May 22, 2012
In an interview posted on Friday, Flash co-writers Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato talked to comic book resources about the arc of their speedster saga. Going into this week’s first New 52 Grodd story, and upcoming reintroductions of Weather Wizard, Heat Wave and (Golden) Glider, the Flash team delved into the existing relationship between the Rogues and the road to September’s Flash Annual.
Manapul kicks things off by explaining the crescendo of the series thus far:
Francis Manapul: I think there’s a theme that the book is really about overwhelming the Flash. In the first arc, we created this villain who could really be in multiple places at once, so in that sense, the Flash is overwhelmed physically and also overwhelmed emotionally because of the fact that he’s [fighting] an old friend, a guy that he grew up with. It’s kind of an overwhelming time for Barry Allen, having discovered that the weight of the world is on his shoulders. On top of that, the Rogues are slowly starting to get back together; we’re slowly showing what kind of a threat they would be to Barry Allen.
For highlights, including choices made during the redesign of the Rogues and the team’s answer to the Wally West question, follow the jump!
Read the rest of this entry »
May 8, 2012
Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato are featured in a new interview over at Newsarama where they discuss the title’s next steps on the road to the one-year mark of the New 52. Within, the cover for the upcoming Flash Annual, due in September, is revealed. It features the first looks at new versions of Mirror Master, Heat Wave and a re-imagined Golden Glider, alongside Captain Cold, Turbine and the new Weather Wizard, forming a Gauntlet of Super Villains for the New 52 Flash.
Check out what the duo had to say about thematic ties to Flashpoint, the new, “crispy” Heat Wave, Weather Wizard: Drug Lord and the reintroduction of the Pied Piper (and much more!) after the jump…
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March 12, 2012
DC’s Justice League Group solicitations for June are up. You can find a larger cover at Newsarama.
THE FLASH #10
Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL and BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
1:25 B&W Variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
On sale JUNE 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
- THE FLASH vs. THE WEATHER WIZARD!
- The Flash may survive…but will BARRY ALLEN?
Good to see that the Weather Wizard still uses a wand (though it’s ironic that he’s one of the few Rogues whose power actually was internalized in the previous DCU). Not sure about the raincoat, though.
Also, the Earth Two issue featuring Jay Garrick on the cover will also reveal his new origin.
EARTH TWO #2
Written by JAMES ROBINSON
Art by NICOLA SCOTT and TREVOR SCOTT
Cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
1:25 B&W Variant cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
On sale JUNE 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
- MR. TERRIFIC – Michael Holt – lands on EARTH TWO!
- Don’t miss the origin of the Earth Two FLASH – and the first time he uses his powers!
- What could be a bigger threat to Earth Two than APOKOLIPS? Jay Garrick is about to find out!
I’ll admit that “hard water fumes” doesn’t hold up that well as a way to gain super-powers (though you can sort of excuse it if you assume they meant “heavy water fumes”), but is anyone else nervous about this?
November 17, 2011
Hey Speed Readers,
For those of you still playing DC Universe Online for the PS3 and PC (or that jumped back on board for the Free to Play Content), the second expansion pack, “Lightning Strikes” is forthcoming and will be focusing on some of our favorite speedsters and adding some new gameplay elements as well.
Read the rest of this entry »
May 13, 2011
FLASH FACT: Central City’s greatest hero’s darkest secret will be exposed.
FLASHPOINT: CITIZEN COLD #3
Written by SCOTT KOLINS
Art and cover by SCOTT KOLINS
On sale AUGUST 10 * 3 of 3, 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US * RATED T
Thoughts: Flashpoint #1 suggests that Citizen Cold isn’t the perfect hero he claims to be, and in fact the police suspect him of murder.
Also, the Rogues on here, for those who might not be familiar with all of them, include Fallout and Tar Pit alongside more familiar faces like Trickster, Mirror Master and Weather Wizard.
April 15, 2011
DC has been posting questions and answers from the writers of the various Flashpoint tie-ins today, including this piece of art depicting Mirror Master, Fallout(?), Tar Pit, Trickster (Axel Walker), Weather Wizard, and Pied Piper.
It seems appropriate that someone would have a goatee.
Kolins says of his miniseries:
There’s bunch of stuff in my CITIZEN COLD 3-parter that’s has never been done for [Captain] Cold or the Rogues. Can you imagine Cold being the hero of Central City? What kind of hero would he be? Plus there’s the whole Iris angle – that’s new and soooo much fun.
Click through to the article for more Q&A and a larger image. And don’t miss the first article in the series, either. Update: Part three is up. They’ve got quite a bit of unfinished art and logo designs on the these articles.
March 4, 2011
The just-released-today cover for Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #1 features Central City’s new hero facing off against a group of gloved hands and weapons representing the Rogues. Long-time (and even short-time) Flash readers should recognize most of them.
From left to right:
- Weather Wizard, one of the classic Rogues Gallery.
- Tar Pit, introduced during Geoff Johns’ first run on The Flash. A small-time criminal who could project his mind into inanimate objects, then got stuck in a lump of tar.
- Fallout, also introduced during Geoff Johns’ first run. A tragic story of a man who was turned radioactive in a nuclear accident, and locked up because the radiation killed his family. Iron Heights actually hooked him up to the prison’s power grid.
- The Trickster. It could be either the classic one (I really miss James Jesse) or the new one, but given that Scott Kolins co-created the new one, I’m guessing it’s Axel.
- Mirror Master. Another classic Rogue, and another case where it could be either the original or the second criminal to use the name and costume. This one’s a tougher call.
