Speed Force

Captain Boomerang is sort of in a legal limbo right now: is he still culpable for crimes he committed before he died?

In one sense he’s like Ygor in Son of Frankenstein: Ygor was hanged for grave robbing and pronounced dead — but the coroner made a mistake. He was still alive, but legally speaking, no one could touch him. Not only had the sentence for his original crime been carried out, but they couldn’t arrest a “dead” man for new crimes.

In The Flash #3, the guards at Iron Heights prison talked about getting Boomerang’s murder convictions reinstated…but something’s missing: Until that happens, what is he being held for? What has he been charged with? (Admittedly, the prison is still run by Warden Wolfe, who has never been particularly concerned with following the law where criminals are concerned.)

Of course, now that he’s shattered a frozen guard (probably killing him), seriously injured several others, broken out of prison, and left a swath of destruction on his way to confront the Flash, it’s a moot point. There are plenty of new crimes to charge him with the next time he ends up in police custody.

But technically, what was he doing there to begin with?

The legal system in the DCU must have procedures, or at least precedent, for dealing with heroes and villains coming back from the dead. No one seems concerned about the Flash’s legal status, and Barry Allen’s official records say he was simply in Witness Protection, not dead, but it’s got to have come up in other cases.

Some Monday morning linkblogging…

Flash…

Comics Should Be Good’s Year of Cool Comics spotlights “Flash of Two Worlds” — or more precisely, the Grant Morrison/Mike Parobeck retelling of the story from Secret Origins #50. The story was recently reprinted in Flash: The Human Race.

Speaking of CSBG, Brian Cronin reviews Flash #1-3 and settles on “delightful.”

Comic-Con…

Will Comic-Con International leave San Diego? Publisher’s Weekly has a good round-up of the situation.

Now that the full schedule for this year’s convention is online, I’ve updated my Flash at Comic-Con post. I’ve also added a couple of items to my Tips for Comic Con.

…and Beyond!

A group of webcomics artists have put together a Web-Comics Auction for the Gulf Coast benefitting the Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund. (via The Nerdy Bird.)

With ComiXology making waves, Comics Worth Reading checks on the status of other digital comics platforms like Graphic.ly and Longbox.

In light of Death’s upcoming appearance in Action Comics, Comics Alliance rounds up the long history of Sandman and the DC Universe.

Update: Let me add two more here: Collected Editions has worked out the Blackest Night reading order for the trades/hardcovers, and Once Upon a Geek has also taken a stab at Death in the DCU.

Some funny links from the last week or so two…

Geoff Johns and Matt Fraction joke about a Green Lantern/Iron Man crossover.

Ah, super-heroes and dead parents! The cliche is so established that it’s been spoofed, as Comics Should Be Good spotlights Kill All Parents in their Year of Cool Comics.

Comics Oughta Be Fun mashes up those Hostess cupcake ads with Gwen Stacy death to reveal…what really happened the night of June 16, 1973.

gottabecarl draws the Futurama cast as the X-Men via IO9 and Ryan the Iowan.

The National Park Service really is having problems with a movie about “Robots from Space” — Transformers 3.

And totally off-topic, but I thought it was funny: a local city is really concerned that you understand that the dead grass is intentional and not a sign of *gasp!* poor maintenance.

Some linkblogging from the past couple of weeks:

Flashy Links

Newsarama interviews Francis Manapul on his work on The Flash.

Comics Bulletin presents the Top 10 Flash Deaths in order of how long they lasted.

A reader at Silver Age Comics discovers that Flash Comics #13 is different on Earth-One.

You’ve probably read about the thief who took Free Comic Book Day a bit too literally and tried to steal a $150 X-Men Omnibus…and was foiled by Spider-Man, two Jedi, and the Flash.

Speaking of FCBD, Chris Samnee has posted a FCBD sketch gallery featuring both Flash and Quicksilver.

Super Heroes

Comics Worth Reading’s Johanna Draper Carlson has some ideas for how to make super-hero comics interesting again

4thLetter’s David Brothers encourages you to focus on the stories, not the canon. Don’t buy something you don’t like just because it’s “important,” and don’t pass up other good stuff because it’s not.

Comics Alliance has a thought-provoking article on the racial implications of running legacies backward.

Grumpy Old Fan ponders the role of secret identities in DC comics from the Silver Age through the present.

Once Upon a Geek also reviews the DC Fandex guide (my review went up on Monday).

Comics in General

Westfield Comics’ KC Carlson explains how to meet artists without being talked about afterward, and offers suggestions for convention behavior.

