Flash v.1 #178 takes the #4 spot on Greg Hatcher’s single-issue countdown at Comics Should Be Good.
Meanwhile Flash vs. the Rogues takes #23 in CBR’s Top 25 VS list.
Fan art: Boyblue’s DC Universe draws John Fox, Flash of the future.
Also: nothing to do with the Flash, but Bryan Lee O’Malley draws Kitty Pryde. (via Robot 6)
From Newsarama’s Dan DiDio: 20 Answers, 1 Question for January 23:
13. One question that keeps coming back with the return of Barry Allen as Flash. What’s the role of Wally West going to be?
DD: That question is great fodder for story, and what will be taking place in Wally’s life. He will be trying to figure out his place in the world in regards to being a hero and a family man, given the turn of events and the return of Barry. The return of Barry basically forces Wally to ask himself why he would want to continue, and should he continue in the role of the Flash? He took the mantle on, and “graduated” from Kid Flash to Flash because Barry died, and now that he’s returned, Wally has to question what he wants to do. He also gets to reexamine his family life, and see where he fits in and what exactly his purpose is. That’s going to be the centerpiece of a lot of stories in Titans and beyond in the coming year. Wally will be featured very prominently in Titans following the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth. We’re going to be addressing all of that – there’s a lot of story left to be told with Wally.
The interview also talks about a possible role for Barry Allen in Blackest Night, which seems to have grown from this year’s big Green Lantern story in the style of Sinestro Corps War to being this year’s big DC Universe Event-With-a-Capital-E.
A question to anyone reading Titans: has it actually gotten good? It took me a long time to break the habit of reading it, and if I’m going to have to fall off the wagon just to be able to read new Wally West stories, it had better be worth it.
BOOM! Studios has launched MarkWaid.com, at which BOOM! Editor-in-Chief and long-time Flash writer Mark Waid has started his own blog. (via Newsarama) Meanwhile, CBR writes up his new Incredibles! comic. Update: Also, a new Potter’s Field one-shot, “Stone Cold,” is coming in March.
Ethan Van Sciver mentions in his latest Your Time is Now Mine column that he has drawn four covers for Flash: Rebirth #1, though DC is only using two of them for the first issue. “We’ll see where they pop up!” he says. My bet: one of them will appear on the inevitable second printing.
Progressive Ruin looks into a forgotten Flash supporting cast member — Mopee — and a surprise find in the old Flash comics letters column: a letter from a fan named Cary Bates!
4thletter! bemoans the fact that Barry Allen’s return appears to be linked to another speedster’s death.
Comic Coverage looks at an editor’s excuse for a then-shocking swear word appearing on the cover of a 1960s Flash comic.
Death in Comics is clearly on the collective mind of the blogosphere, with (again) 4thLetter and Mania weighing in.
Armagideon Time reminds us all to lighten up a bit. It’s only a hobby, after all.
And finally, Heroes’ Brea Grant posts this fan picture of Daphne, Flash and Quicksilver by Drawing Power:
The new Flash material coming out this week is in Justice League of America and the second-to-last chapter of Tangent: Superman’s Reign, but there are three collections coming out: two softcover, one hardcover.
At last, DC collects the fast-paced 1990s epic by Grant Morrison (Final Crisis) and Mark Millar (Civil War) from The Flash #130-135! Confined to a wheelchair after a run-in with the mystery villain known only as The Suit, how can The Flash protect Keystone City from evil run amok?
144 pg, FC, $12.99 US. Written by Grant Morrison & Mark Millar.
Art by Paul Ryan & John Nyberg. Cover by Steve Lightle. More info on the Morrison/Millar Run, and order from Amazon.
This week, The Flash: Emergency Stop hits the shelves. The trade paperback covers half of the year-long Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run from the late 1990s, and, according to solicitations, features the conclusion of “Three of a Kind.” This three-part crossover between Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and The Flash features the second– and third-generation heroes Kyle Rayner, Connor Hawke, and Wally West. Villains Heat Wave, Sonar, and Hatchet attack a cruise liner in which Dr. Polaris is being secretly transported, only to find the three heroes have booked a vacation on the same ship.*
The segment in The Flash v.2 #135 focuses on the villains’ trial, with flashbacks to the incident. At the time, Wally West’s identity was public knowledge, though he testified in full costume. This in itself is unusual given standard courtroom dress codes (a skin-tight bright red costume isn’t exactly conservative business attire, and tends to stand out a bit). But then Green Lantern takes the witness stand:
The usage is similar to the U.S. Constitution’s 5th Amendment, which states in part that “No person…shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” Two things can be gathered from these panels:
There’s no indication that it’s required to register, or whether it’s simply a good idea if you want legal backing. It’s not even clear whether heroes have to register under their real names. I can’t remember whether any other books made reference to this authority, but suddenly I really want to find and reread my back issues of Chase.
