Justice League · Wonder Woman · The Flash · Green Arrow · The Fury of Firestorm · Aquaman · Justice League International · Mister Terrific · The Savage Hawkman · Captain Atom · DC Universe Presents

Justice League by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee

Devin: All right, ANOTHER Justice League relaunch. Like many of the titles announced in this company line reboot, I just cannot muster much enthusiasm for this. It IS nice to see Cyborg getting some more attention these days. Although I find his role as “Superman” in the Flashpoint verse to be a little farfetched (more to do with his power set than him being Vic Stone) I figured he was due for a “push” either way.

Unfortunately I’m now almost completely indifferent towards the character of Barry Allen. And really that is what is going to be influencing my picking this up. It used to be that as long as there was a “Flash” or “speedster” on the JLA I would check it out. But after last time when they didn’t launch the book right away with a speedster and then Wally only had sporadic appearances here and there I stopped caring. I loved Dwayne McDuffie’s Wally and Wonder Woman story and picked it up after the fact but that was about all I really liked. I dropped it after Wally left the team and have not looked back since.

If this revamped version of Barry that Geoff is presenting to me is more interesting than he was in The Flash book I will keep it past the first issue. But with a rumored 7 more members being added to the roster I doubt I will get to see as much speedster action as I would like (of course that is what the main Flash title is for). Also Jim Lee’s art is not really a selling point for me, at least not after seeing this cover. Don’t get me wrong; I loved his work back in the day on X-Men, unfortunately it just doesn’t translate well to DC’s stable of characters.

To present and future Flash artists: The Flash is a runner, hence he should have a slim, runner-like build. He doesn’t have to be scrawny but he sure as hell isn’t He-Man. There is a happy medium. Thank you.

Nonetheless I am as optimistic as I can be about this. I really want this to be the move that puts DC on top again so I’m going to give it a couple of issues to get my attention.

Greg: The main Justice League team seems to indicate the book should serve as a DC weathervane, with ideas that could make quick jumps into other media.

Kelson: Justice League looks like they’re going back to the big-guns, which fits the back-to-basics approach…but I find the League more interesting with a slightly larger team to balance out the SUPER-humans with the super-HUMANS. Reportedly they’ll have 14 members total, which sounds about right (my favorite League was the middle of Grant Morrison’s run, around the time of Rock of Ages), but I’ve kind of gotten soured on Geoff Johns’ writing since…well, since Infinite Crisis, now that I think about it.

Lia: Since there’s supposedly going to be 14 members on the team, why have we only seen half of them? What’s up with the costume revamps and de-aging? (yes, this is more of a general-DC thing than specific to the title, but it’s most obvious here) We need to hear more about this series to properly judge, but I’m fairly cool toward it so far. Then again, hero team books have never been my thing.

Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang

Lia: She’s one of those characters that I really want to like, but haven’t had much interest in apart from during Greg Rucka’s run. Still, Brian Azzarello is a skilled writer and Cliff Chiang’s art is amazing, so that’s very promising. I wish she wasn’t always being retconned and revamped all the time, though — it’s very discouraging for anyone thinking about getting into her series/history. Obviously that can be fixed with this relaunch, but how long will it stick before another retcon?

Devin: Sorry to say it but I really do not care much about Wonder Woman. She is one of those iconic original seven Justice League Members so she has my respect as a character and I always like having her around but I just don’t care to read about her and only her on a regular basis.

The Flash by Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato

Greg: Count me among the fans of the creative team for Flash. Manapul and Buccellato have already brought new ideas to super speed as portrayed in Flash, and their recent comments seem to indicate they will continue to take on new challenges.

Lia: I’m somewhat leery of having two writers on board who don’t have a lot of writing experience, but delighted to have Francis Manapul back on the art. In general I’m really looking forward to this, so long as there aren’t many retcons and resets to the Flashverse. I hope the Rogues will be handled well and get plenty of love — and if there must be resets, please bring back the dead Rogues too.

Kelson: I’ve been drifting away from the core of the DCU for a while (the weird characters on the outskirts seem to appeal to me more these days), and I don’t see much here to change that.

