First, some links to art!
More Flashy links:
More comics links
Over at The Source, Geoff Johns answers three questions about Flashpoint. Key items: “Flash will learn what the universe would be like if the world’s greatest super-heroes never became the world’s greatest super-heroes.” “You won’t just see the DC Universe shaken up, you’ll see characters you’ve never met who’ve come into existence because of the historical damage done to the past,” such as Element Woman [different from Element Girl?], Blackout, the Outsider [presumably not the Silver Age Batman villain, then], and the Resistance. [Interesting that "The Resistance" is a character, not an organization.] S!H!A!Z!A!M!
Most importantly: You don’t need to have read any specific stories to understand Flashpoint. “The Flash series and The Flash: Rebirth give you the foundation for Barry today, but even then Flashpoint #1 will tell you everything you need to know.” Familiarity with the normal DC Universe may help you appreciate the differences more, but “You’ll meet the world and characters as you enter the story.”
Head over to The Source to read the full answers.
If you have more questions, DC wants to hear them. They’re soliciting questions on The Source, on Twitter (post with the #Flashpoint hashtag), and on the Facebook pages for DC Nation and The Flash. They’ll pick the top questions and answer them on The Source as part of upcoming Flashpoint Fridays.
DC also unveiled a Flashpoint-style Green Lantern logo (at least I don’t remember seeing it before) and asked some leading questions:
- Whatever *did* happen to the World’s Greatest Heroes?
- Was Cyborg created to be their leader?
- Who will the Resistance summon?
- When do six become one?
This photo made the rounds at Tumblr last week, starting with a December post by theboywonder-. (Note: That link won’t work on some systems because technically, ending a hostname with a hyphen isn’t valid.) The poster explains:
Story behind this: Kid had lost his dad in the crowd, freaked out until he saw Flash and Wonderwoman, went up to Flash to ask for help because he knows him.
I saw @Ragnell’s tweet about her repost of the photo on Tuesday, retweeted it, and had a bit of discussion about it. Lia recognized the Flash as a poster who goes by the name AnthonyFlash on /co/, and added that he “seems embarrasssed by how much people love that photo.” That was it for the rest of the week until it hit @toptweets on Friday and just exploded.
That was kind of weird, waking up to hundreds of retweets and replies on Saturday morning!
DC’s May solicitations are up!
The Flash #13
Written by GEOFF JOHNS and SCOTT KOLINS
Art and cover by SCOTT KOLINS
1:10 Variant cover by ANDY KUBERT
THE ROAD TO FLASHPOINT concludes! His name is Eobard Thawne. He is the fastest man alive. He is the Flash of the 25th Century. You know who he is and how he got his speed. But you don’t know the rest of the story. Find out how Thawne went from Flash to Reverse-Flash and what his mission is next in this unlucky thirteenth issue on the Road to FLASHPOINT!
On sale MAY 4 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Note: I don’t have my comics here to check, but isn’t this cover the final splash page from the Reverse-Flash spotlight in Flash #8?
Flashpoint #1
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by ANDY KUBERT
1:25 Variant cover A by ANDY KUBERT
Variant cover B by IVAN REIS and GEORGE PÉREZ
Not a dream, not an imaginary story, not an elseworld. This is Flash Fact: When Barry Allen wakes at his desk, he discovers the world has changed. Family is alive, loved ones are strangers, and close friends are different, gone or worse. It’s a world on the brink of a cataclysmic war – but where are Earth’s Greatest Heroes to stop it? It’s a place where America’s last hope is Cyborg, who hopes to gather the forces of The Outsider, The Secret 7, S!H!A!Z!A!M!, Citizen Cold and other new and familiar-yet-altered faces! It’s a world that could be running out of time, if The Flash can’t find the villain who altered the time line!
Welcome to FLASHPOINT!
On sale MAY 11 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Booster Gold #44
Written by DAN JURGENS
Art and cover by DAN JURGENS and NORM RAPMUND
Dan Jurgens returns to BOOSTER GOLD just in time for this FLASHPOINT prelude. Booster Gold returns to Rip Hunter’s lab after the events of TIME MASTERS and finds that this world isn’t the same one he left behind.
On sale MAY 18 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T
DC Comics Presents: The Flash #1
Written by JOHN BROOME and ROBERT KANIGHER
Art by CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA and others
Cover by ANDY KUBERT and JOE KUBERT
Spotlighting tales of time travel and the Rogues, these tales from SHOWCASE #4 and 14, THE FLASH #125, 130 and 139 pit The Scarlet Speedster against “The Giants of The Time World,” “The Conquerors of Time,” along with Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, The Top, Captain Cold, The Trickster and The Reverse Flash!
On sale MAY 11 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US
Note: This is a pretty good set of time travel stories that haven’t been reprinted in years. (More on Silver-Age Flash reprints.) The cover shown here is the Andy & Joe Kubert variant cover from Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1.