LIFE has a photo gallery of people reading classic comic books from the Golden Age through the 1980s, including a boy reading Flash Comics in 1949. Nitpick: By 1949, the feature wasn’t about a “college student” with super-speed. Jay Garrick graduated during his origin story. (Link via Xian)

Collected Editions considers an increasingly common problem: the trade you want is out of print.

Multiversity Comics analyzes the impact of the shift from $2.99 comics to $3.99.

I’ve been slowly scanning my pre-digital photos, and stumbled across these pictures I’d taken of my DC Direct (and a few other) action figures around 2000 or so.

I had fun coming up with a situation that could combine the New Teen Titans, Flash, and Sandman figures.

In retrospect, I really wish I’d used a camera that had a little depth of field. I think it may have been fixed-focus as well.

To this day it’s not really clear how far ahead the 2007 death of Bart Allen and return of Wally West (not to mention the subsequent return of Barry Allen in 2008) were planned.

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.

Actually it’s closer to a year and a half since I wrote about my frustrations with DC Comics, but it’s a good time to look back at them.

In June 2008, I listed three main problems I had with the current state of DC:

1. I’m tired of mega-crossovers.
2. Mishandling of the Flash after Geoff Johns left.
3. The wholesale slaughter of “redundant” and C-list characters to make a point.

So, what’s the current status?

Crossovers

DC is even more focused on mega-crossovers than before, with Blackest Night ballooning from a Green Lantern story into an eight-issue main miniseries, seven three-issue side miniseries, eight-issue arcs in both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, a month of eight in-series crossovers, a month of eight one-shots…

But frankly it doesn’t bother me, because of those 61 comic books, I only plan on reading three: the three issues of Blackest Night: The Flash. Realizing that I don’t have to buy the big event has saved me a lot of grief.

Mishandling the Flash

On the plus side: Geoff Johns is back on the title. Bart Allen is back as Kid Flash. Scott Kolins is back drawing Wally West. Most importantly, DC seems to be willing to stick with a direction at this point, and has committed to the point that they’ll actually launch two series, and every month will have new solo stories starring Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen.

On the minus side: Flash: Rebirth should have wrapped up in September, is currently scheduled to end in December, and individual issues are getting rescheduled often enough that I’m checking daily to see if the release dates have changed. The repeated delays have killed a lot of the story’s momentum, and have actually soured some fans on the relaunch. Plus they’re sidelining my favorite version of the character, though at least they aren’t taking him off the playing field entirely.

Killing Characters

The big crossover is all about dead characters rising from the grave as evil undead. Need I say more?

Has it improved?

Well, one item shows some progress, but it’s mixed. The other two haven’t changed at all…but I’ve gotten less attached to the DC Universe, so it doesn’t bother me as much. I’m not sure if that’s progress or not.

Looking back at the cover for Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13, it wasn’t promising for Bart Allen, especially with the Flashes’ history of death. We know now that it ended badly for him (though he got better).

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Some more linkblogging (almost done, honest!)

Collected Editions reviews Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge.

Speedster Site wants to know: What artist do you want for Flash? Also: an EVS Barry Allen sketch from Fan Expo.

The Cool Kidz Table lists his five favorite Flash artists.

iFanboy wonders if heroes can just stay dead.

At MTV Splash Page, Adam Brody Remembers His Flash Suit from the Justice League movie that never happened.

Some links of note before this holiday weekend:

Flashy Links

Comics Should Be Good’s Year of Comic Book Moments features Flash v.2 #73, Wally and Linda’s first Christmas together and a surprise visit from the man in red.

Somehow I missed this when it was posted, but Mightygodking has an off-kilter profile of the Rainbow Raider.

Comic Coverage looks at the time Mirror Master managed to transform the Flash into a mirror.

Silver Age Comics looks at the way crime was treated as an addiction in many comics of the era, particularly The Flash — again focusing on the Mirror Master.

Update: Karl Kerschl has posted a progress shot of the Flash being inked for Wednesday Comics.

Whirlwind Tour

The Source previews what’s in store for Justice Society of America as Bill Willingham, Matt Sturges and Jesus Merino take over the book.

Darcey McLaughlin of the Miramichi Leader notes that death has lost all meaning in comic books.

Scott’s Classic Comics Corner (Comics Should Be Good) has an interesting post on measuring scarcity in comics collecting.

Karl Kerschl’s (Flash in Wednesday Comics) webcomic, The Abominable Charles Christopher, has reached its 100th episode.

Finally, if you’ll excuse the plug, please take a look at my eBay auctions if you haven’t recently. I’ve got several DVDs and CDs up right now, as well as a promotional Star Trek T-shirt from San Diego 2007.