Flash is the notable exception: Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato on art were my favorite part of the post-Rebirth Flash series, so having them back on the book is really encouraging. I’m still a bit apprehensive about the direction, but now that I think about it, I’m more interested than I would have been if Geoff Johns were still on the book.

Devin: Seriously the only title I really care about here. Unfortunately it is only to see if Wally is anywhere and if Barry is still a piece of wet cardboard. Francis did impress me a whole bunch with his art in the last series (really the best part about it) so he has me with that but can he tell a story? And can he make me care about Barry Allen where only Mark Waid (who is nowhere to be found) has been able to in the past? I’m giving him an honest chance; at least an arc before I drop it. I figure The Flash’s new direction deserves a look before I‘m done with the title.

I wouldn’t be so disgruntled and fed up if DC had been straight with us about Wally from the first place and not try to undermine his accomplishments and push him to the background to push Barry ahead. It is only exacerbated by the fact that Johns has shown us no reason why this change had to happen. Why we had to move backwards other than him wanting Barry back. He wanted to undo the only interesting thing that Barry has done to me besides train Wally and be an inspiration to him. Barry is a great role model and that is about it. Now I probably wouldn’t have noticed the lack of Barry’s personality if the stories were good enough but nope, both arcs that came of the last Flash series were pretty pointless and showed me nothing that couldn’t have been just as easily told with Wally as the star. I guess I’m just a bit jaded. I want to be optimistic and hopeful but damn it I really miss Wally. I feel like one of my best friends up and left town without saying a thing and that I occasionally get a post card from him every few months and never with a return address.

The Fury of Firestorm by Gail Simone, Ethan Van Sciver & Yildiray Cinar

Devin: When I first saw this cover my thoughts immediately went to the horribly miscolored Firestorm Happy Meal Toy from McDonald’s released last month.

After that I thought about how the concept of Firestorm has never really appealed to me. When my brother and I were younger, my mom would take us to McKay’s Used Bookstore. They sold comics at 25 cents a pop with double sized issues and annuals going for 50 cents. My brother and I would each get a dozen or so and they were our primary forms of entertainment besides action figures and of course after we were finished reading our own we would swap them. This gave us a chance to experience something a little different. Amongst the various titles my bro would pick up was Fury of Firestorm. Because he started to collect them I had the chance to read them when I was done with me and man did I not give a damn about Firestorm. The costume was ok, but I didn’t get the logic of the flaming hair or what point it had. The puffy sleeves were kind of the last straw when it came to the costume. As for the characters I really didn’t care for Ronnie Raymond or Martin Stein. Ronnie seemed like a doofy jock and a screw up and Martin Stein was a stuffy professor. These two would join to make Firestorm? Meh.

I gave the character another chance years later with Jason Rusch in the matrix and I found him to be a lot more interesting than Ronnie. I liked that he was intelligent, thoughtful and not so much of a meathead and I also liked that he was a young, bright, black guy like me. I rarely find characters that I can identify with on that level. The costume was also updated fairly nicely and the stories were pretty good. Unfortunately I stopped reading around One Year Later.

This new book looks to be incorporating both of our main Firestorm hosts into the matrix with the appearance changing depending on who is wielding the matrix. Personally I don’t see why they couldn’t just have one costume for both of them and simply change the color of the skin and the features depending on who is in control but whatever. I just think it kind of makes Jason look like Kid Flash to Ronnie’s Flash. That may just be me projecting though.

I’m pretty sure I won’t be picking up the first issue. I like Gail and Ethan a lot but I don’t really have a lot of interest for yet another iteration of Firestorm. Jason was interesting, but he will only be half the story. Not enough for me to break out the bucks for it. Sorry.

Lia: Good lord, that quickly-pulled concept art — hopefully it’s already been significantly changed and streamlined, because otherwise the new design for Firestorm is awful. Still, I enjoyed the interplay between Ronnie and Jason during Brightest Day, so this could be good.

