Speed Force

There’s been a lot of speculation among Young Justice fans about the fact that Kid Flash/Wally West has been missing from the five-years-later second season, and that the Flash has barely appeared (and hasn’t spoken). Did Wally West die during the gap? Did Barry Allen die, with Wally West stepping up to become the new Flash like he did in the comics?

One thing is known: An upcoming episode by Peter David will feature three Flashes: Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West. Geoff Pierson will provide the voice of Jay Garrick.

I haven’t found a definitive source for the airdate, but it appears to be the June 2 episode, “Bloodlines.”

Update: I meant to add this, but it seems to have gotten lost in editing. What we don’t know: When the episode takes place, or whether Jay, Barry and Wally all appear together or separately (or even in different time periods).

Set your DVRs, folks. This is going to be bigger than Wally’s spotlight in “Coldhearted.”

Image: Character design by Jerome K. Moore.

Thanks to @CraigRMacDonald for the reminder and the link to Charles Skaggs’ post which directed me to Peter David’s post, and to Kyer for remarking on the “Bloodlines” title.

Hey Speed Readers,

I know it’s been a while since we’ve updated you on all the Flash Collectible News swirling about and there has been quite a bit these past few weeks. We will begin with Mattel:

For those of you who missed it Mattel quietly announced the cancellation of their Young Justice 4 inch and 6 inch action figures at retail citing poor retailer support. They later went on to make an official announcement that the figures that are further along in tooling may receive releases on Mattycollector.com in the near future but they can’t be 100% about it.

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The upcoming Young Justice episode “Coldhearted” looks to be adapted from or inspired by Wally West’s first solo Flash issue. It features Wally West’s birthday, a cross-country run to deliver a heart for a transplant, and Vandal Savage.

Wally West comes oh-so-close to fulfilling his birthday wish to finally fight alongside the Justice League. Instead, a massively disappointed Kid Flash is taken off the mission and tasked with a simple delivery job. But a few deadly surprises await the birthday boy along the way….

Comic Book Resources has two clips and some stills from the episode. (Thanks to @CraigRMacDonald for the tip!)

Earlier this morning, video game publisher, Little Orbit, announced that they have just inked a licensing deal with Warner Bros. to bring Young Justice: Legacy to the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and DS early next year.

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Today’s guest post is by Ryan Heuer of BuySuperheroCostumes.com.

The fastest superhero to ever grace the pages of comics wears one of the most recognizable costumes, but as the role of the Flash has changed hands from Barry Allen to Wally West, the costumes over the years have incorporated some subtle changes. Of course, no one would be talking about DC Comics’ Flash at all without the original inspiration behind the modern day Flash if Golden Age Jay Garrick had not inspired the superhero’s more popular incarnations.

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Greetings Speed Readers,

For those not in the know Young Justice is DC Comic’s latest animated series to hit Cartoon Network. The Kid Flash featured on this show has been stated and explicitly named as Wally West. This is obviously Wally before he graduates on to (possibly) becoming the Fastest Man Alive. The 4.25″ action figure of Kid Flash has been hitting stores all over the country and I finally got my hands on one via Amazon.com. First some mint on card pics:

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Speed Readers,

Sorry it has taken me a while to get this up. I’ve been busy with work and family over the last few days so I’ve only been able to pop on the ‘net every once in a while. In any case there is a lot of good and not so good news spinning out of SDCC 2011 and not all fans are going to be too thrilled.

First up we had some major news as DC Direct announced and unveiled several prototypes for the Jim Lee designed DCnU Justice League action figure line including the redesigned Flash:

Thanks to Toynewsi.com for the pics

Next we got a great look at the Flashpoint Flash and SDCC 2011 Exclusive Reverse Flash Action Figures also from DC Direct (pictures also courtesy of Toynewsi.com):

Mattel had quite a few announcements of their own. First off the last wave of DC Universe Classics will be Wave 20 and after that the line will be rebranded and offered mainly through Mattel’s Collector web store, Mattycollector.com via subscription. There will still be a retail presence but for the most part, rare figures that would normally be doomed to shelf warmer status will be released primarily through the subscription. The remaining figures that are left over after all the subscriptions are filled will be released to the masses in the middle of the month. But there will be club exclusive figures released that will not be able to be procured without signing up for a subscription (or tracking them down on eBay for exorbitant prices).

Now how the subscription works is you pay 30 dollars for the club membership. After that you are locked in and guaranteed to receive every DC Universe figure that will be released in that years time. The only rub is that you are forced to buy into all of the figures released, whether you would normally purchase them or not. Now if you are a DCUC completist then this is a dream come true, basically all you have to do is sit and wait for your collection to be filled out nicely with relatively no bumps or snags. But more importantly no more ridiculous hunts. This hobby can take up not only a lot of money but a lot of time also.

