Geoff Johns offers hints about his upcoming Smallville episode, Society, featuring the Justice Society. The exact lineup hasn’t been determined yet, but sadly it won’t include the Golden Age Flash or Green Lantern, Jay Garrick and Alan Scott. The season will, however, feature the live-action debut of the Wonder Twins.

CBR interviews Darick Robertson on his career, including his work back in the early 1990s on such books as Justice League Europe, Justice League Quarterly, and the Flash TV Special.

Former Flash artist Freddie Williams II talks about The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics

Heroes Online talks about the Mike Wieringo Scholarship.

The Aquaman Shrine has Flash vs. the Hostess Ads by Fred Hembeck. (There were, to the best of my knowledge, four Hostess ads with the Flash during the late 1970s/early 1980s.)

IO9 wonders, with the Flash reborn, who’s next?

The Heritage Auctions blog talks about Showcase #4 (Barry Allen’s first appearance) and its significance as the start of the Silver Age. The highest-grade copy known to exist (CGC 9.6) is going on auction in May.

Samurai Noir’s Toy Box 2 has pictures of vintage Flash and Aquaman board games.

PrettyFakes contrasts creator-driven vs. crossover-driven storytelling in the context of Iron Man, with references to the Messner-Loebs and Waid runs on Wally West’s Flash series.

The Worlogog talks about weekly comics in general and Wednesday Comics in particular.

The comic strip Epic Tales of the Mundane tackles a trade-waiter’s dilemma when faced with Flash: Rebirth.

Silver Age Comics has a run-down of DC Annuals in the Silver Age.

Blam talks about comics in the 1990s, including Mark Waid’s runs on Flash and Impulse.

The Pulse interviews former Flash artist Freddie Williams II on Final Crisis Aftermath: Run (which, for the record, is not about a speedster, but about the Human Flame).

The Main Series

As 2008 opened, the Flash was just wrapping up the six-part story “The Wild Wests,” the relaunch featuring Wally West as head of the Flash family and introducing his super-powered twins, Iris and Jai. To put it mildly, it was not received well by fans, and former fan favorite writer Mark Waid quickly left the book.

After a one-shot by Keith Champagne, Tom Peyer picked up the regular writing chores and Freddie Williams II stayed on for the 6-part “Fast Money,” which resolved the twins’ super-speed aging problem and gave us a glimpse of an adult Iris West II.

The series wrapped up with the year, as Alan Burnett, Paco Diaz, and Carlo Barberi brought us “This Was Your Life, Wally West.” The four-part story arc looked back at Wally West’s career as Kid Flash, then the Flash, and his relationship with his wife Linda and their children.

Rogues’ Revenge

The Rogues’ Gallery were off-limits to start with, as they were off-planet for Salvation Run. Early in the year, DC released the news of Flash: Rogues’ Revenge, a miniseries that would spotlight them after they returned to Earth, going after Inertia for tricking them into killing the Flash. Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins would return to the speedster mythos for six issues.

By the time the series was launched, it had become Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge, and instead of six regular-sized issues it was three oversized issues.

Barry Allen Returns

In April 2008, DC Universe #0 hit the stands. The book, which set up plot threads for a number of upcoming storylines, strongly implied the return of Barry Allen to life. Articles in the mainstream press made it explicit: Barry Allen was back, and he was back for good. (Actually, they tended to just call him “The Flash,” and made it sound like DC hadn’t been printing a Flash series for the last 23 years.)

Barry made his official return in Final Crisis #2 in June, in a final splash page showing him in motion, shouting to his fellow Flashes the single word: “Run!”

Just one month later, at Comic-Con International in San Diego, DC announced the upcoming miniseries, Flash: Rebirth, by the Green Lantern: Rebirth team of Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. The series is currently scheduled to start in April 2009. See also: what we know so far about Flash: Rebirth.

Around the DCU

Jay Garrick continued to appear regularly in Justice Society of America. He also teamed up with Batman in The Brave and the Bold #13, as they battled a nearly-forgotten villain from the late Silver Age: the Samuroids.

Wally West started appearing in the newly-launched Titans series. After a conspicuous absence in Justice League of America, he shared the spotlight with Wonder Woman for issue #20, as they went up against Queen Bee — the same villain who would headline the final story arc in this volume of The Flash.

Wally also made several appearances in Brave and the Bold. While his spotlight issue was released in 2007, he appeared as one of the original Teen Titans in a flashback story in issue #10, and in the present day in #12. Speaking of flashbacks, Teen Titans: Year One looked back at the formation and early days of DC’s main teen super-team.