Kelson: It’s good that they’ve managed to include both Ronnie and Jason in the new Firestorm series, which makes me wonder what DC will do (if anything) to try to heal the fractured Flash fan base.

Aquaman by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis

Lia: I’m kind of annoyed that Geoff Johns left the Flash to go to this book, so maybe there’s a slight grudge here. But Aquaman himself has never really interested me, just Black Manta. And Mera somewhat, as of recently. So I’ll pass unless the series is full of Black Manta being a horrible dick, which I kind of find funny.

Devin: No interest whatsoever. I love Ivan Reis’ work. The art on Blackest Night was great and I loved his Flash. Geoff however no longer impresses me. I thought if anyone could make the Flash awesome, he could. Unfortunately he mucked it up just as much as anyone else has. Bringing back Barry and flinging Wally into off-panel oblivion was just the icing on the cake. You get a few of my dollars on Justice League, Geoff and that is about it.

Justice League International by Dan Jurgens & Aaron Lopresti

Lia: Justice League: Generation Lost was pretty terrible, but hopefully this series will take the better aspects of it (the new Rocket Red, for instance) and leave behind the worst ones (the complete revamping of Ice). The lineup is groovy but perhaps a bit too big, and Batman should not be in yet another book. He’s as bad as Wolverine now.

Greg: I’m a fan of Dan Jurgens, and it’s good to see his name here twice, but I would have like to see him write and draw Justice League International.

Devin: My first exposure to the Justice League in comic book form was the old Justice League International and Justice League Europe series. I remember being utterly confused when I opened them up at first because I only had an idea of who the main characters were and none of them were acting the way that I had seen them act before. Eventually I learned more about the DC universe and I came to appreciate it for what it was but at the same time I’m not clamoring for a revival of those days. And no one in this roster is enough to make me care. If they add Wally at some point and time maybe. Until then, no speedsters, no sale.

Mr. Terrific by Eric Wallace & Roger Robinson

Devin: I really loved Roger’s work on Starman. It is still one of my favorite runs of all time, and I will occasionally go back and read it. Unfortunately in recent years with things like Cry for Justice, Robinson has fallen out of favor with me. Mr. Terrific isn’t a character I’m terribly familiar with (despite having an action figure of him) and I don’t really see his abilities as anything really interesting. His costume redesign is also pretty terrible. I thought his old costume was one of the few costumes in the DC Universe to really have that contemporary vibe. And what is what the ink? I know it is the craze these days but sheesh. Pass.

Kelson: This is the first big surprise in terms of titles announced, since he’s never had a solo series before.

Lia: What is with that cover? I miss his jacket, and the colouring of the T around his mouth makes him look like an offensive stereotype. Seriously unfortunate.

The Savage Hawkman by Tony Daniel & Philip Tan

Devin: Sorry Carter, never cared about you and I never will.

Lia: A confession: I really hate Hawkman and his entire mythos. You’d have to pay me to read it.

Captain Atom by JT Krul & Freddie Williams II

Devin: I think a Dr. Manhattan version of Captain Atom is probably more interesting than any other version that I’ve seen but not enough for me to care. I actually hated his character back in the old JLI series and while I don’t hate him now I don’t particularly like him either.

Lia: Never had much interest in the character. The cover is lovely, but I’ve never really liked Freddie Willliams’ art and have heard bad things about JT Krul’s work.

Green Arrow by JT Krul & Dan Jurgens

Devin: I’ve never cared for Oliver Queen. I dug Connor Hawke but I don’t even want to know where he has ended up in the NEW DCU, if anywhere. The costume reminds me a bit of Smallville, but in this instance it is not a terrible thing. It still isn’t enough to me read it.

Lia: Another JT Krul book (to be fair, I don’t think I’ve actually read anything by him and am just going by what I’ve heard) and another character I don’t much care for. But hopefully Ollie fans will enjoy it.

DC Universe Presents by Paul Jenkins & Bernard Chang

Greg: DC’s roster is easily rich enough to support an anthology book, so it is nice to see a title like DC Universe Presents listed here. Books like these work best when they rotate creative teams, so here’s hoping DC makes some bold choices.

