27 years later, John Wesley Shipp dons the Flash costume again

Back in the nascent days of the 90’s, the old CBS Flash series was probably the best superhero game in town. I think I only watched a few episodes of it live, having been about 8 when it originally aired, but it lived an outsized reputation – even being cited favorably in comics I read after its cancellation.

Since then, series star John Wesley Shipp has been a sort of elder statesmen for the franchise in the newest iteration of the series, having played Barry Allen’s wrongly incarcerated father, and then later the Earth-3 version of the Flash (Jay Garrick). But now, the Barry Allen of yesteryear looks to be making his big comeback in the upcoming Arrow/Flash/Supergirl crossover, per the below tweet from Marc Guggenheim:

After seven years, this just might be the coolest thing we’ve ever done…@JohnWesleyShipp pic.twitter.com/mmpac4k5YE

— Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) October 23, 2018

I’ve mostly tapped out of the CW shows, but I usually check in for the big crossovers where the writers and respective casts all seem to really let their hair down a bit. This one looks like it has multiple reasons for fans to tune in, including the debut of Ruby Rose’s Batwoman, Tyler Hoechlin’s return as Superman, and Elizabeth Tulloch’s first bow as Lois Lane. I wonder what Earth this Barry Allen comes from?