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Description
If you read mainstream comics, you can probably guess what prompted this. I don't actually read the New 52; just haven't found anything compelling there, but I read the article about Wally's return and found it intriguing. On the one hand, the Flash is the perfect place to introduce some diversity into the DC lineup, since Flash is a legacy character, not a single individual. And I'm very much in favor of introducing some diversity there, because, to be frank, superheroes have historically lived in white fantasy land. Obviously there are some exceptions; some of them great characters, but Normative Whiteness in comics is not hard to see, and its, at the very least, embarrassingly archaic. Remember in Final Crisis #7 where we see a parallel universe where Superman and Wonder Woman are black? And Renee Montoya even observes "do you all look like this here?" Sorry, but people of color being a parallel dimension is pretty cringeworthy, no matter how ironic Morrison was trying to be.

On the other hand, the one picture I've seen looked like a white guy with a "black" hair style (though, granted, he is supposed to be "mixed race", and DC's house style, IMO, doesn't really lend itself to ethnic subtlety). I also think that "turning Wally black" feels more like catering to contemporary sensibilities than simply being open to a diverse superhero pantheon. I love Wally West, and while I don't mind him not being a white guy, I think it would be a lot more natural to simply have a new character take over the cowl (lord knows that Barry is dull as dirt). So... I drew this; a (hopefully) cool new Flash who happens to be black. I'm not trying to nitpick, but this is the way I would have gone with it.

Description
If you read mainstream comics, you can probably guess what prompted this. I don't actually read the New 52; just haven't found anything compelling there, but I read the article about Wally's return and found it intriguing. On the one hand, the Flash is the perfect place to introduce some diversity into the DC lineup, since Flash is a legacy character, not a single individual. And I'm very much in favor of introducing some diversity there, because, to be frank, superheroes have historically lived in white fantasy land. Obviously there are some exceptions; some of them great characters, but Normative Whiteness in comics is not hard to see, and its, at the very least, embarrassingly archaic. Remember in Final Crisis #7 where we see a parallel universe where Superman and Wonder Woman are black? And Renee Montoya even observes "do you all look like this here?" Sorry, but people of color being a parallel dimension is pretty cringeworthy, no matter how ironic Morrison was trying to be.

On the other hand, the one picture I've seen looked like a white guy with a "black" hair style (though, granted, he is supposed to be "mixed race", and DC's house style, IMO, doesn't really lend itself to ethnic subtlety). I also think that "turning Wally black" feels more like catering to contemporary sensibilities than simply being open to a diverse superhero pantheon. I love Wally West, and while I don't mind him not being a white guy, I think it would be a lot more natural to simply have a new character take over the cowl (lord knows that Barry is dull as dirt). So... I drew this; a (hopefully) cool new Flash who happens to be black. I'm not trying to nitpick, but this is the way I would have gone with it.