Over at The Source, DC has posted the variant cover for Flash: Rebirth #6 by Ethan Van Sciver.
More importantly, they’ve listed the release date…and it’s still February 24, 2010…just three weeks away!
We still haven’t seen the full standard cover yet. The one used in solicitations is clearly modified to hide the background and/or other characters. Most likely it’ll appear sometime in the next few weeks, when DC posts a preview of the issue.
Why can I never see the larger covers (as opposed to the thumbnails) from DC anymore? They don’t work at the DC blog, and they don’t work when people link to them. This happens on both my computers.
It looks like Internet Explorer doesn’t like something in the image format DC is using. I’ve never had any problems looking at their images using Firefox or Chrome, but I just checked now and IE — even IE8 — is having problems. It’s a standard JPEG as near as I can tell, so I have no idea what IE doesn’t like about it.
I’m going to have to make a point to check the site in IE a little more often I guess. Apparently the resize tool I’ve been using preserves whatever quirk it is that IE refuses to read. I’ve uploaded a new copy of the cover (and by “new” I mean “opened in GIMP and re-saved”) that IE seems to be happy with.
Aha! I think I’ve found it! DC’s images are encoded with CMYK colors instead of RGB. That makes sense, since CMYK is what you use for printing. Internet Explorer, however, only understands RGB images.
So when I just used a tool to resize the image, it kept it in the same color format, and IE couldn’t show it. When I opened it and re-saved it in GIMP (which can read CMYK, but not write it), it saved the image as RGB, which IE could display.
That’s absolutely ridiculous — doesn’t anyone at DC look at their site in IE?
Congrats on solving the mystery! The cover looks great!
Is Manapul doing the standard cover for ReBirth #6?
I do have to admit that I dig Van Sciver’s variant cover. It looks pretty sharp.
EVS is doing all the Rebirth covers. The standard one we’ve seen so far shows Barry in costume, standing and taking his mask off in front of a tie-dyed background. It’s been speculated that it’s a group shot with the rest of the good-guy speedsters standing next to him, and DC didn’t want to spoil who’s still alive, new costumes, etc.
What a fantastic cover! I am very much looking forward to seeing how this series ends. My fingers are crossed for the 24th release date.
His style is great but the electricity thing still just detracts for me. It doesn’t create the feel of motion or power. It looks more like he is mad and steaming (or falling) with glowing eyeball strings.
I’m right with you on that one. I’ve never been overly fond of the lightning “discharge” behind the various Flashes, but lately it seems to have been taken to an almost comical level with energy blasting out of every orifice and yellow costume element.
Used sparingly, it could effectively emphasize “speed beyond speed” as the light barrier is approached/breached, but too much of it (as we see on this cover), starts to confuse what the Flash is all about, especially to those unfamiliar with the character, who might assume he has lightning/electricity generating powers, ala Lightning Lad or Black Lightning.
With the wonder of digital effects available to modern comic book production, I’d like to see them explore some new super-speed “modes” that don’t rely so heavily on the “Frankenstein’s laboratory” electrical storms.
Mark Engblom’s latest blog post: Epilogue
I love the imagery, but I can’t muster a single drop of excitement about the series’ release dates.
It’s great that you folks can, though. (No sarcasm intended.)
West’s latest blog post: MIA
I have to admit, at this point I’m more interested in Rebirth being finished than in actually reading it.
Sad but true.
After all of these years waiting for Barry’s return, I have to say I expected much better from DC in maintaining the excitement and momentum Flash Rebirth. The horrible delays and mis-coordination with other Barry appearances have really made an otherwise happy homecoming kind of a prolonged, slow-motion drag.
Mark Engblom’s latest blog post: Epilogue