Speed Force

This week’s DC comics include a teaser for something called Flashpoint, coming in 2011 from Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert. It’s not clear whether it’s a storyline in The Flash or a separate event, but considering how Blackest Night grew from a Green Lantern/Green Lantern Corps storyline to the year’s big event, it may be too early to reach any conclusions.

Long-time Flash readers may remember that Flashpoint was also the title of an Elseworlds miniseries from 1999-2000 — the only Elseworlds tale outside his own book to focus on the Flash, in fact.

In this story, a paralyzed Barry Allen has turned his super-fast mind to scientific research and development. A mission to Mars discovers a key designed to open a gateway to (essentially) the speed force, which they call the Flashpoint, and which appears to be linked to other realities. Only one problem: the last time it was used, it destroyed all life on Mars. (Interesting side note: The current Flash logo is actually based on the Flashpoint logo, rather than the other way around!)

Back to the teaser, here’s a quick photo of the ad that I took with my phone scan of the ad from Flash #1:

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When I started Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning back in 1996, I’d just refer to the then-current series as “Flash.” As the site grew to encompass more historical information, I’d either leave it to context or mark the pre-Crisis books as “Flash volume 1.” This doesn’t usually matter, but if you need to clarify which Flash #10 or Flash #123 you’re talking about, a shorthand like “vol.1″ is a lot cleaner than writing “Flash (1959 series) #X” every time.

Only one problem: There are several different ways to choose the breaks between volumes.

Here are the distinct chunks of series:

• Flash Comics (1940-1949) #1-104: Jay Garrick
• The Flash (1959-1986) #105-350: Barry Allen
• (The) Flash (1987-2005) #1-230: Wally West
• The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive (2006-2007) #1-13: Bart Allen
• The Flash (2007-2008) #231-247: Wally West
• The Flash (2010 onward), starting with #1: Barry Allen

Now, here are the ways we can break it up:

Divide at Every Relaunch:

• Flash Comics = Volume 1
• Flash w/ Barry = Volume 2
• Flash w/ Wally = Volume 3
• Flash w/ Bart = Volume 4
• Flash w/ Wally again = Volume 5
• Flash w/ Barry again = Volume 6

Divide at Renumbering with #1

• Flash comics & Flash with Barry = Volume 1
• Flash w/ Wally = Volume 2
• Flash w/ Bart = Volume 3
• Flash w/ Wally again = more Volume 2
• Flash w/ Barry again = Volume 4

Track Titles Separately, Divide at Renumbering*

• Flash Comics = Flash Comics
• Flash w/ Barry = Volume 1
• Flash w/ Wally = Volume 2
• Flash w/ Bart = Flash: TFMA
• Flash w/ Wally again = more Volume 2
• Flash w/ Barry again = Volume 3

This last one is the way I’ve decided to identify the series. It’s simpler, since we don’t need to add volumes for Flash Comics or Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, and it groups the “bonus season” on Wally West’s series with the rest of that run.

So by that scheme, what we’re getting today is The Flash Volume 3 #1.

UPDATE June 2011:

It turns out that the 2010 relaunch only lasted 12 issues, and DC will be relaunching with a new The Flash #1 (along with the rest of their line) after Flashpoint. Sticking with this same numbering scheme makes the post-Flashpoint book The Flash vol.4.

*I’ve chosen to group the titles Flash and The Flash together for purposes of clarity and simplicity. If you really want to get technical, you could break things down that way, but it seems excessive.

With Flash: Rebirth complete, we can take a look at the changes the series made to the Flash mythos. I listed a lot of them in my review of issue #6 (resurrections, costume/identity/power changes, the re-imagining of the speed force itself, etc.), but I want to look at a specific set of changes: What the Reverse-Flash did to Barry Allen’s past, and the ripple effect from those changes.

Note that I’m specifically looking at things that contradict previous stories, not those that add new details that can be considered to have been hidden.

Spoilers for Flash: Rebirth, of course.

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I’ve started in on the big catch-up project to bring Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning up to speed. Updates today include:

• Introduction to the Flash – I still need to add new images here.
• Barry Allen – I’ll probably do at least one more pass on the text.
• Max Mercury

Plus a bunch of minor housekeeping bits scattered around the site. Typo fixes. Series in which characters are regulars. Team memberships. Things like that.

With only two weeks left in the contest, I’d like to take some time to highlight some of the entries we’ve received so far and will all be passed on to Arrobasilver for consideration:

Ryan cleverly combined elements of the Blue Lantern and The Flash:

While Adam Komar from Conroe, TX had the interests of those conflicted between light and dark in mind with his concept:

Cape Sandlin incorporated a variation of The Flash logo itself into a modest but visually stunning piece of work:

And Aaron Rivin Rivin took a more traditional approach to his concept: [Edit: Images removed because they were plagiarized (see comments).]