And then there’s the 12-part Tangent: Superman’s Reign, which started in March. Wally West shared the first cover with the Tangent Universe’s Flash, Lia Nelson, and both Flashes have continued to play a role in the story.

Just about everyone has shown up in Trinity at one point or another, and of course in Final Crisis. Outside the DCU, the Flash has appeared in Super Friends and Kid Flash in Tiny Titans.

Collections

2008 started with a second edition of Blood Will Run, the first story arc Geoff Johns wrote as the regular Flash writer (with Wonderland he’d been hired just for the one arc), which added the graphic novel, Iron Heights.

The second volume of Showcase Presents:The Flash arrived in June, reprinting more of Barry Allen’s Silver-Age adventures in a cheap, black-and-white collection.

August saw the release of The Wild Wests, the first monthly Flash story arc to be collected in hardcover. (Previously, The Life Story of the Flash and Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told had been printed in hardcover, and aside from that only the Flash Archives series had received that treatment.)

TV/Animation

In February, Barry Allen appeared in the direct-to-DVD animated film, Justice League: The New Frontier (reviewed on my other blog), based on Darwyn Cooke’s DC: The New Frontier. The movie debuted at WonderCon in San Francisco the weekend before its release.

In March, the Flash appeared in the two-part series finale of The Batman, “Lost Heroes,” alongside the Justice League. Season 5 was released on DVD in July, and reviewed here earlier this week.

Teen Titans Season 5, which featured Kid Flash in several episodes, was also released on DVD in July.

The DVD set DC Superheroes: The Filmation Adventures was released in August, featuring (among others) the Flash and Teen Titans segments from the 1967 Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. They’re certainly a different take on the heroes.

Meanwhile, a number of DC-based cartoons and TV series including Superfriends, the live-action Flash TV series the Filmation cartoons and others have been made available as digital downloads from such services as iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand, and XBox Live.

Video Games

This summer, word came out that the Flash would appear in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The game was released to mixed reviews in November.

Back at Comic-Con in July, Sony previewed the upcoming massively-multiplayer online game, DC Universe Online. At least two Flashes (Jay Garrick and either Wally West or Barry Allen) appear in the game, which is being scripted by Geoff Johns and will likely ship in late 2009 or early 2010.

Flash Companion

In July, just in time for Comic-Con, TwoMorrows released The Flash Companion. The 224-page book covers the full behind-the-scenes history of the Scarlet Speedster, from his origins in the 1940s to the present day. The biggest part of the book is dedicated to interviews with and articles about the writers, artists and editors who have brought the character to life for the past seven decades.

In addition to the interviews, there’s previously unpublished artwork, articles about unusual facts — like the time one editor ordered two covers for the same issue, or the unused Flash — and of course, Rogue Profiles.

I’m still excited about this one because I contributed several of the character profiles — specifically, the ones for Abra Kadabra, Professor Zoom, and Zoom.

So what’s coming up for the Flash in 2009? That’s the subject for another post, and I’ll have it ready for you…next year!

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for several of the covers.

We’re moving into the home stretch, with the second-to-last issue of the current Flash series. Part 3 of “This Was Your Life, Wally West” is written by Alan Burnett with art by Carlo Barberi.

The book was originally solicited with a more story-related cover by Brian Stelfreeze. Normally I prefer covers that have something to do with the story over iconic covers, but I have to say this is one seriously impressive cover by Freddie Williams II.

Carlo Barberi’s art continues to work surprisingly well with the serious tone of the book (I’d previously known his work only from Impulse), and the cast list is combined with the issue’s splash page.

The threats of the Queen Bee and power loss take a back seat to a more personal story: Wally West faces the possibility that he might lose the love of his life, Linda Park West. Much of the first half of the issue is a look back at Wally and Linda’s relationship, starting with their first meeting as reporter and story subject at the end of the “Porcupine Man” saga (Flash v.2 #24–28), working through their tumultuous courtship, interrupted wedding, all the way through to the worldwide memory wipe between Blitz and Ignition.

The flashback is well-integrated with the main line of the story, as it brings up several elements that factor into the second half of the issue as the Queen Bee case takes center stage again.

Oddly, I noticed my local comic store didn’t have any copies of this issue on the shelf. I meant to ask, but forgot, whether they had reduced their order, whether they’d sold more than usual, or whether they simply hadn’t finished putting everything on the shelf. (They were still sorting through customers’ pull lists at the point I got there.)