In the real world, the Twelfth Amendment dates back to 1803 (passed 1804) and changes the way the President and Vice-President are elected. Assuming the DCU’s US just has one more Constitutional amendment than we do, their Twelfth would be just about as old, which leads to the question: Why did they need to amend the supreme law of the land to allow masked heroes to testify 130 years before the Golden Age of super-heroes?
Thinking about it, though, DC does have super-heroes whose adventures take place in earlier eras, especially in North America. Not just heroes of the Western genre like Jonah Hex or Bat Lash, but classical super-heroes with masks, costumes and powers. Max Mercury’s origin dates back to the early 1800s, for instance, and Miss Liberty (an ancestor of Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle) fought in the American Revolution.
Might the early United States in the DC Universe have decided it was worth letting some of their more colorful national heroes remain pseudonymous even in legal proceedings? It’s certainly possible.
Whatever the circumstances of its passage, it sheds some light on the otherwise nonsensical fact that Barry Allen kept his mask on and his identity secret from his arrest all the way through his trial for manslaughter in the case of Professor Zoom’s death, dissected in great detail by Bob Ingersoll.
*It’s a little more complicated than that, of course.
The big news, of course, it the start of The Flash: Rebirth…but there’s also a big Titans crossover, “Deathtrap.”
Update: Full solicitations are up at Newsarama and elsewhere, and I’ve updated the post.
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and covers by Ethan Van Sciver
Through the decades, many heroes have taken the mantle of The Flash, but they all ride the lightning that crackles in the wake of the greatest hero the DC Universe has ever known, the man who sacrificed himself to save the Multiverse: Barry Allen!
Following the events of Final Crisis, Barry has beaten death and returned to a fast-paced world that a man out of time wouldn’t recognize. Or is it a world that is only just now catching up? All the running he’s done before was just a warmup for the high-speed race that he and every other Flash must now run, because even though one speedster might have beaten death, another has just turned up dead! From Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, the visionaries responsible for the blockbuster Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Sinestro Corps War, comes the start of an explosive and jaw-dropping epic that will reintroduce to the modern age the hero who single-handedly birthed the Silver Age of comics! DC history will be made, and the Flash legacy will be redefined!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information. On sale April 1 • 1 of 5 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Team books, guest spots, and so on after the cut. Read the rest of this entry »
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I just spotted Showcase Presents: The Flash Volume 3 on Amazon with a release date of August 11, 2009.
No word on contents yet, but assuming it’s the same length as the last two volumes, it’s likely to contain the stories from The Flash v1 #141–161.
Catching up with various Flash writers and an artist.
Mark Waid and BOOM! Studios are working at LA’s Meltdown Comics shop on Wednesdays this month, spinning off from an earlier promotion for the new book Hexed.
Comics Should Be Good is running a Year of Writing stars. Monday’s installment: Tom Peyer, who wrote last year’s six-part Flash arc, “Fast Money”
Marc Guggenheim, writer of the “Full Throttle” arc on Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, tells Newsarama that his Green Lantern movie is still on track, and that there may be hope for Eli Stone. He also talks (along with Steve Wacker) about Spider-Man, and talks to CBR about Super-Zombies, his upcoming mini-series from Dynamite.
The Comic Treadmill writes up Alter Ego #54, focusing on 1970s Flash artist Mike Esposito, and Gold– and Silver-Age Flash writer, Robert Kanigher.
Titans Tower has obtained some of DC’s April 2009 solicitations, including the one for the first issue of Flash: Rebirth!
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and covers by Ethan Van Sciver
Through the decades, many heroes have taken the mantle of The Flash, but they all ride the lightning that crackles in the wake of the greatest hero the DC Universe has ever known, the man who sacrificed himself to save the Multiverse: Barry Allen!
Following the events of Final Crisis, Barry has beaten death and returned to a fast-paced world that a man out of time wouldn’t recognize. Or is it a world that is only just now catching up? All the running he’s done before was just a warmup for the high-speed race that he and every other Flash must now run, because even though one speedster might have beaten death, another has just turned up dead! From Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, the visionaries responsible for the blockbuster Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Sinestro Corps War, comes the start of an explosive and jaw-dropping epic that will reintroduce to the modern age the hero who single-handedly birthed the Silver Age of comics! DC history will be made, and the Flash legacy will be redefined!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information. On sale April 1 • 1 of 5 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Update: More preview solicitations are up at Newsarama, including the other cover for Flash: Rebirth.
