Speed Force

This weekend features two comic book conventions: the comics track at FanExpo in Toronto, and Baltimore Comic Con. DC has had a presence at both, splitting their events between Dan Didio in Toronto and Ian Sattler in Baltimore.

CBR covers FanExpo’s DC Nation without revealing any Flash news, though they did plug Francis Manapul’s role on the TV show Beast Legends.

@liabrown1 caught a few bits of info at today’s DC Universe panel:

• Flash will intro a new character in the 2nd story arc. Afterwards will be Secret Origins. #
• Flashpoint will greatly affect the Justice League, but otherwise DiDio refused to talk about it. #
• On Adventure Comics: currently the Legion, then Flashpoint, then a new char will lead the book. #

Update: CBR’s FanExpo DC Universe report is now online.

Newsarama covers Baltimore’s DC Nation with a live-blog, including this exchange:

Q: Is Sterling Gates’s Kid Flash book coming out?
Gates: nope.
Sattler: “But we have something really cool in its place that we can’t talk about.”

They may be talking about the second Flash book, Flash: Speed Force, that Geoff Johns leaked/announced in San Diego. (I got the impression that they weren’t quite ready to announce it at the time.) Or they may have something else in the works.

Update: CBR’s Baltimore DC Nation report is up as well.

CBR interviews Sholly Fisch about The All New Batman: The Brave and The Bold, which relaunches in November with art by Rick Burchett. In the first few issues, we can expect to see “Mad Hatter and Mirror Master teaming up to drag Batman and Flash through the looking glass.”

(via @SpeedsterSite)

Over the weekend, Profiles in History auctioned off props from LOST, including two copies of a comic book that appeared in the TV show’s first season. That comic book was the Spanish-language edition of the first half of Green Lantern/Flash: Faster Friends (Part 1) from 1997.

In the show, Hugo “Hurley” Reyes brings the comic book onto the plane in Sydney. After the crash, Walt Lloyd finds it on the beach and carries it around, clinging to it as a symbol of the normal life he’s left behind.

Also: polar bear. Or rather, OMGWTFPOLARBEAR.

Newsarama reports that the “crisp” copy used for the flashback scenes sold for $3,900, while the battered copy sold for $1,680. Profiles in History estimated the value of each book at $200–$300. Copies that haven’t appeared on television seem to sell for around $5–$10, judging by a quick eBay search for the English version.

Coincidentally, last week DC announced that they would be reprinting the story in November as part of their DC Comics Presents series.

Tip of the hat to @LegionOmnicom for the news!

DC’s website now shows Flash #5 coming out on September 15, and Flash #6 coming out on September 29.

Flash #5 was originally scheduled for August 18 and has been pushed back several times. #6 was originally September 22; this is its first (and if we’re lucky, only) slip.

Interestingly enough, Velocity #2 has also been rescheduled for September 15. Velocity #1 hit the same week as Flash #3. Flash #5 and Velocity #2 were both scheduled for August 25 at one point, were both later scheduled for September 8, and are now both scheduled for September 15. It’s as if the two speedster series have somehow become synchronized, with two issues of Flash for each issue of Velocity — despite being published by different companies!

ICv2′s July sales estimates are up. The Flash #4 takes the #15 spot by units sold, with an estimated 64,832 copies sold to retailers.

OK, back to the charts for the last few relaunches. Let’s see how volume three is doing. (In case you’re wondering, I only plan on doing the detailed relaunch-by-relaunch-by-relaunch comparisons through the end of the first story arc.)

So: still dropping (as most series do), but it seems to be leveling off. I’m not sure how this compares to standard attrition for a new series at DC or Marvel. The drop-off rate seems about the same as Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, though perhaps it will level off at a higher point.

That said, the numbers are still solid (if still below F:TFMA), and the rankings are very good.

DC’s full November solicitations are out, featuring two more major Flash appearances in addition to the Flash #8 Reverse-Flash one-shot.

DC Comics Presents: The Flash and Green Lantern: Faster Friends

Written by RON MARZ, MARK WAID and BRIAN AUGUSTYN
Art by BART SEARS, VAL SEMEIKS, RON LIM, ANDY SMITH, TOM GRINDBERG, JEFF JOHNSON and others
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON

Collecting the two-part miniseries from 1997 that brought together two Flashes and two Green Lanterns to battle the menace called Alien X in a story that begins in the 1940s and concludes in the modern era!

