December 7, 2010
Some big releases on the DC side of Heroclix for their 75th Anniversary Set coming later this month including several Flash-related releases that are sure to rock the socks off of Flash and Heroclix collectors alike. First up Heroclix.com released a preview yesterday of the Monarch of Motion, Barry Allen in his first solo release in his traditional uniform. We had previously seen him in his dying form from the climax of Crisis on Infinite Earths, his Blue Lantern uniform and even in a few team ups with Wally, Green Lantern, and Superman. But this is the first time we are getting classic Barry and I’m pretty elated.
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April 13, 2010
I’ve started in on the big catch-up project to bring Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning up to speed. Updates today include:
Plus a bunch of minor housekeeping bits scattered around the site. Typo fixes. Series in which characters are regulars. Team memberships. Things like that.
March 17, 2010
I’ve been slowly scanning my pre-digital photos, and stumbled across these pictures I’d taken of my DC Direct (and a few other) action figures around 2000 or so.
I had fun coming up with a situation that could combine the New Teen Titans, Flash, and Sandman figures.
In retrospect, I really wish I’d used a camera that had a little depth of field. I think it may have been fixed-focus as well.
February 20, 2010
Strangely enough, a lot of the sites I’ve linked to on Twitter or Facebook over the last few weeks were looking back at the 1990s and Mark Waid’s run on The Flash
High Five! Comics profiles Max Mercury: The Speedster Time Forgot (for a while). Of course, Max goes back farther than — he started as Quality Comics’ Golden Age hero, Quicksilver — but the version of the character known today was established in “The Return of Barry Allen,” “Terminal Velocity,” “Dead Heat” and Impulse.
For Valentine’s Day, Comics Should be Good’s Year of Cool Comics spotlights Flash: Terminal Velocity and a key event in the relationship between Wally West and Linda Park.
Westfield Comics’ Josh Crawley looks back at Mark Waid’s first run on The Flash, picking up with Flash #0 and running through “Terminal Velocity,” “Dead Heat” and “Race Against Time.”
Mania spotlights the 1990s Flash TV series in 15 more shows that were canceled before their time over the last 25 years. It’s an interesting mix of shows I remember fondly (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), shows I remember hearing about but never watched (Murder One), and shows I’ve completely forgotten (Street Hawk?). It also reminds me that I never got around to watching the last few episodes of Journeyman.
November 16, 2009
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:
- Who will do the art?
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.
August 26, 2009
Well, I said I wanted this issue to knock my socks off, and Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver certainly delivered! After three issues of setup, Flash: Rebirth #4 kicks the story into high gear. Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, stands revealed as the villain behind Barry Allen’s troubles, the mythology of the speed force expands, and everyone gets involved in a high-stakes battle for the legacy of the Flash.
The Professor is In
I’ve never been a huge fan of the Reverse Flash. Sure, there’s a reason the evil counterpart is a standard villain type. For one thing, it’s always interesting to see what a villain can do with the same powers but no scruples (as demonstrated admirably when Lex Luthor and the Flash have their minds switched in “The Great Brain Robbery” episode of Justice League Unlimited). For another, when the villain has the same powers as the hero, it cancels out the hero’s usual advantages — but the side effects of their struggle are often doubled.
The thing is, Professor Zoom always struck me as an overdone, melodramatic villain, evil or the sake of being evil — the kind who would twirl his mustache while tying Iris to the railroad tracks. Maybe that was because he never really got updated with modern storytelling the way the Rogues did, except for a single story — appropriately enough, Mark Waid’s “The Return of Barry Allen.” By contrast, I found Hunter Zolomon a much more interesting character with unusual motivations, though one who should be used sparingly. So having Zoom II taken off the playing field in Rogues’ Revenge and Zoom I brought back at the same time as his own arch-nemesis seemed, well, lazy.
This issue, however, presents a Zoom who is thoroughly menacing. Barry’s internal monologue zeroes in on the key constant in Zoom’s appearances: he’s a predatory stalker. And now he’s been reimagined as — like his opposite number — a scientist. A scientist with an obsession and no ethics committee, who has spent his life experimenting on the subject of his fixation.
Rush
There’s so much going on in this issue that the first time through I didn’t realize what a huge chunk of exposition is dropped at the beginning of the issue. For one thing, it’s interspersed with a battle. For another, despite Thawne’s academic affectations, it’s much more straight-forward than the technobabble at the beginning of the last issue.
Also: a couple of items bring home the fact that this entire miniseries (or at least what we’ve seen so far) takes place in the space of one day. The first issue established a number of celebrations and parades that were going to happen later that day — and this issue, one of the battles crashes through that parade.
I don’t think I can say much more without giving away plot points, so be warned: Spoilers after the cut.
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June 12, 2009
I’m saving up links to reviews of Flash: Rebirth #3, and I’ll post them in a few days. For now, here are some other Flash-related items I’ve stumbled across lately.
Crimson Lightning has the results from the latest poll, and respondents overwhelmingly wanted to see Max Mercury return. The next poll will be up soon, but first, they want your Flash casting ideas in the event of a Flash movie!
The Absorbascon‘s latest things that made me happy includes a couple of items from Flash: Rebirth #3.
4thletter! ponders Red Robin as compared to the days of Young Justice: “Remember when Tim Drake was a skinny little dork? And Superboy was even skinnier and dorkier? And Wonder Girl and Impulse were the skinniest and dorkiest of all? And they hung out together having skinny, dorky adventures?”
ComicsAlliance talks about rooting against the big guy in Flash: Rebirth #3.
The Beat looks at DC’s April sales, putting the success of Flash: Rebirth #1 (102K) in context with the last two Flash relaunches: Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 (120K) and All-Flash #1 (98K), noting that “neither one of them had the benefit of the company’s most popular creator, as Rebirth arguably does.”
Every time I compare two photos of the same scene, one taken with a flash and one without, I always think of this joke. The image has been floating around long enough that I don’t know who made it.
June 11, 2009
Well, the good news is that this issue does read better the second time through. I’ve re-read Flash: Rebirth #1 and #2, then read #3 again. Oddly enough, I liked the first two issues better the first time through than the second, and like this one better the second time through than the first read.
The bad news is that the cliffhanger still leaves me cold.
Now it could just be relaunch fatigue. The excitement of “Geoff Johns is back! With Ethan Van Sciver!” has worn off by now, and in a sense the actual relaunch isn’t going to be for another four months or more. Flash: Rebirth isn’t so much a new direction as it is the process of changing course. It’s not the new house, it’s the act of remodeling. And you know, it would be nice to actually move into that house instead of watch the contractors working on it.
But the main purpose of Flash: Rebirth is to convince people that the new direction is worth their time. People are asking, “Why should I get involved with a series that DC has relaunched 3 times in the last 3 years? Why should I let myself get attached to this new direction when they change it every 6 months? Why should I let myself get attached to the main character when they replace him every year?” By going back to Barry Allen, the one character whose resurrection was not an option for more than 20 years, they’re making a commitment: “This time, we really mean it!” In theory, that should clear away the baggage the Flash has accumulated over the last 3 years and leave it on the same level as any other comics launch.
Which still leaves hooking the readers on the Flash, and hooking them on Barry Allen.
I don’t think I can really go into the rest of the issue without spoilers, so… you’ve been warned! Read the rest of this entry »
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.
October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween, everyone! Here’s the cover to Impulse #44 (January 1999) by Craig Rousseau and Wayne Faucher, featuring everyone’s favorite hyperactive teen speedster bringing home treats from around the world… much to his guardian Max Mercury’s dismay. (cover image via GCD)
