Speed Force

In an interview posted on Friday, Flash co-writers Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato talked to comic book resources about the arc of their speedster saga.  Going into this week’s first New 52 Grodd story, and upcoming reintroductions of Weather Wizard, Heat Wave and (Golden) Glider, the Flash team delved into the existing relationship between the Rogues and the road to September’s Flash Annual.

Manapul kicks things off by explaining the crescendo of the series thus far:

Francis Manapul: I think there’s a theme that the book is really about overwhelming the Flash. In the first arc, we created this villain who could really be in multiple places at once, so in that sense, the Flash is overwhelmed physically and also overwhelmed emotionally because of the fact that he’s [fighting] an old friend, a guy that he grew up with. It’s kind of an overwhelming time for Barry Allen, having discovered that the weight of the world is on his shoulders. On top of that, the Rogues are slowly starting to get back together; we’re slowly showing what kind of a threat they would be to Barry Allen.

For highlights, including choices made during the redesign of the Rogues and the team’s answer to the Wally West question, follow the jump!

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Comic Vine has DC’s December “Edge” solicitations. including the cover and description for Suicide Squad #4:

SUICIDE SQUAD #4
Written by ADAM GLASS
Art by FEDERICO DALLACCHIO
Cover by DAN PANOSIAN
On sale DECEMBER 14 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

The body count rises! Another Squad member falls – but not the way you might expect! Betrayal follows betrayal as Captain Boomerang joins the Squad in a smash-and-grab against the terrorist organization Kobra, and Harley Quinn shows why you should never, ever recruit Squad members from Arkham Asylum. Brace yourself for a last-page shocker the likes of which the Squad has never faced before!

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, most of the Rogues faded from view as DC wanted to establish new villains for Wally West. Captain Boomerang remained visible as a mainstay of the classic Suicide Squad. In fact, it was an issue of this series, not The Flash, that first really fleshed out Boomerang’s origin: Suicide Squad #44 expanded on the connection between “Digger” Harkness and toy manufacturer W.W. Wiggins, revealing him to be not simply a businessman hiring a mascot to promote his product, but a father reaching out to secretly help his long-lost son. I wouldn’t be surprised if that story partially inspired Brad Meltzer’s decision to use Boomerang in Identity Crisis.

Alright fellow Speed Readers. As promised pictures of our very own Digger Harkness, better known as Captain Boomerang:

More pictures after the jump.

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I moved recently, which meant finding a new comic shop. After my first visit, I pulled the car away from the curb and looked up to see this:

Hmm, where have I seen that name before? Ah, yes!

On April 9, I attended the first day of the free “Fan Appreciation” show in Toronto. This is the first year it’s been held for the entire weekend, but unfortunately real life got in the way and the spouse and I were only able to go for one day.

It was a pretty good show, with some great guests (including Flash artists Francis Manapul and Ethan Van Sciver) and quite a few vendors selling comics and action figures. I managed to get a couple of Professor Zoom figures and a Flash figurine, and commissioned Red Robin artist Marcus To for a drawing of Captain Boomerang.

The woman waiting in line behind me for Marcus To got this Impulse sketch from him, which she let me photograph.

Here’s Francis Manapul working on a Wonder Woman picture for a fan. I also saw him drawing several Flash pieces, and he drew the Flash on a t-shirt which was later given away in a contest. I didn’t take any photos of the shirt, but the gentleman who won it did!

Alas, we ran out of money quickly (part of that real-life thing I mentioned earlier), and eventually left the show early. After leaving the convention, we went for lunch and wandered around some of the nearby streets before heading back to the car. And stumbled across this: the dressing rooms, washrooms, and hair/makeup trailers for the television show Flashpoint! The series is filmed in Toronto, of course. It was fun to see it given the name of DC’s imminent crossover.

And then we walked by Piper Street, so I had to take photos of that too.

All in all, it was a pretty good day for a Flash fan!

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.

Wow, wow, wow! Some great stuff coming out of Toy Fair this year for the Flash. Mattel had quite a few new Flash related items to show off while DC Direct really had nothing new that we hadn’t already seen. The following pics below are courtesy of Toynewsi.com.

I was most looking forward to the Young Justice and JLU news because of the rumored upcoming releases and they didn’t disappoint. Well almost didn’t but we will get to that later.

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Hey Speed Readers, it is that time again. However, before I begin I would like to make one thing very clear; I don’t post these entries to brag or show off I simply post them to share. I know that there are other collectors like myself who may not have acquired a certain piece yet or are curious about how it looks out of the box and since I’ve never really been a mint on card collector, I’m happy to oblige them.

With that said I’m going to begin a new set of articles tentatively titled “Off The Shelf”. Basically it will be me finding an older piece or a group of related pieces from my collection and showcasing them since it is hard to do that under the banner of “Recent Acquisitions”. I know the title isn’t very original or memorable but I’m open to suggestions. I just keep the majority of my collectibles on a bookshelf so I thought the title made sense.

Speaking of “Recent Acquisitions” I recently acquired over 20 new collectibles and that means a lot of ground to cover. I’m going to split up the entries to spread out the content a bit and not have a million photos in one post, but this is just the beginning. I’m going to try and get something new up at least twice a week.

Now on to the fun stuff:

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Those unfamiliar with the Rogue Profiles from Geoff Johns’ previous Flash run might dismiss a whole issue focusing on Captain Boomerang as filler. And while it’s true that this issue and the next were added to the schedule to get the main story back on time, it feels like an integral part of the mythos (if a bit more related to Brightest Day than to the story building to Flashpoint), and leads directly into next week’s issue’s profile of Professor Zoom.

Like the earlier profiles, this issue follows the featured villain as he goes about his business and thinks back about what made him the criminal he is today. It serves both as an origin story for new readers and a way for the writer to explore just what makes him tick. In this case, it doesn’t add anything really new to his background, but rather collects and crystallizes the key elements that have been established over time: a troubled family life (what Rogue didn’t have that?), coming to the States as a toy mascot, and then embarking on his life of crime.

I’ve raved before about how well Scott Kolins’ art is suited to the ruggedness of the Flash’s Rogues Gallery, and that remains true here. Yet his art is transformed by Brian Buccellato’s painted-looking colors, making it blend perfectly with Francis Manapul’s work and revealing just how much of the look of this series is due to his contribution.

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