February 12, 2010
I finally finished listening to last week’s Word Balloon Podcast with Ethan Van Sciver this morning. During the 90-minute interview, he talks about Flash: Rebirth, the personal issues that caused the delays, redesigning Wally West’s costume, bringing back Impulse, the balance of power between writers and artists, and Cyberfrog.
Some points that Flash readers will find interesting:
Last spring, Ethan Van Sciver started experiencing chest pains and was told that if he didn’t do something about his health, he was going to have a heart attack. So he embarked on a complete lifestyle change, which threw off his work schedule, slowing down Flash: Rebirth. The final issue, originally scheduled for September 30 of last year, will be out in two weeks on February 24.
It was his idea to make Iris “Irey” West II the new Impulse. He wanted the character back, and deliberately made Iris and Jai younger than they had been previously because of that (and because he didn’t like them as tweens). He also made an effort to draw Bart Allen as Kid Flash looking a bit more like he appeared as Impulse: round face, big feet, slightly exaggerated features. On a related note: Geoff Johns has plans for Jai.
He had a really hard time redesigning Wally West’s costume. The way he put it was that it’s easy to design a speedster costume, but it’s hard to design a Flash costume. Whereas with Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night he basically had free reign with new designs, this time he kept getting notes and had several designs rejected. The final version was quite literally a composite of other Flash costumes: EVS wanted the straight cowl from the TV series & Dark Flash, to make it look like a knight’s helmet (in line with his Barry = King Arthur and Wally = Lancelot metaphor), Geoff Johns came up with using the animated-style emblem, etc. To this day, Van Sciver isn’t happy with the way it turned out.
There’s a lot more in there — it is an hour and a half long — and it’s worth listening to if you have the time. There’s also a discussion at Comic Bloc that’s gotten into the writer/artist balance.
Related note: Daniel Way interviews EVS in connection with Cherry Capital Con.
February 3, 2010
Last week, the Titans Tower Monitor Room reported on a rumor, based on a message board post, of a Young Justice cartoon in development. It seemed far-fetched at the time, but more information surfaced, including possible character designs. (Note: the Monitor room moved to a new site today. It looks like everything’s been transferred, but here’s the original post from last Thursday, for completeness’ sake.)
Yesterday, Bleeding Cool picked up the story, and today it’s on Blog@Newsarama, MTV Splash Page, etc.
Reportedly the show will be Young Justice League (trading on name recognition?) and will feature Martian Girl (is that Miss Martian?), Aqualad, Nightwing (is Robin tied to the Batman license again?), Impulse, Arrowette, and Connor Kent as teenagers.
Honestly? I’ll believe it when I see it. But an animated Impulse would be great fun to watch.
Interestingly enough, Impulse was part of the original pitch to Kids WB! for the 2001 Justice League cartoon. I’d been under the impression that this footage was hard to find, but apparently it’s an easter egg on the “Paradise Lost” DVD.
Update (April): The show has been officially announced.
November 18, 2009
Yes, Wally West’s new costume, which we’ve known was coming since Ethan Van Sciver said he was designing it last summer, has finally been revealed in Flash: Rebirth #5!
If you don’t want to be spoiled, stop now! Read the rest of this entry »
November 6, 2009
Superman, Batman, and Max Mercury have all been cited as giving comic-book speedster Bart Allen the name Impulse. Batman most famously in Impulse #50, and Superman in the previews for All-Flash #1. (The final lettering simply said “He was code-named Impulse,” sidestepping the issue). But who named him originally?
The name first appears on the cover of Flash #93 (August 1994), with an out-of-control Bart Allen fighting the Flash. The cover is captioned, “Brash Impulse!” Over the next few issues, Wally West’s inner monologue refers to Bart as being impulsive, or (at one point) as “Mr. Impulse.”
It first appears on-panel as a name in Zero Hour #3 (September 1994), when Bart meets Superman for the first time, but Bart introduces himself as Impulse. Dan Jurgens writes.
Read the rest of this entry »
October 31, 2009
(Cover image via CGD)
Update: A couple of Halloween-themed posts over at my other blog:
October 21, 2009
Last week at the Baltimore Comic-Con, this eight-year-old Impulse fan was among the attendees:
Caleb’s father wrote in to say that he’s been a big fan of the Flash ever since seeing him on the Justice League cartoon, and that they’ve read all of The Flash and Impulse together. They met several writers and artists who have worked on the series, including Mark Waid (pictured), Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, and Pop Mhan. Caleb/Impulse also made an appearance on Todd Dezago’s Perhapablog last week in his con write-up.
Update: Caleb returns to Baltimore Comic-Con in 2010…as Kid Flash.