On sale November 3 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US

Notes: This story stars Jay Garrick and Alan Scott in the 1940s, and Wally West and Kyle Rayner in the modern era. Naturally, they’ve put Hal Jordan on the cover.

Fun Fact: This is the comic book with the polar bear that Walt was reading in the first season of LOST.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #5

Written by DAN JURGENS
Art and cover by DAN JURGENS & NORM RAPMUND

None of the Time Masters’ problems in the time continuum compares with what’s in store for them when they cross paths with the Reverse Flash! In fact, nothing will be the same for the entire universe after this fateful meeting!

Don’t miss this companion series to the best-selling “Return of Bruce Wayne” storyline!

On sale November 17 • 5 of 6 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Notes: That Thawne guy sure is going to be busy in November, isn’t he? Can you say Flashpoint setup?

Other DC Speedsters

Justice Society of America (with Jay Garrick) picks up the new run by Marc Guggenheim and Scott Kolins.

Justice League of America (with Jesse Quick) battles the Crime Syndicate.

The Teen Titans meet Robin.

DC Comics Presents: Young Justice continues with #2, reprinting The Secret, stories from the Young Justice Secret Files, and Young Justice in No-Man’s Land. We seem to be getting the specials reprinted – how long before DC reprints the series itself?

DC has posted its Brightest Day solicitations for November, including…

The Flash #8

Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by SCOTT KOLINS
1:10 Variant cover by STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU

“Reverse Flash Rebirth!” In this FLASHPOINT prelude, don’t miss the epic telling of the origin of Barry Allen’s greatest foe, Professor Zoom! Eobard Thawne’s story is just beginning — and he intends to finish it with The Flash!

On sale NOVEMBER 24 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Thoughts

So, one more stand-alone issue before Francis Manapul returns for the second story arc. It’s hard to complain when the fill-in artist on The Flash is Scott Kolins, though.

That said…I’m kind of disappointed that we’ll only have one Flash story before jumping into Flashpoint. It’s odd that on one hand, DC is absolutely determined to establish Barry Allen as THE Flash before widening the scope to other speedsters, but at the same time they’re jumping straight into this big event.

That and I think I just don’t really like Eobard Thawne that much. He’s too much of a mustache-twirling caricature villain. Hunter Zolomon was far more interesting a character…though IMO neither should appear too often, or else they risk losing their impact. (That pretty much happened with Zolomon during the Villains United/Infinite Crisis period.)

So, who wants to take bets on just how much of Mark Waid’s classic “The Return of Barry Allen” gets trampled by this new origin?

Update: Full solicitations are up. Here are some more Flash appearances in November.

It looks like the delays on The Flash aren’t over quite yet. SpeedsterSite spotted a change on DC’s website: The Flash #5 is now coming out on September 8 instead of its previous August 25 date. So far, issues #6 and #7 haven’t been changed.

ICv2′s Top Super-Hero Graphic Novel Properties for Q2 2010 are based on “sales in all channels,” including comic shops, book stores, and online sales. Topping the list is Kick-Ass, which isn’t terribly surprising since the movie came out during this time. Edit: Here’s the full article on second-quarter comics & GN sales.

The Flash comes in at #11 overall, or #5 among DC Comics properties after Batman, Watchmen, Superman and Green Lantern, propelled onto the list by the hardcover release of Flash: Rebirth in April. No doubt the high-profile series launch during the same period helped spark interest in collections as well.

It’s also interesting that, at least in book form, the single volume of Watchmen continues to outsell DC characters who are not only cultural icons (Superman and the absent Wonder Woman), but are continuously getting new stories. This despite it being a quarter century since its first publication and a year after a movie that was widely considered a flop (debatable, but that seems to be the consensus). Is it any wonder that DC keeps it in print?

(via Robot 6)

At Comic-Con International, Geoff Johns wouldn’t say anything more about the in-production Flash movie than “We’re making one.” It turns out that’s because there just isn’t much news to reveal. In an interview with Collider.com, Greg Berlanti mentioned that they’re “just starting the script.”

I guess that answers the question of whether any of Dan Mazeau’s script was still in play.

The bulk of the interview is about Berlanti’s super-hero family drama, No Ordinary Family, which launches on ABC next month, but he touches on the Green Lantern film as well.

Link spotted on the Comic Bloc forums.