Speed Force

Strathaar at Comic Bloc reports from Emerald City Comicon:

Sunday conversation or Superman panel today, I’m tired so everything is mixing together, Sattler was asked about Wally West and wtf is up with the backup being dropped. The fan asked where he could get his fix on.

Sattler replied he can’t say details just yet, but in the next little bit they will have an announcement, and they have big plans for Wally that we will enjoy.

In the same thread, Bookwriter sheds some light on the Kid Flash news.

I attended the DC Nation Panel yesterday at Emerald City Comic Con, and an audience member asked if there was still plans for a new Kid Flash monthly. Ian Sattler did not come out and answer the questions, but smiled, winked and nodded his head up and down. We all clapped and cheered.

Finally, Broken Frontier reports from MegaCon:

Flash is the character to watch next with it’s creative team striving to make Barry Allen the premier Flash. It was revealed that early iterations of the new ongoing was almost like a team book with the whole Flash family, but they decided to make it more Barry focused. Didio joked about it being akin to the Hannah Barbara’s Wacky Races. Visions of Dick Dastardly dressed as Zoom danced in my head.

Buried in Pop Culture Zoo’s write-up of DC Nation at Emerald City Comicon this weekend is this line:

A Kid Flash series is still being planned.

Whether it will ever see the light of day, who knows? I suppose anything’s possible. DC is finally launching that Zatanna series they talked about two years ago, Top Cow is doing that Velocity series that was supposed to spin out of 2007’s Pilot Season, and even Teen Titans: Games has finally got a release date after twenty years.

Also of possible interest to Flash fans: the JSA will return to Smallville at the end of this season, and there’s talk of Hal Jordan and possibly Barry Allen having adventures in the distant future.

More coverage at Comics Alliance, and Comic Book Resources, and a good round-up at Robot6.

You ever have moments where you are on the internet randomly searching for Kid Flash costume variations and you stumble upon something really cool yet completely unexpected? This happened to me a few weeks ago when I came across some great stuff I’m not sure many fans of the Scarlet Speedster have seen yet.

Remember that Flash video game that was cancelled a few months ago? The Flash video game that was was covered by Kelson back in September and October of last year? Well I mentioned I was randomly interested in Kid Flash costume variations and I stumbled upon a nifty one in google images that rocked my socks off:

Taking a closer look around the site I found a few more:

And a nice Pied Piper:

Turns out these were modeled by Helen Rusinoff for the cancelled Flash video game. The costumes were designed by Roger Robinson who was featured in the previous Flash video game article Kelson posted. There were a few pictures that I didn’t have room to show but you can find those at her website.

I emailed Helen about showcasing the pictures on Speedforce.org and she emailed me back promptly. Not only did she give me permission to repost her work, but she also pointed me in the direction of Roger Robinson yet again. I visited his website and didn’t really find anything new to report. Wandering around that site however I came across another blog, where I found these pictures:

You can find a few more at Roger Robinson’s other website.

Seeing that we could have had Kid Flash, and Jesse Quick in this game makes me downright depressed. I wonder if there were any cool multi-player modes that they might have had planned using the various members of The Flash Family? The Flash meets Sonic Adventure 2 Battle? That wouldn’t have been a bad thing. I also wonder if they had any plans to have alternate costumes. That was a very nice touch in Justice League Heroes, which included Jay Garrick and Walter West as alternate uniforms for Wally. Too bad the game was so dang mediocre.

Until they find a way to either bring this back from the dead or create another one I guess I’m stuck playing this:

Actually Justice League Heroes: The Flash isn’t bad. I preordered it when it was first announced and purchased a Gameboy Advance SP just to play it. I now have it on my PSP as well and have beaten it many, many times. A lot of fun to play on the go(although I take Bart’s advice and don’t use my “playtendo” while running).

I hope you all enjoyed a deeper glimpse into the game that could have been. The potential was definitely there for a good, solid, fun game to play. Here is hoping they decide to create another one sometime down the road.

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

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!