Spoilers after the cut:

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SPOILERS AHEAD!

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This issue really highlights Wally’s heroism as he has to take on multiple roles in crisis: husband, father, and detective — despite his fear and his downgraded powers. He has to be there for Linda. He has to hold it together for their kids. And he has to keep working the case that put her in harm’s way in the first place. Ultimately, while he needs help with each of these tasks, it’s help from his friends and teammates and never once seems to diminish him.

I loved the moments with Roy and Lian hanging out with Jai and Iris. I’m not sure how old Lian is at this point, but this made me realize how much I’d like to see an occasional “Junior Justice League” backup feature with Iris, Jai, Lian and any other children of JLA/Titans members getting into adventures. Sort of a cross between Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius and Tiny Titans set in normal DC continuity. (I do wonder how popular the Olsen Twins’ movies are with today’s kids, but it’s at least thematically appropriate.)

The flashback does gloss over the period in which Wally was still dating Connie, and he and Linda were first grudging allies and later friends, but it was nice for this long-term fan to see references to the Porcupine Man, “Terminal Velocity,” and the dimension-hopping connected to the Dark Flash (Flash v.2 #152–159). Also appreciated: mention of Linda’s career as a journalist! Burnett’s research (for which he credits his editors Eddie Berganza and Rachel Gluckstern) makes a better showing in this issue than last. On a related note, the comment about Wally’s bio being “more complicated than Aquaman’s” certainly sounds like a meta-reference!

One gaping plot-hole: Raven. Linda is on her death-bed, with minutes or less to live. Wally zooms to Raven seeking help…to contact the Spectre, since that cosmic being helped them out before by wiping everyone’s knowledge of his identity. Why bother with the Spectre? As far as I know, Raven hasn’t lost her ability to heal people. Even if she can’t fully heal Linda, she could at least bring her back from the brink to the point where JSA-level medicine can save her.

On the other hand, ending the issue with the larger-than-life Spectre declaring that “your wife dies today!” — that’s a seriously dramatic cliffhanger.

DC initially released the cover on the left by Brian Stelfreeze, showing Wally’s wife Linda West vanishing into thin air. (Stelfreeze did the covers for issues #244 and #245, as well as the cover that’s been solicited for #247, the final issue.) The newly released cover, showing a profile of the Flash’s head with reflections running along his costume, is by Freddie Williams II, who recently wrapped up a 10-issue run on the series.

Matt Sturges will be writing the post-Final Crisis story Run!, which will feature a pivotal super-villain character from Final Crisis as the central character. [Senior Story Editor Ian] Sattler said the book will be surprising with three-water-cooler-moments in every issue.

Freddie Williams will handle the art.

With a title like Run! a speedster seems likely. And Zoom just lost his powers, not to mention his ability to walk. It could be about Hunter Zolomon trying to regain his ability to run…but then, Zoom hasn’t been that “pivotal” in Final Crisis itself, only in Rogues’ Revenge.

On the other hand, there’s all that speculation, fueled by the return of Barry Allen and the way he’s been contrasted with Libra since DC Universe #0, that Libra might be the long-dead Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash.

Update: To make matters more confusing, ComicMix suggests that the mini is actually titled, Final Crisis: Run, and is “the last miniseries tie-in to their mega-event.” I guess that would make it like the “52 Aftermath” books. Personally, I suspect this might prove counterproductive, given that even though Final Crisis has had fewer tie-ins (post-Countdown, anyway) than most big comic-book events of its stature, people have been complaining about too many tie-ins for months.

Flash #243 marks the last issue of the Tom Peyer/Freddie Williams II run on the series, and the final issue of the “Fast Money” storyline. It resolves a number of plotlines from the past year, leaving other possibilities open.

Artist Freddie Williams II has really hit his stride on this book, which makes it a shame that he’s leaving. It took a while to get used to it, but a few issues ago I started to like it. It seemed to have more life, more energy, than it did at first — and in a book that’s all about speed, that’s critical. (Interestingly, when I spoke with him at Comic-Con, he mentioned that the editor had initially insisted on a slightly different style than his usual, and he’d been allowed to go back to his regular style around the same point that I started liking the art. He also had a page of original art from Flash #241 that I would have been seriously tempted by if I’d had a spare $250…)

Story-wise, I’ve really enjoyed the last three issues (parts 3-5), but I felt that the final chapter fell short. In part, there were three major plot threads to resolve, and only one really got any focus. Additionally, that resolution seemed to hinge on a piece of knowledge which they should already have had.

