Speed Force

Ah, rumors! First it was that DC would be renaming and renumbering their whole line to reflect the alternate reality of Flashpoint. Then, when the 15 tie-in miniseries were announced, people started hoping the regular books would go on hiatus to keep them from emptying their wallets.

Now, rumor site Bleeding Cool reports that DC will cancel a number of their lower-selling titles in order to make room in their publishing slate.

On one hand, it’s sad to see some of these titles rumored to get the axe in favor of an unrelated set of miniseries. On the other, the titles listed haven’t exactly been setting the shelves on fire, as this analysis of DC’s December sales shows. Flashpoint may have simply been the last nail, or just a convenient time.

And let’s be honest — this is still at the rumor stage. We’ll know more when May solicitations hit this afternoon.

As a reminder, we’re keeping track of the Flashpoint creative teams as they’re announced or leaked.

This is pure speculation, but it’s an interesting one. Bleeding Cool reports that DC Comics’ upcoming Flashpoint event will rename and renumber DCU titles all across the line, much as Marvel’s Age of Apocalypse retitled all of their X-Men titles for the duration of that alternate reality story.

Basically, that DC will change their publishing lineup to reflect the changes that (presumably) the Reverse-Flash makes in DCU history.

If they do it right, I think this could be fun. It reminds me of DC One Million, in which every DCU title jumped forward to issue #1,000,000 and either told a story about a future version of the lead character/team, or told a story about the character in the future (to varying degrees of success). The Armageddon 2001 and Legends of the Dead Earth annuals were similar (though A2001, IMO, was a more successful event), or perhaps the two http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/tangent.html”>Tangent Comics events in which DC released nine books as if they were first issues of new series detailing an alternate universe.

I guess the best comparison for a DC reader would be the Amalgam comics that took over a month on the DC & Marvel publishing schedules during the Marvel vs. DC event and its sequels: comics like Speed Demon, or the Uncanny X-Patrol, or Doctor Strangefate. Each was treated as a first issue of an ongoing, often with references to previous series featuring the characters.

Keep in mind that this is still a rumor: DC might not be planning this at all, or they might be planning a few miniseries to run alongside the regular monthly books like they did with Blackest Night, or they might be planning a single month like the resurrected titles last year.

Collider reports from Showest that Warner Bros. plans to use DC superheroes as the new “tent pole” big-event movies, taking the place the Harry Potter films have had for the past decade. Word is that the Flash is up next after Green Lantern, aiming for a 2012 release.

Greg Berlanti, recently rumored to be in the running for director, ducked the question when asked about the film.

Also of interest: Warner Bros. plans to release all of their tentpoles in 3D. I’m not sure how effective 3-D would be for the Flash or his usual Rogues Gallery, but it has some interesting possibilities if they toss in a brief fight with the Folded Man.

The project has been in development hell for years (Warner Bros. announced it in 2004), but with the new DC Entertainment organization, we’re finally starting to see movement.

(via It’s a Dan’s World, SpeedsterSite, and ComicsBlips)

Last week, the Titans Tower Monitor Room reported on a rumor, based on a message board post, of a Young Justice cartoon in development. It seemed far-fetched at the time, but more information surfaced, including possible character designs. (Note: the Monitor room moved to a new site today. It looks like everything’s been transferred, but here’s the original post from last Thursday, for completeness’ sake.)

Yesterday, Bleeding Cool picked up the story, and today it’s on Blog@Newsarama, MTV Splash Page, etc.

Reportedly the show will be Young Justice League (trading on name recognition?) and will feature Martian Girl (is that Miss Martian?), Aqualad, Nightwing (is Robin tied to the Batman license again?), Impulse, Arrowette, and Connor Kent as teenagers.

Honestly? I’ll believe it when I see it. But an animated Impulse would be great fun to watch.

Interestingly enough, Impulse was part of the original pitch to Kids WB! for the 2001 Justice League cartoon. I’d been under the impression that this footage was hard to find, but apparently it’s an easter egg on the “Paradise Lost” DVD.

Update (April): The show has been officially announced.

Edit: Thinking about it more, Brandan’s probably right. This was too sketchy to really bother posting. Even if it’s true, I probably misremembered the dates anyway. I’d delete the post, but on the internet that would paradoxically give it more attention.

Not much to report anyway: just someone overhearing a conversation which implied that WB marketing expected to start working on stuff related to the perpetually-in-development-hell Flash movie in the next couple of years, rather than just eventually.

While many fans seem to be taking it as given that Bart Allen will return in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, there’s been considerably less certainty as to where he might continue to appear afterward. Will he return to the present, or stay in the 31st century? Will he return as Impulse, Kid Flash, or the Flash? Will he appear on any sort of regular basis, or just be an occasional guest star?

Rumor column Lying in the Gutters suggests he might be staying with the Legion, or at least be available in that setting:

One San Diegoer tells me, “I was waiting at the Aspen booth at Comic-Con getting a sketch done by current Legion Artist Francis Manapul, when Geoff Johns came over and interrupted to talk to him for a second. Johns had a copy of…his first Teen Titans trade, and handed it to Manapul, which Manapul said, ‘I eventually did get my hands on a copy and read it last night.’ The two of them talked about Bart Allen for a couple of minutes, with Manapul being very complimentary of how he was written. Johns looked around, saw people were watching, and turned his back and the two of them continued to talk inaudibly for about 10 minutes about something before Johns left.

“Combine that with the vague question that Johns asked at one panel: ‘Does anyone miss Bart Allen?’ and there has to be something there.”

Rich Johnston gives the rumor a yellow light on his traffic-light scale of reliability, so even he isn’t sure what — if anything — the conversation means. It could mean absolutely nothing.