Speed Force

Just a quick note since I’m kind of swamped today. DC has posted the first half of a two-part interview with Geoff Johns where he talks about his history with the Flash back to watching Challenge of the Super Friends and what he likes about the character. On the new series, he says:

All you need to know when you read the Flash #1 is how to read. Flash 101, and a few twists and turns, are within the pages. Francis did a stunning job, raising his art even from the amazing Adventure Comics.

On a key characteristic of Barry Allen:

Barry Allen is someone who has made a decision to help others during his own life and he made that decision even before he became the Flash.

The Rogues of course will be a big part of the new series, but they won’t be the only villains:

Barry will be meeting some new villains, one in particular that is going to be the strangest killer he’s ever faced. And I think with 64th Century magicians and talking gorillas that’s saying a lot.

Head over to The Source to read the whole interview. Or the whole first half, anyway. Part two goes up tomorrow.

It’s going to be a long time (if ever) before I track down the entire Golden Age run of the Flash, but I’ve finally tracked down the last item on a list I’ve been trying to complete for four years.

Getting Started

For the longest time I just assumed Golden Age comics would cost too much to collect. Then in late 2005 I picked a maximum, bid on several auctions on eBay (not expecting to win), and actually won two of them. They weren’t in good condition, but one of them was complete, and all I wanted to do was be able to read the stories.

So I took the appearance lists for those Golden Age villains who had survived into the Silver Age and beyond — villains who had returned like the Fiddler and the Thinker, or who had been re-imagined like Star Sapphire, the Turtle or the Thorn — removed anything that I had as a reprint, and made a list of books to track down.

Discovery

The first year I had pretty good success, and bought a bunch of other Golden Age books. I read them, indexed character appearances, and discovered forgotten recurring characters like the Worry Wart, Deuces Wilde, the Eel and the Keystone City Liars Club. After a while, though, the supply of (relatively) cheap, reader’s-grade copies on eBay dried up. Cons didn’t help because, as near as I can tell, most Golden Age collectors do it for the history. They’re looking for the books that are in the best condition possible, so that’s what dealers bring with them.

Pursuing the Shade

The one book I most wanted from the beginning proved to be the hardest to find: Flash Comics #33, the first appearance of the Shade. After four years, I finally found it. Last month a falling-apart copy showed up on eBay starting at $50, in a lot with two other books in much better condition. I figured it would quickly move beyond my price range, and didn’t even bother bidding — but I did put a watch on it. The day it closed, eBay sent me a reminder. Amazingly, it was only up to $55, so I put in a bid. Even more amazingly, it only went up to $56. To my astonishment, when I checked my email the next morning, there hadn’t been any more bids. I’d won!

It’s a strange feeling — a mix of astonishment and exhilaration — to finally track down something I’d sought for so long. I wrote up most of this post that day, but held off publishing it, just in case something went wrong.

It took a while, but the book arrived today. Read the rest of this entry »

ABC has announced casting for the Greg Berlanti television pilot, No Ordinary Family, a drama about a family with super powers. Julie Benz (Dexter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel) and Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic Four) play the lead couple. While the announcements don’t say what powers Chiklis’ police artist character has, Benz will be playing a scientist who develops super-speed.

If the name Greg Berlanti sounds familiar, IESB pegged him last week as the leading contender to direct The Flash.

Update: I missed the article when I posted this at lunch, but Rich Johnston reviewed a draft of the script last month. He described the script as “patchy,” but “a much more interesting exploration of possibilities of superfiction than The Cape. And leagues ahead of…Heroes.”

DC has announced a contest for a signed copy of the upcoming Flash #1. During the week leading up to the April 14 release, the @DC_Nation Twitter account will post one Flash trivia question each day. The first five fans to answer each question correctly will be “eligible to win” a signed copy of the launch.

It’s not clear how many copies they’ll award, or how they’ll choose which of the up-to-35 eligible respondents will win them. They don’t actually come out and say that it’s Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul doing the signing, though it seems a safe bet.

Details will be announced on April 7.

With the release of the Flash #1 preview, there’s been renewed talk about Iris Allen’s youth. After all, she lived long enough in the future to have children, watch them grow up, and have grandchildren, and when she came back with Bart, she looked visibly older: graying hair, crow’s feet, etc.

The question came up a lot when Flash: Rebirth launched last year, and I recall Ethan Van Sciver mentioning in one of his podcast interviews that he tried to draw her somewhat older, but that she and Barry didn’t look right together, so he and Geoff Johns decided to make her look closer to his age.

Now, there are a lot of reasons one can give for her looking 30 instead of 50 or 60: better medical care in the 31st century, the fact that she’s been transplanted into a new body at least once (don’t ask!), and the suggestion made in Flash: Rebirth #5 that exposure to the speed force keeps people young. This had actually been established before with Jay and to a lesser extent Joan Garrick.

Of course, it doesn’t explain why Iris would appear older in Flash vol.2 and Impulse, then younger in Flash: Rebirth and Flash vol.3, but since then, DC has established Superboy Punches, the “New Earth” rearrangement of history in Infinite Crisis, and Flash: Rebirth‘s alterations of Barry Allen’s past — including how and when he and Iris met.

