BLACKEST NIGHT: SERIES 8: BLACK LANTERN BLACK FLASH Action Figure

The hugely successful BLACKEST NIGHT action figure line continues!

Included in this eighth installment of the series are: Black Lantern Black Flash, Professor Zoom’s reanimated corpse, holds curious sway over The Flash’s other undead rogues; Orange Lantern Lex Luthor, the new Orange Power Ring seeks out Lex Luthor for his avarice and lust for power; Indigo Tribe The Atom, with compassion and sense of duty stronger than ever, Ray Palmer serves as the binding force uniting the spectrum of power; Sinestro Corps Member Scarecrow, delights in instilling fear in others and is rewarded with the Yellow Ring of Power.

The Black Lantern Black Flash figure stands at 6.75″ high, features multiple points of articulation and includes a display base. Character-appropriate accessories are also included.

4-color clamshell blister card packaging.

BLAMMOIDS!: SERIES 4: FLASH Mini Figure

Real compact – with real impact!

BLAM! A funky, chunky collection of boldly designed toys that pack a lot of punch in a squatty body!

POW! A striking, hyper-stylized twist on the world’s greatest heroes and their biggest foes. Too tough to call small – you’ll want to collect them all!

Packaged on a blister card, each measures approximately 2.5″ to 4″ tall with three points of articulation.

On Sale December 1, 2010

and his Zoom counterpart:

BLAMMOIDS!: SERIES 4: ZOOM Mini Figure

Real compact – with real impact!

BLAM! A funky, chunky collection of boldly designed toys that pack a lot of punch in a squatty body!

POW! A striking, hyper-stylized twist on the world’s greatest heroes and their biggest foes. Too tough to call small – you’ll want to collect them all!

Packaged on a blister card, each measures approximately 2.5″ to 4″ tall with three points of articulation.

On Sale December 1, 2010

The Black Lantern Reverse Flash is a must have for me. Especially since we have yet to get a proper Professor Zoom or Zoom in the DC Direct lines. Well except for that artist-specific, out of scale one coming up in the Classified Series. It’s a shame that I only own five Reverse Flashes. And none of them were made in the traditional sculpt. Two are from JLU(Justice Lords large and small figures), One is a Toyfare Exclusive from the 90s JLA Line, and the other two are from Infinite Heroes and DC Direct’s short lived Pocket Heroes line. I’m actually surprised we’ve yet to see a Zoom in the Minimates line either. I’m crossing my fingers that this Flash Relaunch leads to a DC Direct Flash Series similar to what they’ve been doing with Green Lantern. And then when the movie hits. Wow. I think we are in for a great next few years as far as collecting goes.

I really don’t know what these Blammoids are or what the point of them is but I will definitely be picking up both the Flash and Zoom. I have a feeling it’s going to be a slow month for Flash collectibles anyway. Unless DC Direct or Mattel kicks it up with a *crosses fingers* Flash line or Flash-heavy DCUC release.

I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of the last three heroclix I need from the recent release. Expect a full write up when they get here.

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

I spent most of Saturday at Wizard World’s Anaheim Comic-Con. I’m still working on my write-up, but you can see my photos of the con on Flickr.

Interviews with Mark Waid and Marc Guggenheim at the time made it clear that it was in the works “nearly a year ago,” and definitely before Guggenheim took over as writer. Dan Didio has suggested it was their plan all along, though many fans find this idea suspect, and find it more likely that it was put in place after the first few issues of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive failed to catch on with readers.

While looking for something in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1, I noticed something interesting in the Barry Allen dream/origin sequence:

It shows Barry’s death, along with the Black Flash, who figured prominently in the last few issues. And that last remark: “Will you ever outrun the shadow, Bart?”

It could simply be setting the dark mood that pervaded the beginning of Bart’s run. On the other hand, maybe they did have this planned all along.

Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings.

Of course, there’s also a history of Flashes (and supporting cast) appearing dead on the cover, but still making it through. More than 25 examples of dead Flash covers appear below.