Lia: I love anthology series which focus on lesser-known characters…provided the stories are good. Often they aren’t, in my experience, but hopefully that won’t be the case here. Keeping an established writer like Paul Jenkins on the title — as opposed to using it as a try-out book for up and coming writers — may help.

Kelson: I’ve never been one to read an anthology regularly, but I like being able to pick up stories about characters who wouldn’t otherwise get a spotlight. I’ll probably pick up individual issues based on the featured characters and creative team.

Devin: Deadman: Another character I care nothing about. Pass for now. I wonder if we will see a Wally story down the line (assuming he isn’t showing up anywhere)?

Next up: Green Lanterns.

Thoughts on the New DCU – Part 1: Justice League Titles is a post from Speed Force.

It was a pretty good show, with some great guests (including Flash artists Francis Manapul and Ethan Van Sciver) and quite a few vendors selling comics and action figures. I managed to get a couple of Professor Zoom figures and a Flash figurine, and commissioned Red Robin artist Marcus To for a drawing of Captain Boomerang.

The woman waiting in line behind me for Marcus To got this Impulse sketch from him, which she let me photograph.

Here’s Francis Manapul working on a Wonder Woman picture for a fan. I also saw him drawing several Flash pieces, and he drew the Flash on a t-shirt which was later given away in a contest. I didn’t take any photos of the shirt, but the gentleman who won it did!

Alas, we ran out of money quickly (part of that real-life thing I mentioned earlier), and eventually left the show early. After leaving the convention, we went for lunch and wandered around some of the nearby streets before heading back to the car. And stumbled across this: the dressing rooms, washrooms, and hair/makeup trailers for the television show Flashpoint! The series is filmed in Toronto, of course. It was fun to see it given the name of DC’s imminent crossover.

And then we walked by Piper Street, so I had to take photos of that too.

All in all, it was a pretty good day for a Flash fan!

Toronto Comicon (Fan Appreciation 2011) Photos is a post from Speed Force.

Just like last week, I’ll put the Flash-related titles at the top, and update this post throughout the day. Click on the covers to jump to the original posts at the Source.

Flash-Related Titles

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost Starring Bart Allen

Covers: Francis Manapul
Writer: Sterling Gates
Art: Oliver Nome

“Where is he? Or should we say when?”

Perfect: We’re finally getting a Kid Flash/Bart Allen story by Sterling Gates! I kind of hope the full title is just “Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost,” though, because the “starring…” part gets kind of unwieldy. (Not that it comes close to “Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Yet Another Subtitle.”)

Flashpoint: Grodd of War (one-shot)

Cover: Francis Manapul
Writer: Sean Ryan
Art: Ig Guara

“Africa belongs to him!”

Flashpoint: Reverse Flash (one-shot)

Cover: Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes
Writer: Scott Kolins
Art: Joel Gomez

“He’s more powerful than ever!”

Kolins really has cemented himself as the go-to guy for Flash villains, hasn’t he?

Other Miniseries

Flashpoint: Project Superman

Covers: Gene Ha
Plot by: Scott Snyder
Script: Lowell Francis
Art: Gene Ha

“They experimented on him in a lab for years!”

And from the looks of things, he’s not too happy about it.

Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown

Covers: Doug Mahnke
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Art: Ibraim Roberson

“They can’t survive unless they find their maker!”

Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies

Covers: Ed Benes
Writer: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art: Scott Clark and David Beaty

“If she can’t save the world — no one will!”

Does that mean no one will be able to, or that she won’t let anyone else do it? Hmm…

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance

Covers: Eddy Nunez and Sandra Hope
Writer: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art: Eddy Nunez

“She is ready to reveal the Amazons’ secret!”

Flashpoint: Abin Sur the Green Lantern

Covers: Felipe Massafera
Writer: Adam Schlagman
Art: Felipe Massafera

“He survived the crash.”

Flashpoint: The Outsider

Covers: Kevin Nowlan
Writer: James Robinson
Art: Javi Fernandez

“He won’t join the war! (It might dirty his new suit.)”

