January 7, 2009
Not much Flash this week: just the final volume of Justice.
Justice Vol.3 TP
The final volume of the lushly illustrated maxiseries, featuring issues #9-12, is now available in trade paperback! The Super-Villains’ plot to exploit the innocent thickens as the heroes discover that it may even affect their comrades! Guest-starring Black Adam, The Marvel Family, Doom Patrol, The Metal Men, The Titans, Supergirl and more!
January 7, 2009 · 160 pg, FC, $14.99 US. Written by Jim Krueger & Alex Ross. Art by Doug Braithwaite & Alex Ross. Cover by Alex Ross
Worth noting: the Geoff Johns/Scott Kolins Faces of Evil: Solomon Grundy also comes out today. You can read a preview on Newsarama.
January 6, 2009
Usually I save these up for the weekend, but there’s been a lot more Flash commentary around the net than usual. I blame the new year.
First, some more year-end lists:
The Flash Companion makes the #2 spot on Scoop’s Best of 2008: Publications About Comics, Characters, or Collectibles! (via Keith Dallas)
The Comic Treadmill’s 11th Day of Christmas features the team’s favorite Flash covers.
Grumpy Old Fan (now at Robot 6, along with the rest of the old Blog@Newsarama crew) lists Ten from the old year, ten for the new — items he watched at DC in 2008 or will be watching in 2009. Not surprisingly, Geoff Johns features prominently in both.
Now, on to more general stuff
Crimson Lightning has results of the Favorite Rogue poll. January’s sidebar poll: Who is your favorite regular writer from The Flash (v.2)?
4 Color Commentary profiles John Broome, who helped usher in the Silver Age Flash.
Lying in the Gutters’ Rich Johnston catches up to the fanbase by pondering whether Wally’s upcoming costume change comes along with an identity change, though message-board accounts indicate that EVS said at WWTX that Wally will always be the Flash, “just like John Stewart will always be Green Lantern.” (On the minus side, I remember when John Stewart wasn’t Green Lantern, and they kept trying to find other roles for him, such as joining the Darkstars…)
Comics In Crisis recommends the DC audio books by GraphicAudio, saying “these really are high quality and pretty faithful to the comic characters.” He particularly cites the adaptation of Flash: Stop Motion as “one of the best Flash stories I’ve ‘read’ in a long time.”
I’ll probably be attending two or three conventions in 2009:
WonderCon (February 27–March 1, 2009; San Francisco, California). Definitely. My wife and I went last year and enjoyed it, and combined it with a trip to visit friends and family in the Bay Area. What with the money crunch we were going to skip it this year, but we were planning to make another trip up to visit people…and discovered that the perfect time to do so would be the week leading up to WonderCon. If we’re going to be in the area anyway, membership is pretty cheap at $12/person for a one-day pass. (See also: 2008 WonderCon report.)
Wizard World Los Angeles (March 13–15, 2009; Los Angeles, California). Maybe. It’s within driving distance, so travel expenses aren’t an issue. That said, it’s only two weeks after WonderCon, so whether I go will be based entirely on the guests & panels. (See also: 2008 WWLA report.)
Comic-Con International (July 23–26, 2009; San Diego, California). Definitely. I’ve been going to what was then called the San Diego Comic-Con since 1990. We pre-registered at the last convention, and I’ve lined up a back-up hotel in case I can’t get a closer one when the convention blocks open up. (See also: convention reports.)
Some other conventions I’ve looked at, but probably won’t be attending:
Read the rest of this entry »
January 5, 2009
Speed Force now has a Fan page on Facebook. I’m not entirely sure what to do with it, but then I wasn’t sure what to do with Twitter at first, either, and figuring that out as I went along worked out pretty well.
I’m still adjusting things, but I’d like to say hi to the 8 people who have already signed up as fans!
January 4, 2009
Comments Off
Top Cow’s upcoming Velocity series (focusing on Cyberforce’s speedster) has been delayed once again, with series artist ChrisCross leaving the project.
This reminds me of something I’d been meaning to post about the covers solicited for the (now canceled) first two issues:
Velocity #1. Left: ChrisCross and Snakebite. Right: Kenneth Rocafort.
Velocity #2. Left: ChrisCross and Snakebite. Right: Stjepan Sejic
Notice which ones say “super-heroine” and which one says “swimsuit model.” Now, guess which one Top Cow was using to promote the book?
I’ve got to say, I really like the Stjepan Sejic cover for #2 and the ChrisCross cover for #1. The Rocafort cover? Frankly, I’d have been a bit embarrassed to buy it. Of course, this is Top Cow… Read the rest of this entry »
January 3, 2009
Lots of year-in-review and coming-next-year posts this week.
