November 3, 2010
Finally some more Flash love on the collectibles end of things. This month we have three Flash pieces being released through DC Direct. Unfortunately two of them are basically just repaints and the other is an expensive statue of Barry Allen.
The first one, available today, is from the third series of JLA Classified Classics, Zoom (The Flash’s chief nemesis). I was inclined to think that this was Hunter “Sheisajeweltoyoouuuuu.” Zolomon rather than Eobard “As long as I kill Iris, everything will be alright.” Thawne due to the way the eyes were colored and because they simply named him “Zoom”. But then I noticed the direction of his belt. Not a real issue or anything as Hunter has been out of the picture for some time now. Still makes me lament Johns-Era Wally though.
JLA CLASSIFIED: CLASSIC SERIES 3: ZOOM Action Figure
“The JLA CLASSIFIED: CLASSIC line expands with four all-new figures! Consistent in style and scale to Series 1 and 2, Series 3 features some of the most requested characters
from DC Comics.
The Zoom figure stands at 6.75″ high, features multiple points of articulation and includes a display base.
4-color clamshell blister card packaging.”
Unfortunately I am not a huge fan of the style of these figures. I know that they are part of a artist-specific collection using Ed McGuinness’ art style as a template but I’m just not a fan of the overly muscled character designs and action figures. Especially on my Speedsters. I guess I already own the JLA Classified Flash so it would be cool to have Zoom to go along with him, but I won’t be rushing out to get it or anything.
Later on in the month we have the release of a Flash Two-Pack featuring repaints of Jay Garrick from DC First Appearances Series 1 and Wally West from Justice League of America Series 3 repainted to be Barry Allen:
DC ORIGINS: SERIES 2: THE FLASH ACTION FIGURE TWO-PACKS
Trace the history of some of the most popular DC Comics heroes with these special two-pack action figure sets!
Each set includes two full-sized figures packaged together – one based on art from the character’s early appearances and the other based on art from the modern era.
One two-sided collectible trading card featuring each character will also be included in each package.
The Flash figures feature multiple points of articulation and include display bases and character-specific accessories. The Modern and the Classic figures stand at 6.75″ high and 6.5″ high, respectively.
4-color clamshell blister card packaging.
These guys will be available the 17th, but frankly I am unimpressed with this offering. To be fair the Wally figure actually looks better when repainted to look like Barry and the paint jobs look to be really slick. But really two repaints? Not to mention Zoom might as well be a repaint too.
The only truly original offering this month will be on the 24th with the release of a Barry Allen statue that looks pretty slick but as I mentioned previously I have zero interest in it:
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.
This baby retails at $99.99 and looks to be an outstanding piece. But if I were to purchase any Barry statue it would definitely be this:
Now that is what I call a statue!
Anyone plan on picking up Zoom, the 2-Pack, the statue, or all three?
Look forward to hearing from you all and thanks for reading.
-Devin “The Flash” Johnson
October 3, 2010
Some Flash art found this past week…
Zoom Zoom cover design by scottygod and skutterfly. (via GoRogues)
The webcomic Gutters satirizes the comics industry. It recently took on the Speed Force.
Project Rooftop’s invitational features a redesign of The Flash by Joel Carroll. (via Michael Kaiser)
Philip Tan draws Wally West. (via @Speedstersite)
Some linkblogging for the weekend.
September 7, 2010
I’ve updated two entries over at my Flash reference site, Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning.
First, I’ve posted an updated image of Captain Boomerang. After updating his biography last month, I realized I needed to add an image of his new costume. While I was at it, I also added images of him as a Black Lantern and White Lantern.
Something I’ve been thinking about off and on has been how best to present the Blackest Night Lantern Corps costumes. I finally decided the best choice was to just post them in each character’s profile, though I may do a round-up at some point.
Then I decided that if I was posting Digger’s Black and White Lantern looks, I’d take care of the Reverse-Flash as well. That was when I realized that I hadn’t updated his entry since before Flash: Rebirth. Oops!
So I filled in some more detail on what I had already, then wrote up the key elements that have changed: His resurrection in Blackest Night, his transformation in Flash: Rebirth, and his time-travel campaign against Barry Allen.
Both articles are up to date with the Brightest Day status quo…though I’m sure there will be some new wrinkles coming up in their Rogue Profile issues this fall.
September 6, 2010
Some Monday morning linkblogging….
August 23, 2010
I guess they must have been out of this when I hit the comic store last week, because I have been keeping an eye out for the White Lantern variant covers featuring the Brightest Day resurrections. Giant Size Geek spotlights the Green Lantern Corps #51 cover, which features a White Lantern Professor Zoom:
Click through to the original post for a larger view of this impressive Ryan Sook [edit: and Fernando Pasarin and Joel Gomez] piece.
With two Flash-related characters resurrected at the end of Blackest Night, I’ve been wondering which would appear on the next Flash variant cover…and where the other would appear. Presumably, this means a White Lantern version of Captain Boomerang will appear on the alternate cover for Flash #5 next month. It’s an appropriate choice, considering that Boomerang is involved in the current storyline in The Flash, but the Reverse-Flash is not.
August 16, 2010
DC’s full November solicitations are out, featuring two more major Flash appearances in addition to the Flash #8 Reverse-Flash one-shot.
DC Comics Presents: The Flash and Green Lantern: Faster Friends
Written by RON MARZ, MARK WAID and BRIAN AUGUSTYN
Art by BART SEARS, VAL SEMEIKS, RON LIM, ANDY SMITH, TOM GRINDBERG, JEFF JOHNSON and others
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON
Collecting the two-part miniseries from 1997 that brought together two Flashes and two Green Lanterns to battle the menace called Alien X in a story that begins in the 1940s and concludes in the modern era!
On sale November 3 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US
Notes: This story stars Jay Garrick and Alan Scott in the 1940s, and Wally West and Kyle Rayner in the modern era. Naturally, they’ve put Hal Jordan on the cover.
Fun Fact: This is the comic book with the polar bear that Walt was reading in the first season of LOST.
Time Masters: Vanishing Point #5
Written by DAN JURGENS
Art and cover by DAN JURGENS & NORM RAPMUND
None of the Time Masters’ problems in the time continuum compares with what’s in store for them when they cross paths with the Reverse Flash! In fact, nothing will be the same for the entire universe after this fateful meeting!
Don’t miss this companion series to the best-selling “Return of Bruce Wayne” storyline!
On sale November 17 • 5 of 6 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Notes: That Thawne guy sure is going to be busy in November, isn’t he? Can you say Flashpoint setup?
Other DC Speedsters
Justice Society of America (with Jay Garrick) picks up the new run by Marc Guggenheim and Scott Kolins.
Justice League of America (with Jesse Quick) battles the Crime Syndicate.
The Teen Titans meet Robin.
DC Comics Presents: Young Justice continues with #2, reprinting The Secret, stories from the Young Justice Secret Files, and Young Justice in No-Man’s Land. We seem to be getting the specials reprinted – how long before DC reprints the series itself?
DC has posted its Brightest Day solicitations for November, including…
The Flash #8
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by SCOTT KOLINS
1:10 Variant cover by STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU
“Reverse Flash Rebirth!” In this FLASHPOINT prelude, don’t miss the epic telling of the origin of Barry Allen’s greatest foe, Professor Zoom! Eobard Thawne’s story is just beginning — and he intends to finish it with The Flash!
On sale NOVEMBER 24 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Thoughts
So, one more stand-alone issue before Francis Manapul returns for the second story arc. It’s hard to complain when the fill-in artist on The Flash is Scott Kolins, though.
That said…I’m kind of disappointed that we’ll only have one Flash story before jumping into Flashpoint. It’s odd that on one hand, DC is absolutely determined to establish Barry Allen as THE Flash before widening the scope to other speedsters, but at the same time they’re jumping straight into this big event.
That and I think I just don’t really like Eobard Thawne that much. He’s too much of a mustache-twirling caricature villain. Hunter Zolomon was far more interesting a character…though IMO neither should appear too often, or else they risk losing their impact. (That pretty much happened with Zolomon during the Villains United/Infinite Crisis period.)
So, who wants to take bets on just how much of Mark Waid’s classic “The Return of Barry Allen” gets trampled by this new origin?
Update: Full solicitations are up. Here are some more Flash appearances in November.
April 19, 2010
DC Direct’s Solicits for December are out and there are some great Flash related releases coming up.
BLACKEST NIGHT: SERIES 8: BLACK LANTERN BLACK FLASH Action Figure
The hugely successful BLACKEST NIGHT action figure line continues!
Included in this eighth installment of the series are: Black Lantern Black Flash, Professor Zoom’s reanimated corpse, holds curious sway over The Flash’s other undead rogues; Orange Lantern Lex Luthor, the new Orange Power Ring seeks out Lex Luthor for his avarice and lust for power; Indigo Tribe The Atom, with compassion and sense of duty stronger than ever, Ray Palmer serves as the binding force uniting the spectrum of power; Sinestro Corps Member Scarecrow, delights in instilling fear in others and is rewarded with the Yellow Ring of Power.
The Black Lantern Black Flash figure stands at 6.75″ high, features multiple points of articulation and includes a display base. Character-appropriate accessories are also included.
4-color clamshell blister card packaging.
BLAMMOIDS!: SERIES 4: FLASH Mini Figure
Real compact – with real impact!
BLAM! A funky, chunky collection of boldly designed toys that pack a lot of punch in a squatty body!
POW! A striking, hyper-stylized twist on the world’s greatest heroes and their biggest foes. Too tough to call small – you’ll want to collect them all!
Packaged on a blister card, each measures approximately 2.5″ to 4″ tall with three points of articulation.
On Sale December 1, 2010
and his Zoom counterpart:
BLAMMOIDS!: SERIES 4: ZOOM Mini Figure
Real compact – with real impact!
BLAM! A funky, chunky collection of boldly designed toys that pack a lot of punch in a squatty body!
POW! A striking, hyper-stylized twist on the world’s greatest heroes and their biggest foes. Too tough to call small – you’ll want to collect them all!
Packaged on a blister card, each measures approximately 2.5″ to 4″ tall with three points of articulation.
On Sale December 1, 2010
The Black Lantern Reverse Flash is a must have for me. Especially since we have yet to get a proper Professor Zoom or Zoom in the DC Direct lines. Well except for that artist-specific, out of scale one coming up in the Classified Series. It’s a shame that I only own five Reverse Flashes. And none of them were made in the traditional sculpt. Two are from JLU(Justice Lords large and small figures), One is a Toyfare Exclusive from the 90s JLA Line, and the other two are from Infinite Heroes and DC Direct’s short lived Pocket Heroes line. I’m actually surprised we’ve yet to see a Zoom in the Minimates line either. I’m crossing my fingers that this Flash Relaunch leads to a DC Direct Flash Series similar to what they’ve been doing with Green Lantern. And then when the movie hits. Wow. I think we are in for a great next few years as far as collecting goes.
I really don’t know what these Blammoids are or what the point of them is but I will definitely be picking up both the Flash and Zoom. I have a feeling it’s going to be a slow month for Flash collectibles anyway. Unless DC Direct or Mattel kicks it up with a *crosses fingers* Flash line or Flash-heavy DCUC release.
I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of the last three heroclix I need from the recent release. Expect a full write up when they get here.
-Devin “The Flash” Johnson
DC has been really cagey with Flash news lately, since the new direction is just getting started, but they’ve let a few hints slip at C2E2. Here’s a round-up from Newsarama and CBR’s coverage of the event.
DC Nation was light on Flash information…though Dan Didio joked that “as far as dead meaning dead in the DCU, once we get to Nightwing and Wally West, yes.”
At the Brightest Day panel on Saturday, Geoff Johns answered a fan who was upset that Flash #1 had a “Brightest Day” banner, but didn’t tie into the book:
Johns said, “It was a good issue, wasn’t is?” before explaining that the book would tie in to what happens in “Brightest Day” in some small ways, though “I didn’t want to start Flash #1 with a white power battery. I wanted him to fight the Trickster.” Sattler added “The bannering on the books is about a theme in the DCU…the stories are important to Brightest Day’s central story.”
He told another fan, who was confused about the number of Zooms running around, “If you look at Reverse Flash, I try to do everything in reverse…”
At the DC Universe panel, Ian Sattler answered a question about a Flash Secret Origin story by saying, “Sooner than you think.” Wally West will make an appearance in Justice League.
Robinson also said that he’s “very excited about bringing Jesse Quick to the team.”
Finally, at Sunday’s Flash/Green Lantern panel, Geoff Johns declined to answer questions about the current arc or about Flashpoint. He has plans for Wally West and the West Twins. We will “eventually” see the Tornado Twins and John Fox, but there are no plans for Inertia (he’s “really dead”) or Walter West (“but never say never”).
Someone else asked why the resurrected Captain Boomerang is already in jail, “Or is this based on his previous crimes?” Johns said yes. “Is there a legal precedent in the DCU for culpability for crimes you’ve committed before you’re resurrected?” “I’ll have Boomerang complain to the guards.”
The most interesting remark I found in the write-up was this:
“The Rogues always told Wally there was a mutual respect between them and Barry, and that was a lie.”
The funniest, though: Someone asked about Mopee. No one on the panel knew who he was, except Geoff Johns, who sighed and joked that he’ll be in issue #715.
