Who's This? The future fastest man alive.
The facts: Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino as Barry Allen's kid sidekick, Wally West first appeared in The Flash #110 (December 1959) and immediately became Kid Flash. At first, he wore the same costume as his mentor, but changed to a red and yellow one in #135 four years later. The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964) immediately folded him into the Teen Titans, a team he would remain associated with until the New Teen Titans series phased him out, contracting an illness that made his health deteriorate faster the more he used his powers. But when Barry Allen died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a much depowered Wally stepped up and became the new Flash. After a lot of growing pains, he gained a new costume, assembled an entire family of speedsters around him (even got married and had kids), joined the JLA but sometimes still played with the Titans, and accessed the Speed Force, which gave him a new suite of powers. Though he was replaced by Impulse and then a revived Barry Allen, was reimagined as Kid Flash again in the New52 (while it lasted), and had a rough (now undone) turn in Heroes in Crisis, Wally was for a whole generation THE Flash and is now back headlining a Flash series.
How you could have heard of him: In addition to a monthly series on the stands (and Absolute Flash, which also stars a version of this character), Wally was the Flash of the Justice League animated series, and though the live action Flashes have been named Barry Allen, they were largely played as Wally. For example, the 90s series kept him at the low power levels of his early Flash series, and the CW version had a youthful attitude more in line with Wally's.
Example story: The Flash #127 (March 1962 ) "The Mystery of the Troubled Boy!" by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella
Set before Wally added yellow to his jammies, cut the top of the cowl off, and grew a foot or two, Wally showed his mettle by stopping a spy ring in... Blue Valley?! Let's check it out. It all starts when he's called to the home of his "best friend" from school (who we've never heard of and never appeared again), Tommy Elkin, by Tommy's (adopted) dad. Perhaps this will answer why Tommy wasn't in school that day. Mr. Elkin tells Wally about how a soldier in his unit, James Moon, a Cherokee, had saved his life in the War, and he had promised to repay that debt. Moon had a kid, and when both parents died in quick succession, Elkin saw it as an opportunity to do so. He adopted the boy. They lived in Stoneville, but the kids were racist to Tommy, so the Elkins moved to the more open-minded Blue Valley, so pretty good dad, I'd say. Except, Tommy seems to be going through something anyway, wandering the hills alone (and skipping school, I guess). Wally investigates and finds that his friend (the bestie who never confided in him, I think parents don't really know WHO the best friends really are, sometimes) is simply trying to connect with his heritage.
Wally fails a stealth roll, and it seems going at super-speeds is quieter than creeping about? I guess no one thinks to look behind them when they hear a sonic boom. Well-trained by his mentor, Wally springs his costume out of his ring (which he carries in his pocket, lest someone remark on it, which almost defeats the purpose) so that no one sees Wally West streak by (even though moving at that speed is a "cloak of invisibility"), and in short order finds Tommy climbing over the wall surrounding Hillandale Hunting Lodge (Keep Out). The least said about Wally's racist thoughts about the kid "reverting" to the ways of his ancestors and "raiding settlers' homes", perhaps the better. So he confronts his friend before he does something he'll regret.
So you've been suspecting the local lodge is a front for spies (only in Cold War America!), and you took it upon yourself to expose them? I guess when you have a teenage superhero running around town, such ideas come into your head. It's less interesting than a story about overcoming erasure (even by a well-meaning, but thoughtless, parent), but I don't think After School Specials had been invented yet. Anyway, the spies overhear the conversation and one surprises Kid Flash and punches him in the jaw. Oh, inexperience! The kids are locked in a storeroom while the Russians (or whatever this "Mother Country" has spawned) broadcast their "picture messages" to their handlers. Of course, Wally wakes up before his friend, escapes and foils the spies' plans.
Wally can't vibrate through walls yet, but that nail does the trick. As for pulling the plug on the illicit broadcast system, that's more easily done. For the baddies, fighting a red blur proves more difficult, until Wally makes another of those inexperienced mistakes...
Thankfully, Tommy has also woken up and tackles the spy before he can shoot, and Wally uses the distraction to tornado the spies into unconsciousness. So Tommy wasn't troubled, only foolish, but in any case, all's well that ends well, and I think we learned a little science along the way. Maybe enough to call this a field trip sp that it was okay to miss a day of school. Maybe.
We know what happens to Wally in the future, but as for Tommy, he shares the headlines with Kid Flash for his capture of the spy ring, and his best friend sponsors him for membership in his fraternity (in MIDDLE SCHOOL?! You gotta start networking early if you want to succeed in American life), but hey, they'd voted on it before the spy stuff, too. Tommy feels acceptance and there's no mention of assimilation after his woodland scout adventures, at least.
Who's Next? A cold-hearted lover.
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