Lex, is that you?

Flashpoint: Secret Seven

Covers: George Perez
Writer Peter Milligan
Art: George Perez and Scott Koblish

“One among them will betray them all!”

Other One-Shots

Flashpoint: Green Arrow Industries

Cover: Viktor Kalvachev
Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote
Art: Mark Castiello

“He makes money from war!”

Talk about a switch. Oliver Queen as a war profiteer, and Green Arrow carrying assault rifles. And here I always thought that Bruce Wayne was the Tony Stark of the DCU.

Flashpoint: The Canterbury Cricket

Cover: Rags Morales
Writer: Mike Carlin
Art: Rags Morales

“His power is his curse!”

Um…what? All I can say is, Rich Johnston will be thrilled that this title made the final cut. Whatever it is.

We’ve also been keeping track of all the Flashpoint creative teams here at Speed Force.

More Flashpoint Creative Teams Announced (Updated!) is a post from Speed Force.

DC seems to be announcing them alphabetically, but I’m moving the Flash-related ones up to the top because, well, this is a Flash site! So far we’ve got Citizen Cold, Batman: Knight of Vengeance, Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager, Deadman and the Flying Graysons, Hal Jordan (a new one), World of Flashpoint, Emperor Aquaman, and finally…Legion of Doom.

Click on the covers to read the original announcements.

Flashpoint: Citizen Cold

Covers: Scott Kolins
Writer: Scott Kolins
Art: Scott Kolins

“He loves someone he shouldn’t.”

I was fully expecting Scott Kolins as the artist on this book — his style is perfect for the modern take on the Rogues. But I wasn’t expecting a one-man show. I really figured Geoff Johns would want to write the Captain Cold mini himself.

Going by the weapons and gloves, those hands look like the Weather Wizard, Tar Pit, Fallout, the Trickster and the Mirror Master…opposed to Captain Citizen Cold. Update: I have some more commentary on this one.

Flashpoint: Legion of Doom

Covers: Miguel Sepulveda
Writer: Adam Glass
Art: Rodeny Buchemi & Jose Marzan

“Whatever Happened to the World’s Greatest Super Villains?”

You know, I thought it was odd that Heat Wave wasn’t on that Citizen Cold cover…

Also, this makes one more book that I’m going to have to check out. Not because of Super Friends nostalgia, but because of Heat Wave.

Flashpoint: Batman, Knight of Vengeance

Covers: Dave Johnson
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Art: Eduardo Risso

I don’t really have anything to say about this one, except that it’s a nice, moody cover.

Flashpoint: Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager

Covers: Joe Bennett & John Dell
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti
Art: Joe Bennett & John Dell

“He will stop at nothing to find his lost treasure.”

I’ve got to admit, the idea of Deathstroke as a pirate makes me a lot more interested in this one.

Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons

Covers: Cliff Chiang
Writer: JT Krul
Art: Mikel Janin

“For their last performance – an escape act!”

I really like the circus-poster design on this cover, and the use of Nightwing’s costume. Considering that Boston Brand and Dick Grayson were both acrobats, and their costumes reflected that kind of look, it makes perfect sense.

Flashpoint: Hal Jordan

Covers: Rags Morales
Writer: Adam Schlagman
Art: Ben Oliver

“He never got the ring.”

I guess this is the mysterious 15th miniseries that they were keeping under wraps before.

World of Flashpoint

Covers: Shane Davis
Writer: Rex Ogle
Art: Paulo Siquiera

Emperor Aquaman

Covers: Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes
Writer: Tony Bedard
Art: Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes

“He will drown the world — then rule it!”

The Bedard/Syaf creative team leaked about a month ago, but now we have official confirmation.

Conclusion

That’s two new series posted today at The Source: Flashpoint: Hal Jordan and Flashpoint: Legion of Doom. And here I thought they were only holding one title in reserve. Has one been dropped? Is one of these two a one-shot rather than a miniseries?

