally's young daughter Iris will wind up exhibiting speed powers, probably when she's way too young to be a superhero. When that happens it's pretty much guaranteed that she's going to take up Bart's old moniker Impulse, and we'll get the delightful development of Bart being put in the position of chasing after his own rambunctious sidekick and second cousin. That just feels like the future our boy deserves.

Allies & Teams

Talon