September 12, 2009
July 28, 2009
After reading more about the breakdown of the Velocity ongoing series that would have launched this year, I realized it would have been something very rare: An ongoing solo book about a speedster who wasn’t the Flash.
Off the top of my head, the only series I could think of was Impulse, which ran for 89 issues from 1995 through 2002…but even that was about the Flash’s cousin, who has since become Kid Flash (and was briefly the Flash). There was Top Cow’s Velocity miniseries that I’d just read, and Marvel’s Son of M miniseries starring Quicksilver, and the occasional special…but all of the long-running characters I could think of were either team members like Quicksilver (Avengers), Velocity (Cyberforce) and the Blur (Squadron Supreme), or Golden Age characters who appeared in anthologies, like DC’s Johnny Quick (More Fun Comics), Timely’s Whizzer (USA Comics), or Quality’s Quicksilver (National Comics — and he’s better known now as Max Mercury).
I remarked on this on Twitter, and @cm22 pointed out one more: Marvel launched a Quicksilver series in 1997, though it only lasted 13 issues.
So that’s two. Impulse, which is a Flash spin-off, and Quicksilver, which lasted only a year. Three if you count the upcoming Kid Flash series announced over the weekend, but then again it’s Kid Flash.
For comparison, DC has published an ongoing Flash series from 1940–1949, 1959–1985, and 1987–2008, with only a few months off in early 2006 during Infinite Crisis.
In the last 70 years, there have been only 11 in which no issue of Flash appeared. In the last 50 years, there has been only one year without a Flash book, and that was 23 years ago.
If there was any question that the Flash was the most successful example of the speedster super-hero archetype, this should settle it!
Note: It’s arguable that Flash Comics shouldn’t count, being an anthology series…but on the other hand, his name is in the title, his story was always the first feature, he alternated the cover spot with Hawkman, and the numbering was picked up for the 1959 Flash solo series. Besides, during most of the time Flash Comics was on the stands, DC also published All-Flash (1941–1948), which was definitely a solo Flash book!
Thanks to the Grand Comic Book Database for the cover thumbnails.
June 15, 2009
Some Monday morning linkblogging…
Images
Mark Waid reminds us all that Barry Allen discovered Earth-2 on June 14, 1961.
Groovy Superhero has a scan from Futurama Comics #34, in which Fry gets a job at Speed Force Burgers. It’s very fast food, and the employees’ outfits may look a bit familiar to this blog’s audience…
Friday’s Full Frontal Nerdity comic strip features a reference to Barry Allen’s return from the dead.
Weekly Crisis has a couple of moments of the week from Flash: Rebirth #3.
Comic Book Resources’ CBR Live has a bunch of photos from Saturday’s grand opening of Earth-2 Comics in Northridge, featuring co-owner Geoff Johns and a bunch of other Los Angeles-area comics personalities.
UPDATE: CBR has posted a photo parade from the Earth-2 grand opening which looks like a different set of pictures than the CBR Live stream.
UPDATE: What Were They Thinking?! is back online after almost a month!
Commentary
4thletter! is tired of re-runs in his comics.
UPDATE: The Annotated Flash: Rebirth has posted notes on Flash: Rebirth #3.
Flash Fact?
Researches now think that ADHD is linked to faulty perception of time: as far as hyperactive kids are concerned, time really does move too slowly. Comics Alliance likens this to being the Flash. Though maybe Impulse is a better comparison…
December 16, 2008
The newsletter DC Comics Direct Channel #914 identifies the contents of the upcoming Flash Presents: Mercury Falling and Flash: The Human Race trade paperbacks.
May 2009: Flash Presents: Mercury Falling (Todd Dezago, Ethan Van Sciver) will collect Impulse #62-67. That covers the 5-issue story arc itself as well as the one-issue epilogue guest-starring the Justice League, Justice Society and Young Justice.
June 2009: Flash: The Human Race (Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Paul Ryan, Pop Mhan) will collect Flash v.2 #136-141 and a story from Secret Origins #50. The Flash issues cover both “The Human Race” and “The Black Flash.”
The Secret Origins story is undoubtedly the retelling of the classic “Flash of Two Worlds,” (Flash v.1 #123) in which Grant Morrison figured out how to incorporate the parallel-world story into a single-world setting. Unless I’ve forgotten something, this volume and Flash: Emergency Stop will cover all of Grant Morrison’s Flash solo work.
It also lists the Final Crisis hardcover coming out in June, along with the Final Crisis Companion trade paperback, which includes all the FC one-shots (including Superman: Beyond, which started as a one-shot that just got too long.) No word yet on when Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge will be collected, but there are supposed to be more summer 2009 announcements later this week.
