Speed Force

• Retweet @CBR – LITG: How Mark Waid almost got Superman. #
• Argh! TV Tropes ATE MY BRAIN! AGAIN! #
• I have finished re-reading ALL of Girl Genius from the beginning! #

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Superheroes-R-Us has been posting clips from the 1968 record album, Songs and Stories About the Justice League, including the album’s Flash story: “The Three Faces of Mr. Big.”

Ethan Van Sciver’s second Your Time Is Now Mine column is up. No Flash news, just ramblings. Meanwhile, the site talks to Geoff Johns about Superman: Secret Origin.

This week’s Heroes graphic novel, #113: “The Caged Bird” begins the origin story of the show’s morally gray speedster, Daphne Millbrook. (I am waaay behind on these. I’ve read a few here and there, but I really left off somewhere around the start of season 2.)

GamePro is not impressed by the “heroic brutalities” in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, singling out the Flash’s tornado slam to represent them in the 12 Lamest Fatalities in fighting games.

I recently decided to try out Netflix’s instant streaming service by watching Stan Lee’s Lightspeed, the made-for-TV movie about a government agent turned super-speedster. It’s been on my queue for a while, and I figured I’d free up the slot for something else.

Ultimately, I was really impressed — with the service. The image and sound were very clear, even with the window playing fullscreen. I’m annoyed that it’s Windows– and Internet Explorer–only. Aside from that, the only thing I really missed was fine control over fast-forward and rewind.

The movie itself? Cheesy. And what’s worse, dull. I took a break halfway through and wasn’t sure I really cared about coming back to finish it. Heatstroke was better — and I mean that.

The structure’s fine. It starts with the villain, a man with snake-like skin called Python, and a firefight between the villain’s gang, the people in a building, and a SWAT-team–like group called the Ghost Squad. Then it flashes back to the villain’s origin, then jumps forward to the aftermath of the battle and weaves the hero’s origin into the tale of Python’s master scheme. Like many classic stories, the hero’s and villain’s origins are linked.

The effects are decent, if no more exciting than those that appeared on The Flash a decade and a half earlier. Though they do spend more time in daylight. The suit is goofy, but they at least hang a lampshade on its goofiness: he picks it up at a sporting goods store to help protect himself from windburn.

But the movie just isn’t compelling at all.

I started taking notes during the film, but they quickly turned into snarky commentary. So rather than writing a full review, I’m attaching them below the cut. There could be spoilers, so beware.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’d like to say thanks to all my regular readers and commenters!

Also, to everyone in the U.S.: Happy Thanksgiving! (And Happy Random Thursday to everyone else!)

(Cover via GCD)

In this week’s 20 Questions w/ Dan Didio, DC’s Executive Editor is asked about the status of Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash/Flash) and Conner Kent (Superboy). His answer:

I think there’s always value in a Kid Flash and a Superboy.

A classic sidestep. But then they may both be back very soon.

As far as Conner goes, there’s speculation that he is the Kryptonian Nightwing who just appeared in “New Krypton” (bolstered by DiDio’s remark earlier in the column that he “is a character that we’ve known in the DCU for a little while, but he’s new to the Nightwing costume as well.”)

And Bart? There’s still the question of the Lightning Rod from the Justice League/Justice Society of America crossover, “The Lightning Saga.” It was supposed to resurrect someone, and All-Flash #1 showed that it activated at virtually the exact moment of his death. We’re supposed to find out who was resurrected in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3…two months from now. (It was originally supposed to be out in October, but it’s been pushed back to January 14, 2009. I wouldn’t count on it making that date.)

This week, the Flash stands a good chance of appearing in Trinity and Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom.

Trinity #26

Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza; Art by Mark Bagley and Art Thibert, Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens, Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher and Mike Norton and Jerry Ordway; Covers by Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang

The heroic Trinity is long gone and their legacy fades by the minute. But where exactly are Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman – and will they ever return? Don’t miss the halfway point in this action-fueled, weekly series exploring the three greatest heroes of all time!

