Look, I have no problem in principle with DC bring in a new version of Kid Flash or Impulse or whichever. They are legacy characters, slots in the DC cannon that are a collection of speed powers and side-kickness, and can really go to anyone.

And this new kid may turn out to be an interesting character. Granted, my hopes on that are very low they've made him every urban stereotype handed over to a WhiteMan(tm) to "raise right", but it is vaguely possible.

No, my problem is that the new character is fundamentally NOT the pre-boot Wally West by every measure, and the fact they gave him the name seems a signal that Wally West we knew and loved was never born and was completed wiped from existence. The new character is essential our Wally's younger half brother, and got the name Wally because Rudolf was going to name his first born son Wally, whenever that happen.

This move by DC makes me think we will never see our Wally again, much like little-blond-acrobat Jason Todd was never heard from again after the 80's Crisis. Now, I'm actually a (post-crisis) Jason fan. But the Jason after Crisis is a complete different character than the Jason before Crisis. He's biologically (genetically) a different person (black hair rather than strawberry blond) and has a complete different backstory (urban street-punk, rather than sweety-pie acrobat kid). Given this history, this seems like a deliberate move by DC to put the last nail in our Wally's coffin.

This is a disservice not only to all the Wally fans but also to the new character. They set him up to be hated by every fan of pre-boot Wally as the herald of their favorite's final death. He doesn't stand a chance, and he might have if they'd given him any other name. It's like the executives were looking for an excuse to say "Well, it seems our audience does not like Wally West or minority characters. Apparently, writing those things is just not economical, so we'll stick Barry Allen and WhiteMen(tm)"

Ah well. I'm going to headcanon that this kid has an older, ginger half-brother out there that Rudolf didn't get a chance to name. Let's call him Walter.

I feel this way about almost all of DC's characters now

I think it's safe to say the "real" Wally West is dead from the way things are going right now. DC pretty much screwed over these characters. And it's such a shame on what they've done with Bart Allen as well. Sometimes I wish new 52 never existed.

Yeah. I was late to the party on this, just found out a few days ago. It's taken me a few days to rap my head around the full extent of the awful. Just to review:

White Wally West: Adorkable science geek who idolizes his Superhero uncle

Biracial Wally West: Belligerent delinquent who idolizes his imprisoned Supervillain uncle

...

How can the writers, editors and everyone else who worked on this comic possibly not see the issue here?

I have stopped reading new 52 because it sucks and it has killed off all of my favorite characters to replace them with empty voids that try to show how diverse dc is.

@blueu: I agree with you. Pre-New 52 Wally and New 52 Wally are like Helena Wayne and Helena Bertinelli, two completely different characters.

I got sad when Wally was gone, I grew up watching him on the Justice League cartoon, but I started to like Barry. Then, Daniel West came and I thought it was a nice nod to the Wally West character, because he was a West trying to reboot time for his family (it was a common fan theory that Wally would return as a villain with this motiff). Then, a totally new character came, they named him Wally, and I thoght "What? Wally is gone, let him rest in piece forever lost in the waves of the multiverse". They should have come with a new name and he shouldn't be Iris nephew, then I would like the character a lot more.

By the way, I love the Iris West casting on the Flash series.