Kevin Allen from Rochester, MI described his concept as: “This is a ring he would wear when giving an interview, or at the opening of a new wing of the Flash Museum. It is a ring he would only take out for super important events. As such, it takes some of the elements of his normal ring, but also adds a few style choices to make it look more regal and important.”

And Joey Forlini delivers with a simple yet engaging piece framed with elements of The Fastest Man Alive.

And that’s only a few of the great submissions we have so far. Thanks for all the entries. I look forward to seeing even more of all your great work, so get those submissions in while you still can. You can visit the Official Contest Page HERE for details on submissions and such.

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

DC has unveiled the rules for the Signed Flash #1 Contest over at The Source. Today through Friday, the @DC_NATION account on Twitter will be posting one Flash trivia question a day. The first five fans to respond correctly will be eligible to win a copy of the book signed by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul.

Speed and knowledge. That sounds like an appropriate way to celebrate the launch of the fastest forensic scientist alive.

Additionally, the first winner on Friday will also get a signed copy of Geoff Johns’ script for the issue.

Full details and rules at The Source — and keep an eye on @DC_NATION!

Meanwhile, remember we’ve got our own contest going, too: the Design and Win Your Own Flash Ring Contest is running through April 26.

It’s been almost two years since DC officially brought Barry Allen back from the dead in DC Universe #0. Two company-wide crossovers, eight more issues of Wally West’s series, two Flash miniseries and a Secret Files special later, DC has finally gotten to what we all knew was coming: a new ongoing Flash series starring Barry Allen.

Don’t forget our Design and Win Your Own Flash Ring Contest! We’re down to the last two weeks — entries need to be in by Monday, April 26.

Other likely Flash appearances this week: Brightest Day and Action Comics (guest-starring the JSA).

The Flash #1

40 pg, FC, $3.99 US (Note: this is a special oversized issue. The book goes down to $2.99 next month)
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art, cover and 1:100 variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
1:25 Variant cover by Tony Harris

A BRIGHTEST DAY tie-in! Get in on the ground floor of DC’s next epic in the making! The Flash races out of BLACKEST NIGHT and into his own monthly title as the all-new adventures of The Fastest Man Alive start with “Case One: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues!” Barry Allen runs back to his life in Central City, but when one of the Rogues turns up murdered under mysterious circumstances, it’s up to The Flash to not only solve this bizarre crime, but protect those that are still targeted by the elusive killer. Plus, don’t miss a peek into the future of the Flash universe in this special, extra-sized starting point issue!

A 5-page preview is available at DC’s website. Update: DC has re-released the preview with the final covers. If you can’t see the images on DC’s website (IE users sometimes have problems with it), try First Comics News.

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Some weekend linkblogging.

Art

Comics Alliance presents (in comic book form): Blackest Night in 60 Seconds….and on a more serious note, spotlights Comic Book Cartography — maps of various fictional worlds, buildings, and more. Edit: Here’s a direct link to the Comic Book Cartography blog.

Frank Ziegler draws a Cartoony Jay Garrick.

Commentary

Multiversity Comics looks at The DCU According to Geoff Johns, covering the entirety of the writer’s DC work to date.

Grumpy Old Fan considers The Gospel According to Geoff, looking at what made Blackest Night work as more than merely a “process story.”

It’s Just Movies’ Ben Fowler discusses, If I Was Making … ‘The Flash’.

Cool-Mo-De starts a Goofy villains series with the Rainbow Raider and Flash vol.2 Annual #10 (Pulp Heroes), with art by the late Dick Giordano.

Comics Daily asks, How do you solve a problem like Wally West?

Interview

A Comic Book Blog interviews Ethan Van Sciver.

If you’ve been wondering about those “Vote it up” buttons on the individual post pages, wonder no more! They’re for a link-sharing site called ComicsBlips. It’s similar to Digg: members submit stories and vote on them, and the top stories make it to the front page of the site. The really top stories also appear in an RSS feed and on Twitter @ComicsBlips. The site is tracking Speed Force, so new posts are automatically submitted, but they still need votes.

If you see a post here that you really like, I’d appreciate it if you’d click that “Vote it up” button…or submit it to any of the many link sharing services available through the “Share This” button.

Thanks!

I’ve finished my write-up of WonderCon over at K-Squared Ramblings. Most of the posts I’ve made here were about the news that came out of the convention, but this one covers the experience of actually being at the con.

» WonderCon 2010 Experience

Next weekend: C2E2 in Chicago and the awkwardly-named Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con in California. It looks like DC will have much more of a presence at C2E2 than Anaheim. I’m not traveling again for a while, but Anaheim is literally 10-15 minutes away, so I figure I may as well check it out.