February 7, 2011
Nothing really new in this interview at SciFiNow, though the writer does talk about the athleticism inherent in a film about a hero who runs really fast, and the approach to the character.
The Flash – to me – is about pure expression. Flash is untethered to the limitations of time and space – he can be everywhere at once and with that, I think, comes a certain freedom. Who hasn’t wanted to be faster? To get someplace quicker?
Interestingly, that reminds me of something Mark Waid has said about the appeal of the Flash. “No one gets up in the moming and says, ‘Gee, I wish I could throw power blasts out of my hands.’ However, everybody in the world knows what it’s like to miss the bus.”
As for getting people to look past “He runs fast,” Guggenheim explains:
Well, it’s all about who the character – in this case, Barry Allen – is before he gets his powers. We spent a lot of time talking about who Barry is and, specifically, why he’s the kind of guy we want to see get these powers bestowed on him. What’s missing in his life? What problems does he have? What personal foibles? And how are all those things impacted by the ability to run fast?
I’ll admit, this sounds a lot more appropriate for the Flash than taking inspiration from Se7en and Silence of the Lambs.
Head over to SciFiNow to read the whole interview.
January 24, 2011
It took me a while to really get on board Halcyon, the Image Comics–published miniseries about a world in which all crime stops, leaving the super-heroes with nothing to do. Issue #3 has one of those “wham!” moments where it feels like the story sneaks up behind you and hits you with a two-by-four, though, so I’m following this one through to the end.
But there’s something that really bothers me about the premise.
All crime and aggression has stopped, worldwide. Criminals stop attacking people, nations stop fighting wars, terrorists dismantle their own networks, and the world’s most dangerous supervillain not only turns himself in, but devotes his intellect to medical science.
The world’s super-heroes find themselves obsolete, except for one: their speedster, who is the only one fast enough to respond to natural disasters. So while they’re all longing for the bad old days, he’s running himself ragged helping out in the way that only he can.
Except…
It doesn’t take a speedster to respond to an earthquake if you’re near the earthquake. It doesn’t take a speedster to help evacuate the coastline ahead of a hurricane or (given proper warning) tsunami, or to divert a flooding river away from populated areas. It certainly doesn’t take a speedster to help out in relief efforts after a disaster hits.
A hero with super-strength or X-ray vision can hop on a plane and arrive within hours to help search for survivors in the rubble left behind by a major earthquake, or industrial explosion, or meteor strike. They can respond even faster to something that hits near their base of operations. If something happens in your city, you don’t necessarily need super-speed to deal with it.
There’s nothing stopping the rest of the world’s heroes from finding something to contribute…unless all they want to do is find someone to punch. This is probably true of Sabre, the Batman equivalent, but the rest of them seem to think he’s a psychopath.
I could overlook it as a form of genre blindness, except that Transom is right there, in each issue, pushing himself to the brink as the world’s only remaining active hero.
October 25, 2010
Marc Guggenheim spoke to Newsarama about the planned Flash movie. Screen Rant has transcribed bits from the video clip.
Highlights:
- He describes it as a hybrid CSI thriller/superhero/sports movie (based on the athleticism of the character).
- They’re drawing from Geoff Johns’ run, Mark Waid’s philosophy of speed, and the Silver Age. In particular:
We’ve also tried to take our inspiration from the old Silver Age Barry Allen stories and imbue it with that sense of fun and wonder while still keeping that cool, slightly darker tone.”
- Guggenheim keeps suggesting cameos from elsewhere in the DCU, but those decisions would be made way above his level.
October 11, 2010
Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke reports that the first drafts of the scripts for The Flash and Green Lantern 2 will be turned in “between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim are writing the script for The Flash based on the story they wrote with Greg Berlanti. I’ve lost track of where Geoff Johns is in all this. At one point he’d written a story treatment that Dan Mazeau was turning into a screenplay, but that version of the movie seems to have been scrapped in favor of the GL trio.
Greg Berlanti has been rumored as a likely director, but Finke’s source thinks it’s unlikely, saying that Berlanti “wants to do something in between [Life As We Know It and The Flash] size-wise first before attempting something that large”
Update: Moviehole reports a rumor that Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) is a leading candidate for the role.
(Hat tip to @SpeedsterSite for spotting the news!)
September 14, 2010
Starting in November, Image Comics will publish Halcyon, a five-issue miniseries by Marc Guggenheim (Flash, JSA) and his wife, screenwriter Tara Butters (Dollhouse, Reaper), about what happens to super-heroes when they win the never-ending battle against crime. In an interview with Newsarama, Guggenheim describes several of the major characters, including…
There’s another character named Transom, who’s a speedster. And what’s cool about him is the fact that, once you remove war and crime and any sort of man-made aggression, the only thing left for superheroes to deal with are natural disasters, like plane crashes and earthquakes. The problem is that Transom is the only superhero on the planet who is fast enough to get to these disasters as they’re happening. So he’s the one superhero who’s being run completely ragged, because he’s the only one who’s able to still be a hero.
The “what now?” question has been raised before, even in the DC Universe. Countdown to Final Crisis featured Earth-51, a world in which the heroes managed to eliminate super-crime and retired to pursue civilian careers. Of course, since this was Countdown, the world was created as cannon fodder, so it wasn’t explored much.
Between this book, Justice Society of America, No Ordinary Family, and (if Warner Bros. approves the treatment) the Flash screenplay, Guggenheim is going to be busy with speedsters this fall.
