Speed Force

Some items of Flash-related news.

Colorist Moose Baumann, whose work can be seen on the iconic cover for The Flash: Rebirth #1, is is selling prints of his work to raise money to cover medical expenses for his wife’s cancer treatments. (via That F’ing Monkey and Comics Alliance)

Actors John Wesley Shipp (Barry Allen) and Amanda Pays (Tina McGee) from the 1990 Flash TV series will be appearing at Dallas Comic Con this weekend.

Comic Book Movie reports that the Flash’s home town of Central City will be mentioned in the Green Lantern movie. (via @johnnywellens)

One of the seminal writers in DC Comics’ history, Cary Bates has crafted adventures featuring comics’ greatest characters for all or part of six decades.  From his years as one of the main Superman scribes to 2010′s The Last Family of Krypton, he has left his mark on the world’s finest superheroes, experimenting with the genre and storytelling to stunning effect.

His first Flash story, 1968′s “The Flash – Fact or Fiction,” has been collected numerous times among the Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told.  But that tale is, literally, just the beginning.  After taking over as full-time writer in 1971 with Flash #209, Bates spent an amazing 14 years on the title until its cancellation in 1985.  He also authored the memorable Flash stories featured in Adventure Comics and the DC Special Series in the late 1970s.

With Showcase Presents: The Trial of the Flash set for a July release, we’ve been running annotations of Bates’ Flash issues that laid the groundwork for the Trial story and the final years of The Flash.  We’ll take a break over the next two weeks to hear from the man himself, and learn how he took a character ensconced in Silver Age sensibilities and created an emotionally-charged super-saga far ahead of its time.

Read the rest of this entry »

With Flashpoint upon us, 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 present the latest installment in our ongoing contest feature, “Where Was Wally West?”

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 (whereswally at speedforce dot org), and we’ll announce the winner on Monday!

So check out the image below and ask yourself, “WWWW?”.

This week’s prize is the Flash: Terminal Velocity TPB. Winners must live in the continental US or Canada.

ICv2 has posted their sales estimates for April, and The Flash volume three appears to be leveling out at around 55,000 copies an issue…just in time to get canceled for Flashpoint. Both issues landed in the top 20 comics for the month.

For comparison, Flash: The Fastest Man Alive bottomed out at 46K before climbing slightly to 47K, then getting a Countdown-infused sales boost for the final issue, while the post-Countdown relaunch dropped to around 26K before it was canceled to make way for Flash: Rebirth.

So despite the delays, and despite the Flashpoint-induced “cancellation,” this seems to be the most successful Flash relaunch in 5 years by numbers alone. Looking at sales rankings, it’s been consistently in the top 20 — something that hasn’t been true of The Flash in a long time.

I think the credit can be summed up in two words: Geoff Johns. The Flash vol.2 took a big hit when Mark Waid left, dropping from 40K to below 30K when this virtually unknown writer took over, but Johns slowly built up the readership until it hit around 50K when he left. (Then DC decided to cancel the series, printed a fill-in that had been sitting on the shelf and commissioned a 4-issue “finale” that dropped rapidly to 40K, thus giving legions of fans the mistaken impression that it had been canceled for sales.)

In other speedster news, Velocity #4 sold an estimated 5,247 copies, almost exactly the number sold of issue #3. Apparently those who were reading the book were committed, regardless of delays.

When Geoff Johns relaunched The Flash with Flash: Rebirth, readers wondered why DC had let most of his first run on the series go out of print. Then they announced a new, high-quality hardcover reprint series. The first volume comes out this week.

The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns

Written by GEOFF JOHNS ; Art by ANGEL UNZUETA, DOUG HAZLEWOOD, SCOTT KOLINS, ETHAN VAN SCIVER and others; Cover by SCOTT KOLINS

The first in a series of hardcover volumes that collect all of the best-selling issues of THE FLASH written by comics superstar Geoff Johns, beginning with issues #164-176, plus THE FLASH: OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1, THE FLASH: IRON HEIGHTS and THE FLASH SECRET FILES #3!

In this volume, Wally West finds himself without his super speed in a darker, mirror version of Keystone City. Can a powerless Flash defeat Captain Cold and Mirror Master to save the city he loves? Plus, The Flash is shocked to learn that a strange cult is killing all the people he has ever rescued. Featuring art by fan-favorites Ethan Van Sciver, Scott Kolins and more!