Now on the opposite end of the spectrum someone like me could be completely screwed if I don’t sign up. I’m a cherry picker collector which means that I only ever collect Flash-related releases. Nothing that DC Universe Classics has shown me tells me that they have The Flash in mind as a primary interest. Yes we’ve got a couple Rogues and a few Flash repaints (none of which I actually cared that much about, why do we get one off costumes like Blue Lantern Flash when actual characters like Wally were constantly looked over?) but the vast majority is understandably but still annoyingly Batman, Superman and Green Lantern-related. The chances of me getting a good amount of Flash figures to justify the 300 or so bucks that I’m locked in to spend automatically are pretty slim. The cherry on this is that they have teased us with the first pictures of the DC Universe Classics style Jay Garrick, but instead of putting him in the JSA-themed DC Universe Classics wave 19 they decided to go with D-list characters like Magog. Really Magog gets a spot instead of highlydemanded Jay Garrick? The only explanation that I can think of for this is that they wanted to hold Jay “hostage” for subscriptions. Yes it makes sense from a business standpoint but from a fan standpoint this really sucks. In any case without further griping, Jay Garrick:

Picture courtesy of DCUC.INFO

Even though it looks like Jay has been using the Clear I still want this figure in my collection. Jay is my second favorite of the Flash family and to miss out on him because of some subscription nonsense would be terrible. I guess there is always eBay but I’m really getting annoyed paying all the crazy prices on eBay.

Now as for the last wave 20 we will be getting two Flash-related characters (and repaints): Professor Zoom and Mattel’s own version of the White Lantern Flash. There are no pics currently for White Lantern Flash but Toynewsi.com and DCUC.Info both have pics of Zoom:

Nice touch including the lightning staff even though he hasn’t used it in-story in quite a bit. At least it gives him something as opposed to the nothing that typically comes with Flash figures.

Speaking of which Mattel’s DC Universe Action League had some great announcements and some Flash goodness. We will be getting a new pack of two figures featuring The Flash with a new sculpt and Professor Zoom using the old Flash sculpt. Flash features an awesome accessory that makes it look as if he is whipping up a hand spun cyclone:

Picture courtesy of Actionfigureinsider.com

A Flashpoint Wave is also on the horizon and with that we will be getting a Flashpoint Flash (which is the old Flash sculpt) and Citizen Cold (which is essentially just like the regular Captain Cold):

Picture courtesy of Toynewsi.com

Last but not least is my favorite announcement of the show and one of the collectibles I’m most anxiously awaiting: Young Justice Six Inch Kid Flash (picture courtesy of Toynewsi.com):

WOW! Just look at all the cool accessories packed into this figure. I don’t think we’ve seen something like this since The Flash and Kid Flash Silver Age set from DC Direct that came with a Cosmic Treadmill and Costume Ring. We’ve got a hand spun cyclone, removable goggles and a display that simulates Kid Flash’s speed quite nicely. Great visuals. Only thing is we won’t be seeing this figure until Spring 2012. Phooey.

All in all a pretty solid SDCC this year with a number of great Flash collectibles forthcoming. The Jay Garrick/Subscriber thing has me a little worried, but I doubt it will be a huge hurdle to get one. Still not thrilled about never getting a Wally in the DC Universe Classics line but then again there were a lot of characters passed over so I can’t be too bitter. And at least we can count on Young Justice to keep supplying us with some Wally collectible love. Yeah it sucks that he has been marginalized and downgraded to Kid Flash again but hey it’s better than what we could be getting.

By the way if I missed anything new, please drop me a line here and let me know.

Thanks for reading,

-Devin “Flash” Johnson

Yes, you read correctly. McDonald’s latest Happy Meal toys will be featuring the stars of the hit new Cartoon Network series, Young Justice. Not only that but they will be featuring two characters extremely well known to fans of The Flash, Kid Flash and Captain Cold:

More pics after the jump

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Mattel has finally released Official Young Justice Pics! No pictures of the DC Universe Scale 6 inch Kid Flash yet but we have gotten another view of the JLU scale two packs:

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Wow, wow, wow! Some great stuff coming out of Toy Fair this year for the Flash. Mattel had quite a few new Flash related items to show off while DC Direct really had nothing new that we hadn’t already seen. The following pics below are courtesy of Toynewsi.com.

I was most looking forward to the Young Justice and JLU news because of the rumored upcoming releases and they didn’t disappoint. Well almost didn’t but we will get to that later.

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