January 31, 2011
DC has posted a preview of Flash #9 (out next week), along with the final covers.
FLASH issue nine, on sale next Wednesday, kicks off the much anticipated Prelude to FLASHPOINT storyline. Writer Geoff Johns and artist Francis Manapul are crafting a murder mystery with a heck of a twist. Who dies? We won’t say here (yet), but we’ll let this question linger: “You recognize the costume?”
Interestingly, it seems they’ve swapped the primary covers for Flash #9 and Flash #10 to keep the “character-focused” theme running through January’s books as close to January as possible. And while the book was originally solicited with a Scott Kolins variant cover, it’s being shipped with one by Tyler Kirkham.
They’ve also replaced the “Brightest Day” banner with “The Road to Flashpoint.”
Read the preview at The Source or at CBR.
Update: Francis Manapul has been posting scans of the uncolored interior artwork on his DeviantArt page: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 5, and Page 6.
Just how big is 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking? Well, my first thought on opening the box was “Holy crap, this thing’s bigger than my kid!”
Granted, he’s still kind of small (just barely two months old), but the book is huge. 16 inches high, 12 inches across, 3 inches thick. 14.4 pounds. (J weighed in at 10 pounds, 4 ounces a couple of days later.) It comes with its own cardboard carrying case with a handle.
Yes, it comes with its own luggage! Robert Jordan joked about shipping the conclusion to The Wheel of Time with its own luggage cart, but Taschen actually followed through!
But these numbers are still kind of abstract. How does it stack up against other books?
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Salutations, fellow Speed Readers. I’m here today with pictures of a beautiful piece of Flash sculpture courtesy of Glenmarc “Flash” Antonio. Glen may seem a bit familiar as he was the subject of Speed Force’s first Flash Collector Showcase. Hailing from the Republic of the Philippines, Glen is nationally known as the biggest Flash collector in the country. Glen and his collection make regular appearances at various toy and comic conventions throughout the year where he usually shows off his vast Flash collection. In addition to collecting Flash stuff he also has large collections of Marvel Comics action figures (particularly Deadpool and Blade), G.I. Joes, and many others. He also cosplays frequently and customizes action figures.
Now this bust is sold only in the Philippines and can be found in some hobby shops for Php 1,000 or about $20. Usually you have to go directly to the sculptor to get one made. While it is not exactly a custom sculpt it does have a few distinctions that set it apart from other versions of this bust on the market. But before we go into that have a look:
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January 30, 2011
Interesting links spotted over the past week.
Art, webcomics and humor:
Reviews:
Other:
January 29, 2011
An employee at my local comic shop spotted these homemade super-hero plushies by showboatontheroad on Etsy, including Flash, Captain America and Aquaman. Head over to the listing for more photos.
January 28, 2011
Every collector has one. That one item, that really rare piece that if they could just attain it your collection could almost be complete (almost). It could be something that you’ve only seen in magazines, or an item that was almost within your grasp before it was snatched out from under your nose. Eobard Thawne even has one as you can see above . By the way I’m not encouraging any violence in the pursuit of collectibles, it just seemed like the most appropriate picture. 
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DC has posted a new Flashpoint teaser, including the titles of fourteen of the fifteen tie-in miniseries, broken down by category:
Whatever Happened to Gotham City?
FLASHPOINT: BATMAN KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS #1-#3
Whatever Happened to the World’s Greatest Super Villains?
FLASHPOINT: CITIZEN COLD #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: DEATHSTROKE & THE CURSE OF THE RAVAGER #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: THE OUTSIDER #1-#3
Whatever Happened to the Aliens?
FLASHPOINT: ABIN SUR THE GREEN LANTERN #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: PROJECT: SUPERMAN #1-#3
Whatever Happened to Science & Magic?
FLASHPOINT: FRANKENSTEIN & THE CREATURES OF THE UNKNOWN #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: SECRET SEVEN #1-#3
Whatever Happened to Europe?
FLASHPOINT: EMPEROR AQUAMAN #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: WONDER WOMAN AND THE FURIES #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: LOIS LANE AND THE RESISTANCE #1-#3
Everything You Know Will Change in a Flash
FLASHPOINT: KID FLASH LOST #1-#3
FLASHPOINT: THE WORLD OF FLASHPOINT #1-#3
So, they’re all 3-issue miniseries. DC might run some of them during the first part of the event and others during the second part, but I think it’s more likely to play out this way:
May: Flashpoint #1 and some of the one-shots.