We’ve also been keeping track of all the Flashpoint creative teams here at Speed Force, including some that haven’t been announced officially yet. Update: The remaining books are being announced on March 11.

New Flashpoint Creative Teams & Covers Announced (UPDATED) is a post from Speed Force.

Today, we’re unveiling FLASHPOINT action figures based on DC Comics’ superhero publishing event of the summer. DC Direct’s Jim Fletcher, Shawn Knapp, Evan Metcalf, John Santagada, Brian Walters and Bryon Webster have worked closely with FLASHPOINT writer Geoff Johns’ concepts and artist Andy Kubert’s designs to bring you four awesome figures based on characters central to the FLASHPOINT story.

Sculptors Derek Miller (Wonder Woman), Karen Palinko (Batman and Flash) and Jonathan Matthews (Cyborg) have captured the energy and excitement that drives FLASHPOINT.

Head over to The Source or…

Flashpoint Action Figures is a post from Speed Force.

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.

» Full index of Comic-Con coverage
» More Comic-Con photos

Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash is a post from Speed Force.

• Wired’s GeekDad has a Spotlight On The Flash: Born to Run
• Now Read This! reviews The Flash: Wonderland
• That F’ing Monkey: Flash: NFS 2
• Ron Marz talks about Velocity at CBR and at Newsarama.
• Francis Manapul has a Super Mega Update! featuring the Flash, Wonder Woman, JLA and his upcoming TV series, Beast Legends. The Source posts both the original and full-color versions of his Wonder Woman #600 pin-up.
• Histories of Things to Come presents Reflections on the Revolving Door of Death: Titanic Legacies for Generation X Superheroes
• Topless Robot presents: the 12 Most Gimmick-y Gimmick Comic Covers of the ’90s.
• Funnybook Babylon: Bannermania is running wild on DC covers
• The Beat considers What Wonder Woman covers tell us about ourselves.
• CBR looks at Wonder Woman’s costume through the years
• Howard Hallis has almost finished The Picture of Everything.

Update:

• Robot 6 has more on Beast Legends and Francis Manapul’s involvement with the show.

Speed Reading is a post from Speed Force.

To sum up: Persons unknown have altered Wonder Woman’s history so that Paradise Island was wiped out 20 years ago. Diana has no memory of the original timeline, doesn’t have her full powers yet, and needs to survive, help other refugee Amazons, find out who destroyed Paradise Island and find out whether the timeline can be restored.

All-New, All-Different!

I’m always apprehensive when a new writer picks up an established character and the first thing he does is to remove some key element of the character. Like the Flash’s speed (Geoff Johns’ first Flash story, “Wonderland”). Or Superman’s flight (JMS’ first Superman arc, “Grounded”). I understand it might help the writer get inside the character’s head: what is he or she like without the powers? But it always feels like shoehorning some other idea onto the character. Why did you want to write the Flash if you didn’t want to write about a guy who runs fast?

That said, for all that DC is pushing this as a “new direction,” to me this description reads more like a major story arc. I mean, there’s an end point right there in the description: find out who did it and see if it’s possible to change things back. Given the timing of the comics themselves and the time-travel elements to the story, I suspect this is going to be linked to Flashpoint. [Update: Comics Alliance asked JMS about this and he said it's not related.]

Retcon Fever

It’s worth comparing to Flash: Rebirth, actually. In both cases, someone within the fictional universe has gone back in time and altered the main character’s history. With Diana, we know before the first issue is out. With Barry Allen, only long-term readers knew anything had been changed to begin with. It wasn’t clear that there was an in-story explanation for it until the miniseries was almost over. Even then, the prospect of undoing the changes was only floated long enough to be dismissed as impossible.

Most importantly: changing Diana’s history drastically alters who she is today. That’s a story. Once you get past the doom-and-gloom Barry of Flash: Rebirth #1-3, the changes to his history don’t seem to have made much difference in the present.

Thoughts on JMS’ New Wonder Woman Direction is a post from Speed Force.

Starro Packaging

Starro and the Silver Age Justice League of America

Starro Spores that can only be acquired at the Con.

