Speed Force

Today’s guest post is by Kojo Manu

It’s no secret that Warner Bros. and DC Comics have started, stalled, restarted, and once again stalled many of their film properties in the past, but it doesn’t stop the speculation. One property that I always wanted to see brought to the big screen (and love to speculate about) is The Flash.

Unfortunately (sort of) it seems that DC is focusing more on bringing Barry Allen rather than Wally West to the screen first. but it’s still fun the speculate on my favorite person to don the Flash costume.

I decided to make a blog casting the Scarlet Speedster and to hear many other people’s opinion on who should Wally West/The Flash. Here are my top 3 choices: Read the rest of this entry »

Some weekend linkblogging…

Neil Patrick Harris has definitely picked up a following as a choice for Barry Allen, judging by how often he shows up in fan casting lists. This one from Comic Book Movie pairs him with Felicia Day as Iris, and adds Anton Yelchin (who recently played a young Kyle Reese in Teminator Salvation and a young Pavel Chekhov in Star Trek) as Wally West.

That F’ing Monkey reviews a Giant Sized Flash figure from SDCC.

The Best Comic Covers highlights 9 Superman vs. Flash covers.

Wizard World returns to Anaheim next year on the weekend of April 29 through May 1. Tickets are already on sale. (Whatever happened to tickets for the canceled WWLA 2009, anyway? Did people finally get refunds, or free tickets to Anaheim 2010?)

The Word Balloon podcast interviews Francis Manapul. In part 1 they focus on The Flash and Adventure Comics, while the upcoming part 2 will go into Beast Legends.

Robot 6 offers some website usability tips for comic book publishers.

The Aquaman Shrine and Firestorm Fan have teamed up for “Unresolved Issues” – the behind-the-scenes spat between Firestorm and Aquaman. But what role does the Flash have? The answer may shock you! (Okay, not really, but the promo phrasing seems like it fits the era.)

Adam Komar has put together a Flash on Android graphic.

Some weekend linkblogging…

Once Upon a Geek can’t wait for the upcoming DC Adventures RPG.

Multiversity Comics casts the Teen Titans

The Beat finds that Comic-Con brings money into San Diego after all. Who knew? Oh, right, we did: the ones spending it!

4thletter! looks at Flash and Batman in Final Crisis: “Everything about the Flash, any of them, in Final Crisis is dead on…”

Comics Worth Reading reviews Wednesday Comics.

Sorry I haven’t been updating much this week. I’ve been busy, and there hasn’t been much Flash news. So, to tide things over a bit, here’s some linkblogging.

The Comic Book Letterheads Museum has been posting headers from The Flash letter columns, including 1988′s Fleet Sheet and 1989′s Speed Reading (where I got the title for this feature). Further back in the archives you can find Flash-Grams from 1970 and 1976.

Multiversity Comics casts a Flash movie. Has anyone else noticed how often Neil Patrick Harris shows up in these lists? (Also: Linda Park as…Linda Park.)

When Words Collide reviews Wednesday Comics in its new hardcover form, concluding that “The Flash is still, by far, the best thing in Wednesday Comics.

Following up on the reader-chosen Greatest Mark Waid Stories Ever Told, Comics Should Be Good got Mark Waid to pick his own list of favorite stories from his work. A lot of the usual suspects still appear, but one of the surprises was Impulse #3, Bart Allen’s first day at school.

Newsarama interviews Geoff Johns and asks him about Flashpoint. As usual, he can’t say more than we already know.

Judging by this cover for Guardians of the Globe #1 (not the joke one with Barack Obama and Harry Potter, the serious one further down), the design has been tweaked a bit for the Invincible spin-off’s resident speedster, Outrun. [Edit: I forgot to include the link when I posted this!]

Some weekend linkblogging…

Comics and…Other Imaginary Tales looks back at DC Two Thousand, a two-part story from the turn of the millennium in which the modern Justice League of America goes back in time to 1941 and meets the Justice Society. The Golden Age heroes aren’t entirely sure the JLA’s future is worth saving, though.

Collected Editions reviews Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds.

Comic Book Movie fan-casts Flash: Rebirth.

Chris Samnee sketches Kid Flash.

What Were They Thinking? has another example of why they called the Golden-Age Flash a comic “strip.”

Over at Comic Bloc there’s a comedic discussion of What else Zoom did to Barry (spoilers for Flash: Rebirth #5).

Finally, if you’ll excuse the plug, there are only a few hours left in my Farscape DVD auctions on eBay. If you’d like to pick up a season set, now’s your chance!

Comics Alliance has a couple of Flashy items: First, a page from the Shortpacked! coloring book: Batman Can Breathe In Space, But Not The Flash.

Second: they look back at a pair of Baby Ruth commercials from the 1990s, featuring Hawkman and an obvious Flash stand-in called the Blur. They have a video clip of the Blur commercial. Fun fact: The Blur was played by Tim Thomerson, who played Barry Allen’s brother Jay in the pilot episode of the 1990 Flash TV show.

