Speed Force

With the release of the Flash #1 preview, there’s been renewed talk about Iris Allen’s youth. After all, she lived long enough in the future to have children, watch them grow up, and have grandchildren, and when she came back with Bart, she looked visibly older: graying hair, crow’s feet, etc.

The question came up a lot when Flash: Rebirth launched last year, and I recall Ethan Van Sciver mentioning in one of his podcast interviews that he tried to draw her somewhat older, but that she and Barry didn’t look right together, so he and Geoff Johns decided to make her look closer to his age.

Now, there are a lot of reasons one can give for her looking 30 instead of 50 or 60: better medical care in the 31st century, the fact that she’s been transplanted into a new body at least once (don’t ask!), and the suggestion made in Flash: Rebirth #5 that exposure to the speed force keeps people young. This had actually been established before with Jay and to a lesser extent Joan Garrick.

Of course, it doesn’t explain why Iris would appear older in Flash vol.2 and Impulse, then younger in Flash: Rebirth and Flash vol.3, but since then, DC has established Superboy Punches, the “New Earth” rearrangement of history in Infinite Crisis, and Flash: Rebirth’s alterations of Barry Allen’s past — including how and when he and Iris met.

But let’s not forget: When she returned after an extended absence during Geoff Johns’ run on Wally West’s series, Iris made her entrance looking like this: Read the rest of this entry »

The conclusion of this miniseries — to the extent that it concludes, anyway — is more satisfying than the middle chapter. The story is more solid, and it’s visually more varied as characters with colors beyond black and blue join Blue Lantern Barry Allen onstage.

Speaking of color schemes, I noticed something interesting about the covers: they get progressively brighter. The first issue is mostly black and silver, with a dark blue logo outline. The second issue adds some color by putting Captain Cold in the center, and has a brighter logo outline. By the third issue, Blue Lantern Barry takes up the entire cover, and the logo is again a tiny bit brighter. I don’t know whether it’s intentional, but it’s certainly thematic.

The story follows three main threads: The Rogues in Iron Heights; Captain Boomerang; and the Flashes.

The Rogues’ story gets the least attention this time around. Once again it picks up right where they left off, but instead of focusing on emotional manipulation, it’s basically a dungeon crawl as they try to work out something that will shut down the Black Lantern Rogues. It does, however, give away a little more about the resolution of Flash: Rebirth

Captain Boomerang’s story is a sad one, and while moving, I’m afraid it significantly damages the character for future use. More on this in the spoiler section.

This time around the Flashes’ story works best. Barry Allen is still dealing with an unfamiliar power set, but by this time he’s gotten accustomed to it, rather than spending the entire issue learning how to use the blue ring…plus there are other speedsters around to keep the “Fastest Man Alive” theme on track. There’s also a solid resolution to one of the major story elements from last month.

Of course, since this is a side story to a larger event, it ends — or rather stops — with a big “To be continued” sign as several characters head back into the main Blackest Night story, and the big question from issue #1 is left unanswered.

Spoilers below!

Read the rest of this entry »

DC has posted the main covers to three Blackest Night books including Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Scott Kolins’ cover to Blackest Night: The Flash #3. (The variant was posted last week.)

What do you know? It turns out they were keeping it under wraps to avoid spoiling Blue Lantern Barry Allen.

If there’s one thing that best describes Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins’ Blackest Night: The Flash #2, it’s “caught in the middle.” It’s the middle of a three-part story. It takes place between chapters of a larger story. It fits between the end of one Flash series and the beginning of another. It’s about people caught between life and death.

It’s also about mirror images, both in terms of opposites and in terms of forcing characters to look at themselves.

Unfortunately, it looks like this miniseries isn’t going to stand on its own very well, for the simple reason that it’s not a self-contained chapter of Blackest Night. Each issue is interleaved within other chapters of the larger story. The first issue brought readers up to speed with Blackest Night #4. This one doesn’t pick up where the last issue left off, but skips ahead and has to recap a couple of major events from Blackest Night #5 & #6.

That may be a big part of why I liked the Rogues’ story a lot better than the Flash’s: their story actually does seem to be a solid story, not a loose collection of scenes that fit between panels in another series. In that way, it reminds me a lot of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.

Of course, another reason I liked the Rogues’ story is that it’s hard to go wrong with Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins on the Rogues. As I mentioned last time, Johns’ grim-and-gritty storytelling and Kolins’ angular art style are perfectly suited for the hardened Central/Keystone criminals…and for the undead Black Lanterns.

