Monthly Archives: October 2009

Wally West Gets Co-Feature – Flash News from Long Beach

I just got out of the DC nation panel at Long Beach Comic-Con. At the start, Geoff Johns announced that the new Barry Allen Flash series will be a 30-page book with a Wally West Flash co-feature (backup story) by Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins!

YES!!!

Other Flash news from the Question & Answer segment:

No current plans to reissue trades from Geoff Johns’ Wally run.

Both Captain Boomerangs will appear in Blackest Night. As will Rainbow Raider – or rather the “Black and White Raider.” And he’s “really upset about it.”

Wally will have his new costume in Blackest Night & the new backup stories.

The new speedster Geoff mentioned in San Diego will be female. I’m thinking maybe Iris’ link to the speed force kicks in?

Update: Newsarama’s and CBR’s articles are up, both of which include a bit I’d missed posting: One fan asked whether, with Flash and Kid Flash, Wally was going to be “medium Flash.” Geoff Johns pointed out that Jay Garrick is still called Flash…

Update 2: My full write-up and photos from the con are now online!

Back on Track and off to Long Beach!

Speed Reading: Iconic Covers, Crisis Preview, Evil, Maps & More

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Comics Should Be Good wraps up the month of iconic covers with the Top 5 Most Iconic Barry Allen Covers.

Ain’t It Cool News has a preview of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, the next direct-to-home video DC animated film. It’s based on a number of Earth-2/Earth-3 stories in which the Justice League goes up against their evil counterparts from another world, the Crime Syndicate. There’s a few frames of the evil Johnny Quick in the preview, sporting an entirely new costume. (Thanks to Jesse for the link.)

Speaking of evil, the “Mark Waid Was Evil” teaser turns out to be for a new series, Incorruptible, intended as the flip side to Irredeemable. This series follows a super-villain who decides to become a hero in response to the Plutonian’s fall to the dark side.

Newsarama evaluates Wednesday Comics, giving the Flash strip a B+.

Avatar Press has started a collaborative map of comic shops around the world. You can help by adding the local store where you buy your comics.

Over at my other blog, I made an amusing discovery about Wizard World Los Angeles, the Long Beach Comic-Con, and two convention centers.

Flash May Get “Secret Origin” Treatment

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Buried in a Newsarama interview about Superman: Secret Origin, Geoff Johns remarked that he’d like to do more “Secret Origin” stories…with the Scarlet Speedster his first choice for number 3.

My hope is to continue these, most likely with The Flash: Secret Origin, which would include the beginning of the Rogues as well.

Personally, I’d rather see some genuinely new stories for a while instead of yet another origin retread. The series has been (in my opinion) far too focused on the past for several years now. Bring back Wally West. Bring back Barry Allen. Spackle the Rogues’ actions during Countdown. Bring back Bart Allen. Bring Back Professor Zoom. Bring back Max Mercury. Retcon Barry’s childhood, early career, and the nature of the Flashes’ powers. Explain Barry’s bow tie.

(Also: he’s already written origins for at least five of the Rogues — six if you count Trickster II.)

Geoff Johns makes the point that origin stories serve as starting points for new readers, but I think The Flash #1 would also be a good place to start. And while I can’t speak for new readers, this long-time reader would like to see something that he hasn’t already read in half a dozen variations.

(Thanks for Fastest for the link.)

An Earlier Identity Crisis

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A brief exchange from The Flash 80-Page Giant #1 (1998).

The setup: The DCU version of comic book writer Mark Millar is interviewing the Flash to get ideas for his next script. Apparently DC Comics exists in the DCU, but they publish stories about “real world” heroes. As you can see, they don’t know all the details—like their secret identities—and have to fill in the gaps themselves.

Mark Millar and the Flash discuss secret identities and how DC had to rewrite continuity when heroes started revealing their real names... with "The Identity Crisis."

Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings.

In 1998 it was a play on the title of DC’s biggest ever crossover event. In 2004, it was the title of DC’s latest big crossover event.

Speed Force

Tracking the Flash – the Fastest Man Alive