The Flash Family has a new speedster in their ranks, and she’s already saving the day in a huge way. Linda Park-West is typically part of Flash stories as Wally West’s love interest and wife. But the final part of The Flash‘s Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-in story sees Linda make use of her mysterious new speed powers by joining the fray and saving Wally and Barry Allen—in more ways than one.
Though not usually a speedster or meta human, Linda Park has been a major player in Flash books for decades. Introduced in 1989 as a supporting character and love interest for the newest Flash, Wally West, Linda is a dedicated journalist and fierce friend. She and Wally eventually marry and have twins, Jai and Irey West—but the fan-favorite family was erased from DC history during the New 52 era. The latest run on The Flash, however, has returned the Park-West family to the basis of their pre-Flashpoint status quo—with one major difference. Just before Dark Crisis began, Linda discovered she had newly-manifested speed powers. She had yet to tell Wally about her powers when the Justice League died and Wally corralled a group of speedsters to search for the other lost Flash, Barry Allen.
The search for Barry comes to a head—with Linda playing a major role—in The Flash #785 by Jeremy Adams, Amancay Nahuelpan, Jeremy Cox, and Rob Leigh. Linda jumps into a portal leading to the wider multiverse in a desperate attempt to reach her lost twins. Instead, she ends up saving her husband by punching Barry Allen’s Flash square in the jaw. Barry had been on the verge of killing Wally, whom he believed to be the Reverse-Flash despite Wally’s pleading. But only Linda’s presence (and punch) convinces Barry that this world is a dream and that the real world needs him.
Though Linda has been a valuable member of the Flash Family for decades—other than the New 52, unfortunately—it’s exciting to see her take center stage in this issue. Not only does Linda save her husband, but she may have just saved the entire world. While Wally and Linda reunite with the other speedsters to head home, Barry takes off to try and find the Justice League on their own “perfect” worlds. Linda snapped Barry out of his strange trance when not even Wally West could, and now Barry may just save the League. This is absolutely the role Linda deserves in Dark Crisis after so many years at the heart of the Flash line of books.
Linda Park-West has always been a hero in her own right, but now she has the powers and the save to back it up. Linda just saved both Wally West and Barry Allen, and now there are more Dark Crisis-themed problems looming on the horizon: her mysterious speed powers, for one, and the ongoing Crisis-level threat. Linda fans can see her next adventures in The Flash as well as the tie-in one-shot Dark Crisis: War Zone #1, which will also feature fellow Flash-spouse, Iris West-Allen.
The Flash #785 is available now from DC Comics!
