The Collected Editions blog has been reviewing the Flashpoint trades over the past week. The tie-ins were collected in five trade paperbacks, grouped around one of DC’s big five characters, titled The World of Flashpoint Featuring…
The miniseries less directly related to the major characters were spread around the other books, some thematically and some apparently at random, but the Flash collection is actually filled with stories focusing on Flash characters: Citizen Cold, Kid Flash Lost, Reverse-Flash, Legion of Doom (starring Heat Wave) and Grodd of War.
Boston Comic Con DC panel report from dcwomenkickingass: Francis Manapul talks about trying to sneak in a Wally West cameo, why the Rogues have powers now, other supporting cast members for Flash who didn’t make the cut, and more.
Art mashup: comics & classic paintings (CSBG/The Line It Is Drawn). Black Canary in The Scream, Flash in Eight Elvises, etc.
WTF moment of the day. These people need to get off the internet. Imagine what they’d have said if she’d written a negative review, rather than one that was merely lukewarm? (Progressive Ruin)
Chris Robeson leaves DC now that iZombie is done, feeling he can no longer trust/support the company’s SOP toward creators, and will stop working for them after his Fairest arc is complete.
But you look at what the theme of Flash’s book has been for the last 200-something issues with Wally West and it’s been about a man trying to fill someone else’s boots. It doesn’t really have anything to do with speed. I mean, it has something to do with speed, but it was not totally what the book was about. The new Flash that I’m doing is all about speed.
At the time, I found it disingenuous because Geoff Johns wrote six years of that run himself, and he could have focused more heavily on speed with Wally West if he’d wanted to. And I found it worrying because he felt Wally’s defining characteristic was wanting to be like Barry Allen. Not the journey of becoming a hero, not learning to be an adult, but specifically trying to be someone he’s not.
But now I find the quote even more annoying, and here’s why:
Geoff Johns’ Flash, from Rebirth through Flashpoint, is not all about speed. It’s not even about hope, as suggested in Blackest Night.
It’s about a man so driven by grief that he nearly destroyed the world. Not even through speed, but through time travel.
The great over-arching Flash story from 2009-2011 might have been more appropriate for Booster Gold or Rip Hunter. (Or maybe Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, considering that it sounds a little like Emerald Twilight and Zero Hour when you break it down that far.)
Oh I just, just last night, I recording a new animated movie…that features The Flash, it’s more about The Flash, but Batman is in it as well. It’s a Flash…Flashpoint! Flashpoint? I think it’s Flashpoint.
As ComicsAlliance points out, there’s been no official announcement past Superman vs. the Elite (which, though it won’t be released until summer, is finished — I saw it at WonderCon last month).
It’s an odd choice for a Flash film until one remembers that Warner Bros. is utterly focused on Superman and Batman, and Flashpoint is a Flash/Batman team-up story. Chances of getting a truly solo Flash animated film are slim for now.
And while it might seem strange to do a stand-alone movie based on a crisis reboot, I think the timeline of when things happened (JMS states that the reboot was given the green light after Superman: Earth One sales figures hit) shows that Flashpoint wasn’t originally intended as a universe-wide reboot so much as it was a story about fixing a broken timeline. Take out that splash page in #5 and change the costumes in the last three or so pages, and it works just fine as a stand-alone story.
So, what do you think: Is this the Flash story you want to see?
Flash co-writer/artist Brian Buccellato’s creator-owned comic book, Foster, has added a new chapter. Issue #3 is now available in the limited edition from his website and at upcoming convention appearances, while issue #1 (and soon #2) is available in a standard edition with cover by series artist Noel Tuazon. All three issues are available digitally for $1.99 (less than a new DC comic!)
For Comic-Con International, Buccellato plans to release a Foster Anthology featuring five short stories with different artists, set in different time periods and fleshing out the universe. Unlike the main series, this one is being funded through Kickstarter, seeking to raise $5,000 by May 20.