Unfortunately these guys aren’t going to be released in the DC Universe Classics(or DCUC) line. The exclusive for that line has been revealed to be Plastic Man.

These are instead done in the Infinite Heroes style which is Mattel’s 3.75-inch line of figures. Think DC Universe Classics shrunken down to the size of G.I. Joes. I don’t think the line has been as popular as Mattel had hoped. A lot of this having to do with the quality of the initial figures. Limited Articulation (Which I actually liked for the most part), poor sculpts and sloppy paint apps have plagued this line from the very beginning. The figures have been more plentiful and easier to find at retail than DCUC, but I can’t say how much of this is because of collectors not really wanting them.

These guys don’t look too bad though. Mattel went back to the drawing board a little while ago and the results weren’t terrible. Not perfect by any means but they are heading in the right direction. I have been waiting for a regular version of the Flash released in the Matty Exclusive Crisis on Infinite Earths Infinite Heroes 4-Pack for a while and while I’m not ecstatic that I have to pay 50 bucks for him I’m still happy to have him. Honestly I’m sure they are going to release him as a single card later on, I really just want it now.

The packaging is probably the coolest part of this set. Well besides the Starro Spores. But you can only get those if you go to the actual con or purchase them after the fact on eBay for what I’m sure will be ridiculous prices. You can’t see it in the pictures but the packaging is set up exactly like the cover of Brave and the Bold #28. Attack of the Show had an exclusive preview of all the Mattel items coming to SDCC, including this set. The awesome set up of the cover is shown in the first video which can be seen HERE. The segment on the Starro set is about 2 minutes and 18 seconds in. This looks so cool, that it may be the one item that I keep MOC (or Mint On Card, meaning unopened and in pristine condition for the uninitiated).

Can’t wait to order these guys. I may go the extra mile for the Starro Spores as they look too freaking cool to pass up. I already have a Starro-possessed Flash Heroclix so it would be kind of cool to have a large scale version of it too. Do any of you guys plan on picking the set up? At SDCC or from Matty later on?

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Flash-related Exclusives is a post from Speed Force.

BLACKEST NIGHT: SERIES 6: BLUE LANTERN FLASH Action Figure

The hugely successful BLACKEST NIGHT action figure line continues with four awesome new characters!

Included in this sixth installment of the series are Hal Jordan, the personification of the Green Lantern Corps; Wonder Woman, who finds the power of love and joins the ranks of the Star Sapphires; Hawkgirl, who was one of the first heroes to lose her life to the dark power of the Black Lanterns; and The Flash, who couples the power of the blue ring with his trademark speed to carry the message of hope to all.

All four figures feature multiple points of articulation and include a display base. Character-appropriate accessories are also included.

4-color clamshell blister card packaging.

On Sale November 3, 2010

And

DC CHRONICLES: THE FLASH Statue

SCULPTED BY TIM BRUCKNER

The Fastest Man Alive kicks up a dust cloud as he slides into the DC Chronicles statue series!

This statue features The Flash of the Silver Age, Barry Allen, in his classic costume.

The DC Chronicles statue line has a consistent base, and the retro-style logo on the base further gives the piece a sense of the period from which it originated.

This limited-edition, hand-painted, cold-cast porcelain statue measures approximately 6.75″ high x 5″ wide x 3.5″ deep and is packaged in a 4-color box with a 4-color Certificate
of Authenticity.

Manufactured to order.

$ 99.99 US | On Sale November 24, 2010

I’m really looking forward to Blue Lantern Flash as it will look great poking out of the field of red and yellow in my display. I’m also loving the sculpt. Reminds me of Wally West from the first series of JLA action figures they released a few years ago. Perfect build, great sculpt and a slick paint job.

I’m not really a statue guy. I do own a few but rarely if ever will you find me anticipating the release of one. This one is no exception unfortunately. I’m not really in the market for Barry Allen statues these days anyway. And I would need a Wally in new costume as an action figure first. Hint hint.

—Devin “The Flash” Johnson

DC Direct Flash-Related Solicitations for November is a post from Speed Force.