The CW’s The Flash reached its Season 1 finale this week and it was awesome. Just plain awesome. Faced with the prospect of resetting the timeline to save his mother at the cost of erasing the relationships with his friends and family, Barry Allen was put through the emotional wringer and we went along with him. There were tearful conversations with loved ones, a painful moment of loss, and one of the most gratifying villain takedowns in recent memory. How did the showmakers pull it off? By embracing the comic books that the Flash comes from.
Most comic book superhero shows are based around the idea of a person becoming a superhero, the origin story. Smallville shows a teenage Clark Kent becoming Superman, but they purposefully never showed him in full costume until the final shot of the last episode. Gotham explores the iconic city before Batman was around, instead focusing on the career of Jim Gordon and the beginnings of Gotham’s many infamous villains, all while little Bruce Wayne deals with darkness and no parents. Daredevil received the high-quality treatment of a cable show, but even that was more “Daredevil Begins.” Likewise, Arrow took its time building up to Oliver Queen becoming a hooded archer that goes after evil people who have failed. this. city. And while he has embraced being “The Arrow,” he has yet to call himself Green Arrow, as if that’s too cheesy a name for a guy who runs around with Speedy and Black Canary.
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Most comic book superhero shows are based around the idea of a person becoming a superhero, the origin story. Smallville shows a teenage Clark Kent becoming Superman, but they purposefully never showed him in full costume until the final shot of the last episode. Gotham explores the iconic city before Batman was around, instead focusing on the career of Jim Gordon and the beginnings of Gotham’s many infamous villains, all while little Bruce Wayne deals with darkness and no parents. Daredevil received the high-quality treatment of a cable show, but even that was more “Daredevil Begins.” Likewise, Arrow took its time building up to Oliver Queen becoming a hooded archer that goes after evil people who have failed. this. city. And while he has embraced being “The Arrow,” he has yet to call himself Green Arrow, as if that’s too cheesy a name for a guy who runs around with Speedy and Black Canary.
Continue reading…
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