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 12, 2010
The Source has posted more detail on Spring 2011 collections.
We already knew that the hardcover edition of The Flash: The Dastardly Deaths of the Rogues was coming out next February, but there’s been a slight change. Earlier reports showed it featuring The Flash #1-7 and The Flash Secret Files 2010, but now DC is saying that it collects The Flash #1-6 and The Flash Secret Files 2010. This makes more sense, because it lines up exactly with the first story arc instead of extending one issue beyond it. On the other hand…
The Flash: Rebirth paperback is scheduled for April, and someone forgot that the miniseries was six issues long and not five! I guess we shouldn’t rely too much on the numbers here.
Other books
Additionally, the Justice League International trade paperbacks start collecting Justice League Europe with volume 5. Flash Wally West was a founding member of that branch of the League, based at first in Paris and later in London. This volume features two JLI annuals and the first six issues of JLE. The next two issues are actually part of a JLA/JLE crossover, “The Teasdale Imperative,” which picks up where the previous volume left off collecting Justice League America. I’d guess that volume 6 will feature that crossover and some mix of the two series.
Justice League of America: The Rise and Fall collects the “Fall of Green Arrow” and “Rise of Arsenal” storylines spinning out of JLA: Cry for Justice. Barry Allen appears in the Green Arrow story.
There’s a new Showcase volume of Justice League of America.
I think Kid Flash Bart Allen is in Teen Titans: The Hunt for Raven.
Flash Barry Allen appears in at least the opening chapters of Brightest Day Vol.1.
Justice League of America: Dark Things covers the JLA/JSA crossover that just started, featuring Flash Jay Garrick and Jesse Quick.
June 29, 2010
Today, DC released some major Wonder Woman news: a new costume designed by Jim Lee and a new direction for the series as J. Michael Straczynski takes over.
To sum up: Persons unknown have altered Wonder Woman’s history so that Paradise Island was wiped out 20 years ago. Diana has no memory of the original timeline, doesn’t have her full powers yet, and needs survive, help other refugee Amazons, find out who destroyed Paradise Island and find out whether the timeline can be restored.
All-New, All-Different!
I’m always apprehensive when a new writer picks up an established character and the first thing he does is to remove some key element of the character. Like the Flash’s speed (Geoff Johns’ first Flash story, “Wonderland”). Or Superman’s flight (JMS’ first Superman arc, “Grounded”). I understand it might help the writer get inside the character’s head: what is he or she like without the powers? But it always feels like shoehorning some other idea onto the character. Why did you want to write the Flash if you didn’t want to write about a guy who runs fast?
That said, for all that DC is pushing this as a “new direction,” to me this description reads more like a major story arc. I mean, there’s an end point right there in the description: find out who did it and see if it’s possible to change things back. Given the timing of the comics themselves and the time-travel elements to the story, I suspect this is going to be linked to Flashpoint.
Retcon Fever
It’s worth comparing to Flash: Rebirth, actually. In both cases, someone within the fictional universe has gone back in time and altered the main character’s history. With Diana, we know before the first issue is out. With Barry Allen, only long-term readers knew anything had been changed to begin with. It wasn’t clear that there was an in-story explanation for it until the miniseries was almost over. Even then, the prospect of undoing the changes was only floated long enough to be dismissed as impossible.
Most importantly: changing Diana’s history drastically alters who she is today. That’s a story. Once you get past the doom-and-gloom Barry of Flash: Rebirth #1-3, the changes to his history don’t seem to have made much difference in the present.
May 30, 2010
Some art-related linkblogging…
Yildiray Cinar draws an impressive Reverse Flash (via @SpeedsterSite)
There’s a new Rogue in town…a new Rogues blog, that is: The Rogues Kick Ass (via @liabrown1). So far, it’s mostly comedic scans from published comics. (Context? What context?)
This is Knutz presents: The Rogues as kittens. (via @SpeedsterSite) Hilarious!
The Best Comic Covers looks back on the 9 Best Superman vs Flash Covers.
Various people at DC Comics weigh in on their favorite DC covers. Dan Didio’s is Michael Turner’s Flash #207 (via @SpeedsterSite).
Last week, Once Upon a Geek posted a series of poster galleries, including the JSA, Flash, Green Lantern, Sandman, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and more.
Behind the Scenes
Francis Manapul has been posting a lot of Flash art on Twitter lately: the uncolored art for the Flash #5 cover and five pages from Flash #2.
Val Victory’s review of the Flash: Rebirth hardcover includes scans of Ethan Van Sciver’s discarded designs for Wally West’s new costume.
Lots of places have been posting about Wednesday Comics with the release of the hardcover this week. The Source has some of the extras, including art from Karl Kerschl’s Flash strip.
Comic Strips
OK, none of these strips are Flash-related… but I had to share them anyway.
Comic Critics points out that Gotham City is a bad place to open themed businesses.