I went through the galleries at the Grand Comic Database for the 1959 and 1987 series, and managed to find no less than 23 covers on which the Flash, or a member of his supporting cast was depicted as dead, but managed to survive the story. Sometimes the events took place, but the character survived, or it turned out the body was someone else’s. Sometimes they were what I call “CPR deaths,” in which the character is technically dead, but not beyond the help of modern (or in comics, slightly ahead of modern) medicine. Generally they’re resuscitated in the following issue. And some are just plain misleading.

Hover for a description. Click to open the issue’s page at GCD.

I later discovered that Comic Coverage did a similar feature on The Many Deaths of Barry Allen in 2006.

Originally published at K-Squared Ramblings. I’ve added a couple of items since then.

Update (June 2010): Added Flash v.3 #3

Update (July 2010): Added Secret Origins #41

Here’s a gallery of photos from Flickr.

Golden Age

I don’t think I’d ever seen a Golden Age Flash costume at a convention until I saw some photos from HeroesCon and Wizard World Philadelphia in June. There seemed to be one Jay Garrick at each. So I figured I’d probably be the only one at San Diego. Imagine my surprise when I ran into not one other, but two!

The photo on the left shows me and a cosplayer who was part of a Justice Society of America group I spotted in line for the DC Nation panel on Friday. I asked the person behind me to save my place in line, walked along the line to where they were, and we did the obligatory “Nice costume!” exchange, then ended up posing for a bunch of photos. We did at least two poss, this one and one just standing and crossing our arms like the Alex Ross poster. Someone got an interesting shot with a blur effect, also.

I ran into the guy on the right on Saturday, when I wasn’t in costume. He actually used an original World War I helmet, polished it up, and made wings for it…then the first day in town the wings broke, so he needed to come up with a substitute fast. He ended up gluing popsicle sticks together and spray painting them gold.

Update: Speaking of the helmet, here’s how my helmet was made. Update 2: and here’s how we made the boots and shirt.

Variations

I didn’t manage to see any of these three in person during the con. But they’re really cool variations.

The two things that usually impress me the most with character costumes are:

• Authenticity – costumes that match the source very well, especially if the person wearing it is a good fit for the character. (That especially helps with costumes from movies and TV shows. If you resemble an actor, seriously look at their roles for ideas!)
• Creative variation – costumes that take a concept and put a deliberate spin on them. The Steampunk Flash from the League of Justice-Minded Citizens, for instance. Or either of the female Flash costumes here.

The Flash is well-suited for variations, because there have been so many of them in canon. You’ve got the basics: Jay Garrick’s Golden Age costume, the Barry Allen/Wally West Flash costume, and the Kid Flash costume (each with its own variations). Then you’ve got Professor Zoom, Johnny Quick, a half-dozen Jesse Quick costumes, Impulse, Max Mercury, Walter West, Iris West II, John Fox’s three costumes…and that’s not counting all the possible future Flashes from “Chain Lightning.”

So it’s not a problem to take the basic red-and-yellow lightning motif and build on it. People will still know who you are, especially if you keep the white circle around the lightning bolt.

Well, except for the dimwits who mistake you for Flash Gordon.

Update August 28: The woman on the left appears to be wearing an off-the-rack costume rather than a custom variation.

Cold and the Kid

I almost missed Captain Cold here. It was late Saturday afternoon, and I was on the phone with my wife trying to work out dinner plans. I saw him through the window, said, “Hang on, I need to get a picture of Captain Cold” and ducked outside into Sails Pavilion.

Kid Flash was there on Sunday. Sterling Gates, who had been announced the day before as the writer of an upcoming Kid Flash series, posted, “I just met Kid Flash! He’s here!” I kept looking for him the rest of the day, but had no luck. Fortunately, Comic Con has a lot of people with cameras!

Bonus: Cheetara!

She may not be a Flash character, but here are two women dressed as Cheetara from Thundercats. Hey, she is a speedster, after all!

Who Else?

I saw at least one, possibly two guys in off-the-rack Flash Halloween costumes during the weekend, and one kid who was probably about 6 or 7.

So…did you see any of these people at the con? Did you see another Flash that I’ve missed?

