April 19, 2011
On April 9, I attended the first day of the free “Fan Appreciation” show in Toronto. This is the first year it’s been held for the entire weekend, but unfortunately real life got in the way and the spouse and I were only able to go for one day.
It was a pretty good show, with some great guests (including Flash artists Francis Manapul and Ethan Van Sciver) and quite a few vendors selling comics and action figures. I managed to get a couple of Professor Zoom figures and a Flash figurine, and commissioned Red Robin artist Marcus To for a drawing of Captain Boomerang.
The woman waiting in line behind me for Marcus To got this Impulse sketch from him, which she let me photograph.
Here’s Francis Manapul working on a Wonder Woman picture for a fan. I also saw him drawing several Flash pieces, and he drew the Flash on a t-shirt which was later given away in a contest. I didn’t take any photos of the shirt, but the gentleman who won it did!
Alas, we ran out of money quickly (part of that real-life thing I mentioned earlier), and eventually left the show early. After leaving the convention, we went for lunch and wandered around some of the nearby streets before heading back to the car. And stumbled across this: the dressing rooms, washrooms, and hair/makeup trailers for the television show Flashpoint! The series is filmed in Toronto, of course. It was fun to see it given the name of DC’s imminent crossover.
And then we walked by Piper Street, so I had to take photos of that too.
All in all, it was a pretty good day for a Flash fan!
April 18, 2011
Thanks to everyone who participated in the first “Where Was Wally West?” contest here at Speed Force!
We posted a panel from a classic Flash comic, featuring Wally West in an alternate reality, the past or a “possible future”. Correct answers were put into a raffle, and a winner was drawn at random. To refresh your memory, here was this week’s subject:
Now, cast your eyes upon the mysterious Box of Speed, as we reveal this week’s champion and winner of an original copy of Flash: Iron Heights…
…and the winner is…
Congrats to Binyamin! This week’s answer was Flash, vol.2, #113: “Wallyworld,” panel by Oscar Jimenez, story by Mark Waid. In that story, Wally travels to the 64th Century, where his previous victories have led to a society sculpted in his image…for better or worse.
Check back here on Wednesday for the next installment in WWWW!
Flash: Rebirth featured a number of retcons, some of them explained away by time travel, others explained as new information, and others simply stated with no explanation at all. The most galling one to me was the revelation that the Speed Force is generated by Barry Allen with every step he runs, and that all other speedsters (including those who preceded him like Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, and Johnny Quick) depend on Barry’s existence for their own.
There are two things that bug me about this.
First: it doesn’t make sense. The speed force was introduced to do two things: provide a hand-wave explanation for the impossible physics of super-speed, and tie all speedsters’ origins together. Where do Flashes get their energy? The speed force. Simple, end of story. But now the speed force gets its energy from Barry Allen. So we’re right back where we started: Where does Barry get his energy?
Second: it elevates Barry Allen above all other Flashes permanently.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it were simply a matter of: Barry’s back, and here’s why he’s important now. That would be the same kind of thing Mark Waid did when he had Wally West become the first Flash to mainline the speed force and gain new powers, or that Bilson & DeMeo did when they had Bart Allen absorb the speed force. In those cases, it was still a progression, and you could imagine that whoever came next would follow in their footsteps and become the most important Flash now.
What bothers me is that they didn’t want to take that route. They instead wanted to take the route that Barry Allen was not only the most important Flash now, but that he has always been and always will be the most important Flash ever. It flat out tells us that we’ve been reading about a second-rate Flash for the last 25 years. I know there are people who hold that opinion, but it’s galling for it to be declared canon.
It’s like two kids trying to one-up each other in a bidding war, and one pulls out, “well, I bid infinity!” — and because it’s the author of the series, not to mention the Chief Creative Officer of the company, it sticks instead of getting laughed off.
Adapted from a comment made last year. I was reminded of it by this recent Reddit discussion: What’s your least favorite retcon?
April 17, 2011
Weekend linkblogging.
Flashy links, as usual:
Be sure to check Fastest Fan Alive and The Rogues Kick Ass for more Flash art & collectibles.
