Speed Force

Hello, Speed Readers. Just a couple updates on the Graphitti Designs Convention Exclusive Brightest Day White Lantern Flash Action Figure courtesy of Action Figure Insider. Some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that the figure is now available on Graphitti Designs official webpage, Graphittidesigns.com. The figure is 20 dollars and is only available in limited quantities. Great news for those who could not get out to C2E2 or Wondercon to get them the first time.

Unfortunately this also means that they will not be available at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con as DC Direct exclusives. So if you were patiently waiting for these chances to grab the figure you may have to seize the day now and get one while the getting is good. The price for the figure on eBay floats between 40 and 140 dollars so I would suggest getting it from Graphitti now.

Anyone planning on picking one up now that they are available online?

****UPDATE****

It looks like Graphitti Designs have officially sold out of their stock of White Lantern Flash Action Figures as the link I posted earlier this morning now points to a unavailable product page. Sorry for those that missed out. Anyone else manage to snag one before they sold out?

-Devin “Flash” Johnson

All reports are that this year’s WonderCon was a great convention, and a lot of fun, though crowds are beginning to become an issue. I had to miss it this year, but one of the great things about the Internet and social media is that you can still capture some of the experience of going to a con without leaving your home.

So, here’s a round-up of the Flash-related costume/cosplay photos I’ve found on Flickr from WonderCon and C2E2.

Flash & GL

Psykitten Pow as the Flash and Mia Ballistic as Green Lantern at WonderCon (previously seen in this costume at San Diego 2010), photo by LynxPics. They were part of a much bigger group, which is up next after the cut.

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Ivan Reis’ variant cover for Brightest Day #23 focuses on everyone’s* favorite resurrected boomerang-throwing Rogue. DC has a 4-page preview of the issue, which hits stores today.

One one issue left after this one. The end is near!

*Some might prefer other boomerang-throwing Rogues who have not been resurrected at this time.

ICv2′s sales estimates for September are out. The Flash #5 sold 62K copies and was ranked 14 for the month. While that is a drop in raw numbers, it’s worth considering that comics sales are down overall in the third quarter…and that the book actually climbed in the rankings. In fact, it seems to be holding steady in terms of rankings, between 10 and 15 for every issue since the first.

Sorry this is a bit late, but for those who don’t already know DC Direct showed off pics of a slick White Lantern Barry Allen last week at New York Comic-Con 2010:

Photo courtesy of Toynewsi.com

My first impression of it was “Wally West!” and then I quickly remembered that Wally had nothing to do with Brightest Day and that we haven’t even really seen him (except for the one-off appearances in Magog and Secret Origins) since Flash Rebirth ended. My reaction obviously had to do with the belt and the way it’s been designed.

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DC has posted a 5-page preview of today’s The Flash #5, along with both the standard and White Lantern variant covers.

If you have trouble viewing the images on DC’s site, you can also read the preview at CBR.

Some linkblogging for the weekend.

Flash

• Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep talks about how he’d write The Flash. Three words: Barry and Iris. (via Michael Kaiser)
• Quick Time contemplates the Boomerangs: What went wrong with Captain Boomerang, Jr.? And just what is White Lantern Captain Boomerang’s mission?
• That F’ing Monkey explains: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Flash.
• Firestorm Fan digs out an old Super-Powers adventure: Darkseid… of the Moon

Other speedsters

• Impulse Flashback: Bart Allen’s first day of school at Comics Should Be Good’s Year of Cool Comics
• First Comics News’ Sonic The Hedgehog Month is almost over
• Top Cow will be selling the SDCC and Supercon Velocity #1 variants through retail in November

Other comics

• Young Justice cartoon: Comic Book Movie interviews producers Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti.
• Comics Alliance analyzes the Brightest Day/White Lantern Teaser. Also worth a look: The most divisive character types in comics.
• Grumpy Old Fan looks at the real history of the DC Universe: its characters.
• Girls Gone Geek (G3) considers DC’s Legacy of Legacies (via @FlashJohnson)
• A Dispensible List of Comic Book Lists presents the stories behind the discoveries of 11 incredible comic collections. #
• Girls Read Comics Too tackles the question of DC vs. Marvel, asking: Why is it even a debate?(via @SpeedsterSite)
• Chewie and Han T-shirt (in the style of Calvin and Hobbes)
• Geekscape asks: have we had our fill of super-heroes?

DC has posted Ryan Sook [edit], Fernando Pasarin and Joel Gomez’ full Brightest Day image, featuring the twelve resurrected characters as White Lanterns. It’s made up of variant covers appearing on the Brightest Day-related comics this month and next, all aligned to create one complete picture.

There are two Flash-related characters in this set. Professor Zoom appears on the alternate cover for Green Lantern Corps #51 (posted here last night). Chances are that this Captain Boomerang will be the varaint cover for The Flash #5, currently due September 15.

Click through either image for the Source article, which includes a much larger version of the combined image. You really do have to see this thing full-sized.

Update: The Beat points out that the piece is inspired by Michelangelo’s famous painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Also, I forgot to include Fernando Pasarin, Joel Gomez, and Jim Lee in the credits. If I’m reading the Source post correctly, Lee did the overall design, Sook did the figures, and Pasarin and Gomez did the cosmic scene in the center (and possibly the thrones).

Update 2: Comics Alliance has an analysis of the image.

I guess they must have been out of this when I hit the comic store last week, because I have been keeping an eye out for the White Lantern variant covers featuring the Brightest Day resurrections. Giant Size Geek spotlights the Green Lantern Corps #51 cover, which features a White Lantern Professor Zoom:

Click through to the original post for a larger view of this impressive Ryan Sook [edit: and Fernando Pasarin and Joel Gomez] piece.

With two Flash-related characters resurrected at the end of Blackest Night, I’ve been wondering which would appear on the next Flash variant cover…and where the other would appear. Presumably, this means a White Lantern version of Captain Boomerang will appear on the alternate cover for Flash #5 next month. It’s an appropriate choice, considering that Boomerang is involved in the current storyline in The Flash, but the Reverse-Flash is not.

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.