Dan Didio let slip some more information about the upcoming Kid Flash series in his latest 10 Answers column at Newsarama. First he reminded readers that Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates will be working closely together to keep the Flash and Kid Flash books linked, similar to the way Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps have been linked. Then he added something that fans of the Impulse series may find appealing:

You’ll still see the dynamic between Kid Flash and Max Mercury, if I’m not mistaken. And I think that’s new information, so you did get something out of me. But Max will be featured in this series as well. So if somebody’s a fan of Impulse, they’ll get that relationship back in the Kid Flash series. Because of the Max/Bart relationship, I think they’ll be very pleasantly surprised about what the plans are for the book.

This book is sounding better and better! Only two one more question:

1. Who will do the art?
2. When will it launch?

I suspect the artist hasn’t been finalized yet, though they could be waiting until they get closer to a firm launch date. And on that score, “About a month after Flash” is certainly more specific than certain other series (*cough* Zatanna *cough*) have gotten, but it’ll be nice when DC can give us a firm “April 2010″ or “May 2010.” Edit: As Andrew points out, Dan Didio does indicate that the book will be launching in May 2010.

In the latest 10 Answers with Dan Didio (it’s now 10 questions every week instead of 20 questions every 2 weeks), Dan Didio answers some questions about the upcoming Kid Flash series being written by Sterling Gates.

Launch date: “somewhere around April or May of next year. It will launch about a month after the launch of the new Flash book.” Note: Last we heard, Flash was going to launch in March 2010, which would place it a month after the planned end of Blackest Night: Flash

Artist: “I’ve got a couple of artists who are under consideration,” but right now they’re focused on coordinating stories.

He also reiterates what Geoff Johns has previously said about the Flash and Kid Flash books being aligned much in the same way that Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps are aligned.

There are, of course, 9 more questions and answers in the original article, including some interesting remarks on solicitations and spoilers.

(Thanks to @SpeedsterSite for the link)

Just from what I’ve seen on Flickr, there were a ton of Flash-related costumes at Dragon*Con this year.

Looking through these photos, be sure to notice:

• The Flash’s secret revealed: Red Bull!
• The Grail Knight (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) asks the Flash to choose wisely.
• Smallville-style Impulse
• The entire frakking Rogues’ Gallery!

The Rogues’ Gallery group not only did an incredible job on their costumes, but got together for an extended photo shoot…and hung out at a bar afterward, in full costume. You can read all about it, with dozens of photos, in xanykaos’ (Trickster II) post on flash_rogues, A Meeting of Rogues. (Thanks to Lia for the link!)

Some more linkblogging…

CSBG’s Cool Comic Book Moments #245 features the death of Barry Allen from Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crimson Lightning finishes up the Super-Powers retrospective with the original mini-comic that came with the action figure.

Silver Age Comics brings up 3 extremely lame bits about Kid Flash. Coincidence, costume change, and…do you dare read on to learn the third?

Indie Squid Kid presents the golden age of octopus fighting. No, really!

Update: Newsarama’s Friday Flashback looks back at the classic Flash #0 by Mark Waid & Mike Wieringo. This classic post-Zero Hour book told a stand-alone story of Wally West bouncing around in time and, at one point, meeting his younger self, reassuring him that everything would work out. It also set things in motion for the epic Terminal Velocity, which started the following month.

If the number of Flash costumes at Comic-Con International last week is any indication, the fan base is energized. Most years I only see one or two Flashes, if any. This year there were at least three Jay Garricks including myself, two women who made variations on the costume, one man in a Black Flash costume, a Kid Flash, and a Captain Cold.

Here’s a gallery of photos from Flickr.

Golden Age

I don’t think I’d ever seen a Golden Age Flash costume at a convention until I saw some photos from HeroesCon and Wizard World Philadelphia in June. There seemed to be one Jay Garrick at each. So I figured I’d probably be the only one at San Diego. Imagine my surprise when I ran into not one other, but two!

The photo on the left shows me and a cosplayer who was part of a Justice Society of America group I spotted in line for the DC Nation panel on Friday. I asked the person behind me to save my place in line, walked along the line to where they were, and we did the obligatory “Nice costume!” exchange, then ended up posing for a bunch of photos. We did at least two poss, this one and one just standing and crossing our arms like the Alex Ross poster. Someone got an interesting shot with a blur effect, also.