And now…it’s spoiler time! Read the rest of this entry »

Blackest Night: The Flash: #1 shows how to start a Flash miniseries: by hitting the ground running. Literally. While Geoff Johns took a slow burn approach for Flash: Rebirth, this time he starts in media res, with the Flash racing around the world to let everyone know what Earth is up against: the dead are rising from their graves, possessed by Black Lantern rings.

The one-page opening sequence, followed by a dramatic double-page splash of the Flash running, serves another purpose: filling in readers who might not be familiar with the main Blackest Night miniseries. As someone who hasn’t been following the main event directly, I found this page extremely helpful. Similarly, I imagine the two-page recap of Flash: Rebirth would probably help anyone approaching this miniseries from the Blackest Night perspective get “up to speed” with the current status of the Flash.

Once the recaps are out of the way, the issue alternates between high-speed Flash vs. Black Lantern action and interludes of the Rogues as they prepare to face their dead comrades. It’s effective pacing, providing both contrast and a sense of weight to an issue that, despite the battles, is still mostly setup (more about that later).

Rogue Artist

I’ve probably said it before, but Scott Kolins’ art is a perfect fit for the grizzled Rogues. He proves equally well-suited to the undead Black Lanterns. Kolins also does a great job of conveying motion and stillness — important, since that contrast is one of the issue’s major themes. On the downside, there are places where his art comes off as too rough. A one-panel appearance of the Titans stands out as an example.

Connected

The story is surprisingly connected to Flash: Rebirth, following through on several elements established in that miniseries but not (at least as far as issue #5) resolved. It seems that Blackest Night: The Flash will be exploring the fallout from Rebirth’s changes, paving the way (one hopes) for more stand-alone stories in the new Flash ongoing that launches next year.

Even so, this issue feels less like setup and more like an actual story than the five issues of Flash: Rebirth that we’ve seen so far.

Okay. It’s spoiler time. If you don’t want to know specifics, stop reading now. Otherwise, keep reading after the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a busy week, and while I’ve got a couple of posts I’m working on, nothing’s quite close to ready. So what to do? Of course! Some mid-week linkblogging!

Interviews

Here are a couple of interviews with upcoming Flash artist Francis Manapul: one at Multiversity Comics, and one at Comic Book Resources. He talks about trying different ways to portray the hero’s speed, and adds:

…for me, the trickiest part is making sure my Barry Allen looks different from my Wally West. Having grown up with Wally, my natural portrayal of The Flash tends to look like him. As I get more familiar with Barry, I know I’ll get my footing and get it right.

Update: CBR has followed up by interviewing Scott Kolins, artist on Blackest Night: The Flash (starting in December) and the Wally West “second feature” stories in the upcoming monthly book.

Robot6 interviews Todd Dezago, former Impulse writer, on Perhapanauts and its recent Halloween Spooktacular. At the end he reveals what’s next for the series: another special in Spring, followed a few months later by the next major story: “Fourshadowing.” (After “First Blood,” “Second Chances,” and “Triangle.”)

Reviews

Weekly Crisis reviews a bunch of collections including Flash: Ignition.

Several sites have reviews last week’s Brave and the Bold starring Flash (Barry Allen) and the Blackhawks. The Savage Critics didn’t like it. 4thLetter really didn’t like it.

DoubleDCoverage reviews last week’s books including the DC Universe Halloween Special, which featured a Kid Flash story and a Flash vs. Superman race.

Commentary

Daily Scans finds it odd that, early in his career, Jay Garrick didn’t hide his identity very well.

IGN has posted an interview with editor Eddie Berganza about upcoming Blackest Night tie-ins, including a cover gallery of all the Blackest Night-related covers coming in December.

Including Blackest Night: The Flash, with a cover that looks…oddly familiar!

If you look at the full-sized image, you can see “Thanks, Ethan” under Scott Kolins’ signature. I’ve got to say, Kolins looks like a perfect choice for this mini.

Full solicitations will be out on Monday.

So who wants to start taking bets on which Flash is in the reverse pose?

Update: I didn’t notice at first, but the second page of the article has the solicitation text for the issue:

Blackest Night: The Flash #1

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Scott Kolins
Variant cover by Francis Manapul

The Flashes of Two Cities – Barry Allen and Wally West – battle the undead Rogues. Will the legendary speedsters be able to handle the Black Lantern Rogues’ revenge?

Plus, witness the resurrection of Barry’s greatest enemy, the Reverse Flash in this hyper-speed miniseries event reuniting the fan-favorite Flash creative team of Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins!

This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Scott Kolins), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Francis Manapul).

On sale December 2 – 1 of 3 – 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Notes: Francis Manapul, of course, was recently announced as the artist on the new, ongoing Flash series. And may I say I like the description of Barry and Wally as the “Flashes of Two Cities.”

