Tag Archives: Star Wars

Return of Long Beach Comic & Horror Con!

Yoda Is My Co-Pilot

I spent the first Saturday of November in Long Beach, California for the fourth annual Long Beach Comic and Horror Con. Despite the name change last year, the show remains focused on comics, and horror feels like an afterthought tacked on to fit with the Halloween timing of the show. (It makes me wonder whether they’ll return to the original name next year, when it’s held at the end of November.)

On the main floor, Artist’s Alley continues to be the centerpiece, both literally and figuratively. SDCC has been shoving the artist’s tables off to one end of the insanely-long hall, Wizard tends to put them in the back, and I hear NYCC put them in a different hall entirely (not quite behind a door labeled “beware of the leopard”), but Long Beach has always made a point of putting them right in the center. Publishers at the front, fan groups at the back, dealers to the sides, all wrapped around the artists….

Read the whole post at K-Squared Ramblings!

Speed Reading: Flash Deaths, Sightings, Pricing and More

Some linkblogging from the past couple of weeks:

Flashy Links

Newsarama interviews Francis Manapul on his work on The Flash.

Comics Bulletin presents the Top 10 Flash Deaths in order of how long they lasted.

A reader at Silver Age Comics discovers that Flash Comics #13 is different on Earth-One.

You’ve probably read about the thief who took Free Comic Book Day a bit too literally and tried to steal a $150 X-Men Omnibus…and was foiled by Spider-Man, two Jedi, and the Flash.

Speaking of FCBD, Chris Samnee has posted a FCBD sketch gallery featuring both Flash and Quicksilver.

Super Heroes

Comics Worth Reading’s Johanna Draper Carlson has some ideas for how to make super-hero comics interesting again

4thLetter’s David Brothers encourages you to focus on the stories, not the canon. Don’t buy something you don’t like just because it’s “important,” and don’t pass up other good stuff because it’s not.

Comics Alliance has a thought-provoking article on the racial implications of running legacies backward.

Grumpy Old Fan ponders the role of secret identities in DC comics from the Silver Age through the present.

Once Upon a Geek also reviews the DC Fandex guide (my review went up on Monday).

Comics in General

Westfield Comics’ KC Carlson explains how to meet artists without being talked about afterward, and offers suggestions for convention behavior.

LIFE has a photo gallery of people reading classic comic books from the Golden Age through the 1980s, including a boy reading Flash Comics in 1949. Nitpick: By 1949, the feature wasn’t about a “college student” with super-speed. Jay Garrick graduated during his origin story. (Link via Xian)

Collected Editions considers an increasingly common problem: the trade you want is out of print.

Multiversity Comics analyzes the impact of the shift from $2.99 comics to $3.99.

New Speedster Names (Humor)

Wally and Linda try to come up with new names for the third Flash. Lightning, Cheetah, Pegasus...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 #

Quicksilver? Very Taken.

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.

Linda suggests Mr. Zip.