November 5, 2009
To this day it’s not really clear how far ahead the 2007 death of Bart Allen and return of Wally West (not to mention the subsequent return of Barry Allen in 2008) were planned.
Interviews with Mark Waid and Marc Guggenheim at the time made it clear that it was in the works “nearly a year ago,” and definitely before Guggenheim took over as writer. Dan Didio has suggested it was their plan all along, though many fans find this idea suspect, and find it more likely that it was put in place after the first few issues of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive failed to catch on with readers.
While looking for something in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1, I noticed something interesting in the Barry Allen dream/origin sequence:
It shows Barry’s death, along with the Black Flash, who figured prominently in the last few issues. And that last remark: “Will you ever outrun the shadow, Bart?”
It could simply be setting the dark mood that pervaded the beginning of Bart’s run. On the other hand, maybe they did have this planned all along.
Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings.
October 1, 2009
A brief exchange from The Flash 80-Page Giant #1 (1998).
The setup: The DCU version of comic book writer Mark Millar is interviewing the Flash to get ideas for his next script. Apparently DC Comics exists in the DCU, but they publish stories about “real world” heroes. As you can see, they don’t know all the details—like their secret identities—and have to fill in the gaps themselves.
Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings.
In 1998 it was a play on the title of DC’s biggest ever crossover event. In 2004, it was the title of DC’s latest big crossover event.
September 19, 2009
Comic Cavalcade was an anthology series that ran from 1942 until 1954, publishing super-heroes and other adventures for the first six years. Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Lantern were the headliners. DC has reprinted the first three issues as The Comic Cavalcade Archives, Vol. 1. (At 100 pages per issue, it’s still a pretty big collection!) I bought a copy, mainly for the Flash stories, and it finally arrived yesterday.
I read a few of the stories this afternoon, and these panels from the Green Lantern story in issue 1, “The Adventures of Luckless Lenore,” made me laugh out loud.
Green Lantern’s sidekick, Doiby, has been trying to romance Lenore, whose “bad luck” seems to be engineered. At this point he’s been captured. I didn’t even notice the name of the bar the first time through, it was the menu that caught me off-guard. Read the rest of this entry »
September 18, 2009
Comic Coverage posted a humorous look at the role smoking had in the Golden-Age Flash’s origin. Jay Garrick was working late, took a cigarette break, and knocked over a beaker of “hard water.” Interestingly, later retellings of his origin downplayed and finally deleted the cigarette.
First, here are the original 1940 panels from Flash Comics #1 (copied from Comic Coverage), showing grad student Jay Garrick taking time out for a smoke:
Four decades later, in 1986, Secret Origins #9 would retell his origin. Mindful of the details, but also concerned about modern sensibilities about health, writer Roy Thomas kept the cigarette break, but added Jay thinking, “I know I should give up these things…”
A decade later, the cigarette had disappeared completely. Flash Secret Files #1 (1997) featured a condensed retelling of all three (at the time) Flashes’ origins, and this time, Jay simply succumbed to the hour and nodded off, dropping the beaker.
(Via Crimson Lightning)
Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings.
September 14, 2009
One of the characters I encountered early in my exploration of Golden Age Flash stories was Ebenezer Jones, the Worry Wart. In fact, All-Flash #24 (1946) was one of those first two GA Flash books I bid on just to see if I could win. The story in that book referred to previous meetings. If it had been the Silver Age, it would have included a helpful editor’s note telling me “See issue #X,” instead of just a recap.
As I kept watching auctions and looking on sites like the Grand Comics Database, I identified at least two more appearances. I finally tracked down the last of the three in March, and was able to write up a bio of the character.
Who is the Worry Wart? In short, he was an ordinary man who had a case of anxiety so bad it was contagious.
There’s an odd subtext to the character’s stories, though. The reason he returns to Keystone City is that the Flash had previously set him up with a supply of “happiness pills,” which had run out. In Flash Comics #76 (1946), Ebenezer Jones deliberately overdoses on the happiness pills, causing a euphoric delirium just as contagious as his anxiety.
Looking back on this from 2007, it’s hard not to think of it in terms of the vast numbers of people today taking medications for depression or anxiety. Not to mention people who abuse prescription medications. Or just people who abuse drugs. There’s a disturbing drug-dealer vibe in that panel.
It gets better, though. In the Worry Wart’s first appearance, in All-Flash #15 (1944), the Flash makes him a serum to counteract his anxiety:
Yes, that’s right. The Flash gives him a bottle, and he drinks his cares away. No subtext here!
Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings.
September 11, 2009
A repost from 2005.
I’ve never really considered Noble Causes’ Race Noble to be a reference to the Flash beyond sharing the speedster archetype—especially since the Nobles owe a lot to the hero family concept pioneered by the Fantastic Four—but a scene from Noble Causes #6 has me ready to change my mind.
