Monthly Archives: January 2009

Flash: Rebirth Confirmed for April 1

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Flash: RebirthTitans Tower has obtained some of DC’s April 2009 solicitations, including the one for the first issue of Flash: Rebirth!

The Flash: Rebirth #1

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and covers by Ethan Van Sciver

Through the decades, many heroes have taken the mantle of The Flash, but they all ride the lightning that crackles in the wake of the greatest hero the DC Universe has ever known, the man who sacrificed himself to save the Multiverse: Barry Allen!

Following the events of Final Crisis, Barry has beaten death and returned to a fast-paced world that a man out of time wouldn’t recognize. Or is it a world that is only just now catching up? All the running he’s done before was just a warmup for the high-speed race that he and every other Flash must now run, because even though one speedster might have beaten death, another has just turned up dead! From Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, the visionaries responsible for the blockbuster Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Sinestro Corps War, comes the start of an explosive and jaw-dropping epic that will reintroduce to the modern age the hero who single-handedly birthed the Silver Age of comics! DC history will be made, and the Flash legacy will be redefined!

Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information. On sale April 1 • 1 of 5 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Update: More preview solicitations are up at Newsarama, including the other cover for Flash: Rebirth.

Flash: Rebirth Cover

Geoff Johns on Flash: Rebirth, Smallville and More

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Geoff Johns was all over the place this week, talking with Hero Complex about several projects including Flash: Rebirth, to Newsarama about his Smallville episode, Legion, and to Wizard about the comic book projects he has for 2009.

Regarding Flash: Rebirth, he tells Hero Complex about series losing their focus:

When the book starts to not be about that, maybe it needs to refocus. Writing Flash with Wally West, he was kind of the sidekick to Barry Allen, the original, then he became the main Flash after Barry left and died. But you look at what the theme of Flash’s book has been for the last 200-something issues with Wally West and it’s been about a man trying to fill someone else’s boots. It doesn’t really have anything to do with speed. I mean, it has something to do with speed, but it was not totally what the book was about. The new Flash that I’m doing is all about speed. What speed means. I’m sure that you have a Blackberry or cellphone, or I’m sure that you’ve downloaded songs or something and asked, “Why is it taking so long?” Everyone wants everything faster today, so speed is even more of something that we can all relate to on a different level.

I like the fact that he wants to focus the book on speed. However….

The guy writing Flash: Rebirth, who also wrote ~60 issues of the last series, feels that Wally West’s defining characteristic is being a wannabe. Remind me again why Wally’s fans should simply relax and trust him? 🙄

Speed Reading: Reviews, an Homage, Firestorm, and Defining “Definitive”

Some Flash-related bits from around the comics blogging community.

Crimson Lightning has a scan from a Funky Winkerbean homage to the Flash, specifically the cover of Flash v.1 #115.

momoney433 has started reviewing the entire run of The Flash vol.2 (Wally West’s series) over at Comic Bloc. Issues #1 and #2 went up yesterday.

softpixels.net reviews Flash: Race Against Time.

Blogcritics reviews the Graphic Audio adaptation of Flash: Stop Motion.

The Irredeemable Shag of Once Upon a Geek fame has launched a new blog, Firestorm Fan. Firestorm ran as a backup feature in The Flash during the early 1980s.

Rokk’s Comic Book Revolution thinks that Wally retiring is a good idea.

Meanwhile, I’m Just Sayin’ ponders the “definitive” Flash and Green Lantern — and doesn’t come up with Barry and Hal.

Review: Final Crisis #6

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Final Crisis #6

You know how sometimes, when an issue of a comic book has been delayed for a long time, it finally shows up and it’s absolutely worth the wait? The last few issues of Fray and Midnight Nation come to mind. Unfortunately, Final Crisis #6 does not fit into that category.

The first few issues were structured like a mystery, presenting various fragments that slowly piece themselves together into a coherent picture. But now that the whole picture has been put together, we’re still only seeing fragments. It’s kind of like watching Cloverfield, except the reason we’re only seeing bits and pieces isn’t because we’re following a single viewpoint, but because we’re following too many.

The weird thing is, as unsatisfying as it is to read (though it does improve the second time through), I’m half-convinced that the fragmentation is intentional. It fits with the disintegrating cover design, and it fits with the theory that theme is more important than plot in this book. And, in fact, it fits with Grant Morrison’s comments about paring a comic down to the bare essentials like dance music. Of course, not everyone likes dance music.

Some specifics, so watch out for spoilers: Continue reading →

This Week (Jan 14): Final Crisis, Titans

Final Crisis #6 of 7

Written by Grant Morrison; Art and covers by J.G. Jones and Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino

As the entire world turns against them, the last of Earth’s Super Heroes must face the unstoppable power of the Gods of Apokolips for the final time. Supergirl vs. Mary Marvel! Superman vs. Darkseid! The fate of the Flash! And the incredible return of the New Gods! The End of Days has come and the ultimate war between good and evil will at last be decided on the battlefield of a broken world!

And as the skies bleed, as the walls between universes crumble and fall, the ultimate threat to life makes its presence felt as an evil beyond imagining arrives to claim its prize. Mandrakk the Dark Monitor is coming and the DC Multiverse will never be the same again!

Notes: Yes, it’s really coming out this week! Diamond shows it on their shipping list, and Newsarama has a preview.

Titans #9

Written by Judd Winick; Art by Howard Porter; Cover by Tony Daniel

A “Faces of Evil” issue! With Jericho around, no one is safe. He can hide in plain sight, and he’s far more powerful than he’s ever been before. Even those best equipped to understand and deal with him — his old teammates the Titans — are at a loss this time. What is his ultimate goal, and whom will he possess next to attain it?

IO9 has a preview.

Titans: Old Friends (Hardcover)

Written by Judd Winick; Art by Ian Churchill, Joe Benitez; Cover by Joe Benitez & Victor Llamas

The former teen heroes known as the Teen Titans are all grown up and under siege in this hardcover collecting Titans #1-6 as well as the hard-to-find one-shot Teen Titans East Special #1!

Also likely: Trinity and Super Friends.

Weather Wizard, Meet…Go-Go the Magician!

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Flash (and Rogues’ Gallery) fan liabrown found something Flashy in Bat-Manga!: a villain who bears a very strong resemblance to Central City’s own Weather Wizard.

Go-Go the Magician

As she puts it:

The Japanese artist said he was given some Batman comics and told to replicate the feel of them in manga style, but he pretty much copied Detective Comics #353 for the Go-Go story…with one major difference (mentioned below). He also used Clayface in a story, and some villains who appear to be fairly original (although one is somewhat reminiscent of Gorilla Grodd), including the awesome Lord Death Man.

Go-Go the Magician in a tornadoweatherwizard

Detective Comics #353It’s not clear why the artist replaced the Weather Wizard with a new villain, though the comment thread speculates that rights may have had something to do with it — or what “Go-Go” has to do with weather control. (Of course, this was the era of go-go checks on DC’s covers.)

Speaking of Detective Comics #353, it’s got a great classic cover showing the Weather Wizard physically stepping out of a Flash comic book and into an issue of Detective Comics.

More scans — of both the original and the manga versions — are available at the flash_rogues post.