DC Universe – 448pg. – Color – Hardcover – $75.00 US

Thoughts: The price is steep, but from what I’ve heard, it’s in line with the paper and binding quality on these books. It’s basically a double-length Archive book, and those typically sell for $50.

The contents were previously collected in the trade paperbacks Wonderland and Blood Will Run. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that the Flash: Our Worlds At War special has been collected.

Buy it from your local comic shop this week, or order it from Amazon next week!

Hello, Speed Readers. Just a couple updates on the Graphitti Designs Convention Exclusive Brightest Day White Lantern Flash Action Figure courtesy of Action Figure Insider. Some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that the figure is now available on Graphitti Designs official webpage, Graphittidesigns.com. The figure is 20 dollars and is only available in limited quantities. Great news for those who could not get out to C2E2 or Wondercon to get them the first time.

Unfortunately this also means that they will not be available at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con as DC Direct exclusives. So if you were patiently waiting for these chances to grab the figure you may have to seize the day now and get one while the getting is good. The price for the figure on eBay floats between 40 and 140 dollars so I would suggest getting it from Graphitti now.

Anyone planning on picking one up now that they are available online?

****UPDATE****

It looks like Graphitti Designs have officially sold out of their stock of White Lantern Flash Action Figures as the link I posted earlier this morning now points to a unavailable product page. Sorry for those that missed out. Anyone else manage to snag one before they sold out?

-Devin “Flash” Johnson

ABC’s has officially canceled No Ordinary Family as of last Friday. The TV series starred Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz as the heads of a family who gained super powers, with Chiklis’ character gaining the standard strength+nigh-invulnerability power set, Benz’ character gaining super-speed, and their children gaining telepathy and super-intelliigence.

I wanted to like this show more than I actually did, and then I kind of got off track watching it when J was born. (Actually, I got off track watching everything, but I managed to catch up on the rest of my shows before the backlog fell off of Hulu.) I think I left off about six episodes in.

I do plan on catching up eventually when it goes to DVD or Netflix streaming, so no spoilers please!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this week’s installation of our “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 is the latest subject:

Check your interval vibrations, because the winner is…

Congrats to Aaron!  This week’s answer was JLA: Earth 2, art by Frank Quitely and story by Grant Morrison.  Flash works alongside the JLA to rebuild an Earth ruled by the Crime Syndicate.  Aaron wins a hardcover copy of Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge.

See you on Wednesday for the next installment in “Where Was Wally West?”!

DC has released covers and slightly more detailed descriptions of the 1980s and 1990s-themed Retroactive Flash specials in their August solicitations, along with the official info on the “Road to Flashpoint” collection.

DC RETROACTIVE: THE FLASH – THE ’80S #1
Written by WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS
Art and cover by GREG LAROCQUE

From the minds that brought you the Scarlet Speedster’s adventures in the 1980s comes a brand new adventure from that exciting era, along with a classic tale from that same decade.

ONE-SHOT • On sale AUGUST 3 • 56 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T

This cover should put to rest any question about which Flash is starring in this issue.

DC RETROACTIVE: THE FLASH – THE ’90S #1
Written by BRIAN AUGUSTYN
Art and cover by MIKE BOWDEN

During the ’90s, Wally West took the title “The Fastest Man Alive” to a whole new level. Join the the writer who turned the sidekick into a hero in his own right for another race against evil, along with a classic tale from that decade.

ONE-SHOT • On sale AUGUST 17 • 56 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T

At the time DC solicited the 1970s special, they didn’t have a cover yet and posted style guide art instead.

THE FLASH: THE ROAD TO FLASHPOINT HC
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by FRANCIS MANAPUL and SCOTT KOLINS
Cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL

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!

This hardcover collection of THE FLASH #8-12 leads up to FLASHPOINT, the biggest comic-book event for summer 2011!

On sale OCTOBER 26 • 128 pg, FC, $22.99 US

A couple of quick sales items:

The Source is reporting that Flashpoint #1 has sold out at the distributor. You may be able to still find copies at your local comic shop, but they won’t be able to order any more. DC doesn’t say so in the announcement, but you can probably expect a second printing soon.

Diamond Comic Distributors has posted their sales rankings for April, and The Flash takes two spots in the top 20 by units sold. Flash #10 is #18 for the month, and Flash #11 is #19. No doubt ICv2 will have number estimates up soon.

Update: Previews confirms the second printing, coming June 15.