Monthly Archives: January 2009

We’re Baaack!

I apologize to those who’ve tried to visit the site this weekend and couldn’t see it. Apparently when I upgraded one of my plugins (WP Super-Cache, which normally improves performance on the site), it tried to enable a feature on the server that it didn’t have permission to turn on. Whenever it tried to load a page from the cache, it would run into the permissions problem and show a “500 Internal Server Error” page.

Of course, since I was always logged in when I looked at the site, it never tried to load the page from the cache, so I never saw the error. I even made a few posts.

Reminder to self: When updating plugins, always test the site both while logged in and while not logged in!

Technical details: The .htaccess file in the wp-content/cache folder didn’t have permission to turn on expiration (the error in Apache’s logs was “ExpiresActive not allowed here”). Solution: add “AllowOverride Indexes” to the folder’s area in the server configuration.

Quick Thoughts: Twitter Through 2009-01-25

  • Wow: In 6 months, Speed Force has passed K-Squared Ramblings in Technorati Authority. My other blog has been up 6 YEARS
  • Diamond actually expects to ship Final Crisis #7 next week. It’ll be done in January.
  • Interesting: Ethan Van Sciver did FOUR covers for Flash: Rebirth issue 1, though they’re only using two.
  • According to Google, Phoenix Comicon is a shorter drive than WonderCon. Filed for future reference.
  • Grumpy Old Fan predicts the dead speedster in Flash:Rebirth is a member of Blue Trinity
  • Something’s missing from this press release
  • Wait, people are finding this Dilbert cartoon controversial? [edit: it was the dilbertfiles.com plug]
  • What I bought this week: Fallen Angel, Tangent: Superman’s Reign, Superman: Beyond. Two last issues & a next-to-last. Such is my pull list.
  • Retweeting @neilhimself: New trailer for the Coraline movie
  • The current Super-Friends book is the kind of series where Lex Luthor WOULD steal forty cakes.
  • Weird: Visits to SF blog dropped by a factor of 10 this weekend, but my other site on the same server stayed constant.
  • Reading some of the stories from Adventure Comics when Flash was a regular feature (c. 1980). Trippy stuff.

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Dan Speaks: The Future of Wally West

From Newsarama’s Dan DiDio: 20 Answers, 1 Question for January 23:

13. One question that keeps coming back with the return of Barry Allen as Flash. What’s the role of Wally West going to be?

DD: That question is great fodder for story, and what will be taking place in Wally’s life. He will be trying to figure out his place in the world in regards to being a hero and a family man, given the turn of events and the return of Barry. The return of Barry basically forces Wally to ask himself why he would want to continue, and should he continue in the role of the Flash? He took the mantle on, and “graduated” from Kid Flash to Flash because Barry died, and now that he’s returned, Wally has to question what he wants to do. He also gets to reexamine his family life, and see where he fits in and what exactly his purpose is. That’s going to be the centerpiece of a lot of stories in Titans and beyond in the coming year. Wally will be featured very prominently in Titans following the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth. We’re going to be addressing all of that – there’s a lot of story left to be told with Wally.

The interview also talks about a possible role for Barry Allen in Blackest Night, which seems to have grown from this year’s big Green Lantern story in the style of Sinestro Corps War to being this year’s big DC Universe Event-With-a-Capital-E.

A question to anyone reading Titans: has it actually gotten good? It took me a long time to break the habit of reading it, and if I’m going to have to fall off the wagon just to be able to read new Wally West stories, it had better be worth it.

Speed Reading: Mark, Barry, Daphne, Mopee and Hippies

BOOM! Studios has launched MarkWaid.com, at which BOOM! Editor-in-Chief and long-time Flash writer Mark Waid has started his own blog. (via Newsarama) Meanwhile, CBR writes up his new Incredibles! comic. Update: Also, a new Potter’s Field one-shot, “Stone Cold,” is coming in March.

Ethan Van Sciver mentions in his latest Your Time is Now Mine column that he has drawn four covers for Flash: Rebirth #1, though DC is only using two of them for the first issue. “We’ll see where they pop up!” he says. My bet: one of them will appear on the inevitable second printing.

Progressive Ruin looks into a forgotten Flash supporting cast memberMopee — and a surprise find in the old Flash comics letters column: a letter from a fan named Cary Bates!

4thletter! bemoans the fact that Barry Allen’s return appears to be linked to another speedster’s death.

Comic Coverage looks at an editor’s excuse for a then-shocking swear word appearing on the cover of a 1960s Flash comic.

Death in Comics is clearly on the collective mind of the blogosphere, with (again) 4thLetter and Mania weighing in.

Armagideon Time reminds us all to lighten up a bit. It’s only a hobby, after all.

And finally, Heroes’ Brea Grant posts this fan picture of Daphne, Flash and Quicksilver by Drawing Power:

Speedsters by Drawing Power: Quicksilver, Daphne, and the Flash