Okay, so maybe the question itself is a bit of a cheap shot, but with the number of times issues #4–6 have been rescheduled, it seems a fair question. At this time, Flash: Rebirth #6 is scheduled for December 23, 2009, just five weeks after issue #5 comes out. But with 3-month gaps between issues #3, #4 and #5, it’s certainly not hard to imagine the schedule might slip again.
So, who remembers what happened in Flash: Rebirth #4? 😀 All joking aside, it looks like we’ll finally get the next installment of the story in just over a week. Not only does DC still list Flash: Rebirth #5 with a November 18 date, it’s on also on Diamond’s upcoming releases list for books shipping next week. It’s extremely rare for anything to slip once it appears on that list (though I have seen it happen occasionally).
Here’s what the miniseries’ schedule looks like at this point:
| Issue | Orig. Date | Actual Date | Gap | Delay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash: Rebirth #1 | April 1 | April 1 | 3 months* | On time |
| Flash: Rebirth #2 | May 6 | May 6 | 5 weeks | On time |
| Flash: Rebirth #3 | June 10 | June 10 | 5 weeks | On time |
| Flash: Rebirth #4 | July 22 | Aug. 26 | 11 weeks | 5 weeks |
| Flash: Rebirth #5 | Aug. 26 | Nov. 18 | 12 weeks | 12 weeks |
| Flash: Rebirth #6 | Sep. 30 | Dec. 23** | 5 weeks | 12 weeks |
*Since Flash v.2 #247
**Well, currently-scheduled date, anyway.
All signs point to the next mini-series, Blackest Night: The Flash staying on track. Especially when you factor in Dan Didio’s comments on scheduling in his latest 10 Answers column:
…A lot of times the story drives how the books are produced. Certain books we have a certain level of leeway with because of how they fall within the rest of the DCU continuity. Books like Flash: Rebirth, books like Superman: Secret Origin, had long lead times and they still ran into some problems toward the end. But because of the consistency of the look and the consistency of the team and the consistency of the vision of that material, we’re willing to wait for those books because they don’t have an impact on other series that are rolling out at that time. [emphasis added]
But when we have other books like Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, it’s essential for them to come out in conjunction with Blackest Night, and for those, we know to plan differently.
Both sides — Rebirth not holding up the rest of the DCU and Blackest Night: Flash needing to sync up with Blackest Night — would seem to factor into the decision to keep the Johns/Kolins miniseries on schedule even though it means launching before Rebirth ends (whenever that ends up being).
Just think: in a few weeks, the Flash franchise should be back on track!
Some linkblogging for the weekend:
Collected Editions has spotted info on the Wenesday Comics hardcover, Final Crisis paperback and more.
Silver Age Gold points out that the science in the Flash…doesn’t always make sense.
TwoMorrows is holding a $10 sale on Modern Masters books, focusing on artists from Mike Allred to Mike Wieringo (with other artists who aren’t named Mike!).
Superman, Batman, and Max Mercury have all been cited as giving comic-book speedster Bart Allen the name Impulse. Batman most famously in Impulse #50, and Superman in the previews for All-Flash #1. (The final lettering simply said “He was code-named Impulse,” sidestepping the issue). But who named him originally?
The name first appears on the cover of Flash #93 (August 1994), with an out-of-control Bart Allen fighting the Flash. The cover is captioned, “Brash Impulse!” Over the next few issues, Wally West’s inner monologue refers to Bart as being impulsive, or (at one point) as “Mr. Impulse.”
It first appears on-panel as a name in Zero Hour #3 (September 1994), when Bart meets Superman for the first time, but Bart introduces himself as Impulse. Dan Jurgens writes.
Continue reading
To this day it’s not really clear how far ahead the 2007 death of Bart Allen and return of Wally West (not to mention the subsequent return of Barry Allen in 2008) were planned.
Interviews with Mark Waid and Marc Guggenheim at the time made it clear that it was in the works “nearly a year ago,” and definitely before Guggenheim took over as writer. Dan Didio has suggested it was their plan all along, though many fans find this idea suspect, and find it more likely that it was put in place after the first few issues of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive failed to catch on with readers.
While looking for something in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1, I noticed something interesting in the Barry Allen dream/origin sequence:
It shows Barry’s death, along with the Black Flash, who figured prominently in the last few issues. And that last remark: “Will you ever outrun the shadow, Bart?”
It could simply be setting the dark mood that pervaded the beginning of Bart’s run. On the other hand, maybe they did have this planned all along.
Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings.
And the relaunch of the Flash franchise continues! With Flash: Rebirth in progress, Blackest Night: The Flash launching in December, and new Flash and Kid Flash ongoing series launching next spring, it seems that DC has one more element on its way. This morning, artist Tony Harris (Ex Machina) posted the following on Twitter:
@TONYFINGHARRIS: Gonna start a Flash Secret Files cover today. Excited. Never Drawn Flash before except my version in JSA: The Liberty Files.
The last time the Flash had a Secret Files and Origins issue was 2001, shortly after Geoff Johns became the regular writer on Wally West’s series. Since the Flashes’ origins had been covered only a couple of years earlier (1997), Johns used the issue to establish characters and story elements that fed into the next two years of stories, particularly “Crossfire” and “Blitz.”
Now seems like a good time, with three heroes and a villain returning from limbo, a refactoring of the cast and of the nature of the Flash’s powers, and two new series launching, spotlighting at least three characters (Barry Allen in the lead stories in The Flash, Wally West in the backup stories, and presumably Bart Allen in Kid Flash).
[Edited to add:] It would be an ideal way to help potential new readers get in on the ground floor, especially if it arrives the same month as, or right before the new series launches. Considering that DC’s been saying “March or April” for the launch, and Blackest Night: Flash should finish in February, it might even make sense to release this in March and The Flash #1 in April. That would a good way to give the creative team on the series a little extra lead time while still maintaining the momentum of a monthly schedule, kind of like the way All-Flash #1 bridged the month between Flash: The Fastest Man Alive and the relaunch of Wally West’s series.
I’d almost rather DC had just launched the ongoing books last April along with a Secret Files, but I guess they wanted the publicity of a second Geoff Johns/Ethan Van Sciver “Rebirth” book, and I’m sure Geoff Johns wanted more pages to lay a foundation before getting started.
Update: Harris has posted a small section of his art featuring the Flash.