I ran into the guy on the right on Saturday, when I wasn’t in costume. He actually used an original World War I helmet, polished it up, and made wings for it…then the first day in town the wings broke, so he needed to come up with a substitute fast. He ended up gluing popsicle sticks together and spray painting them gold.

Update: Speaking of the helmet, here’s how my helmet was made. Update 2: and here’s how we made the boots and shirt.

Variations

I didn’t manage to see any of these three in person during the con. But they’re really cool variations.

The two things that usually impress me the most with character costumes are:

• Authenticity – costumes that match the source very well, especially if the person wearing it is a good fit for the character. (That especially helps with costumes from movies and TV shows. If you resemble an actor, seriously look at their roles for ideas!)
• Creative variation – costumes that take a concept and put a deliberate spin on them. The Steampunk Flash from the League of Justice-Minded Citizens, for instance. Or either of the female Flash costumes here.

The Flash is well-suited for variations, because there have been so many of them in canon. You’ve got the basics: Jay Garrick’s Golden Age costume, the Barry Allen/Wally West Flash costume, and the Kid Flash costume (each with its own variations). Then you’ve got Professor Zoom, Johnny Quick, a half-dozen Jesse Quick costumes, Impulse, Max Mercury, Walter West, Iris West II, John Fox’s three costumes…and that’s not counting all the possible future Flashes from “Chain Lightning.”

So it’s not a problem to take the basic red-and-yellow lightning motif and build on it. People will still know who you are, especially if you keep the white circle around the lightning bolt.

Well, except for the dimwits who mistake you for Flash Gordon.

Update August 28: The woman on the left appears to be wearing an off-the-rack costume rather than a custom variation.

Cold and the Kid

I almost missed Captain Cold here. It was late Saturday afternoon, and I was on the phone with my wife trying to work out dinner plans. I saw him through the window, said, “Hang on, I need to get a picture of Captain Cold” and ducked outside into Sails Pavilion.

Kid Flash was there on Sunday. Sterling Gates, who had been announced the day before as the writer of an upcoming Kid Flash series, posted, “I just met Kid Flash! He’s here!” I kept looking for him the rest of the day, but had no luck. Fortunately, Comic Con has a lot of people with cameras!

Bonus: Cheetara!

She may not be a Flash character, but here are two women dressed as Cheetara from Thundercats. Hey, she is a speedster, after all!

Who Else?

I saw at least one, possibly two guys in off-the-rack Flash Halloween costumes during the weekend, and one kid who was probably about 6 or 7.

So…did you see any of these people at the con? Did you see another Flash that I’ve missed?

DC made only a few Flash announcements at Comic-Con, but they were big ones!

• Blackest Night: Flash miniseries by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins — 3 issues starting in November December. (announced at the Geoff Johns Spotlight on Thursday) The book will star Barry, Wally, and a whole lot of dead Rogues. [Note: I was originally under the impression that the second round of Blackest Night tie-ins would launch in November, and at the panel I was focused on the official announcement and the people involved, so I missed the fact that the month was one syllable off from what I was expecting. DC has audio of the panel, and he did say December.]
• Flash ongoing series written by Geoff Johns, to start after Blackest Night: Flash. They’re not ready to announce the artist, but Geoff assures us that he’s “awesome.” (announced at DC Universe on Saturday)
• Kid Flash ongoing written by Sterling Gates. No artist or start date announced. (also announced at DCU panel)
• A new speedster will join the Flash family by the end of Flash: Rebirth (DCU again.)

I liveblogged both panels (though a technical glitch prevented the DCU post from actually going up at I wrote it, which really annoyed me), and there are some other remarks in those panels (and in DC Nation) that Flash fans might find interesting.

Comic Book Resources has an interview with Geoff Johns in which he talks about the Blackest Night miniseries and the ongoing series. The first story is called “The Dastardly Deaths of the Rogues,” and he says that “all the Flashes in the Flash Universe will be major players in both Flash books.” There’s a lot more at the interview, such as this:

In “Blackest Night: Flash,” it’s the Rogues versus the Black Lantern Rogues and Flash is caught in the middle. And Captain Cold will be facing off against Black Lantern Golden Glider.

Ouch…that’s going to be one nasty fight!