Yes, there were great concepts and some idealism in the Baron and Messner-Loebs Flash, but they were still following the post-Crisis trends. Dawn to Earth aproach, so-called realism, flawed hero, enphasis on the limitations rather than the greatness of super-heroes. Waid Flash was agaist this trend, not by negating the human element, but by bringing back the fantastic aspects of the Silver Age.
This is true, however, things can fail according to realism, and succeed by realism too. The realism in Flash - his reduced speed levels, combatting enemies that ALSO have superspeed, the Flash's enormous caloric intake, his destruction of regular footwear, etc. all WORKED because Baron and Guice put a lot of thought into it. The Flash's characterization worked because Baron, and later Messner-Loebs, are skilled at subtle characterization and humor. You can just FEEL the warmth and friendship between the two characters of the Piper and Wally with a subtle exchange like this one:
"Teamwork, Mr. Flash?"
"Teamwork, Mr. Piper."
Most importantly, what Baron did was give the Flash an identity distinct from his predecessor. If Baron had given Wally the exact same incorruptible "serve and protect" 50s personality that Barry had (not to slight Barry as a character in any way, this is just for comparison), wouldn't the response be "well, if we're going to have a red haired Barry, why did we even bother making this new kid the Flash in the first place?" Let's face it: Wally can never be as good a Barry as Barry was, so Baron and Messner-Loebs were wise to not have him try.
As for the Baron approach being very close to the Marvel style, I don't view this as a drawback for said issues, but rather, a strength.
Universally, DC heroes done in the Marvel style have been unsuccessful creatively because what they do is exaggerate a hero's lack of heroism and exasperate their powerlessness and neurosis, instead of doing the two things that made Stan Lee's style work in the first place:
1. Realizing that heroism is not cookie-cutter;
2. Realizing that heroes that face problems are more interesting because of this.
And Wally, under Baron and M-L, was fundamentally a good person, however, the fact that he had to struggle with various personal problems, including his lottery win and his endless bad decisions with his love life, made him endearing.
Waid Flash was agaist this trend, not by negating the human element, but by bringing back the fantastic aspects of the Silver Age. Morrison said about revamping the JLA: "I wanted to do some more superhero stuff, having been interested by Mark Waid's Flash and a couple of other books. But since I wanted to do positive, imaginative superhero stuff and it had gone grim-and-gritty [over the past few years], i had to waid until that phase had passed".
If the whole movement toward zany Silver Age craziness was started by Waid, then he deserves a handshake. Personally, I feel his "Julian September" JLA story was more successful in capturing this vibe than his FLASH was.
The apex of the 90s "Silver Age" revival was easily Busiek's THUNDERBOLTS and AVENGERS.
I appreciated the supporting cast more, and I found Wally's characterisation rang truer for me under Waid than under Baron/Mesner-Loebs.
I don't agree that Waid is skilled at characterization.
Waid's "human conflict" stories are universally boring because what Waid does is take a story with straightforward emotions, and muddle it up with clinical dissection that destroys what drives the story and makes it petty. An example of this is during one story were Wally and Francis Kane were battling, and Wally manages to defeat her by kissing her in a stadium full of people, live on a giant jumbotron transmitted across the city.
What was Linda Park's reaction to this? Does she do the, y'know, HUMAN thing and get angry, hurt, and suspicious, as anyone would seeing the person they love paw up an ex on national television? No. Her response was "well, I was just reminded how out of the loop I am with you and all your superhero friends." Huh? What could have been a powerful confrontation and conflict is neutered to something so small and petty you wonder why this is even a problem at all. I'm sure Waid thinks, "a-ha, I'm being unpredictable," but the thing is, real sincere emotions are never predictable whereas being roundabout always feels forced.
Waid does this a lot. In his recent FANTASTIC FOUR run, Franklin Richards was temporarily trapped in Hell, which traumatized him into silence. Instead of having to deal with real feelings of fear, trauma, and abandonment, Waid does some roundabout explanation, via the apparently now telepathic Thing, who tells that "he'd actually rather be in hell because at least he can come out of there." HUH?
Oh yeah, before I forget: yet another gripe with the Waid run: he turned Francis Kane, a likeable female character with a connection to Wally who always had problems but was never permanently on the Dark Side, into a psycho with a split personality out to destroy him. ALL because he can't bear to have Wally's immoral swinging batchelor days come back in any way.