The Flash: Rebirth #6

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and covers by Ethan Van Sciver

In a battle along the outskirts of time, the secrets of the Speed Force have been revealed! The new archnemesis of those who ride the lightning is coming for Iris Allen. And the Barry Allen you knew is gone forever…or is he? What change does Wally West face? What destiny will Kid Flash choose? Prepare to meet a Flash Family that’s both familiar and different…and get to the starting line for the next epic adventures of the Speed Force!

Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.

On sale September 30 • 6 of 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Wow… my website (Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning) has an arch-nemesis now!

Also: It seems pretty clear who’s going to be wearing the costume at the end of this miniseries. Not that it was ever really in doubt.

I do have to wonder what they mean by the “new” arch-nemesis. The cover for #5 gives me the sense that they’re combining the Black Flash and Professor Zoom (though that may have been misdirection on the pre-release cover to prevent spoilers). Someone on Comic Bloc (I’m too sleepy to look it up now) suggested that we may be seeing Malcolm Thawne take over the role of Professor Zoom.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if they’re combining all the opposite numbers into one? Eobard Thawne, Malcolm Thawne, Hunter Zolomon and the Black Flash, all in one entity?

Update: Geoff Johns confirms on Comic Bloc that this is not the final cover.

EVS doesn’t say which issue the cover is for, but judging by the end of issue #2, it’s almost certainly the variant for Flash: Rebirth #3.

(via Speedster Site)

Update (May 11): DC has posted a slightly larger image at The Source, and confirmed that it’s the variant cover to Flash: Rebirth #3.

It’s the latest homage to the classic “Flash of Two Worlds” cover from Flash v.1 #123, the first meeting of Barry Allen and Jay Garrick — only this time it’s Barry Allen vs. the Black Flash, and the poor hapless construction worker has been crushed by the falling beam.

There are actually two visual references to this famous cover in Flash: Rebirth #1 as well — a parade float, and then a side view in Jay Garrick’s reminiscences.

Also of interest is the cover to Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape, in which it looks like Nemesis is running on the Cosmic Treadmill.

I’ve re-read the first issue of Flash: Rebirth so that the setup is all fresh in my mind, and I’ve gone over Flash: Rebirth #2 again. To follow up on my first impressions: Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver continue to deliver a well-constructed story, though some of the pieces it uses strike me as ill-chosen or a waste of material.

Art and Story

Van Sciver’s art is, as always, excellent — and incredibly detailed. There’s a flashback sequence to Barry’s life before gaining his powers, and you can clearly see how some characters have aged over the years. There are also some nice symbolic images, such as Sam Scudder (the future Mirror Master) and his reflection (and props to the colorist who gave him an orange and green striped tie). At one point Barry and Wally get caught up in a battle with a villain, and half of Wally’s mask is ripped away. This not only makes it instantly clear which Flash is which (it does get confusing in the pages leading up to that point), but gives us a very clear view of his facial expression on the second-to-last page.

And then there’s the cover, an homage to Showcase #4 and Barry Allen’s first appearance.

The story picks up on the appearances of Savitar and the Black Flash from last issue, and the unexpected consequences, framed by a painting ceremony in Gorilla City. It follows through on Savitar’s appearance more than I expected (at least before DC posted the preview pages last week), though I get the feeling that DC and/or Geoff Johns is seeing this miniseries not just as a way to set up new pieces, but an excuse to throw out old pieces, even the ones that have been sitting unused in the back of the closet for years.

Pacing

Oddly enough, I’ve had no problems with the pacing of this story, even though the general consensus online (at least among people who aren’t long-term Flash readers) is that it’s too slow. This is especially odd because my biggest criticism of the last two relaunches — Flash: The Fastest Man Alive’s “Lightning in a Bottle” with Bart Allen as the Flash and The Flash’s “The Wild Wests” with Wally West and family — was that they started with big six-part stories that were paced too slow for someone whose main claim to fame is speed. I still maintain that if “Lightning in a Bottle” had been condensed into three parts instead of six, fans would have responded much better to Bart as the Flash instead of rejecting him so thoroughly that DC turned around and killed him.

