Flash co-writer/artist Francis Manapul will be signing at three Toronto-area comic shops on Wednesday, when The Flash #1 hits the shelves.
SEPTEMBER 28 (Wednesday)
Stadium Comics 10:30am-12:30pm
Paradise Comics 3-5pm
Beguiling 7-9pm
SEPTEMBER 30 (Friday)
Toronto Cartoonist’s Workshop 7-11pm
Gallery show of original artwork from The Flash #1.
UPDATE: More details including addresses at Francis Manapul’s Tumblr blog.
Some linkblogging for the weekend….
Flash links
More Comics Links
We’ve been following Comics Should Be Good as they count down the results of their Top 50 DC & Marvel Characters survey. Wally West ranks #6 on the DC list. He hasn’t been seen much since DC decided to re-focus The Flash on Barry Allen a few years back, but Wally remains a popular character — more popular among the survey respondents than the current headliner, though as we saw a few days ago, Barry made the top 10 as well.
I hope DC considers this when the time comes around for mid-season replacements or expanding the New 52. If there’s room for 12(?) Bat-books including spots for current and past Robins Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian… If there’s room for four Lantern books including spots for all four human Green Lanterns… If there’s room for four Super-books… Then surely there’s room for a second Flash series featuring Wally West, or at the very least a spot on a team book. Barry’s got the main Flash series, Bart’s in Teen Titans, and presumably Jay will be showing up in the Earth-2-set Justice Society of America series when it launches.
Here are the final rankings of the Flashes for this survey and the previous one in 2007.
| Character | 2011 Rank | 2007 Rank | Points | 1st Place Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Garrick (Flash) | #45 | #41 | 374 | 0 |
| Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash) | #36 | #42 | 545 | 6 |
| Barry Allen (Flash) | #9 | #29 | 1604 | 27 |
| Wally West (Flash/Kid Flash) | #6 | #3 | 2471 | 67 |
About the points: The way voting worked was that you listed your top 10 favorite characters, in order. Your first-place choice got 10 points, your second-place choice got 9 points, etc. According to CSBG, more than 1400 people voted in the survey.
Keep an eye on Comics Should Be Good as they count down the top five!
CNN’s Geek Out! has an article on The Science of the Flash. Of course, science in comic books is always a bit more…flexible than it is in the real world.
The speed force is one of the topics discussed. In the 1980s, when DC relaunched the book with Wally West, they tried to explain away the Flash’s super-speed by requiring him to eat a lot. As physics professor James Kakalios points out, “the numbers just don’t work. A typical Flash running at his various speeds would have to eat something like 500 million cheeseburgers to run at the speeds he’s doing, even chewing super fast.” The solution: a field of energy that the Flashes draw their power from. A hand-wave explanation to be sure, but one that at least acknowledged the issue.
Today’s an interesting time to post the article, given the announcement of possible faster-than-light particles. (It does get into that staple of science fiction, the still-theoretical tachyon.) Revolutionary if it can be confirmed, but even the physicists who found the effect aren’t convinced yet. The announcement is basically: “We got these amazing results and haven’t been able to find any errors. We need more people to check our work.” As the webcomic XKCD points out, extraordinary claims like this usually don’t pan out…but when they do, it’s tremendously exciting!
Anyway, what most of you are probably interested in is the Flash #1 preview at the top of the article. It’s a different format than the usual method of just posting the full pages, more like reading a digital comic on a smartphone…only with commentary on each “page” by co-writer/artist Francis Manapul.
The Flash #1 arrives in stores next week, on September 28.
The Flash co-writer/artist Brian Buccellato was kind enough to send his signing schedule for the next few weeks. He’ll be appearing at a number of Los Angeles-area events and comic shops, as well as New York Comic-Con. It all kicks off at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, California on the day that The Flash #1 is released. Continue reading
Comics Should Be Good continues counting down the results of their Top 50 DC Characters survey, and Barry Allen comes in at #9. The reborn Flash received 1604 total points, and 27 voters named him their favorite DC character.
A Top 10 spot is a big climb from the #29 rank he took in 2007. DC Comics has clearly been successful at building up Barry Allen’s popularity in the years since he’s returned.
We’ve seen three of the four main Flashes so far, with Bart Allen and Jay Garrick at #36 and #45. Still no sign of Wally West, but given his popularity among online fans, it’s unlikely that he dropped below Bart and Jay.
With Robin (Tim Drake) ranked #8, there are seven slots left. Sure bets include:
That leaves two up for grabs. Based on other people’s comments and my own gut feeling, I’d say the remaining two slots are likely to be Flash (Wally West) and the Joker.
The question is: What order?
Keep an eye on Comics Should Be Good as they continue the Top 50 countdown!
