Tag Archives: Digital Comics

What Looks good in ComiXology’s Flash Sale

For once, “Flash Sale” actually means what it ought to!

A whole bunch of digital Flash collections from the Silver Age through the modern age are discounted on ComiXology this week for $5.99 each (even the long ones, like the Flash by Mark Waid and Flash by Geoff Johns collections), and dozens of individual Flash and Impulse issues are $0.99 each. Also included are Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge, Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion, a number of Rogue-heavy issues, some Flash/Green Lantern crossovers, the main Flashpoint story, Rebirth, parts of Convergence, the Flash DC RetroActive specials, the Flash: Season Zero comic based on the TV series, the Tangent Flash issues, and more.

The later New 52 and DC: Rebirth books are on sale, but I figure you probably know already whether you’re interested in those, so I’m going to talk about the older books.

I would absolutely recommend the Flash by Mark Waid vol. 1-3 and Flash by Geoff Johns 1-3 collections. $6 for a dozen or more issues is an amazing deal, and there are some great stories in there. (Flash by Geoff Johns vol. 4 is a little more uneven than the first three, IMO.) The Manapul/Buccellato run from the early New 52 is also quite good, as are the two Morrison/Millar books with Paul Ryan and Pop Mhan (“Emergency Stop” and “The Human Race”). I’d also highly recommend the early issues of Impulse by Waid and Humberto Ramos.

You can find gems like the original Flash of Two Worlds in Flash #123, the first Superman/Flash race, “Nobody Dies” (Flash v2 #54), Wally meeting his younger self in Flash v.2 #0, the entire Trial of the Flash, and the first appearances of Jay Garrick in Flash Comics #1, Wally West and Weather Wizard in Flash #110, and Reverse Flash in Flash #139. The story with the Captain Cold Censored Flash cover is in here too. If you’re interested in the classic Silver Age Flash, now’s a good chance to pick up some of those collections as well.

If you’re on a budget, go with Flash: A Celebration of 75 Years. $6 down from $30 for this collection can’t be beat.

I wouldn’t bother with the Flash: Fastest Man Alive collections or Road to Flashpoint unless you really want a complete set.

Digital Flash Sale on ComiXology: 99-cent issues & completing the set

Flash Sale Banner

As anticipated, ComiXology has launched a digital Flash sale timed with today’s launch of the Flash TV Show.

Collections from Flash: Rebirth onward are discounted, plus the following series are being offered at only 99 cents an issue (typical back issue price at ComiXology is $1.99):

  • Flash (Barry Allen New 52/2011-present) #1-30 (excluding annuals)
  • Flash (Barry Allen 2010-2011) full series
  • Flash: Rebirth
  • Flashpoint
  • Flash (Wally West 1987-2009) #1-225 (excluding annuals, #0, #1/2 and #1,000,000)

Regarding that last item: DC has been slowly adding every issue of the series to their online library after pushing key issues in earlier sales. This summer they stopped at the end of the Geoff Johns/Scott Kolins run at #200 and jumped completely over the Johns/Howard Porter run to fill in the last 10 issues by Tom Peyer/Freddie Williams and Alan Burnett/art committee — then stopped adding anything else. At the time I’d hoped that DC was merely waiting for the Flash TV show launch for a major event, and it turns out that was the case!

The Wally West Flash series is now almost complete digitally! None of the annuals are up yet, and they’re still missing five issues from #226-230, between the end of Geoff Johns’ run and the One Year Later relaunch with Bart Allen as the Flash. To be honest I can see why they’d be missed — there’s a one-issue fill-in story (that literally had been written and drawn years before and kept on file in case an issue ran late, back when DC still did that) and a four-part editorial wrap-up story that tried to bring things full circle with Vandal Savage’s return. Also missing: the Wizard #1/2 issue that featured the Trickster and led into Rogue War. I can imagine the reprint rights might be complicated with that one.

Not included in the sale, but also available online:

  • Flash: Season Zero (TV tie-in, already 99 cents per issue)
  • Flash (New 52) newer issues and annuals
  • Flash (Wally West, 1987-2009) #231-247
  • Flash (Barry Allen, 1959-1986) handful of issues scattered around, plus the Trial from #340-350.
  • Blackest Night: The Flash
  • Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion
  • Impulse (complete excluding annuals)

Now if we can just get them to fill in those last few issues and the annuals for Wally West, then get serious about the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Barry Allen series.