Maybe it’s because of the emphasis on Barry Allen, who has always been slow and steady in contrast to his alter ego of the Flash.

That said, I still don’t understand why they felt it necessary to explain Barry’s bow tie instead of just treat it as an artifact of when the original stories were produced. Modern retellings of Superman’s origin don’t make an effort to explain away Clark Kent’s anachronistic hat — they just leave it out.

I think that’s about as much as I can cover without giving anything away, so keep an eye out for spoilers after the jump.

Spoilers ahead!

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SPOILER WARNING

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Characters

This issue furthered the idea that there’s something very wrong with the Barry who returned from the speed force — and not just that he has a death touch. Watching him and Iris together, it’s hard to recognize the couple whose love conquered the Anti-Life Equation in Final Crisis.

As I said in my initial post, I really appreciated the simplicity of explaining Barry’s absence and return by saying he’d been in the Witness Protection Program. Geoff Johns is often partial to over-complicated explanations — just consider the contortions he went through in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3 to explain that Bart was “our” Barry’s grandson while still unloading the Reboot Legion onto an alternate universe so he could establish his favorite Legion as the “real” Legion of Super-Heroes.

I’m disappointed to see that they have indeed retconned in that greatest of cliches, a tragic parental death to motivate the hero. It’s shown in more detail here, and even mentioned in last weekend’s Blackest Night #0 (alongside Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne talking about how their tragic parental deaths motivated them). I do think it makes more sense for Barry’s father to have been wrongly convicted, with Barry determined to prove his innocence, than for him to actually be a murderer. Of course, then there’s the question: just who raised Barry Allen, if his mother was dead and his father was in prison?

Flashing Back

I really liked the flashback scene (except for the emphasis on the bow tie) the first time through, particularly the way it grounded Barry Allen, forensic scientist among a complete lab staff. Lab tech Patty Spivot and Captain Darryl Frye go back to the late 1970s-early 1980s run (both originally appeared around the time Iris was killed, but have been extended backward here), but the other two are unfamiliar. At first I thought Forrest might be intended to be Chunk, linking a member of Wally’s supporting cast to Barry’s life, until Patty called him by name. And then there’s Desmond…

Given Dr. Alchemy’s cameo in issue #1, and the framed story about Mr. Element’s capture that keeps appearing in Iris’ house, it seems likely that this is intended to be Albert Desmond. When the good side of his personality was in control, he was a friend of Barry Allen’s (he and his wife even attended Barry and Iris’ wedding). It would certainly make sense for him to be a scientist as well. If it is him, I’m worried about his line from issue #1: “I wonder if you remember me — and if you’re still angry about what I did to her.” I have a horrible feeling that they’ve brought back Patty just to retroactively stuff her in the fridge. Let’s face it — she’d be at least the fourth character in this miniseries to be dragged out of limbo only to be summarily killed.

The first meeting between Barry and Iris was cute, though I think I prefer the version from The Life Story of the Flash (though now that I think about it, that put a little too much emphasis on the crew cut). I don’t like the timing, though, where it seems that he and Iris hadn’t even gone on a single date at the time he was struck by lightning. Maybe Johns is trying to go for a symmetry where the two most important changes in Barry’s adult life — meeting Iris and becoming the Flash — happened in parallel.

Speed Kills

So they brought Savitar back to life last issue just so that they could kill a powerful speedster without sacrificing anyone “important.” And this issue they brought back Christina Alexandrova, whose only appearances over the past 10 years were a handful of panels in Salvation Run…just so they could kill a powerful speedster without sacrificing anyone “important.” It’s kind of a cop-out (not that I really wanted them to kill, say, Wally or Jay), but it’s also a let-down because these characters could have been kept around for future stories. Savitar could have been the major villain in another epic. Christina has a personal grudge against Wally — which, I suppose is the reason she’s been moved off the table.

It just seems such a waste.