If nothing else, you need to look at the list of perks you get for various donation amounts. Some of them are obvious, like the “It’s just like pre-ordering it” level, or free-sketch level, but for $30 he’ll let you win at Words With Friends, for $150, he’ll meet you at an LA-area gas station and pump your gas, for $250 he’ll play basketball with you…
Foster, a haunted war veteran trying to forget the world at the bottom of a bottle, becomes the guardian of a 6 year-old boy who is the offspring of a woman and a primal race of supernatural creatures that lurk on the fringes of society and need him to repopulate. In a world where technology is stuck in the analog ’70s and danger lurks around every corner, three rival factions want the half-breed child. Now Foster must navigate the shadow world, twisted scientists and his own past in order to keep the boy safe while winning his trust, nurturing his humanity, and trying to prevent him from giving in to the monster within.
It’s a great book, very different in tone from The Flash but in a way that fits the story and genre. Definitely recommended.
Comic Book Resources has a preview of Flash #8 by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, due in stores this week.
The Flash gets pulled into the Speed Force that gives him his super-speed powers…and he learns he’s not alone in there! Introducing Turbine, a prisoner of the Speed Force who just wants out – even if it means trading places with The Flash!
Lia points out on Twitter, “So Turbine spins and his name is Roscoe? Uh huh.” Indeed, that sounds strangely familiar…
He explained that fans had grown up with Wally West, seen him get married and have children and with the de-aging of Barry Allen, it would cheat those fans who grew to love Wally to de-age him as well.
As a justification, it’s a bit disingenuous. “We shouldn’t do to Wally what we did to Barry” kind of suggests that maybe they shouldn’t have done it to Barry either. And while there’s something to “We’re making your favorite character go away because we know you wouldn’t like what we do with him,” it seems like it would rank right up there with “I don’t want to ruin our friendship by dating you” on phrases that people like to hear.
At Boston Comic Con, Francis Manapul mentioned a rejected a Wally cameo that he tried to put into an early issue of the New 52 Flash.
He doesn’t say how Wally would have appeared, and frankly, that’s a problem in itself. A few months ago when I met Brian Buccellato at a signing, he pointed out that having Barry Allen young and Bart Allen as Kid Flash kind of squeezes out Wally: Wally should be somewhere between Barry and Bart. But if Barry never died, and Bart’s already Kid Flash, where does that leave Wally?
There’s just no room for Wally West in the DCnU.
I kind of suspect that’s by design: A lot of Didio’s statements line up with that first panel of Comic Critics up above (though I’m sure he did watch Justice League Unlimited – and note the reference to the same nostalgia cycle I talked about recently), and he’s often talked about how Barry Allen is “more iconic” and otherwise superior to Wally West. I’ve long thought, cynically, that “more iconic” means “the version I grew up with,” but as I mull over the words reported by Bleeding Cool, I think it means something else. Read the rest of this entry »
A bombshell in this story about DC’s new digital-first comics based on the Arkham games and Smallville TV series: “some of those new fans didn’t know Batman originated first as a comic-book character.”
I know it’s been a while since we’ve updated you on all the Flash Collectible News swirling about and there has been quite a bit these past few weeks. We will begin with Mattel:
For those of you who missed it Mattel quietly announced the cancellation of their Young Justice 4 inch and 6 inch action figures at retail citing poor retailer support. They later went on to make an official announcement that the figures that are further along in tooling may receive releases on Mattycollector.com in the near future but they can’t be 100% about it.
Welcome to SpeedForce.org, a blog focusing on DC Comics' super-hero, The Flash. It's a companion site to Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning, a fan reference site for the Fastest Man Alive.
The Collected Editions blog has been reviewing the Flashpoint trades over the past week. The tie-ins were collected in five trade paperbacks, grouped around one of DC’s big five characters, titled The World of Flashpoint Featuring…
Monday’s post about how Wally West’s dynamic character 