June-August: Flashpoint #2-4 and the minis.
September: Flashpoint #5 and the rest of the one-shots.
Assuming, of course, that the whole thing stays on schedule. It’s also still possible that the related regular series will be suspended during June-August while the altered miniseries run instead.
Citizen Cold is obviously going to center on Captain Cold.
So, Kid Flash Lost. Wally West? Bart Allen? Or Iris “Irey” West II? As much as I’d like to see the Kingdom Come version of Kid Flash again, I think the best match with the title is time anomaly Bart Allen, who has a history of resisting changes to the timeline (Impulse: Bart Saves the Universe, the Dark Flash saga) and will once again be trapped in a world changed from the one he remembers.
For today’s Flashpoint Friday, DC Comics said a few words about the scope of the event, which is “so big and ambitious that there will be fifteen mini series expanding on the events, along with several important one shots.”
Yeah, you read that right.
- One central 5-issue miniseries by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert.
- 15 tie-in miniseries.
- “Several” “important” one-shots.
DC will be announcing 14 of the 15 miniseries’ titles this afternoon.
They also add, for those readers who haven’t quite tumbled to the fact, that “This isn’t a parallel Earth. This isn’t a mirror world. This is home.”
There may be something to last week’s Bleeding Cool rumor that DC will alter their publishing line during the event. With 15 miniseries, I can imagine DC putting 15 titles on hiatus for a few months and publishing the minis instead. Not necessarily the best timing with the Green Lantern movie coming out, but there’s undoubtedly more to the plans.
Also of note: The creative team was described as “Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert and Sandra Hope.” I don’t remember Sandra Hope being mentioned in connection with the title before. It may be that she’s been doing the inks all along and they were only publicizing Andy Kubert’s more-famous name, or it may be that she’s been brought to ink the later issues so that Kubert has more time to finish the pencils.
(Apologies to Scott Pilgrim for the headline.)
January 25, 2011
Amazon is running a serious discount on Paul Levitz’ massive tome of comic-book history, 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking. The 720-page coffee table book weighs in at 16 pounds and normally sells for $200. Amazon initially listed it for $126, but it’s down to $109.66 — a 45% discount cutting $90 off the price!
I finally ordered a copy.
I doubt this discount will last. If a huge, detailed art book about DC Comics’ history appeals to you but (like me) you’ve been holding out because of the price, now’s your chance!
January 24, 2011
It took me a while to really get on board Halcyon, the Image Comics–published miniseries about a world in which all crime stops, leaving the super-heroes with nothing to do. Issue #3 has one of those “wham!” moments where it feels like the story sneaks up behind you and hits you with a two-by-four, though, so I’m following this one through to the end.
But there’s something that really bothers me about the premise.
All crime and aggression has stopped, worldwide. Criminals stop attacking people, nations stop fighting wars, terrorists dismantle their own networks, and the world’s most dangerous supervillain not only turns himself in, but devotes his intellect to medical science.
The world’s super-heroes find themselves obsolete, except for one: their speedster, who is the only one fast enough to respond to natural disasters. So while they’re all longing for the bad old days, he’s running himself ragged helping out in the way that only he can.
Except…
It doesn’t take a speedster to respond to an earthquake if you’re near the earthquake. It doesn’t take a speedster to help evacuate the coastline ahead of a hurricane or (given proper warning) tsunami, or to divert a flooding river away from populated areas. It certainly doesn’t take a speedster to help out in relief efforts after a disaster hits.
A hero with super-strength or X-ray vision can hop on a plane and arrive within hours to help search for survivors in the rubble left behind by a major earthquake, or industrial explosion, or meteor strike. They can respond even faster to something that hits near their base of operations. If something happens in your city, you don’t necessarily need super-speed to deal with it.
There’s nothing stopping the rest of the world’s heroes from finding something to contribute…unless all they want to do is find someone to punch. This is probably true of Sabre, the Batman equivalent, but the rest of them seem to think he’s a psychopath.
I could overlook it as a form of genre blindness, except that Transom is right there, in each issue, pushing himself to the brink as the world’s only remaining active hero.