DC made only a few Flash announcements at Comic-Con, but they were big ones!

• Blackest Night: Flash miniseries by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins — 3 issues starting in November December. (announced at the Geoff Johns Spotlight on Thursday) The book will star Barry, Wally, and a whole lot of dead Rogues. [Note: I was originally under the impression that the second round of Blackest Night tie-ins would launch in November, and at the panel I was focused on the official announcement and the people involved, so I missed the fact that the month was one syllable off from what I was expecting. DC has audio of the panel, and he did say December.]
• Flash ongoing series written by Geoff Johns, to start after Blackest Night: Flash. They’re not ready to announce the artist, but Geoff assures us that he’s “awesome.” (announced at DC Universe on Saturday)
• Kid Flash ongoing written by Sterling Gates. No artist or start date announced. (also announced at DCU panel)
• A new speedster will join the Flash family by the end of Flash: Rebirth (DCU again.)

I liveblogged both panels (though a technical glitch prevented the DCU post from actually going up at I wrote it, which really annoyed me), and there are some other remarks in those panels (and in DC Nation) that Flash fans might find interesting.

Comic Book Resources has an interview with Geoff Johns in which he talks about the Blackest Night miniseries and the ongoing series. The first story is called “The Dastardly Deaths of the Rogues,” and he says that “all the Flashes in the Flash Universe will be major players in both Flash books.” There’s a lot more at the interview, such as this:

In “Blackest Night: Flash,” it’s the Rogues versus the Black Lantern Rogues and Flash is caught in the middle. And Captain Cold will be facing off against Black Lantern Golden Glider.

Ouch…that’s going to be one nasty fight!

2008 was a busy, if tumultuous year for the Flash.

The Main Series

As 2008 opened, the Flash was just wrapping up the six-part story “The Wild Wests,” the relaunch featuring Wally West as head of the Flash family and introducing his super-powered twins, Iris and Jai. To put it mildly, it was not received well by fans, and former fan favorite writer Mark Waid quickly left the book.

After a one-shot by Keith Champagne, Tom Peyer picked up the regular writing chores and Freddie Williams II stayed on for the 6-part “Fast Money,” which resolved the twins’ super-speed aging problem and gave us a glimpse of an adult Iris West II.

The series wrapped up with the year, as Alan Burnett, Paco Diaz, and Carlo Barberi brought us “This Was Your Life, Wally West.” The four-part story arc looked back at Wally West’s career as Kid Flash, then the Flash, and his relationship with his wife Linda and their children.

Rogues’ Revenge

The Rogues’ Gallery were off-limits to start with, as they were off-planet for Salvation Run. Early in the year, DC released the news of Flash: Rogues’ Revenge, a miniseries that would spotlight them after they returned to Earth, going after Inertia for tricking them into killing the Flash. Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins would return to the speedster mythos for six issues.

By the time the series was launched, it had become Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge, and instead of six regular-sized issues it was three oversized issues.

Read the rest of this entry »

IGN is running an interview, the Geoff Johns Marathon, in which the writer talks about just about everything he’s working on, including Flash: Rebirth (via trmnlvlctyyy at Comic Bloc). Among other things, he writes:

Right now I’m looking at the Flash with Rebirth, and I want to see how I can make this mythology even bigger. It’s already huge. The Flash has an awesome base, so cracking it open even more has been an incredible challenge.

and

The Flash has always been my favorite character since I was a kid. And it’s fun to get back to writing Wally West. I wrote him for five years. To get back to him and then write Barry Allen. Like I said earlier, I get to take what I’ve learned over the last several years writing comics and apply it to the Flash. Because I started writing the Flash almost when I started writing comics, and now I get to look at everything I’ve done to this point and see how I can apply that onto my original work on the character. I want to continue to elevate my writing, and hopefully I’ll achieve that.

Newsarama interviews artist Scott Kolins on Faces of Evil: Grundy, which reunites him with Flash and Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge collaborator Geoff Johns.

Finally, MTV’s Splash Page wonders why Grant Morrison can’t talk about a Flash movie, given the number of NDAs he’s signed in connection with various film projects. [Edit: Since the original page has vanished, I'm attaching a quote from the Google cache so you can have a little context. Thanks, Rockin' Rich.]

“Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I can’t talk about,” Morrison said. “Yes, I have talked to them. I’m deeply involved in those discussions. I know what’s going down with all of that, and it’s actually really exciting. But beyond that, I can’t say anything. I wish I could tell you. I’m sure announcements will probably be made at some point, but I can’t say anything.”