Speed Force

Some recent sightings of Flash history around the web.

4thletter!’s 4×4 Elements series looks at what made “Blitz” work.

Two more Flash moments appear in Comics Should Be Good’s list of 75 Memorable Moments in DC History: Barry Allen’s sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths and the first Superman/Flash race.

Bleeding Cool noticed a similarity between the universe-changing conclusion of Spider-Man’s “One More Day” and a story point in Flash’s “Hell to Pay,” and asked, “Where was the outrage when Wally West did the same thing?” Hmm, on one hand you have someone who makes a deal with the devil to retcon away 15 20 years of stories and create a new status quo that has lasted three years so far. On the other hand, you have someone who makes a deal with the devil for the sake of a story, and he finds a way to beat the Devil at his own game the next issue. Yeah, they’re totally the same.

Random Happenstance’s series on 1999′s JLApe event continues with a summary of the Flash installment, featuring Max Monkey and Chimpulse.

The Hooded Utilitarian, after reading Flash: Rebirth, decides to go back and read some Silver-Age Flash starting with Showcase #4.

Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash, originally uploaded by Kelson.

I spotted this trio in the crowd on Saturday, but was too dazed to even try to ask for a photo (not that there would have been any room for them to pose). Luckily, I ran into them again in the lobby on Sunday.

I’m almost done uploading my Comic-Con photos to Flickr, though it’ll be a while before they’re all properly labeled.

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Flash on the iPad, originally uploaded by Kelson.

A page from Superman #700…but the closest yet I’ve seen to official Flash on the iPad!

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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)

Writer Cary Bates is responsible for the entire Bronze Age of the Flash, but has been missing from the DC Universe since the early 1990s. This August he returns with Superman: The Last Family of Krypton, a 3-issue Elseworlds miniseries (remember those?) about what might have happened if Jor-El and Lara had escaped Krypton along with their infant son Kal-El, and the whole family had arrived on Earth. Renato Arlem handles the art, with covers by Felipe Massafera.

This Elseworlds project, one of very few in recent years, has been in the works almost as long as Bates’ first foray into comics after a decades-long absence, the 2008 Marvel miniseries True Believers. Dan Didio mentioned it at Wizard World Chicago that same year!

Two weeks’ worth of linkblogging, so you’ll probably have seen a lot of these by now…

Commentary

Multiversity Comics presents A Crisis of Chronology: The Flash, as well as thoughts on early solicitations in a digital age.

Silver Age Gold presents: I Hate the Flash’s Girlfriend, all about Iris West! Silver Age Comics responds: Ending with Iris.

Art

slaterman23 has a Flickr set featuring vintage-style DC Comics posters (via The Nerdy Bird).

Paxton Holley has found a comic in which Superman Becomes the Flash (Action Comics #314, 1964)

Chris Samnee sketches Flash vs. Captain Cold at C2E2.

Mr. Maczaps presents Death in the form of the Black Flash.

Bobby Timony draws Jay Garrick (also at C2E2).

By now you’ve probably all seen this visual pun on Flash and the iPad using Alex Ross’ art.

The Top Cow Panel at C2E2 has some incredible samples of Kenneth Rocafort’s art from the upcoming Velocity miniseries.

seanicus found a Japanese Flash T-Shirt.

Karl Kerschl’s webcomic, The Abominable Charles Christopher, is coming to print.

The webcomic Comic Critics tackles Greg Rucka leaving DC.

Other

Comic Book Resources has put together a Comics Twitter Directory

Cinema Spy considers how the new status quo seen in Flash #1 might influence the Flash movie.

So, DC is finished with their week of announcements for 2010. I figured I should jot down some of my thoughts.

Earth One OGN Series: I like the concept, but I’m not particularly interested in the Superman or Batman books. I’m mildly curious about how JMS will approach Superman, but my real interest is in what happens when it expands beyond Superman and Batman. Give me a series of Flash graphic novels and I’m there. More thoughts on the concept and the name.

War of the Supermen: Sorry, I can’t get enthused about this one.

Wonder Woman #600: While numbering is trivial compared to story and art, there are very few characters who have been in near-continuous publication for the last 70 years. It’s nice to acknowledge that.

Of course, then there’s the question of how The Flash should be numbered, considering that they’ve relaunched several times with new characters.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne: I was kind of hoping they’d take a little more time with Dick Grayson as Batman before bringing back Bruce, but they seem to be treating it like the Death of Superman, Knightfall, or Artemis as Wonder Woman. (And yet somehow, today’s readers detest the 1990s. I don’t get it.) Still, Batman lost in time sounds like fun. I’ll probably pick this one up, though I might wait for the trade.