Notes: Wally West has been appearing frequently in this series, and last week Barry Allen made a surprise appearance.

Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom

Written by Geoff Johns; Art by Fernando Pasarin; Cover by Alex Ross; Variant Cover by Dale Eaglesham and Nathan Massengill

Gog rewards those he deems fit. Starman has regained his sanity, Sandman his sleep, Dr. Mid-Nite his sight, Damage his pride and Citizen Steel…? What “wish” will the indestructible hero be granted? And more importantly, what drawbacks do these wishes come with? Plus, Starman’s true mission is revealed!

Notes: Wow, a title that almost rivals Countdown: Presents: the Search for Ray Palmer: Something Else! Anyway, with Jay Garrick as a member of the JSA, chances are pretty good that he’ll be in this issue.

In last week’s Trinity #25, a surprise guest star showed up: Barry Allen. Morgaine Le Fay and Enigma have altered history so that Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman never existed. In this timeline, the Justice Society International became a force that took protecting the world too far.

Spoilers for Trinity #25: Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a whole community of artists who create custom action figures, often by taking a commercially-produced figure and modifying it through sculpture and paint. Sometimes they’ll simply convert it into a character who doesn’t have an official figure yet, but the really interesting ones are those that go off on a tangent and create something new, like this set of Victorian-style Justice Leaguers by Sillof, inspired by the now-classic Gotham by Gaslight.

Setting it in the 1880s puts it a little earlier than JLA: Age of Wonder (which had its own Flash), and while it’s still too early for aviation, the artist “went for the pilot look” with the Flash, as you can see here:

On a not entirely unrelated note, I’ve been re-reading Girl Genius from the beginning. The comic’s authors, Phil and Kaja Foglio, describe it as a “gaslamp fantasy,” or as most people would call it, steampunk.

(This post is brought to you by Google Alerts, bespredell, and the letter G. Image used by permission.)

• Retweet: Blog@Newsarama contributor Carla Hoffman & her husband were injured & lost their home in this weekend’s fires #
• Read this weekend: Harley & Ivy TPB. Quite enjoyable & funny. #
• Heroes: *sigh* Eclipses do not work that way! #
• Also: Wondering how much fanfic has ALREADY filled in the gaps in the Sylar/Elle scene. Afraid to look, but I’m sure there’s megabytes of it #
• Goal for tonight: Finish enough of The Batman Season 5 writeup/review that I can send it back to Netflix tomorrow. #
• Best search-term misspelling yet: “wally the movie” #
• Tim Kring: will avoid time travel stories “at all costs.” What power would he most like to have? “Time travel.” #
• 90% done w/ Batman S5 review. 90% done w/ Lightspeed review. I think I’ll hold them for a bit & focus on the new Flash issue this week. #
• Today: Hit comic store at lunch, jot down 1st impressions, groceries after work, review new Flash, watch Pushing Daisies, dig out Flash DVDs #
• Titans readers: Does Raven still have her empathic healing powers? #
• I was a big fan of LEGION 89 back in the day, but can’t decide whether I’m interested in this new REBELS book. #
• New weirdest search term: “sumo wrestler comment blog:.org” #
• Trying to figure out how best to link site to Facebook. Yes, on Saturday night. #

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Comic Coverage looks at an old letters column in which a fan confesses her crush on Kid Flash.

Speaking of letters colums, Clandestine Critic talks about comic shops, including one that was once co-owned by Paul Gambacinni, the radio personality and former Flash letter writer who inspired the Rogues’ tailor, Paul Gambi.

The Continuity Blog looks at Flash #231–246.

Variety reviews Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

The Dork Review suggests collecting Cary Bates’ run on The Flash in two volumes: The Murder of Iris Allen (Flash #275, #281–284, #321–326) and The Trial of the Flash (Flash #340-350). The first volume would feature Iris’ murder and Barry’s subsequent battles with Professor Zoom, including the one years later that would lead to the villain’s death.

More reviews of this week’s Flash #246 at Men in Tights and Comix 411.