Speed Force

Searching through Flickr…

Justice League, originally uploaded by profundis.

First there’s this great Justice League group (found via The Captain’s JLA Blog).

Flash, originally uploaded by walkerspace.

And here’s Johnny Quick of the Crime Syndicate, mislabeled as the Flash. He showed up in several photos.

In this battle sequence from Flash v.1 #277 (September 1979), the Flash finds a way to stop the Mirror Master using nothing but a storeroom full of chocolate bars. And no, it’s not a Hostess ad, though it’s around the time those were appearing.

The image appears after the cut: (more…)

Keep in mind, that comics are out Thursday this week (at least in the U.S.) due to the Labor Day holiday.

That said, it’s a pretty light week for the Flash, with only Titans and background appearances in Trinity and the collected Invasion! (more…)

Rumor column Lying in the Gutters seems to think that the upcoming Emergency Stop trade paperback contains the entire Morrison/Millar run on The Flash from 1997. And considering that Amazon is currently quoting a list price of $60(!), I certainly hope so! For that price — heck, even for the discounted price of $37.80 — it ought to be both complete and a hardcover!

It’s still listed as shipping in January, so with any luck we’ll get more solid information in DC’s next round of solicitations.

On a related note, the first real substantive post I made on this blog was a summary of the Morrison/Millar run. I don’t remember what price Amazon was quoting back then.

Classic Flash writer Mark Waid, in between his duties as Editor-in-Chief of BOOM! Studios, still manages to find time to write comics. His latest project: Spider-Man, detailed in an interview with Newsarama.

Newsarama tries to make sense out of Warner Bros. DC Movie plans, and concludes that The Flash is unlikely to reach the big screen anytime in the next three years. Meanwhile, The Geek Files reports that Ryan Reynolds is still interested in the role.

Comics Should Be Good has been running Underappreciated Artist Spotlights, including features on Ross Andru and Mort Meskin. Ross Andru and Mike Esposito took over from Carmine Infantino as artists on The Flash in 1967. Mort Meskin was the regular artist on fellow speedster Johnny Quick’s stories in More Fun Comics and Adventure Comics throughout most of the 1940s.

Keith Dallas (author of The Flash Companion) spotted The Flash Archives Volume 5 on Amazon.com, with a release date of March 10, 2009.

The detail page doesn’t list contents, just that it’s 248 pages. Like most of DC’s Archive Editions, the list price is $50 (still less than it would cost to track down the originals in decent condition), but Amazon is currently offering it at a 37% discount.

Dallas figures that it most likely contains stories from the Silver Age Flash #133–140, which would include:

• the introduction of Professor Zoom (#139) and Heat Wave (#140);
• stories with Abra Kadabra (#133), Captain Cold (#134), Mirror Master (#136) and Pied Piper (#138);
• another Jay Garrick/Barry Allen team-up, this one involving the entire Justice Society of America against Vandal Savage (in fact, this is the first JSA appearance of the Silver Age);
• and the tale of Kid Flash finally losing the “Mini-Me” costume for the yellow one he joined the Teen Titans with (#135)

Interestingly enough, going through Flash #140 would exactly match the current span of the cheaper, black-and-white Showcase Presents: The Flash collections (volumes 1 and 2).

Here’s a Speed Force first: An original interview (Not a link! Not a reprint!) with outgoing Flash writer Tom Peyer!

SPEED FORCE: You started your run by introducing a new villain, Spin, who has the power to make people’s anxieties into reality. Did you envision him as a single-use villain, or a recurring one?

TOM PEYER: You never really know if a villain is recurring until he or she recurs. I didn’t plan to kill him — but even that doesn’t always stop a villain from coming back. I was just thinking of him one story at a time.

SF: While the Flash has had many enemies over the course of his career, few have had the staying power of the original Rogues. A few years ago, they were practically regulars in the book. If they had been available when you took over as writer, would you have used them early on, or held them in reserve for later stories?

PEYER: Well, we did use Grodd. But the Mirror Masters and Captain Colds had appeared a lot in recent years, so it felt like creating Spin was the right approach. Plus, I wanted to grind my axe about cable news, and the Weather Wizard didn’t quite fit. But if I’d wanted to write a polemic against the Weather Channel… oh, don’t get me started.

SF: How did you approach balancing the story between the Flash and his kids? Do you think that the family dynamic ultimately resulted in more or fewer story possibilities? (more…)

The news blog Voices from Krypton has invited me to do a weekly Flash column. I’ll be writing a round-up of the week’s events. I’ll also be cross-posting my reviews of the Flash issues, at least for now.

CBR has an extensive interview with Brea Grant, who debuts as the super-speed villain Daphne Millbrook in Heroes Season 3: “Villains.” In it she talks about her character’s personality and journey, as well as the show’s effort to make the speedster’s powers look authentic. “We’ve talked about the physicality of it,” she says, “as well as there are just practical elements to it. I have to run a certain way, stop really quickly or stop on a dime.”

Daphne also starred in a two-part comic book story earlier this month, “Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration,” by Zach Craley and Micah Gunnell. The story is available on NBC’s website: Part 1, Part 2.

Another incredible issue from Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins that really makes you root for the bad guys. Most of Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #2 is taken up by a savage battle between the Rogues and a younger group of “New Rogues” who first appeared in Gotham Underground. The New Rogues have no idea what they’re getting into, and the book shows just how dangerous characters with names like Captain Cold, Heat Wave, and Weather Wizard can be.

Meanwhile, Zoom and Inertia get along about as well as you might expect. Which is to say: not very.

The timeline is starting to fall into place. The first issue takes place during Final Crisis #2, this one takes place during Final Crisis #3, and the whole of it takes place after the stories currently appearing in the monthly series. The Flash Family meeting in Final Crisis #3 actually continues in this issue, though either scene stands on its own.

Several story threads from early in Geoff Johns’ run on The Flash get followed up on here, including his retelling of Captain Cold’s origin. There’s also a nice explanation of why the Rogues kept going back to their tailor, Paul Gambi, which fits well with one of the stories from Grant Morrison’s brief run on the book back in 1998. (In that story, Gambi created “the ultimate super-costume.”)

I’m beginning to wonder just how much this story changed as it became tied into Final Crisis. As originally described, it sounded like the Flash was actually going to be involved. Instead, the whole thing is set when Wally is off on a mission, before Barry really comes back.

I did have a problem with the art. Normally I like Scott Kolins’ work, but it seemed a bit too heavy. I don’t remember thinking that with issue #1, but it may simply have not bothered me as much. I also thought the coloring was too muted, but both could be a function of printing.

Spoilers after the cut: (more…)