The Nobles are both heroes and celebrities. Race, the middle child, shocked his parents—and the world—by marrying an ordinary bookshop owner instead of another super-hero. At this point, Liz has become completely overwhelmed by the life she has chosen, and needed to take some time off. Read the rest of this entry »
August 28, 2009
Last night I logged into Twitter and found myself in the middle of a storm in which people were posting joke names for speedsters. It all started when Geoff Johns posted the following:
- @GeoffJohns0: RT @Brainiacphive Hello. I have a name for you for a Flash character: Speed Date. #newspeedsters
Well, people went with it! You can read them all at #newspeedsters until the posts drop off of Twitter search’s radar in a few weeks. Some of my favorites:
- jonahlantern: this one is easy. Bad guy team. Jamaican, with ice powers on top of speed. Cool Runnings.
- blacaucasian: Runs Really Fast. Because he runs really fast.
- mgrabois: Usain Bolt (a popular suggestion, but I think this was the first)
- jester1436: Quickstep and Foxtrot
- MarkWaid: Charlie Hustle
- Knippenberg: Captain 23-Skidoo
- mattfraction: Th Flsh (@shanajeanh remarked, “too fast for vowels?” )
- Mike2112McKone suggested several, including: Zip, Zap, Whoosh, Reverb, Skid and iSpeed.
- Bart_Allen: All Day I Dream About Speed- another corporate sponsored speedster (in response to my suggestion of Sprint – and in case you’re wondering, look at the first letters.)
- ValVictory: Krackle and Pop as in the sounds of the speedforce (I suggested “The Sounds of the Speed Force” it sounded like a band, and VV agreed, saying “Anyone play bass?”)
- ValVictory: happy fun American run fast time man — That one is from overseas.
- ValVictory: Sir speeds a lot — The U.K. flash
- bobbynash: Fast Bastard
- housetoastonish: Speedy Alberto Gonzales – He’s Quick To Judge
Stephen Wacker chimed in with a number of characters based on people in the comics industry.
- Ran Didio. Slow-ey Cavalieri. Street Tomasi. Matt Traction. Slowing Gates. “On your Mark, get set, WAID!”
- I can’t stop….Drag Rucka. Ethan Van Slider. Slow Quesada. Richard Running. gRANt. Chasin’ Aaron. Axel Alonso.
And here are my own humble contributions:
- Mr. Zip, of course! (As in the panels from “The Return of Barry Allen.” I was really surprised no one had suggested it yet.)
- The Running Man
- Sprint(tm), the corporate-sponsored speedster
- The Hot Flash
- Zoom’s little brother, Vrooom
- Greased Lightning
- Spud Racer – the Mr. Potato-Head Flash.
- Theed Racer, the Flash from Naboo
- Race Windu. He’s powered by Force Speed instead of the Speed Force.
March 15, 2009
Comic Coverage is seeking help in solving an All-Flash Art Mystery — namely, this stippled portrait of the Flash from All-Flash #13 (reprinted in the 1973 Flash 100 Page Spectacular ) in a dramatically different style than regular artist E.E. Hibbard‘s usual (of which the faces in the border are more typical).
(My take: I don’t see any reason to believe it’s not Hibbard’s own work, judging by some of the panels he did for creator cameos and wildlife paintings he did in the years after his comics career. And in The Flash Companion, Tom Brevoort recalls being astonished by this page, and believes it to be Hibbard’s work.)
February 13, 2009
A recent post at Crimson Lightning with a boxy golden-age robot reminded me of this design from Flash Comics #52, “The Machine that Thinks Like a Man.”
The “mechanical brain” was basically a computer, but of course back in the 1940s, computers were mostly stuck in the realm of science-fiction (except for the occasional warehouse-sized monstrosity with less computing power than a modern calculator). It was built by scientific genius Evart Keenan, a recurring character who left Earth for the alien planet Karma so that his inventions wouldn’t call into the wrong hands. Oddly enough, his first appearance leads directly into the first appearance of the Thinker!
February 11, 2009
For those who have been wondering whether the original Flash, Jay Garrick, could exceed the speed of sound back in the Golden Age of comics…
Yes he could.
The speed of sound is roughly 340 meters per second (varying with humidity, altitude, etc.)
Earth revolves around the sun at roughly 30 kilometers per second.
So in that panel he was running at least 88 times as fast as the Flash: Rebirth promo claims was his top speed before he met Barry Allen.
Source: Flash Comics Miniature Edition (promo book taped to boxes of Wheaties in 1946), in which the Flash goes up against the one-off “Criminal From Tomorrow!” Dmane. And yes, that looks like the same stunt Superman pulled in the 1978 movie with Christopher Reeve.
I seem to remember that Jay reached the same levels of insanely impractical speeds that Barry did on a regular basis — this was just the first place I thought to look, since I remembered the time travel element.
