Category Archives: Timely

Help William Messner-Loebs

Please help comics writer and artist William Messner-Loebs and his wife stay in their home. Illness and injuries have left them in dire financial straits, and they’re facing eviction.

His run on The Flash is one of my favorites. The character work on Wally West from when he started to when he finished was amazing, and he made me think about a lot of social issues as a teenager that I might not have encountered until later.

Clifford Meth is managing a new crowdfunding campaign to help them. he writes:

Bill Messner-Loebs’s work in comics was beloved by fans for many years, but the circumstances of his life—illness and injuries—have conspired to make things financially quite difficult.

Recently out of the hospital, Bill and his wife are now facing eviction. You can read the brutal details of his medical and legal situation in his own eloquent and painfully personal words on his Facebook:

Facebook: William Messner-Loebs

I implore you to help this kind and gentle soul. He’s endured a terrible episode and needs human kindness and generosity now. Thank you, and may God bless our efforts together.

What Looks good in ComiXology’s Flash Sale

For once, “Flash Sale” actually means what it ought to!

A whole bunch of digital Flash collections from the Silver Age through the modern age are discounted on ComiXology this week for $5.99 each (even the long ones, like the Flash by Mark Waid and Flash by Geoff Johns collections), and dozens of individual Flash and Impulse issues are $0.99 each. Also included are Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge, Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion, a number of Rogue-heavy issues, some Flash/Green Lantern crossovers, the main Flashpoint story, Rebirth, parts of Convergence, the Flash DC RetroActive specials, the Flash: Season Zero comic based on the TV series, the Tangent Flash issues, and more.

The later New 52 and DC: Rebirth books are on sale, but I figure you probably know already whether you’re interested in those, so I’m going to talk about the older books.

I would absolutely recommend the Flash by Mark Waid vol. 1-3 and Flash by Geoff Johns 1-3 collections. $6 for a dozen or more issues is an amazing deal, and there are some great stories in there. (Flash by Geoff Johns vol. 4 is a little more uneven than the first three, IMO.) The Manapul/Buccellato run from the early New 52 is also quite good, as are the two Morrison/Millar books with Paul Ryan and Pop Mhan (“Emergency Stop” and “The Human Race”). I’d also highly recommend the early issues of Impulse by Waid and Humberto Ramos.

You can find gems like the original Flash of Two Worlds in Flash #123, the first Superman/Flash race, “Nobody Dies” (Flash v2 #54), Wally meeting his younger self in Flash v.2 #0, the entire Trial of the Flash, and the first appearances of Jay Garrick in Flash Comics #1, Wally West and Weather Wizard in Flash #110, and Reverse Flash in Flash #139. The story with the Captain Cold Censored Flash cover is in here too. If you’re interested in the classic Silver Age Flash, now’s a good chance to pick up some of those collections as well.

If you’re on a budget, go with Flash: A Celebration of 75 Years. $6 down from $30 for this collection can’t be beat.

I wouldn’t bother with the Flash: Fastest Man Alive collections or Road to Flashpoint unless you really want a complete set.

Crowdfunding Campaign for William Messner-Loebs

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about William Messner-Loebs’ struggle with homelessness. You may remember him as the writer on The Flash during the late 1980s and early 1990s, who took over Wally West’s series and began a coming-of-age story that would play out over the next few years, as well as two years’ worth of Impulse stories later in the decade.

A gas leak at his home last year left it unlivable, and he and his wife have been living out of their car and in shelters since then. The comics industry has largely passed him by, so he’s been picking up odd jobs as a janitor and delivering food to pay off debt from health issues and to make ends meet.

His stories were infused with social awareness: Marginalized people like gay supervillains and (ironically) the homeless. Women scientists being gaslighted by their peers. Estranged families trying to reconnect. Big business dumping toxic waste in small towns. When Impulse’s hometown was threatened by a flood, all the local supervillains pitched in to help. Nobody stopped laying sandbags to attack each other.

There was a strong theme in all of his stories that people need to help each other, not turn a blind eye or tear each other down. And now it’s our chance to help him. The article last month linked to a crowdfunding campaign for the shelter they’ve been relying on. Now there’s a personal GoFundMe campaign that will go directly to Bill and Nadine Messner-Loebs. I’ve contributed, and I hope you will too.

January Flash Promo

The CW has released a teaser for the first Flash episode after the midseason break, which will air on January 16th and apparently has no title yet available. We’ll be seeing the famed Trial of the Flash, which is all part of the Thinker’s scheme from the finale (so be sure to watch this week’s episode before seeing the clip).

Looking forward to the episode? What do you hope to see in it? Share your thoughts here!

“Flashpoint” Promo Clip

The CW has released a teaser clip from the season premiere of The Flash, titled “Flashpoint”. It shows a confrontation between Barry and the Reverse Flash, as well as hints of the timeline danger to come.

The episode airs tomorrow, on October 4th! Who’s looking forward to it?