In the main timeline, Geoff Johns has thoroughly established Captain Cold as the leader of the Rogues. It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic changes in the altered timeline with Citizen Cold as their enemy.
Update: Heat Wave is missing from this cover…but not from Flashpoint!
May 24, 2010
During the late 1970s, DC redesigned Adventure Comics as a Golden Age-style anthology series, where each oversized issue would contain four or more different features. It didn’t last very long — after only eight issues, it went back to a standard size and price. The Flash, Deadman, and Justice Society features appeared in every issue, with Wonder Woman and Aquaman appearing in most of them. Edit: I forgot to mention, these features ran through Adventure Comics #459–466.
While the Flash stories in Adventure Comics were written by the regular writer on the book, Cary Bates, they took a drastically different approach. The main series was structured around long, multi-part stories featuring the Flash and Barry Allen’s supporting cast. The Adventure stories were quick one-offs. In fact, only two of the eight stories featured regular Flash villains! Instead they featured strange monsters or bizarre situations. It was sort of a deliberate throwback to the Silver Age during the Bronze Age.
The Adventure Comics run also spanned a period of transition for the Flash: The death of Iris Allen. She appears in three of the early stories (but doesn’t go with Barry to his high school reunion), isn’t mentioned in several, and by the end, Barry is grieving for her.
The Stories
#459: The Crimson Comets of Fallville High – Barry Allen attends his 15th high school reunion and a former classmate picks up his identity through ESP.
#460: A Nightmare To Remember! – After visiting Earth-2, Barry Allen finds himself in a bizarre reversed version of Keystone City, where the Shade has been elected mayor and Joan Garrick has divorced Jay and remarried the Fiddler.
#461: The Multiple Murders of Mapleville – Barry and Iris are traveling, and stop in a small town for gas. Barry gets framed for murder. There’s a major plot hole in this one, where a gun is set up as compelling him to fire it, but the compulsion is never mentioned again.
#462: The She-Demon of the Astral Plane – Iris meets an old flame who is studying astral projection, and has to try it out…but an extra-dimensional creature wants to follow her back and take over her body.
#463: Urtumi the Image-Eater – The Flash encounters an alien monster who formed the basis of local Native American legends. This one was weird enough I had to write it up.
#464: The Day Up Was Down – Abra Kadabra turns Central City upside-down — literally — looking for an applause machine.
#465: Who Is Invading Central City? – A sonic boom causes the Flash to pick up telepathic transmissions from creatures who can’t figure out what the invading humans want.
#466: The Cloud With the Lethal Lining! – The Weather Wizard turns over a new leaf and tries to use his powers to help people. It doesn’t last. And I really shouldn’t be bothered by the Flash running up a lightning bolt in a story where sunspots cause the Weather Wizard to turn good, but there are limits, you know?
Update: I’ve added the issue numbers to the list of stories.
May 14, 2010
For those still interested in picking up the JLU 3-Pack featuring Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang (as well as yet another Flash) the prices of the set on the secondary market are leveling off nicely. The lowest starting bid is 15.99, which isn’t rock bottom or anything, but a far cry from the 60 and 70 dollars the set was going for only a few weeks ago. Not to mention that Target raised the prices of JLU 3-Packs in September of last year to $15.99, so it’s the same price as purchasing it in the store. Of course the difference rests on the final bidding price and shipping and handling versus gas.
JLU 3 Pack feat. Cold and Boomerang
Also of equal importance to note there appears to be a lot more of these 3 packs available, which is undoubtedly contributing to the lowered prices. Punching in “captain cold boomerang” in the eBay search engine under “Action Figures” logged me 13 results. Not bad compared to the whopping “1″ I got late last month putting in the same search terms. As mentioned previously the lowest price was $15.99, which is practically the same when compared to Target prices, but there are still a couple sets going for scalper prices as high as 50 and 60 dollars. Hopefully they sit on eBay for a long time.
JLU Weather Wizard
Btw good news for those still on the look out for Weather Wizard. The Livewire, Weather Wizard, and Superman 3 packs have been very plentiful on eBay lately. Unfortunately the prices are still ridiculously high, with most of the “Buy It Now” prices of the 15 results ranging between 30 and 50 dollars.
This is a good lesson in waiting. I’m just too impatient when it comes to picking these up. At the same time though with Mattel’s poor distribution it’s sad that I automatically just resort to eBay and getting it asap because I don’t know when or if it will hit this area.
In any case good luck to those still hunting.
Keep it Flashy,
-Devin “The Flash” Johnson
January 12, 2009
Flash (and Rogues’ Gallery) fan liabrown found something Flashy in Bat-Manga!
: a villain who bears a very strong resemblance to Central City’s own Weather Wizard.
As she puts it:
The Japanese artist said he was given some Batman comics and told to replicate the feel of them in manga style, but he pretty much copied Detective Comics #353 for the Go-Go story…with one major difference (mentioned below). He also used Clayface in a story, and some villains who appear to be fairly original (although one is somewhat reminiscent of Gorilla Grodd), including the awesome Lord Death Man.
It’s not clear why the artist replaced the Weather Wizard with a new villain, though the comment thread speculates that rights may have had something to do with it — or what “Go-Go” has to do with weather control. (Of course, this was the era of go-go checks on DC’s covers.)
Speaking of Detective Comics #353, it’s got a great classic cover showing the Weather Wizard physically stepping out of a Flash comic book and into an issue of Detective Comics.
More scans — of both the original and the manga versions — are avaiblable at the flash_rogues post.
