Although this won't raise the pop-culture alarms that news of the end of the marriage of Clark Kent and Lois Lane did, DC Comics has confirmed that another, much older union will bite the dust in the publisher's line-wide relaunch: that of Barry Allen and Iris West.

The word comes this afternoon from editor Brian Cunningham, who writes at The Source that Barry, like Clark, is a single man who's never been married. "I’ll give you all a few seconds to take that in and digest it," Cunningham says.

That's right, as with Clark and Lois, post-Flashpoint the nearly 45-year-old marriage of Barry Allen and Iris West never happened. It's probably not a huge surprise, considering the push to make  superheroes younger and/or more relevant tends to involve the jettisoning of spouses (see also: Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson).

But in the New 52, Iris and Barry aren't dating, either. No, like Lois, The Flash is seeing somebody else -- in his case, his longtime lab assistant Patty Spivot, who was introduced back in 1977, when Barry and Iris had only been married for 11 years. Surely the Central City Police Department has rules about relationships in the workplace ...

"If that upsets you, sorry about that," Cunningham writes. "But I make no apologies for opening up a traditional storytelling avenue with our hero’s romantic life, something that’s been shut closed for a very long time now. This is no indictment of marriage. I’m a married man and wouldn’t trade it for anything. But in the realm of fiction, I feel strongly that this change to Barry opens up fresh, new creative directions and exciting new storylines."

He assures Iris fans that she'll remain a part of The Flash's supporting cast, writing a blog for the Central City Citizen’s website.

The Flash #1, by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, arrives in stores Sept. 28.