Tag Archives: Secret Origin

How Might THE FLASH Relaunch After FLASHPOINT?

DC keeps reminding us that this week’s The Flash #12 is the final issue of the series. But we all know that the series is coming back, one way or another. The Flash is one of DC’s foundational* series that only ever gets canceled to pave the way for a relaunch.

So we know The Flash will be back in some form after Flashpoint. But how?

Main Series

Most likely it’ll be called The Flash, and as long as Dan Didio and Geoff Johns are in charge it’s a safe bet that it’ll star Barry Allen. The question is, will it be…

Flash vol.4 #1 (a straight relaunch)
Flash vol.3 #13 (picking up where they left off)
Flash with some sort of combined numbering.

For that last option, I added the series up a while back and came up with ways they could launch at #625 or #630. There’s also the Flash #351 approach some people have suggested, which is odd, because it includes both the Golden and Silver Age numbers but skips over the last 25 years of Flash comics.

If Flashpoint is a big turning point for the Flash, they might go for a new title, maybe All-Flash vol.2 #1 (Gotta keep those titles in trademark!)

Who will write it? Geoff Johns could. He’s said he can do 3 monthly books, and with Brightest Day over, he’s committed to Green Lantern and Aquaman. But he’s also busy with his job as Chief Creative Officer. Could it be time for someone else?

How about art? After the way things went with this run, it probably won’t be Francis Manapul on the next ongoing. Scott Kolins seems to found a niche as the go-to-guy for “quick draw” Flash books, so he might return full-time. Or we might see someone entirely new.

When will it start? Most likely it’ll launch right after Flashpoint (or 3 months later to keep spoilers out of solicitations), but DC might run a miniseries first.

Spinoffs

Secret Origin. Geoff Johns has said on several occasions that he wants to do Flash: Secret Origin, and at last year’s Baltimore Comic Con it was suggested that it would follow the second story arc on The Flash. (At the time, my guess was that Secret Origin would run through the main title while Flashpoint ran in its own miniseries, though that obviously isn’t happening.) I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he and Francis Manapul started working on this behind the scenes during Flashpoint, with Flash: Secret Origin launched as a miniseries after Flashpoint concludes. If that happens, I’d guess that DC will wait until Secret Origin is finished before relaunching The Flash again.

Kid Flash. At SDCC 2009, Geoff Johns announced plans for a Kid Flash series by Sterling Gates, launching in 2010 alongside the Flash relaunch. This was eventually scrapped, though Gates is writing the Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost miniseries. If it sells well, I would not at all be surprised to see a Kid Flash ongoing spin out of the event.

Speed Force. At SDCC 2010, Geoff Johns announced plans for a second Flash series, Speed Force, featuring Wally West and Bart Allen, launching in 2011. Most likely this would be a rotating cast like JSA Classified. It’s only occasionally been mentioned since then, and unlike Kid Flash, it doesn’t have as obvious a hook from Flashpoint…that we know of.

Chances are that we’ll see Speed Force or Kid Flash spin out of Flashpoint, but not both.

Flash: Secret Origin sounds like a good bet, though, whether before the new ongoing series launches or side by side with it.

*To use Grumpy Old Fan’s term for those books that are essentially cancellation-proof, since they’ve been in publication almost continuously since 1960 or longer.

Flash Hints from Baltimore & Toronto: Flashpoint in Adventure, Secret Origin – UPDATED

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This weekend features two comic book conventions: the comics track at FanExpo in Toronto, and Baltimore Comic Con. DC has had a presence at both, splitting their events between Dan Didio in Toronto and Ian Sattler in Baltimore.

CBR covers FanExpo’s DC Nation without revealing any Flash news, though they did plug Francis Manapul’s role on the TV show Beast Legends.

@liabrown1 caught a few bits of info at today’s DC Universe panel:

Flash will intro a new character in the 2nd story arc. Afterwards will be Secret Origins. #
Flashpoint will greatly affect the Justice League, but otherwise DiDio refused to talk about it. #
On Adventure Comics: currently the Legion, then Flashpoint, then a new char will lead the book. #

Update: CBR’s FanExpo DC Universe report is now online.

