The Flash is against the ropes, quite literally, in October’s The Flash #787 as he faces off against alien pro wrestlers. You heard that right — after crafting a romance novel story within the story and delivering a wild Dark Crisis multiversal adventure, writer Jeremy Adams continues his innovative run on the series with the sweetest science.
The multiverse is not done with Flash just yet, as he must face dastardly foes from Wrestling Across the Multiverse, a federation that has come to Earth on the heels of an impending apocalypse. (That includes Omega-Bam-Man, who looks like if Sheamus and Rick Rude had a love-child.) It’s a one-shot that Adams is especially proud of in part because he has a long history of loving pro wrestling and now can meld superheroes with the world’s finest sport. (Editor’s Note: I’ve made that distinction, non-wrestling heads.)
I had the opportunity to chat with Adams about this special, which is due out on October 18 (with a final order cutoff for retailers this Sunday, September 25). The conversation is a fun one, especially if you love pro wrestling. We dig into what wrestlers Adams thinks compare best to Flash, unpack the wrestling characters he’s created for this one-shot, grapple with the work of artist Fernando Pasarin, and whether or not we’ll see any of these intergalactic grapplers again soon, among other topics.
The cover for ‘The Flash #787. Courtesy of DC Comics.
AIPT: We’re here to talk about Flash #787. I don’t know if you know, but AIPT has a huge pro wrestling section. Some of the most vocal people in our Patreon Discord are Pro Wrestling fans.
Jeremy Adams: So they’re gonna hate it, or they’re gonna love it?
AIPT: I think they’re gonna love it. I showed my editor-in-chief, who is a huge wrestling fan, some of the pages and he was like, “Hell yeah.”
JA: <laugh> I mean, listen, that’s where this came about. There’s a distinct lack of superpowered wrestlers in comic books. And I was like, “we need to fix that.” And therefore, I’m going to take my love of a couple of different areas of pro wrestling and just kind of push it all together and then wrap it in some required DC mythos. It just kept spiraling, I was like, “yeah, they’re on a ship, and it has an algorithm drive that sends them to places where there are apocalypses about to happen. And the Green Lantern’s been after them for ages, and…”
AIPT: Obviously then you’re a huge Pro Wrestling fan.
JA: I am. The funny thing is I dip in and out all the time and it was like, growing up, you couldn’t escape it, WrestleMania was huge. I remember watching the, A Team and Hulk Hogan showing up, Roddy Piper I was a huge fan of. There was like all that era. Then I dipped out, and then I moved out to LA, and I remember my friends were watching wrestling. It was kind of that attitude era, and suddenly Stone Cold had rammed his truck into the ring, and he’s spraying people down with beer. And I’m like, “What is happening right now?!” I watched through that and then dipped out again and then come back with the new group.
It’s been fun to just kind of come in and out, but it’s a mainstay of American and Canadian culture <laugh>, but it’s everywhere.
Courtesy of DC Comics.
AIPT: We’re talking about wrestling, but for the fan that isn’t into Pro Wrestling, what will they find in Flash #787 that they’ll enjoy?
JA: It’s a very lighthearted one-off adventure that shows another piece of the DC universe. I mean, one of the joys of writing for DC is that I get to add some toys to the toy box. The idea that there’s this other group out there that’s been doing this thing, and we don’t even know how long they’ve been doing this thing. And now that the infinite universes are back, there’s a certain element of like, they can go anywhere and do this thing. It’s just introducing more characters, it’s the first appearance of six pro wrestling superheroes.
It’s also the mythology of winning a belt. It gives you even more power. Like, I love that. Because to me wrestling and superheroes are just like, they’re hand in hand. They were always superheroes.
AIPT: The names. the costuming…
JA: The power moves…
AIPT: The melodrama…
JA: <laugh> yes, yes. The melodrama. So it’s all very similar. I think for Flash fans and people that are reading the Flash, we’ve just come off of running around in the Dark Crisis. We’ve come off the Annual, where we found out that Linda is potentially pregnant. So this is just a deep breath, giving everybody a break from the kind of cataclysmic events and the crazy storylines.
Here is just a great one-issue adventure that kind of brings us back to square one. Here’s Wally, here’s his family. Hey, he’s gotta do this thing. And a nice talk about, hey, maybe you need to have some hobbies. There are some other little things about it, but again, now that I’ve done, like even the Dark Crisis, tie-ins, I think my appetite for putting in bigger pieces of the DC universe has grown. So being able to add to that universe is a thrill.
Courtesy of DC Comics.
