May 7, 2011

Two Flashes in IGN’s Top 100 Heroes

Category: Fun — By Kelson

IGN has put together a list of their Top 100 Comic Book Heroes, and two Flashes make the cut! It’s a very well-rounded list, featuring not just the major Marvel and DC super-heroes, but non-superheroes like Dream of the Endless and Spider Jerusalem, and indie characters like Hellboy, Scott Pilgrim, and even Groo the Wanderer.

The two Flashes on the list are Barry Allen at #49 and Wally West at #8.

May 6, 2011

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #3 Cover

Category: Covers — By Kelson

Timed with Newsarama’s interview with Sterling Gates, DC has released Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato’s final cover for Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost.

This one continues the falling theme, which you can see with the covers for #1 and #2. Read the rest of this entry »

Recent Acquisitions 7: Hot Pursuit? *Image Intensive*

Category: Collectibles, Fun — By Devin

What if instead of a motorcycle, Hot Pursuit used oh I don’t know, roller blades? Yes, Cosmic Roller Blades. That seems to be the concept behind the very, very hard to find Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Rocket Zoom Flash that I recently procured. Take a look:

Read the rest of this entry »

Sterling Gates talks Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost

Category: Flash News — By Kelson

Newsarama interviews Sterling Gates on his Flashpoint tie-in miniseries, Kid Flash Lost. As he describes it:

In Kid Flash Lost, Bart also remembers the regular universe. The only difference is that Barry is in the present day of Flashpoint, while Bart is in the future…. So he wakes up in a very, very different future from the one in which he grew up, the one he knew when he was a very small kid…. Bart realizes he needs to get back in time, or else the timestream will sort of correct itself, meaning he will pull a Marty McFly and fade out.

(Key points clipped together from several different paragraphs.)

We’re going to see a lot of things that aren’t covered in the main Flashpoint book, as Bart explores the future and finds out what happened to the Flash family.

What happened to Jay Garrick? What happened to Wally West? And where’s Max Mercury? Bart’s going to dig in and dig through some historical stuff over the course of the three issues, and we’re going to see where a lot of our speedsters are. It’s a Flash story as well as a Kid Flash story.

There’s a lot more in there about the tone, how Hot Pursuit fits in, and Bart Allen’s idea of “Kid Flash Facts.” Read the whole interview!

McDonald’s Batman: Brave and The Bold Round Two

Category: Collectibles, Fun — By Devin

Salutations Speed Readers,

Last Saturday McDonald’s started it’s second Batman: Brave and the Bold Happy Meal promotion! Just like the Young Justice Happy Meal promotion from a couple months ago this set will feature two Flash-related characters: Barry Allen’s version of The Flash and Gorilla Grodd, one of the Scarlet Speedster’s greatest villains. Unlike the Young Justice promotion I didn’t feel like dealing with McDonald’s at all. So I went the evilBay route. Unfortunately when I wanted them no one was selling just Grodd and Flash (Since they come in two different sets) so I just went ahead and purchased all eight of the sets. I’m only going to show the Flash-related ones right now but if enough of you want to see the rest I may post them at a future time. Check ‘em out:

The seller was kind enough to include the Happy Meal box along with the sets.

And a couple more pics of Barry and Grodd:

As you can see they didn’t really fill in the details. Flash’s wings on his cowl are just blotches of paint and although they included the lightning details on his forearms and belt they neglected to fill them in with paint. Grodd isn’t that big of a deal, he is just missing some minor details on the helmet which I wouldn’t realistically expect anyway. Also whereas the initial Brave and the Bold line and even the Young Justice line from a couple months ago were fairly large and featured some decent details where it counted, it looks like they opted for quantity over quality this time around and released 24 different toys. Kids get more bang for their buck with three smaller toys in one package instead of just the standard one.

Just for comparison:

Yep, pretty tiny. Still not bad figures, and it is always good to see some more mainstream Flash love.

Anyone else gotten their hands on these guys yet?