Finally, there’s the Black Flash: the manifestation of death as it appears to speedsters, or perhaps the manifestation of the deadly aspects of the speed force, depending on perspective. It seemed obvious last issue that they were setting Barry up as the new Black Flash — so obvious that I figured they couldn’t possibly be going there. But they not only made it clear, they put it in dialog and gave the Black Flash a logo. And changed the color of Barry’s costume. Just in case you missed one of the other 37 clues.

The idea that the Black Flash is an actual person transformed into a harbinger of death bothers me. I always saw the appearance as essentially being a matter of perception: Speedsters of the late 20th/early 21st century would think of the Flash as a symbol of super-speed, so they’d see death as a dark, decaying Flash. If Max Mercury had encountered it in his youth, he would have seen something else. Setting it up as (essentially) a job makes me wonder who the previous Black Flash was.

Conclusion:

As with the previous issue, I liked it when I first read it, but the more I think about it, the more some elements bother me. Isn’t it ironic that Flash: Rebirth seems to be wallowing in death?

See also:

• Flash: Rebirth #1 Review
• Flash: Rebirth #3 Review
• Flash: Rebirth #4 Review
• Flash: Rebirth #5 Review
• Flash: Rebirth #6 Review

You know how sometimes, when an issue of a comic book has been delayed for a long time, it finally shows up and it’s absolutely worth the wait? The last few issues of Fray and Midnight Nation come to mind. Unfortunately, Final Crisis #6 does not fit into that category.

The first few issues were structured like a mystery, presenting various fragments that slowly piece themselves together into a coherent picture. But now that the whole picture has been put together, we’re still only seeing fragments. It’s kind of like watching Cloverfield, except the reason we’re only seeing bits and pieces isn’t because we’re following a single viewpoint, but because we’re following too many.

The weird thing is, as unsatisfying as it is to read (though it does improve the second time through), I’m half-convinced that the fragmentation is intentional. It fits with the disintegrating cover design, and it fits with the theory that theme is more important than plot in this book. And, in fact, it fits with Grant Morrison’s comments about paring a comic down to the bare essentials like dance music. Of course, not everyone likes dance music.

Some specifics, so watch out for spoilers:

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SPOILERS!

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This is the first time in the series that I’ll complain that something doesn’t make sense. For the most part, everything critical has either been shown within the pages of the book or presented as a mystery that will be explained later. But you know what? I don’t see the connection between the Superman scene at the beginning and the Superman scene at the end. There’s no through-line. And Lois? The last we saw she was at death’s door. What happened? Yes, it’s been a month, and we can infer that she’s received some sort of miracle treatment while the rest of the world has gone to hell, but it’s still jarring.

Flash:: We have some hints as to how Barry returned from the dead. I liked the idea of sending the kids to search the armory. If we actually get to see Barry and Wally against the Black Racer, that will be (and I rarely use this term these days, but it was the first thing that came to mind) awesome, but I was hoping to see all three Flashes in action together.

It’s interesting to see it suggested in canon that the Black Flash (the manifestation of death as it comes for speedsters, or of the deadly aspect of the speed force) and the Black Racer (the New God responsible for bringing death to the other New Gods) are one and the same. Now I wonder just how much input Grant Morrison had on the original Black Flash concept. As I recall, the plan was that he and Mark Millar were going to collaborate on twelve full issues of The Flash before Waid and Augustyn came back, but the last three issues — “The Black Flash” — were credited only to Millar. I wonder if it’s something the two of them were bandying about during their run on the book, but didn’t get to until Morrison left, or whether it’s something Millar came up with on his own.

There were a lot of scenes with couples or almost-couples, weren’t there? Barry and Iris. Green Arrow and Black Canary. Liberty Belle and Hourman. Hawkman and Hawkgirl. And the couples who were kept apart: Jay and Joan, Wally and Linda.

Mary Marvel: Good that she’s back to normal. I just hope that they can restore her powered form to normal during the post-Final Crisis fallout.

And finally…

Batman: I see a strong irony in him having to use a gun at the end of his life. I don’t really have anything to say about how it meshes with “Batman: RIP” because, well, I haven’t been reading it. As for him being dead permanently: In a world where Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern have all died and come back to live, I have no doubt Bruce Wayne will be back eventually.