At this point I’ll have to break into spoilers. You have been warned.

SPOILERS AHEAD

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First: Iris and Jai’s fate. This was the most developed thread in this issue. We soon realize that Iris isn’t really dead at the end of last issue, proving that you should never take a cliffhanger death at face value…especially when dealing with a villain who can mess with people’s minds. Over the course of the issue, Wally realizes that their problem is essentially the same one Max Mercury faced during the “Mercury Falling” arc in Impulse: The speed force has been draining them.

I liked that they actually expanded the mythos slightly. Wally hints that the Black Flash is actually a manifestation of one aspect of the speed force — the aspect of death “as in hitting a wall at 120 miles per hour.” That same aspect has been draining years from Iris and Jai’s lives. Wally manages to force that aspect out of them, restoring them to the ages they were at the beginning of the story.

So the twins are back to the status quo from the start of this run, except that now they no longer have to worry about dying of old age overnight. They’re also both still around, old enough to be characters in their own right, and with powers that make them distinct from each other and from short Flashes. It also eliminates one of the supposed inconsistencies that people have been complaining about with Final Crisis and Rogues’ Revenge, which showed both of them alive and young. (Though I’m a bit apprehensive about what may happen to them during Final Crisis.)

What I didn’t like was the the price was too low and the victory too complete. Dramatically, it seemed that it should have cost something — perhaps losing or changing their powers. It also seemed arbitrary that they would end up at physically 8 and 10, rather than their natural age (which should be somewhere between one and two years old) or the ages at which they entered the speed force in this issue.

I also had two problems with the explanation. First, it seemed that Wally and Linda already knew the twins’ connection with the speed force was the problem, not their genes. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions way back in #231, but it seemed obvious. Secondly, this whole storyline has been conflating growth and aging. It doesn’t make any sense that draining a child’s life force would cause her to grow into a teenager and then adult.

Second: Gorilla Grodd. This was wrapped up way too quickly and conveniently. As near as I can tell, Iris phased him out of reality in the space of one panel. In many ways, it’s like Wally turning Inertia into a statue back in All-Flash #1: an immensely powerful trick, and something that can only be used once. It seemed like Peyer was shoving Grodd out of the way to make room for the resolution of the twins’ storyline. Under the circumstances, it wouldn’t surprise me if that was exactly what was happening.

Third: Keystone Hates the Flash. This got a little attention, but was mostly hand-waved away as something that could be dealt with later. Spin himself had already been taken care of earlier in the story.

Conclusion: “Fast Money” had a strong middle, but was wrapped up too hastily to really follow through. I still think that Peyer and Williams could have been a good team on the ongoing title, but DC has decided to go in another direction with the series.

I had time, so I waited around while he did the sketch, looked through his portfolio, and talked about the book. Several other people came by to talk, or to look at his art, or to commission sketches of their own. When he was almost done, Dan Didio dropped by to say hello. (To the artist, of course!)

He had original art for sale, including a few pages from the last few issues of The Flash. I was seriously tempted by the page that showed Wally, Iris and Jai running into battle from #241, but I just don’t have the spare $250 lying around…

I mentioned that I’d really liked his run with Tom Peyer, especially the last few issues, and he mentioned that the editor had previously asked him to go with a more open, flat, happy style to his art, and he actually felt better about the art the last few issues. We talked about the harshness of internet fandom — when people like something, they don’t always go out of their way to post about it, but when they dislike it, and when they can hide behind anonymity, it’s almost a compulsion to say so, loudly, as brutally as possible.

CBR spoke with Tom Peyer about his work on Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen at Oni and back-up stories for the upcoming Marvel Apes miniseries.

As for the artist half of the team, The Pulse interviewed Freddie Williams II about his past and current work at DC, including his return to Robin. He answered several questions about The Flash, including how drawing a super-speed family differs from drawing Batman’s protege.

Visually, they are almost completely opposite. Even though Robin can get a bit animated, he was pretty grim and hid in the shadows allot, as well being able to use his cape and his mop of hair to show motion and movement. As opposed to Flash, which was art directed to be more open and cartoony. Flash is basically just a naked figured with nothing except for lightening to help in showing motion. Also, drawing the team dynamic was a bit different as well – having to account for some many figures.

When asked which artists most influenced his work on The Flash, Williams cited Daniel Acuña (his immediate predecessor), and Mike Wieringo.