Thanks for reading,

-Devin “Flash” Johnson

Flashpoint #1 Cover

Category: Covers, Flash News — By Kelson

The Aquaman Shrine posted this image of the full cover for Flashpoint #1, with full logo and credits.

Flashpoint #1 ships next week, along with Flash #12, the “final” issue of the series. (We’ll just have to see see how DC relaunches it afterward.) A preview will also appear in DC’s Green Lantern special for Free Comic Book Day this Saturday.

In related news, USA Today writes about Flashpoint, “Not the DC heroes you know,” interviewing Dan Didio, editor Eddie Berganza, artist Andy Kubert, and comics retailer Brian Hibbs. Kubert talks about redesigning Wonder Woman and Batman, and Didio talks about the way DC is trying to combat event fatigue.

May 5, 2011

Why was Mark Waid missing from DC RetroActive: The Flash 1990s?

Category: Flash News — By Kelson

Well, that answers that question. Since Mark Waid was the Flash writer for most of the 1990s, but isn’t writing the 1990s issue of DC RetroActive: The Flash (Waid’s often-overlooked writing partner on the book, Brian Augustyn, is doing it solo), fans have been wondering: Why is he missing? Did he decline to return to the character? Did DC not want him on the book?

Esteban Pedreros of Comic Verso asked the writer on Twitter.


@ I’m curious. Did DC offer you the 90s Flash retroactive? Would you’ve accepted?
@epedreros
Esteban Pedreros


@ No and yes, in that order.
@MarkWaid
Mark Waid

So now we know: DC didn’t offer Mark Waid the book, but he would have done it if asked.

Waid has been largely absent from the DC Universe since his run on Brave and the Bold and his brief return to The Flash in 2007-2008. In part, that was around the time he became EIC at BOOM! Studios, and was busy with those duties and writing his creator-owned books. But there was some public dispute with DC over the Flash, Countdown and related books, and it may be that the current regime simply doesn’t want him back.

Curiouser and curiouser…

Annotations: Flash #276, “Freakout!”

…and we’re back with the newest installment in our Flash notes!  Hot on the heels of Cary Bates’ classic #275, the action doesn’t stop as Flash is pushed to new limits!  Links to artwork and research are included throughout this post.

UP TO SPEED: Last week, Barry and Iris found renewed passion after a female fan was able to unmask Barry as Flash.  Attending a costume party in his Flash duds, Barry was targeted by heroin smugglers and mysteriously drugged.  Iris, tending to Barry, was attacked off-panel.  Responding to her cries, Barry discovered Iris unconscious, and deranged convict Clive Yorkin hovering over her apparently lifeless body.  Barry collapsed attempting to lift his wife, prompting party-goers to call an ambulance…for the one of them who was still alive!

Read the rest of this entry »

May 4, 2011

Where’s Wally, Week Four

Category: Fun — By Lia

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?”

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 whereswally – at – speedforce.org, and we’ll announce the winner next week!

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

Where's Wally?

This week’s prize is the Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge hardcover by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins. Winners must live in the continental US or Canada.

UPDATE: Because the contest was posted later than usual, we’ve extended the deadline to Saturday!

Signings: Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, John Wesley Shipp, Joyce Hyser

Category: Creators — By Kelson

Flash and Flashpoint writer Geoff Johns will be signing at Earth-2 Comics in Los Angeles this Saturday for Free Comic Book Day. He’ll be at the Sherman Oaks location from noon to 2:00 pm and at the Northridge location from 3:30 to 5:30.

Actors John Wesley Shipp and Joyce Hyser (Barry Allen and Megan Lockhart from the 1990 Flash TV Series) [Update] and classic Flash artist Carmine Infantino will be at Motor City Comic Con (May 13-15) in Novi, Michigan (near Detroit).

Frequent Flash artist Scott Kolins will attend two cons coming up soon: Phoenix Comicon (May 27-29) in Phoenix, Arizona and Heroes Con (June 3-5) in Charlotte, North Carolina.