Newsarama covers Baltimore’s DC Nation with a live-blog, including this exchange:

Q: Is Sterling Gates’s Kid Flash book coming out?
Gates: nope.
Sattler: “But we have something really cool in its place that we can’t talk about.”

They may be talking about the second Flash book, Flash: Speed Force, that Geoff Johns leaked/announced in San Diego. (I got the impression that they weren’t quite ready to announce it at the time.) Or they may have something else in the works.

Update: CBR’s Baltimore DC Nation report is up as well.

Update (Monday): a bit more news from DC’s Sunday Conversation (Baltimore, via CBR):

Where should fans of Wally West be directing their attention? “It’s coming,” Gates said. “Geoff Johns is world-building for Barry Allen right now.”

Yeah, and tomorrow is a rest day. As much as I’m enjoying the new series, I’m really cynical when it comes to DC’s treatment of Wally West these days.

Update (Monday): ComicsAlliance’s FanExpo DC Nation write-up includes Dan Didio explaining that “the constant reinventing of the same characters was getting confusing and factionalizing our audience,” so they decided to pick one Flash, one Atom, etc. and standardize on the “classic” version.

Never mind that in some cases, the “classic” version was dead or retired before they made this decision, and never mind the fact that they also insist that Blue Beetle Ted Kord will stay dead, and Renee Montoya will continue to be the Question. And I don’t see Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, either. So the explanation doesn’t quite add up.

Flash Secret Origin Planned

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The new issue of Comic-Con Magazine (originally the newsletter for Comic-Con International) is up, with a focus on comic book writers and an extensive interview with Geoff Johns. At one point, the interviewer asks about a Flash: Secret Origin story.

I will be doing the Flash Secret Origin. He’s never had a secret origin book….with Green Lantern Secret Origin, it’s a book now and that book actually outsells the other GL trades because you look at it if you’re in a bookstore or whatever and that’s the first one you’ll pick up because it looks like that’s the first volume….the Flash Secret Origin will be one of those books that you can hand to anybody.

Johns has previously said that he’d like to do a Secret Origin of the Flash, but it sounds a lot more definite now. Though of course, we’ve seen DC’s plans for the Flash change many times over the last few years.

He doesn’t say when the story will be told, or whether it will be in the main book like Green Lantern: Secret Origin or in a separate miniseries like Superman: Secret Origin.

I wouldn’t agree that the Flash has never had a secret origin book, though. Certainly Mark Waid & Brian Augustyn’s The Life Story of the Flash would fit the bill. Yes, it’s 13 years old now, and Geoff Johns has wiped out the entire first third of the book with Eobard Thawne’s time travel shenanigans in Flash: Rebirth, but it does exist. Unless Superboy-Prime somehow punched it out of existence. I should go check my longboxes and make sure it’s still there… 😀

Tip of the hat to @SpeedsterSite for catching this!

Flash May Get “Secret Origin” Treatment

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Buried in a Newsarama interview about Superman: Secret Origin, Geoff Johns remarked that he’d like to do more “Secret Origin” stories…with the Scarlet Speedster his first choice for number 3.

My hope is to continue these, most likely with The Flash: Secret Origin, which would include the beginning of the Rogues as well.

Personally, I’d rather see some genuinely new stories for a while instead of yet another origin retread. The series has been (in my opinion) far too focused on the past for several years now. Bring back Wally West. Bring back Barry Allen. Spackle the Rogues’ actions during Countdown. Bring back Bart Allen. Bring Back Professor Zoom. Bring back Max Mercury. Retcon Barry’s childhood, early career, and the nature of the Flashes’ powers. Explain Barry’s bow tie.

(Also: he’s already written origins for at least five of the Rogues — six if you count Trickster II.)

Geoff Johns makes the point that origin stories serve as starting points for new readers, but I think The Flash #1 would also be a good place to start. And while I can’t speak for new readers, this long-time reader would like to see something that he hasn’t already read in half a dozen variations.

(Thanks for Fastest for the link.)