Speaking of the Flash TV series, it makes Comic Book Movie’s list of Top Ten Most Accurate Live Action Superhero Costumes

The Secret of Wednesday’s Haul contrasts Ethan Van Sciver and Carmine Infantino in their approaches to conveying speed.

noscans_daily has a Flash Appreciation Post focusing on the character from the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited TV series.

A Trout in the Milk reviews Wednesday Comics and asks the question: “What have we learned?”

InTylerWeTrust82 casts Superman and the Flash, with some interesting choices for the heroes, their supporting casts, and selected villains.

What Were They Thinking? has an example of Golden Age Flashdickery. Jay Garrick was a bit of a prankster in those days…

Some linkblogging for the week…

Flashy

What Were They Thinking?! approves of Joan Garrick, even in her original Golden Age appearances.

High Five! Comics looks at Flash #206: 24 Hours of Immortality and Nurse Barry.

The Idol-Head of Diabolu has located a 1967 board game featuring the Flash (via Crimson Lightning).

The Flash-Back podcast reviews “Blitz.”

Wednesday Comics artist and co-writer Karl Kerschl announces a European tour along with Ramón Pérez and Cameron Stewart over the next month.

Artist Evan “Doc” Shaner presents his 5-member Justice League (well, 7). It’s rather unconventional, featuring the Viking Prince, Jonah Hex and Sergeant Rock…but he puts the Flash front and center (via @FrancisManapul).

Screen Rant casts the Flash, both Barry Allen and Wally West, with some…Horribly familiar choices.

I finally updated the profile of Bart Allen on Smallville.

Wide View

Indy Comic Book Week encourages writers and artists to self-publish books for the week of December 30, when Diamond won’t be shipping any comics, and offer them through their local comic stores.

My Modern Metropolis collects 25 re-imagined movie posters. They’re all great, but Flash fans should pay particular attention to the Incredibles poster.

Today’s flashback post at K-Squared Ramblings covers MovieTickets.com’s “World’s Fastest Man” ad campaign from a couple of years ago. A bit more current: I write about rereading Flashforward.

Speaking of other Flashes, Sociological Images wonders: Can Ming the Merciless be redeemed?

Rounding up a week of links:

Major Spoilers has the Top 300 Comics for August 2009, and Flash: Rebirth #4 is #14. They’re also holding a costume contest.

Dan Didio’s latest 20 questions explains how Geoff Johns & Francis Manapul moved from Adventure Comics to The Flash. He adds, “my goal now is to get those guys going on Flash as soon as possible.”

High Five! Comics lists their top ten second-string couples, featuring both Barry & Iris Allen and Ralph & Sue Dibny. Their latest Things I Learned From Comics feature covers How to Gain Superpowers.

Collected Editions has updated their DC Comics Trade Paperback Timeline and moved to its new, post-GeoCities home.

Humor

The Onion brings the “news” that melting ice caps are exposing hundreds of secret arctic lairs. Does anyone remember whether Dr. Impossible had one?

Noah Van Sciver continues his comic-strip Flash: Rebirth Recaps with issue #4.

Movies

We Are Movie Geeks has made a list of five projects for DC Entertainment to jump on, starting with the Flash.

And finally, Crimson Lightning has the results of the casting poll. Fans cast Neil Patrick Harris as the Scarlet Speedster. Next up: Who’s your favorite Reverse Flash?

Winged Lions Quiver looks at Flash casting rumors. Kneel Before Zod casts the Flash’s Rogues.

Nwego’s Dirty Mind looks at the Barry vs. Wally debate.

Lordportico ponders the nature of the Flash’s super-speed [Edit: the author moved this to a new blog in April] [Edit 2: The author seems to have removed the article entirely. I wish I'd been a little more descriptive in this link, since I don't remember what the approach was.]

Flash-back podcast has a new installment focusing on the Speed Force (not this blog, of course, but the concept it was named after).

Major Spoilers has a sneak peek at Mark Waid’s Irredeemable, while the writer himself has launched a podcast, 15 Minutes With Waid, starting with Inside Potter’s Field. (I quite liked the first two issues of the Potter’s Field miniseries that came out last(?) year, and would definitely be interested in more.)

A Comic Bloc discussion over why Moose Baumann is no longer the colorist on Flash: Rebirth has made it to Lying in the Gutters.

A quick note: Think McFly Think reports that Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights) is in the running for the Flash Movie. (via @SpeedsterSite)

The post says that there are two actors under consideration at this point, but doesn’t speculate as to the second actor.

Update: Screen Rant is calling Neil Patrick Harris as the other actor under consideration. Harris has experience with the super-hero genre, starring not only as the titular villain in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, but as the voice of Barry Allen himself in last year’s animated Justice League: New Frontier (reviewed here). (via Fused Film)

Since DC has been busy re-positioning Barry Allen as the main Flash, it’s a safe bet at this point that the movie will star Barry.