Marc Guggenheim on Action Comics: I think he made the best of a bad situation on Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, given that he was brought on board to do one thing: kill Bart Allen.

Francis Manapul & Geoff Johns on Flash: No really new info here, but I’m definitely liking Manapul’s art. (Covered here.) Overall, I’m still in wait-and-see mode. I had hoped to have a better sense of what The Flash post-Rebirth was going to look like by now, or that Flash: Rebirth itself might have won me over.

Legacies, History of the DCU, and Who’s Who: If they had only announced one of these three, I’d definitely be getting it. With three, I’m not sure…especially since Legacies is going to be 10 issues (the initial post only said 7) and Who’s Who will be 15 (the initial post only said 12). Though it’s not clear whether The History of the DC Universe will be a new book or simply a “new edition” (i.e. reprint). Legacies looks like it could be very interesting, as long as it doesn’t get too hung up on explaining things. If I could only choose one, I’d probably get Who’s Who and pick up the issues of Legacies that cover the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era.

The Rise of Arsenal and The Fall of Green Arrow: I’m sure there’s an audience for this out there, but it’s not me. It looks like everything I don’t like about today’s DC in one place. At least it’ll be easy to avoid.

So, there you have it: My take on the DCU in 2010. How about you? Which projects do you find appealing?

This morning, DC announced the first two volumes in Earth One, a new series of original graphic novels set in a new continuity. The first two books will be Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, and Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank.

It’s being discussed all over the place, so I’ll just state my initial thoughts.

The Positives

First, I love the idea of a series of OGNs. There’s a huge potential audience out there in bookstores, and while collected editions help meet that audience, there are drawbacks — particularly pacing (when read serially) and the fact that waiting for the trade means missing out on the fan conversation. It works for prose novels, it works for Scott Pilgrim, it works for manga (even if it was originally serialized in Japan, it may as well be OGNs as far as the American audience is concerned), and it’s good to see DC taking the concept seriously.

Second, an Ultimate-style reboot of the DC Universe is a good idea. 80 years of continuity, multiple “soft” reboots, heroes who have been replaced, then come back, major events based on short stories from 25 years ago…the modern DC Universe is a complicated place. A project that reaches out to a new audience is a good opportunity to streamline things without messing with the monthly continuity.

Third, I like the Batman redesign.

The Negatives

It makes sense to start with Superman and Batman, because these are two characters that everyone is familiar with, even those who don’t read comics. But they’re starting with the origin stories. Who doesn’t know Superman’s origin? Or Batman’s? With any other character, I’d say it would be worth starting with an origin, but with these two, it might be better to jump in at the deep end and fill in the backstory as they go along.

If they keep the series going, it won’t be a problem, but I can see it being a problem for the first volumes. It reminds me of the choice for the movie of The Golden Compass to rip out the ending and move it to the start of the second movie. It definitely hurt the first movie, and probably contributed to the fact that there won’t be a second movie.

It also makes me worry that, like so many rebooted series, they’ll eventually turn to retelling older stories instead of telling new ones.

The Earth One branding seems…a little obtuse. It means nothing to the new audience, and judging by comments I’ve seen, it’s already confusing the existing DC audience. [Edit: expanded a bit more in that link.]

Uncertainty

I can’t reach the AICN interview, but CBR’s article quotes Geoff Johns as saying that the plan is for two novels a year. Two total? Or two per character? If these take off, two per character would be a much better approach, especially if they expand it to Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, and beyond.

Comics Alliance has a couple of Flashy items: First, a page from the Shortpacked! coloring book: Batman Can Breathe In Space, But Not The Flash.

Second: they look back at a pair of Baby Ruth commercials from the 1990s, featuring Hawkman and an obvious Flash stand-in called the Blur. They have a video clip of the Blur commercial. Fun fact: The Blur was played by Tim Thomerson, who played Barry Allen’s brother Jay in the pilot episode of the 1990 Flash TV show.

Speaking of the Flash TV series, it makes Comic Book Movie’s list of Top Ten Most Accurate Live Action Superhero Costumes

The Secret of Wednesday’s Haul contrasts Ethan Van Sciver and Carmine Infantino in their approaches to conveying speed.

noscans_daily has a Flash Appreciation Post focusing on the character from the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited TV series.

A Trout in the Milk reviews Wednesday Comics and asks the question: “What have we learned?”

InTylerWeTrust82 casts Superman and the Flash, with some interesting choices for the heroes, their supporting casts, and selected villains.

What Were They Thinking? has an example of Golden Age Flashdickery. Jay Garrick was a bit of a prankster in those days…

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.)