But let’s not forget: When she returned after an extended absence during Geoff Johns’ run on Wally West’s series, Iris made her entrance looking like this: Read the rest of this entry »

The Opera web browser has always focused on speed as a selling point, but sometimes I think they’ve got Flash fans in their marketing department. I mean, not only are they promoting today’s release of Opera 10.50 as “The Fastest Browser On Earth,” but the announcement at Choose Opera starts off with “Catching lightning in a bottle.”

Then there was the red and yellow blur they used to promote a beta a couple of years ago…

The Source has posted several pages of art from Francis Manapul’s work on the Flash, ranging from sketches to finished pencils. Some are familiar from yesterday’s preview. Most are new.

I particularly like this drawing of Abra Kadabra from the upcoming Flash Secret Files book (March 24).

There’s also a view of the crime lab — a nice, big, open crime lab that I’m sure will make Scipio of the Absobascon happy if he’s still reading.

Comics shipping this week that feature, or are likely to feature, the Flash.

Justice League: Cry for Justice #7

Written by James Ro
Art and cover by Mauro Cascioli
7 of 7 · 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

This is the big one! After the catastrophes seen in issues #5 and #6, a hero loses control, leading to an unexpected ending that will fundamentally change the lives of the World’s Greatest Heroes forever. This issue launches a major storyline in the DC Universe and is not to be missed!

JSA All-Stars #4

Written by MATTHEW STURGES
Co-feature written by JEN VAN METER
Art and cover by FREDDIE WILLIAMS II
Co-feature art by TRAVIS MOORE & DAN GREEN
40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

The All-Stars are forced to team with the Injustice Society against Johnny Sorrows unearthly accomplice! And only Star Girl knows what she must sacrifice to save friend and foe alike!

The hero and villain team-ups continue in the co-feature, as Liberty Belle [a.k.a. Jesse Quick] and Hourman join their proven enemies Tigress and Icicle, who hold essential clues as to the whereabouts of the ancient mysticism embodied in the Staff of Life!

Justice League International Vol. 4 TP

Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis
Art by Kevin Maguire, Mike McKone, Bill Willingham & others
Cover by Kevin Maguire & Joe Rubinstein
192 pg, FC, $17.99 US

This new volume collects JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #23-25 and JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #26-30 as the team deals with a captured Thanagarian spacecraft and more.

Note: I believe this volume includes the membership drive that led to the launch of Justice League Europe, with Flash Wally West as a founding member.

The Last Days of Animal Man TP

Written by Gerry Conway
Art by Chris Batista and Dave Meikis
Cover by Brian Bolland
144 pg, FC, $17.99 US

By the year 2024 Buddy’s own hometown of San Diego has struggled for years to recover from a cataclysmic typhoon. And now he must face the most vicious foe he’s seen in years — while his own powers start to fade. Collecting the 6-issue miniseries.

Note: A future Flash appears in this story as a member of the League of Titans.

Some Flash-related links I’ve collected over the last few weeks.

ART! — Swan Shadow features Flash and the Crimson Avenger, drawn by Chris Ivy.

NEWS! — MovieWeb interviews cast & crew of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, including Josh Keaton, voice of the Flash. CBR interviews Keaton more extensively.

FANDOM! — Once Upon a Geek has located a DC Comics Snuggie. Speed Force’s Devin “The Flash” Johnson found a satirical piece on the Snuggie that also has a DC link!

The Collected Editions Blog recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

SIGHTINGS! — Former football player Darrell Green just may be the fastest baby boomer alive, claiming to have run a 40-yard-dash in 4.43 seconds on his 50th birthday.

Need winged boots? These reflective clips for cyclists, inspired by Mercury or Hermes, are in @zieglarf’s words, “almost the Flash.”

COMMENTARY! — Multiversity Comics starts a new feature, Crisis of Chronology, by looking at the DC works of Grant Morrison from Animal Man to Final Crisis, including his brief run on The Flash.

IO9′s 75 Books You Should Own For DC Comics’ 75th Anniversary includes Showcase Presents: The Flash Vol.1, reprinting the first few years f the Silver Age Flash: “Why you should read it: To see the style and substance that made a genre live again… and also how old ideas were made contemporary back in those days.”

Essentailly fanfic, but an interesting take on a Flash movie series at Comic Book Movie.

If you want more frequent updates, you can follow @SpeedForceOrg on Twitter or Speed Force on Facebook. I usually post links there as I find them, then save them up until I have enough for a round-up post here.

DC has released a 5-page preview of The Flash #1. The Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul series launches on April 14 (after a Flash Secret Files and Origins special this month).

It’s…better than I expected, actually. Geoff Johns is finally writing that book about speed that he always wanted to do but somehow didn’t get around to. I like Francis Manapul’s art, though I think it needs a bit more in the movement department (the Flash looks like a statue compared to the car he’s pacing). And I’m beginning to think I’d happily read a story about Iris Allen, Caffeinated Reporter (though as a journalist, I’d like to think she’d be using actual words while texting).

The preview describes the first storyline, “The Dastardly Death of the Rogues” (and now we have a definitive statement on whether “Death” is singular or plural in that title), as follows:

…coming back may have been the easy part. When one of the Flash’s deadliest foes turns up dead, can the newly-returned Scarlet Speedster scour Central City to solve the crime before the elusive killer strikes again?

DC goes on to add that they’ll be “talking more Flash” soon.

(The Source’s images sometimes don’t work on Internet Explorer. If that’s the case, you might have some success with CBR’s copy or Newsarama’s copy of the preview.)