Tyler Davis
There isn’t anything in superhero comics more exciting, earned, and hated than a wedding issue. For years, fans have found themselves obsessed over the idea of seeing two characters conjoined in matrimony, whether that’s because the wedding fulfills a long building character arc or because marrying two characters together simply destroys the book itself. A lot of what the wedding issue comes down to is drama, both in the story and in the conversation surrounding the issue.
Creatives have increasingly misunderstood exactly how to make a wedding issue remain exciting and tense while still allowing our characters to find a happy ending. Whether it be the rollercoaster love life of Peter Parker, or the ever-bumpy romance between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, there’s a consistent idea that drama with a wedding issue comes in the form of people sacrificing/deciding to call the wedding off, as seen in Batman #50 or The Amazing Spider-Man’s “One Moment in Time.” However, there are a thousand different ways to instigate drama in a wedding issue and tell a hair raising, exciting superhero story. The case study example of this is the Flash #142, written by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, with art by Pop Mhan.
This issue features the ever famous marriage of Wally West and Linda Park, and starts off in a rocky place. On the day of his wedding, Wally is racing to stop the terrorist group Kobra from unleashing utter devastation on Keystone City. Kobra offers not just a threat to Wally and his wedding by potentially making him late, but one of their many targets is City Hall, where their marriage license is being held. Having an opening villain pose the threat of making our hero late for, or even miss their wedding completely is a pretty common trope with these kinds of stories. What makes this issue stand out against the crowd in how it tells a wedding narrative is with its structure.
The issue slowly builds up to the wedding ceremony with Wally and Linda facing certain social setbacks that are equal parts comedic as they are dramatic. There is a lot of really cute character writing peppered throughout the book’s middle section that balances out the pretty heavy action focus in the beginning. A wedding is deeply personal for everyone who partakes, and an issue centered around it opens itself up to showcase the ins and outs of our characters, which is something Waid and Augustyn do with ease. From the explosive opening to the moment Wally steps up to the altar without his vows, both he and Linda have moments to shine as both their own characters as well as a couple. Once his vows are assembled at super speed and delivered with years of story payoff, he slips the ring on Linda’s finger and the book takes a massive swing.
Reality itself shifts. Wally, confused and distraught is left without a single memory of Linda besides for her name, the book’s cliffhanger leaving the newly weds separate and without one another as though their wedding never happened. Now, this story idea shares similarities with the aforementioned and fan reviled wedding stories of the past, but something very important happens here that didn’t happen in the likes of Batman #50.
The team conveys with clarity this shocking development as a small piece in a larger tale, and hammers home just how important their love is throughout the entire issue. Neither has actively decided to give up on one another or are being hamstrung by editorial mandates. The rug pull that comes in this issue is a true What the hell! moment, and is extremely exciting because it doesn’t take away or erase what came before about the characters and their long history with one another. With a little creative ingenuity, it is still possible to tell the stories you like no matter the status quo.
Exciting, emotional, and expectation shattering, The Flash #142 is the gold standard for superhero wedding stories. It satisfies the past, sets up for an exciting future, and throughout its pages truly embodies the spirit of love and family. It’s as warm as it is heart shattering in the end, and is a must read for fans of stories that embody the human experience just as much as it does the superhero experience.