The 1990 Flash 50th Anniversary special would also be great to see…and the 1991 Flash TV Special! Now that would be kind of trippy!

Head over to the digital Flash sale on ComiXology.

Flash: Seazon Zero #1 Hits Monday – Preview Up Now

Flash Season Zero Chapter 1 CoverDC has released a preview of Flash: Season Zero #1 through USA Today, along with an extensive article about the digital-first comic set in the TV series continuity.

The first arc features a group of circus performers turned supervillains by the particle accelerator incident (it sounds like a lot of villains get their powers this way). They’ll be taking advantage of the comic book format to do more elaborate visuals and “outlandish villains” that they’d never be able to get away with on a TV budget. There will also be hints about the TV show sprinkled throughout the series.

The circus troupe is apparently inspired by a group from Starman. “The few times especially on Arrow where we’ve tried to create our own villains, it hasn’t always worked out the best for us,” Kreisberg remarked, going on to say that even the smallest connection to an existing comic book character gives them something more solid to build from.

Flash: Season Zero will release a new digital chapter biweekly on Mondays, alternating with Arrow: Season 2.5. Print editions will follow the next month, with issue #1 hitting the shelves October 1, a week before the TV show debuts.

Story by Andrew Kreisberg, scripted by Brooke Eikmeier and Katherine Walczak. Art by Eric Gapstur and Phil Hester.

You Can Now Subscribe or Pre-Order Flash: Season Zero

Flash Season Zero VariantComiXology now has the digital-first comic Flash: Season Zero in its catalog. The first issue, scheduled for September 8, is available for pre-order, and the series is available for subscription.

And hey…that art style looks familiar, doesn’t it? We know previous Flash artist/writer Francis Manapul is doing a variant cover for #1, so chances are this is part of that cover.

(Hat tip to FlashFans.org)

ComiXology’s Multiversity Sale Includes Digital Flash of Two Worlds

ComiXology is running a Multiversity Sale, putting backissues from DC Comics dealing with multiple (or just alternate) realities on discount for 99c each. In addition to the entire run of 52, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis, there’s a selection of alternate reality comics — Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, which inspired DC to launch the Elseworlds label, Superman: Red Son, Kingdom Come — and a smattering of one-off stories like the first meeting between the Justice League and Justice Society, and two classic Silver Age Flash issues: Flash #123, featuring the first meeting of Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, and Flash #125, “Conquerors of Time,” in which Barry Allen and Wally West battle a threat to Earth’s past, present and future. It’s notable as the first appearance of the Cosmic Treadmill.

“Conquerors of Time” has been available digitally for several years, but “Flash of Two Worlds” has just been added to the catalog today.

Flash #123: Flash of Two Worlds

Flash “Season Zero” Digital-First Comic Launches in September

Flash Season 0 Issue 1

TV Guide broke the news that, as we predicted, DC is launching new digital-first Flash and Arrow tie-in comics this fall. Flash: Season Zero will take place between the pilot and second episode, and will “embrace the franchise’s colorful roots” a bit more than the more “grounded” TV show with its own set of comic-specific villains.

Season Zero, which is being co-written by Brooke Eikmeier and Katherine Walczak and features art by Phil Hester and Eric Gapstur, will showcase the entire TV cast, plus these new rogues, a group of circus performers who gained super powers as a result of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion that also transformed Barry (as seen in the Arrow episode “Three Ghosts,” as well as The Flash’s pilot). This “freakshow gallery,” as Kreisberg calls them, are lead by Mr. Bliss, a character who first appeared in DC’s Starman comic series: “He has the ability to manipulate peoples’ emotions. He and his cadre of circus folk have decided that they’ve been pushed around long enough and are going to take it to society.”

Digital chapters will be released on Mondays, with Flash and Arrow alternating each week. The first digital chapter of Flash: Season Zero will be available on September 8, with the first print edition hitting the shelves a month later on October 8, the day after the TV series premiere.

So, will you be picking this up digitally or in print? Or both? Or just sticking with the TV show for now?

Via Flash TV News. Also, I’m pretty sure the covers from TV Guide’s article are mock-ups, since they’re using existing publicity photos. Edit: Maybe not. I’ve pulled the full-sized images from DC’s blog, and updated with the Flash cover above.