Flash: Rebirth makes Newarama’s 9 Comics to Watch in 2009 list, along with two other Geoff Johns projects — Superman: Secret Origin and Green Lantern: Blackest Night. The speedster himself his a runner-up to the 9 Characters to Watch in 2009.
Comic Coverage’s 2008: The Good & The Bad counts Geoff Johns, writer of Flash: Rebirth and Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge, among the Good, and both Grant Morrison and Final Crisis among the Bad.
Comics Should Be Good jeers the final issue of The Flash as “out with a whimper.”
Jon’s Random Acts of Geekery is running a “By the Tens” series on covers from The Flash, starting with 10 covers from Flash Comics and continuing with 10 covers from The Flash vol.1.
Blog@Newsarama’s Corey Henson lists 5 Things I Don’t Want To See in 2009, including Barry Allen replacing Wally West as the primary Flash.
Comic Book Resources’ Top 100 Comics of 2008 features Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge at #39.
CBR News looks at new comics for 2009 and discusses, among other books, Flash: Rebirth.
January 2, 2009
While The Flash is currently on hiatus, it’s clear that DC is making a major push this year to promote the Scarlet Speedster.
Flash: Rebirth
The centerpiece of this push is Flash: Rebirth, a six-issue miniseries by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. In addition to re-integrating Barry Allen into the modern DC Universe, it’s described as an attempt to revitalize the Flash franchise and expand the Flash mythos. More info: what we know so far about Flash: Rebirth.
It’s a given that a new Flash ongoing will launch after Rebirth finishes, almost certainly starring Barry Allen. While Geoff Johns has been strongly hinted as the new writer, there have been no hints as to who might draw it, and DC has not confirmed a creative team or even a start date.
Of course, with Barry Allen taking over the main series, what happens to Wally West? All we know is that he’s getting a new costume.
Collections
2009 is going to be a huge year for collected Flash books.
First up is Emergency Stop in January, collecting the first half of the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run on the book from the late 1990s. (They filled in for a year while Mark Waid went off to do JLA: Year One.) The second half of their run comes out in June as The Human Race. This includes the introduction of the Black Flash, who figured prominently in the last few issues of Bart Allen’s series.
Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga, the story which brought Wally West and his family back from limbo, also gets a trade paperback this month.
March brings The Flash Archives Volume 5, picking up 1962–1963 (see also: write-up of the contents).
In May, the first Impulse collection in a decade will be released in the form of The Flash Presents: Mercury Falling (more info).
June, concludes the Morrison/Millar run with The Human Race.
July sees the release of two Flash hardcovers: DC Comics Classic Library: The Flash of Two Worlds collects the first few team-ups of Jay Garrick and Barry Allen during the Silver Age. Then Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge collects last year’s miniseries. [Edit: fixed date for Flash of Two Worlds.]
Seven collections — and that’s just half the year!
Around the DC Universe
All indications are that Jay Garrick will continue to appear in Justice Society of America, and that Wally West will stick around in Titans.
Justice League of America is another question. It looks like Wally will be there at least until the series catches up with the events of Final Crisis. What happens afterward, and when Barry Allen becomes DC’s primary Flash, remains to be seen. The two most popular theories:
- Barry replaces Wally in Justice League of America, bringing us back to the Silver-Age status quo of Barry in the JLA and Wally in the Titans.
- Barry joins the new team in James Robinson’s soon-to-launch Justice League, alongside Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen, and Ray Palmer — the heroes he knows best — and Wally keeps his spot in JLA, ensuring that each team has a Flash.
The Flash will probably continue to appear in Super Friends, and Kid Flash in Tiny Titans.
No one seems to know what’s in store for Bart Allen. Despite strong hints of his return in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, delays have prevented us from actually seeing it. We know he’s one of very few dead characters who have been ruled out as potential Black Lanterns in 2009′s big event, Green Lantern: Blackest Night.
Other Media
Animation: With Batman: The Brave and the Bold featuring regular team-ups with other DCU heroes, there’s a good chance of seeing the Flash on the small screen again this year. Articles about the soon-to-be-released Wonder Woman animated feature have indicated that an animated Flash movie is in the works. (Though at two a year, we aren’t likely to see one until at least 2010.)
Live Action: The long-planned Flash feature film seems to be stalled at the moment, but if this year’s big Flash push succeeds, its fortunes may turn around again.
Video Games: The Flash appears in Sony’s DC Universe Online MMORPG. A firm date hasn’t been set for release, but the earliest quoted is late 2009.
January 1, 2009
In the year 2009 I resolve to…
- Only follow books that I like, and skip the ones that are just “important.”
- Read through my backlog of unread comics and graphic novels.
- Keep up with properly boxing new comics, instead of letting them pile up for months.
- Go through my collection looking for stuff I don’t want anymore and actually get rid of it.
- Not let myself get caught up too much in flamewars.
- Update Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning more often.
(Apologies to Comic Book Revolution for the title.)
