September 20, 2010
Another item on DC’s December solicitations: The official announcement of the first collection from the relaunched Flash series.
The Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues (Hardcover)
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by FRANCIS MANAPUL and SCOTT KOLINS
Cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
The Fastest Man Alive must solve the murder of one of his greatest villains and protect his other foes from an elusive killer in this hardcover pulled from THE FLASH #1-6 and THE FLASH SECRET FILES 2010!
Racing out of BLACKEST NIGHT, The Flash returns to his life in Central City – but when one of his Rogues Gallery of foes turns up murdered under mysterious circumstances, it’s up to The Fastest Man Alive to solve this bizarre crime and protect those who are targeted by the elusive killer.
On sale FEBRUARY 9 • 208 pg, FC, $19.99 US
»Pre-Order from Amazon.
September 19, 2010
Another interesting item showed up on DC’s December solicitations (preview up now, full list available on Monday):
Teen Titans: Cold Case
Written by MARK SABLE
Art by SEAN MURPHY
Cover by JAY FABOK
Don’t miss this untold tale from writer Mark Sable (Grounded, TWO-FACE: YEAR ONE) and red-hot artist Sean Murphy (JOE THE BARBARIAN) bringing the Teen Titans and The Flash’s Rogues Gallery into direct conflict! Two people already died over a mysterious object, and now both teams want it. How much more blood will be spilled to obtain it as this gets deadly personal for all involved?
ONE-SHOT * On sale DECEMBER 22 * 56 pg, FC, $4.99 US
Notes: I’m guessing that by “untold tale,” DC only means that it’s set in the past. Though I suppose they could be dusting off an old two-part story that’s been sitting on a shelf for a while.
With Cyborg, Ravager, Wonder Girl (Cassie) and Robin on the cover, I’d guess it’s probably early in the “One Year Later” period right after Infinite Crisis and 52, before the Rogues were dragged into Flash: The Fastest Man Alive and shipped off to Salvation Run.
A little weekend linkblogging…
September 18, 2010
DC’s Brightest Day solicitations for December are up!
The Flash #9
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
1:10 Variant cover by SCOTT KOLINS
BRIGHTEST DAY rushes forward! Now, make way for Hot Pursuit – the latest speedster to come out of the Speed Force! He’s here to make sure no one breaks the speed limit – hero or villain! And just wait until you see whose face is under Hot Pursuit’s helmet…
On sale DECEMBER 29 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Notes — Three Flashes: Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen as Kid Flash. (This also marks both Wally’s and Bart’s first cover appearances — and probably first appearances, unless one of them shows up in flashbacks during the upcoming Rogue Profile issues — in Volume 3. It looks like we won’t have to wait until 2011 to see Wally West in the main Flash book…unless it slips a week.)
I’m not sure what a speedster needs with a motorcycle, but I’ve got to admit that it looks cool. (Hmm, suddenly I’m reminded of the “You can fly! Why do you need a plane!” “You drive a car, don’t you?” exchange at the end of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.)
When I showed my wife the photos of the Flash Cakes and GLO Balls, the first thing she said was, “You realize I have to make these now, right?”
Here’s how she describes them on the Flickr photo page:
Chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow-creme filling, decorated with the Flash logo. Made on an informal dare after the discovery of Hostess “Flash Cakes,” which are simply frosted in red with yellow sprinkles. I will not, however, be making a real-food version of the Green-Lantern-themed “Glo Balls.”
They also happen to taste fantastic!
September 17, 2010
Next weekend (September 25-26), actress Joyce Hyser will be signing autographs at the Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show at the Hilton Rosemont / Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel.
On the 1990 Flash TV series, Hyser played the recurring character Megan Lockhart, a private detective who figured out Barry Allen’s identity. She returned to Central City twice in later episodes, pursuing the fugitive James Jesse, only to find herself the object of his obsession when he became the Trickster.
After a long wait, Velocity #2 comes out next Wednesday. The first issue of this four-part miniseries was quite good and new reader–friendly. You can read my review at First Comics News.
CBR has a 5-page preview of issue #2.
As the members of Cyberforce lay dying from a fatal techno-virus, their only hope for survival is their teammate Velocity. Carin Taylor has never been more in need of her super-speed as the races around the globe, trying to find and cure her teammates before the same virus kills her. The issue continues the inaugural creative union of writer Ron Marz (Witchblade, Angelus) and artist Kenneth Rocafort (Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer).
Rickey Purdin’s discovery of Green Lantern GLO-Balls in the supermarket has been making the rounds of comics blogs this week, but he spotted another super-hero-themed snack at the same time: Flash Cakes.
OK, so the name doesn’t amuse the inner twelve-year-old. But it does call to mind those 1970s Hostess ads in which super-heroes, the Flash included, defeated villains with the power of Twinkies. Usually they were low-rent villains like the Bureauc-Rat, Destroyer, Medusa and Dr. Sorcery, but occasionally real villains like Mirror Master or the Penguin.
They’re also surprisingly close to convincing me to buy Hostess cupcakes for the first time in a decade, and I’m married to someone who can make considerably better cupcakes in her sleep. (Of course, she’d probably draw the Flash symbol on the top, rather than simply toss yellow sprinkles onto the red frosting.) Update: She did!
Oh, for the record:
September 16, 2010
In his post on re-using old characters, David Brothers mentions that in 6 years writing the Avengers, Brian Michael Bendis created only one new villain. That started me thinking about Geoff Johns’ original run on The Flash (2000–2005). Johns created a wealth of new enemies for the Flash during the first part of his run, particularly in Iron Heights, but I couldn’t think of any from later.
It turns out, that’s because there basically aren’t any.
This run can easily be divided into two main pieces: Flash #164–200, from Wonderland to Blitz, and then Flash #201–225, from Ignition through Rogue War. The dividing line: the moment when the Spectre erases everyone’s memory of Wally West’s and Barry Allen’s identities as the Flash.
Here’s a list of the new villains who were introduced before that moment:
Ten entirely new enemies, and two new versions of old villains. Not bad for a roughly 50-issue run!
Now, here’s a list of new villains introduced after that moment:
Just one legacy villain, in the very first story, and he died at the end. OK, maybe you can count the Rainbow Raiders, but they never made more than a single cameo appearance in the book.
As much as I love Geoff Johns’ writing on the classic Rogues, I’ve got to admit I miss seeing new villains. The Renegades sort of count, but I’m definitely looking forward to the new villain Francis Manapul mentioned will debut in the second story arc on the new series.
September 15, 2010
Sony has released a set of screenshots from DC Universe Online featuring Gorilla Grodd battling the Flash and other heroes.
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