AIPT: I think it’s kind of touching you kind of get a wholesome message in here from a wrestler, and it reminded me of a clip that was making the rounds on social media a week or two ago of Randy Savage talking about how real man cry and your story reminded me of that and vice versa.
JA: Yeah. That was a weird thing because that came out just like you said, a couple weeks ago. And I remember going like, oh man, Omega-Bam-Man would love this. <laugh>
AIPT: Flash isn’t necessarily your typical wrestling body type. Are there any wrestlers in history that you like that would be similar to Flash or have a similar fight style?
JA: Oh my gosh. Who’s the guy. I’m trying to think of the guy’s name because I haven’t followed enough, but who’s the guy who keeps his hands in his pockets with the sunglasses?
AIPT: Orange Cassidy.
JA: Oh my gosh. That’s so funny. Yeah. Think of like, I mean, even though he is not like huge and buff, I always think of Steamboat, Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, or Diamond Dallas page maybe. I mean, I don’t know. They’re thinner, but you see there’s a moment where he’s like, “Okay, I’m in. You’re telling me that no one can get hurt and I can just let loose. Okay, great.” Remember Edge, Wally doesn’t have the long hair, but he’s lean, you know, he’s fast.
Courtesy of DC Comics.
AIPT: You can tell you’ve laid the groundwork for this universe. Could it come back?
JA: I don’t want it to go away. If I help create a character or if I’m able to create a character, whether it’s like Gold Beatle or whatever, those characters are gonna show back up. I actually have a pretty detailed idea of what I’d want to happen with Omega-Bam-Man in a lot of ways. I would love to explore that more. I mean, it might be better outside of the Flash, but obviously there are loose threads with the Flash and Omega-Bam-Man and what comes next.
AIPT: Was there any desire to give Flash a new costume or a new twist on a costume?
JA: Like a wrestling thing? I always have a desire to give a new costume. People are real prickly about costumes. Especially the Flash costume, like I see people arguing all the time about the nose cowl or not nose cowl. Guess what? I don’t have a preference. Maybe in the future, we might have to spice it up. If we ever come back to the world of WAM here.
AIPT: It’s funny you say that, just few days ago I saw people arguing over Linda’s new costume that was revealed in the last issue.
JA: So much of that costume, I don’t know if it’s gonna stay, but there’s a moment where Jay Garrick sees her and has kind of this weird moment where he says “Judy” and we’ve kind of mentioned Judy, I think in Flashpoint. And it was mentioned in the Stargirl one-shot last year and that’s something coming forward in DC comic books, but whether or not she keeps it, I don’t know.
AIPT: You introduced a multiverse wrestling federation called WAM.
JA: That’s right. Wrestling Across the Multiverse.
Courtesy of DC Comics.
AIPT: Is the WWE involved in that Federation at all? Or is the Earth wrestling Federation at all involved with WAM?
JA: I don’t believe so. Though, it would be a really cool crossover book. I’m just saying if WWE wanted to do something here, some other organization out there wanted to do it. I’m sure people would jump at that.
AIPT: Let’s say Omega-Bam-Man, the character and costume end up on TV. Does that make your day, year, life?
JA: Life, man. When I did “Scoobynatural,” it was like that happened, and I was like, “I can’t believe this!” I’ve been so blessed and so grateful that there are these moments. I mean, honestly, when I was writing the Flash when I first started and I got the pages back from Kevin McGuire, and Reverse Flash was being inducted into the Legion of Doom. And I was looking at these Kevin McGuire pages, and I was such a fan of Justice League International. And I was like, “That’s it, they could fire me tomorrow. It won’t matter cuz this happened, and they can never take it away.”
AIPT: That’s a good way to live.
JA: That’s right. And I keep just trying to have fun, and hopefully, fans are having fun. I know with the Flash, I’ve been so grateful. People have been enjoying it. What’s really fun is people have been finding it, which is something that is kind of unusual because it’s not like we started with a number one or anything like that. That’s really word of mouth, and that’s really the fans. People are getting excited about it. Or at least saying, “Hey, this is something worth looking at.”
There are a lot of books out there, and they’re expensive. I just want people to know anybody can come to this book, it’s an all-ages book. You can read it and have fun, and it could be exciting. The arts gonna be great. The words are gonna be okay, but it’s always gonna have a smile. I think “One Minute War” coming up is gonna be more serious. But I think everybody just needs to read it from beginning to end and then decide if they wanna kill me or not. But I think it’s gonna be exciting too, but it’ll be worth it. I’m trying to make it worth it for the reader.
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