2011 was a year of change in multiple comic book universes. Daredevil's criminal acts and gloomy personality seem to have been washed away. Johnny Storm has died and come back to life. Cobra's looking for a new commander. The Defenders are back. S.H.I.E.L.D. is being reorganized. Odin is alive again. Cap is back in the costume. However, the most notable and earth shaking change came from the DC Universe. As you know, DC pretty much took everything and said "Okay. Do-over!"
All of the atrocities committed in the DC Universe have been washed away; it has been made clean to make way for all new atrocities (those costumes are a good start). The man responsible for all of that is GeekOut's 2011 Character of the Year - Barry Allen, The Flash!
Okay, the argument could be made that the real person responsible for the reboot would be Reverse-Flash, who pretty much put everything in motion. While I agree that without him, Flashpoint never would have taken place, it was Barry Allen who put everything back together by running really fast. It was Barry who set the new status quo. Well, except for Green Lantern mythos, that was left practically untouched.
These are but a handful of things you can thank The Flash for - Everyone's new costume (YAY LINES), Animal Man's new badassery, Nightwing's red duds, Arsenal's hands being back, Superman being a douchebag, and Barbara Gordon being able to walk again. It seems silly now, sure, and after the first couple issues of the new 52 titles, the hype has died down, but this kind of bold move from the publisher means a lot of doors have opened up. Every mistake DC made in the last 70 years can now be rectified and re-explored, all with a fresh slate.
2011 is going to be marked as the year DC pressed the reset button, the year where it all began again, and The Flash was at the center of it all.
Who else do you think could've made it as the character of the year? Let us know in the comments!