And coming up later this summer:
Brian Bolland: Cover to Cover HC
Written by BRIAN BOLLAND
Art and cover by BRIAN BOLLAND
Artist Brian Bolland, best known for his work as illustrator of the best-selling title BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, is the subject of this new hardcover collecting his covers for DC Comics. Featuring highly detailed and meticulous craftsmanship combined with dramatic takes on the world’s best-known Super Heroes, Bolland’s work has been featured on GREEN LANTERN, BATMAN, WONDER WOMAN, THE FLASH, ZATANNA and the Vertigo series THE INVISIBLES and ANIMAL MAN. This spectacular collection includes rarely seen and never-before-published art, along with commentary from Bolland.
On sale AUGUST 31 • 208 pg, FC, 8.625” x 11.625”, $39.99 US
Note: Bolland had a long run as the cover artist on The Flash when Geoff Johns took over the book in 2000, from Flash #164 (“Wonderland”) through Flash #187 (“Crossfire”), and did the highly-recognizable Showcase homage for the cover of the collected Flash: The Return of Barry Allen.
As a reminder, we’re keeping track of the Flashpoint creative teams as they’re announced or leaked.
Ah, rumors! First it was that DC would be renaming and renumbering their whole line to reflect the alternate reality of Flashpoint. Then, when the 15 tie-in miniseries were announced, people started hoping the regular books would go on hiatus to keep them from emptying their wallets.
Now, rumor site Bleeding Cool reports that DC will cancel a number of their lower-selling titles in order to make room in their publishing slate.
On one hand, it’s sad to see some of these titles rumored to get the axe in favor of an unrelated set of miniseries. On the other, the titles listed haven’t exactly been setting the shelves on fire, as this analysis of DC’s December sales shows. Flashpoint may have simply been the last nail, or just a convenient time.
And let’s be honest — this is still at the rumor stage. We’ll know more when May solicitations hit this afternoon.
As a reminder, we’re keeping track of the Flashpoint creative teams as they’re announced or leaked.
Wow, wow, wow! Some great stuff coming out of Toy Fair this year for the Flash. Mattel had quite a few new Flash related items to show off while DC Direct really had nothing new that we hadn’t already seen. The following pics below are courtesy of Toynewsi.com.
I was most looking forward to the Young Justice and JLU news because of the rumored upcoming releases and they didn’t disappoint. Well almost didn’t but we will get to that later.
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Two items on Flashpoint from the last few days:
First, DC has announced Flashpoint edition Flash rings will ship with Flashpoint #2. DC previously shipped Flash rings with Flash #1 last year (pictured), and released a whole series of multi-colored lantern rings with Blackest Night tie-ins.
Second, Bleeding Cool has what appears to be a preliminary list of Flashpoint one-shots, and suggests that DC may be announcing the final list within the next week.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, well for toy fans anyway. Toy Fair weekend 2011 is upon us but don’t be alarmed because we haven’t seen any Mattel offerings yet:
Toy Fans,
Like San Diego Comic-Con, New York Toy Fair is one of the most hotly anticipated toy events of the year. Why? Because even though it isn’t open to the public, we unveil some of the biggest toys of the year!
This year, the Mattel Collector Night is on Sunday, February 13th, from 3 PM to 6 PM ET. Of course, I can’t show you images yet, but I promise we’ll have TONS of reveals from all your favorite lines, including a DCU Classics wave, figures from JLU, DCU vs MOTU, DCU Action League®, Ghostbusters™, Masters of the Universe®, and Green Lantern.
There will also be reveals and product on display from Batman, Young Justice™, CARS, WWE®, and even some Barbie® Collector items I know you’re gonna want. A lot of your favorite fan sites will be in attendance, so be on the lookout for updates from those sites −− but for the official scoop, be back here on Monday, February 14th, for our special post-Mattel Collector Night coverage!
— Matty
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Alright folks as promised (albeit a bit late), another edition of Recent Acquisitions. Two days ago I received a package from Sci-Fi Genre; the DC Universe Origins Flash Two Pack from DC Direct. Celebrating 75 years of DC Comics, the packs feature one figure representing the classic version of the character and the other being the most current version of the character. This is from the second wave, the first featuring exclusively Batman characters. I believe that all of the figures in the wave are repaints. I know for a fact that Jay Garrick is a repaint of the First Appearances Flash action figure and that Barry is a repaint of Wally West from the Justice League of America Series 3 action figure set. Normally I would scoff at a repaint, I still haven’t picked up JLA Classified Classics Flash or Identity Crisis Classics Flash and don’t plan to anytime soon, but the new paint applications on these figures are a vast improvement over the originals.
Pictures of this set and much more after the break.
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