Creebobby presents Batman after a bad night on patrol: Bat-Fail.
nedroid has been posting comic strips based on LOST, including Ben and Hurley #2: An Amazing Discovery. (via @TheNerdyBird)
May 6, 2010
Diamond has posted their top 100 comics for April 2010, and the new Flash relaunch takes the #2 spot…right after Brightest Day #0 and before Green Lantern #53.
Just one year ago, Flash: Rebirth #1 also started in the #2 spot for April.
Meanwhile, Flash Secret Files and Origins 2010 is way down the list at rank #43 by units sold. Clearly, a lot fewer people were interested in the background material than in the relaunch itself. Of course, Flash Secret Files also didn’t have the words “Brightest Day” above the title.
Sales estimates will probably be out in another week or so. It’ll be interesting to compare the number of actual copies sold to Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: The Flash. For now, here are the sales and rankings for the past year.
April 27, 2010
The collected edition of The Flash: Rebirth comes out this week, along with a JLA hardvocer and a couple of new releases.
Flash: Rebirth Hardcover
Written by Geoff Johns; Art and cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, the writer/artist team behind the blockbuster GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH and THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR, create an explosive, jaw-dropping epic that reintroduces Barry Allen as The Flash in this hardcover collecting the fast-paced 6-issue miniseries. But how will this greatest of all Flashes find his place in the twenty-first century?
DC Universe · 168pg. · Color · Hardcover · $19.99 US
Buy it at your local comic shop this week, or order it from Amazon, who’ll have it next week.
As I recall, extras include character designs, such as some of the drafts Ethan Van Sciver went through when redesigning Wally West’s costume, and attempts to draw Iris Allen showing her age a bit more than the “hot Iris” she became.
(I have to ask one thing: Did the copywriter who called this miniseries “fast-paced” actually read the book? It was a slow burn that didn’t really get going until issue four.)
Also This Week
Flash: Rebirth isn’t the only hardcover coming out this week, or the only DC book to feature one of the Fastest Men (and Women) Alive.
April 13, 2010
With Flash: Rebirth complete, we can take a look at the changes the series made to the Flash mythos. I listed a lot of them in my review of issue #6 (resurrections, costume/identity/power changes, the re-imagining of the speed force itself, etc.), but I want to look at a specific set of changes: What the Reverse-Flash did to Barry Allen’s past, and the ripple effect from those changes.
Note that I’m specifically looking at things that contradict previous stories, not those that add new details that can be considered to have been hidden.
Spoilers for Flash: Rebirth, of course.
Read the rest of this entry »
April 8, 2010
The 2010 Eisner Award nominees have been announced. One Flash story has been nominated, as have two of the Flash’s long-term writers.
Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
- Brave & the Bold #28: “Blackhawk and the Flash: Firing Line,” by J. Michael Straczynski and Jesus Saiz (DC) (reviewed here)
Best Writer
- Geoff Johns — Adventure Comics, Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin (DC)
- Mark Waid — Irredeemable, The Incredibles (BOOM!)
Waid’s Irredeemable is also up for Best Continuing Series and Best New Series, and cover artist John Cassaday is up for Best Cover Artist.
March 15, 2010
A whole bunch o’ linkblogging:
Art!
The webcomic LOST in Comics does a strip that reverses a scene from the TV show, and has Superman and the Flash discussing Hurley and Charlie.
Blake Sims draws the Flash.
Comics Alliance: What if comic books had titles based on what you say about them?
Dreamers Muse has a bunch of Flash icons.
Reviews!
Pop Matters on The Real Return of Barry Allen:
But secretly, the most rewarding element of the limited series has been the delays. To misdirect attention from his super-powers, Barry Allen would make a point of always arriving late. True to form, the publication delays add a hint of Barry Allen charm, making his public wait, just that little while longer.
The Daily P.O.P. reviews Flash: Rebirth as a whole.
Hello Kello writes: What I Learned from Flash: Rebirth.
Collected Editions reviews Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., Geoff Johns’ first DC work.
Commentary!
Screen Rant considers: What Will The Flash Movie Be About?
At the Hall of Justice annotates Blackest Night: The Flash #3.
Comic Book Revolution asks: Would you read a comic if the writer left?
CSBG/Lorendiac’s Lists takes a look at 11 Methods of Target Acquisition – in short, just how do super-heroes and supervillains end up in the same place to have those slugfests?
And finally, totally off-topic…here’s a picture of an Office Depot truck with an Autobot symbol.
I’m imagining Optimus Prime working out some sort of advertising deal to help bring in some revenue.
March 14, 2010
Remember that placeholder cover DC used when they solicited Flash: Rebirth #6 to avoid spoilers? Apparently Ethan Van Sciver scrapped that one unfinished, because he’s offering it on Facebook in an art contest.
To the right of the fully-drawn figure of Barry Allen, he’s added the new Impulse, a sketchy figure who appears to be Kid Flash, and a really sketchy figure who could be anyone (though I’m guessing Wally West — he may have scrapped the cover before he finished designing the new costume). The left side of the page is still empty.
Edit: Apparently not everyone can see the image, so here’s a smaller copy of what he’s posted.