September 7, 2010
Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers interviews Marc Guggenheim about the Green Lantern and Flash movies. Readers of this blog will no doubt appreciate his first quote:
“We’ve turned in the treatment for Flash.”
Next up: the script. “It’s very much one step at a time for The Flash.”
Since Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti and Michael Green are also working on the story for Green Lantern 2, Rogers asked him about possible Flash sequels. They’re not planning one at this stage, but they are open to it.
Guggenheim will be covering two other speedsters while The Flash is in development. He takes over Justice Society of America with issue #44 (scheduled for October), where he’ll write the original Flash, Jay Garrick. He’s also a consulting producer on Berlanti’s TV show No Ordinary Family, which features a speedster played by Julie Benz (Dexter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and premieres on September 28.
July 22, 2010
Some mid-week linkblogging as Comic-Con gets going…
Less than a week in, CSBG’s 75 Most Memorable Moments in DC History has already cited two Flash moments: The discovery of Earth-2 (“Flash of Two Worlds”) made day four, and Barry Allen’s lab-accident origin made day five.
Once Upon a Geek has been featuring DC Comics ads from shortly after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Today’s spotlight includes a 1987 ad for the then-new Flash series.
The Hooded Utilitarian really disliked Flash: Rebirth. (To be honest, I pretty much agree with this review — and yet I’m really enjoying the ongoing Flash series. It’s as if the two stories are being written by two different writers, both of them named Geoff Johns.)
Yesterday, artist Greg LaRocque dropped by to shed some light on the Flash Jam Sketch posted last month.
Adidas has winged shoes going on sale August 10.
Yahoo News posts a photo of three JSA cosplayers from last year’s Comic-Con International, dressed as the Golden Age Hourman, Atom and Flash (with Dr. Mid-Nite barely visible behind them). I think this is the group I ran into on the day that I was dressed as Jay Garrick, and one of them said, “I was you yesterday!”
Comics Alliance presents today’s comic book covers reimagined in the Silver Age
Firestorm Fan spotlights an Old West Firestorm and Sillof’s Gaslight Justice League.
The Weekly Crisis has analyzed the Brightest Day teaser image.
Marc Guggenheim talks to Newsarama about his upcoming TV series No Ordinary Family, about a family who gains super-powers but aren’t super-heroes. Early reports had the mother (Julie Benz) gaining super-speed, but this interview makes no mention of what anyone’s powers are.
July 14, 2010
DC announced that Marc Guggenheim (Flash: The Fastest Man Alive — Full Throttle) will be taking over Justice Society of America after its crossover with the Justice League finishes. In an interview with CBR, Guggenheim says:
Jay Garrick will be the center of the universe here. Whether he turns out to actually be mayor, well, you’ll have to continue to read the book. I think it will be interesting to watch Jay evolve and grow as a character.
Shane Davis will provide the covers. The interior artist hasn’t officially been announced, but Guggenheim tells Newsarama, “I’m equally thrilled to be working with Scott Kollins.”
Update: Newsarama interviews Guggenheim on the move: He’d been in talks to do an “inventory arc” for JSA, and then Bill Willingham left and the editor asked him if he wanted to take over the series. (I find it interesting that where, in the old days, they’d do an inventory story, or an inventory issue, in case the book was running behind…now they seriously talk about an “inventory arc.”)
Update (July 19): DC’s October solicitations confirm Scott Kolins as the new artist.
Tip of the shiny hat to Wayne Lippa for spotting the Kolins reference.
June 9, 2010
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Warner Brothers has hired Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim to write treatments for Green Lantern 2…and The Flash! The trio will then write the screenplay for one of the movies.
Surprising no-one who has read any DC comics during the last two years, the movie “will take inspiration from [Geoff] Johns’ recent work and will feature the Barry Allen incarnation of the character.”*
The three writers have all been involved with the Green Lantern film. Greg Berlanti had been rumored as a possible director for The Flash, and of course Marc Guggenheim wrote the “Full Throttle” story for the comic book Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. Interestingly enough, Berlanti and Guggenheim will be bringing another speedster to the screen — the TV screen — in this fall’s No Ordinary Family.
Presumably this means they’ve abandoned the Dan Mazeau script announced last year. It’s hardly the first time the movie has been sent back to the drawing board in the nearly six years since it was first announced.
News found via The Nerdy Bird!
*Yes, I know that’s a picture of Wally West. THR used the cover for The Flash Secret Files #1 in their article, and I figured I would too just because it looks cool.
May 13, 2010
Remember No Ordinary Family, the TV pilot featuring a super-powered family headed by brick Michael Chiklis and speedster Julie Benz? Deadline Hollywood reports that ABC has picked up the Greg Berlanti-produced show. Marc Guggenheim (Flash: The Fastest Man Alive – Full Throttle) executive-produced the pilot and will remain “in consulting capacity.”
So even if Heroes doesn’t come back, there will still be at least one live-action speedster on the air this fall.
Update: The Hollywood Reporter has more, including the official description of the show (via @SpeedsterSite):
The Powells are about to go from ordinary to extraordinary. After 16 years of marriage, Jim and Stephanie’s relationship lacked the spark it once had, and their family life now consists of balancing work and their two children; leaving little time for family bonding. During a family vacation set up by Jim in an attempt to reconnect, their plane crashes into the Amazon River. But this is where the fun starts for the Powells as they soon discover that something’s not quite right. Each of them now possesses unique and distinct super powers. But saving and savoring their family life will be equally important as they try to find purpose for their new power and embark on a journey to find out what defines and unifies them. The Powells are a totally relatable family that happens to be a little bit amazing.