Other comics links.
April 15, 2011
The DC Universe Mini Mez-Itz we saw at Toy Fair 2011 have finally received a release date as of this morning. October 2011 is when we can expect these guys to start hitting the shelves:
Mezco Toyz will be introducing even more characters from the DC Universe including world-famous super heroes such as Batman™, Superman™ and the Green Lantern. Look for many more characters to hit the store shelves this year!
The first series of 2 packs includes the following pairings:
Batman Beyond & Cyborg
The Flash & Captain Cold
Dr. Fate & Etrigan the Demon
Mini Mez-Itz are 2″ collectibles that are cool by design. All Mini Mez-Itz feature five points of articulation and are packaged together on a blister card!
Set includes all 6 figures!
Ships October 2011.
-Devin “Flash” Johnson
DC has been posting questions and answers from the writers of the various Flashpoint tie-ins today, including this piece of art depicting Mirror Master, Fallout(?), Tar Pit, Trickster (Axel Walker), Weather Wizard, and Pied Piper.
It seems appropriate that someone would have a goatee.
Kolins says of his miniseries:
There’s bunch of stuff in my CITIZEN COLD 3-parter that’s has never been done for [Captain] Cold or the Rogues. Can you imagine Cold being the hero of Central City? What kind of hero would he be? Plus there’s the whole Iris angle – that’s new and soooo much fun.
Click through to the article for more Q&A and a larger image. And don’t miss the first article in the series, either. Update: Part three is up. They’ve got quite a bit of unfinished art and logo designs on the these articles.
April 14, 2011
Welcome to the latest entry in our breakdowns of classic Flash comics, leading up to Showcase Presents: The Trial of the Flash! This week, we’ll check out issue #273, a pivotal chapter on the road to the historic #275.
UP TO SPEED: Last week, we saw Flash take down The Clown. As Barry Allen, our hero also uncovered a heroin smuggling operation that was using his lab as a drop point. Meanwhile, he and Iris struggled to make time for each other as Barry’s obligations to his police work and his Flash duties took complete hold of his attention.
Read the rest of this entry »
April 13, 2011
It is convention season, and Flash fans across the country have been asking the same question: “Where is Wally West?”
While we do not know where Wally is now, where he will be, or how long it will be until he is anywhere, we certainly know where he was! With that knowledge, we introduce our new ongoing contest feature, “Where Was Wally West?”
UPDATE: This week’s contest is closed as of 9 AM EST Saturday. Thanks to everyone who entered an answer! The raffle winner will be announced with the next contest on Wednesday.
On Wednesdays, we will post a panel or sequence from a classic comic featuring Wally West visiting an alternate reality, the past or a “possible future”. Every fan who can tell us the issue, writer, artist(s) and a reasonable description of the locale/era, by Friday, will be entered into a raffle for a cool Flash prize! Just send your responses to this email address, and we’ll announce the winner when we post the next contest!
So check out the image below and ask yourself, WWWW?
This week’s prize is a copy of the original version of Flash: Iron Heights by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver!
DC has released a preview of this week’s issue, labeling it as the “Secret Origin of Hot Pursuit.” Although DC previously identified a piece by Yildiray Cinar as the variant cover for #10, the final version features a cover by Ed Benes which looks quite similar to the standard cover by Francis Manapul, minus the other Flashes.
April 12, 2011
This week sees the long-awaited release of The Flash #10, the second part of “Road to Flashpoint!”
Written by Geoff Johns; Art and cover by Fransic Manapul; 1:10 Variant cover by Yildiray Cinar.
The prelude to summer’s FLASHPOINT event continues! The new speedster known as Hot Pursuit has arrived on his Cosmic Motorcycle, but what terrible warning has he brought with him? The FLASHPOINT is closing in, and it looks like no one will be safe!
DC Universe – 32pg. – $2.99 US
Update: As Wayne points out, DC has released a 4-page preview of the issue including the final covers. The Yildiray Cinar alternate cover has been replaced with one by Ed Benes.
Also this week: the PVC “Ame-Comi” figurine featuring Jesse Quick as the Flash:
