It’s a light week for Flash-related books, with only Super Friends #7 and Trinity #15.
Trinity continues the battle between the Justice League and the Crime Syndicate. Super Friends has the always-smiling toy versions of the Leaguers going up against Amos Fortune in, if the cover is anything to judge by, a skateboarding contest.
In the previous post I made a joke about Mackenzie Ryan being the new Flash. I should probably explain.
During Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC made the decision to kill Barry Allen before they had figured out how to replace him. Many ideas were suggested, and the one that got the farthest was a proposal by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman for a new character with no link to Barry except the name.
A brief note in Amazing Heroes Preview Special #2 (1986) described the proposal:
Ultimately, DC decided to promote Wally West instead. Oddly enough, Mackenzie Ryan actually gets a brief mention in canon, during a phone conversation with Klyburn in The New Teen Titans #19 (written by Marv Wolfman), which gave his daughter’s name as Jamie.
Further reading:
The Flash Companion has an article about “The Unused Flash.” Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #126 points out similarities between Mackenzie Ryan’s powers and those of the Tangent Flash. Titans Tower collects interview fragments about trying to set up the new Flash.
We’ve known since the EVS spotlight at San Diego that the current Flash series will stop for Flash: Rebirth, though DC hasn’t yet announced the last issue. A good bet: #247, the final issue of Alan Burnett’s 4-part storyline, which should hit in December. Final Crisis, if it doesn’t get delayed too much, should also finish up in December, and they’ve talked about Rebirth starting in January.
The only real question has been whether Rebirth will be followed by one Flash series or two (and really, two is just wishful thinking), and whether it will start with #1, #248, or #351.
Now, Lying in the Gutters is reporting (with a “green light” for the rumor’s reliability):
…yes, “The Flash” will also disappear, replaced by the previously announced “Flash Rebirth” mini-series, before kicking off again with a new Flash series. With a new Flash.
Well, for some definition of “new,” anyway. (Unless DC pulls a fast one on us all and dusts off Mackenzie Ryan?)
I’m honestly not sure this is really news, but people seem to be talking about it.
(Thanks to Rockin’ Rich for pointing this out.)
Accodring to DC’s website*, Final Crisis #4 has been pushed back another two weeks to October 15.
Now, it could be worse: This was the planned “skip month,” after all, where they planned a 2-month gap between issues #3 and #4. Of course, they were supposed to have the various tie-in one-shots in between — Submit, Resist, Superman: Beyond, and Rage of the Red Lanterns — and only one of those has come out so far. (And it’s the one that ended up running two issues instead of just one.)
Interestingly enough, this schedule makes October 15 a big week for Final Crisis, as it will have:
*While there are many things that annoy me about DC’s new website design, one thing I really like is that they’ve finally gotten on top of keeping the schedule (a) accurate and (b) up to date.
For those who missed it, the latest issue of Ambush Bug: Year None #2 parodies the “Planet Flash” storyline from Mark Waid’s The Wild Wests. The citizens of Savoth call for help, but instead of a Flash, they get Ambush Bug.
In the 6-page sequence, he tries to protect Savoth from Mr. Nebula (a parody of Galactus who, rather than eating planets, redesigns them — and has horribly tacky taste) and his harbinger.
It’s…very bizarre. Absurd in both the everyday and technical meanings of the word.
(Thanks to Comic Bloc poster BESTBUY for pointing this one out.)
Sometime during either Villains United or the Secret Six miniseries, I realized that when I read Catman, I hear the voice of Sawyer from Lost (Josh Holloway).
Yesterday I read Secret Six #1, and today I realized that I hear Deadshot as Jayne Cobb from Firefly and Serenity (Adam Baldwin).