Monthly Archives: December 2009

Vote! Flash: Rebirth in Newsarama Favorites, Round 2: Johns vs. Johns!

The rest of Newsarama’s Favorites of 2009 polls have moved on to round 2.

Covers: Ethan Van Sciver’s Flash: Rebirth #1 won its bracket in the first round of Favorite Covers, and goes up against Alex Ross’ Justice Society of America #26. I’m a little confused, because I could swear the gallery for round 1 showed the face-forward variant that was used for the second printing, but this round it shows the standard side-view cover.

Limited series: 3 of the 4 winners were written by Geoff Johns. Blackest Night goes up against Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, and Flash: Rebirth goes up against Wednesday Comics. (Personally, I’m kind of disappointed that Scott Pilgrim disappeared so quickly, but I think that’s largely because Newsarama combined original graphic novels and limited series into one category.)

Flash wasn’t in the running for ongoing series this year, of course, but Rebirth writer Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern run. Actually, both brackets this round are GL vs. Batman, with Green Lantern up against Detective Comics and Green Lantern Corps up against Batman and Robin.

And yes, every single winner of Round 1 in these categories was a DC book.

Also still open:

Speed Reading: Fast Vision, Legacies, Steampunk Doom & More

What Were They Thinking?! has found a…novel way to see at super-speed.

Comic Wallet is selling two wallets made from pages of Blackest Night: The Flash #1.

Multiversity Comics recommends Geoff Johns’ original Flash run.

Grumpy Old Fan considers the likely structure of Legacies and its implications.

IGN’s top 100 covers of 2009 gives Flash: Rebirth #1 the #3 spot.

Toycutter has a Steampunk Legion of Doom set of custom action figures, featuring Sinestro, Black Manta, Joker, Gorilla Grodd, Captain Cold, and Bizarro. (via Great White Snark)

Flash fans will probably get a kick out of this Shortpacked! strip. (via @batmansgirl)

This Week (Dec 23): Blackest Night/JSA

What better way to celebrate Christmas than with Justice Society zombies? Okay, I can think of a few, but still, that’s what’s available to Flash fans at the comic store this week.

Blackest Night: JSA #1

Blackest Night: JSA #1Written by James Robinson
Art by Eddy Barrows & Ruy José
Cover by Eddy Barrows
Variant cover by Gene Ha

The mystery men of yesterday are back and they seek the hearts of their new counterparts! It’s Mr. Terrific vs. Mr. Terrific, Dr. Midnite vs. Dr. Midnite, Sand vs Wesley Dodds! Can the new generation of heroes survive the rise of the Black Lantern JSA? Find out in this all-new miniseries from original JSA co-writer James Robinson and rising star artist Eddy Barrows (BLACKEST NIGHT: SUPERMAN)!

This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Eddy Barrows), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Gene Ha).

1 of 3 · 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Justice Society of America #34

JSA #34Written by Bill Willingham
Art by Travis Moore & Dan Green
Cover by Jesus Merino

The Justice Society struggles to pick up the pieces after the team’s devastating break up! Regrouping at a new, temporary home base, the smaller team reflects on the recent infiltration of their ranks and how they can protect themselves from another such attack in the future! And why is the new Dr. Fate acting so weird?

32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Note: The team splits into two this month, with the rest of the group moving to JSA All-Stars. Based on the covers, it looks like Jay Garrick will be staying in Justice Society of America. This cover forms half of an image with next issue’s cover.

Vote! Manapul & Johns in Newsarama Favorites, Round 2

Newsarama’s Reader Favorites of 2009 are moving into the second round, with writers and artists the first to move forward.

Mark Waid was K.O.’ed in the first round, but current Flash writer Geoff Johns and one-time Flash writer Grant Morrison have both advanced to round two. Johns faces off against Greg Rucka, with Morrison up against Ed Brubaker. There’s a good chance we’ll see a Johns/Morrison match in round three.

Meanwhile, incoming Flash artist Francis Manapul narrowly won against Frank Quitely. Ethan Van Sciver (Flash: Rebirth) lost solidly to Ivan Reis (Blackest Night). Manapul and Reis go up against each other in round 2, as do George Perez and J.H. Williams III.

Each round is open for one week. Round one is still open for the remaining three categories:

Cooling Off

First off, I’d like to apologize for the meltdown in yesterday’s post. I’m still extremely disappointed in DC’s decision to cancel the Kid Flash series and Wally West backups, but instead of flying off the handle, I should have made a terse, neutral news post, then waited a few hours before writing a more considered opinion piece.

Well, it’s too late to stuff all the feathers back into the bag. As much as I’d like to delete it and start over, a lot of people have already read it, and I’d rather keep the original available so that people can read what I actually said, not what someone else said that I said.

So, about the future. Over the last few years, I’ve been slowly losing interest in super-heroes in general and the DC Universe in particular, to the point that right now, the only DCU books I’m reading are Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: The Flash.

Meanwhile, I’ve spent four years in “wait and see” mode with The Flash as DC has changed direction seemingly every 6 months. I’m frustrated. So frustrated that I’m getting bitter about what used to be my favorite book.

You know the kind of fan who constantly writes angry rants about how he hates the current version of a book or TV series? The fan who stands up in panels at conventions and complains about books he doesn’t like? The fan who puts “Only Bob is the real Ultraguy!” in his forum signature? The fan who shows up to say “You should be happy that your favorite book is being canceled! Now you can enjoy my favorite book! Isn’t it great?” You know, that guy?

I don’t want to be “that guy.”

So I think I need to take a step back for a bit.

I’ve got a few informational and linkblogging posts lined up for the rest of the week, but I think unless major news hits, I’m going to sit things out until after Christmas (I’ve got enough holiday stress already) while I figure out what I want to do, both as a reader and as a blogger.

Flash in 2010=100% Barry Allen – Kid Flash Series & Wally West Backups Canceled

So…DC’s latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio video has some bad news for fans of the extended Flash family. He answered my question about the Flash and Kid Flash books, explaining that they’ve decided to go back to “the original game plan” and focus on a single Flash book starring Barry Allen.

Wally West’s backup stories, by Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins? “On hold.” [Edit: This may be the result of DC restructuring the second features.]

The Kid Flash book by Sterling Gates? “On hold.”

He goes on to say, “Your Flash fix will be Barry Allen, pure and simple, for 2010.”

Warning: Rant Ahead

Edit: The rest of this post is a rant, bashed out in the heat of the moment immediately after watching that video. If I’d had the sense to wait until I’d cooled down, I wouldn’t have written it.

To clarify what I did write, it’s not just that Barry’s getting the limelight that has me pissed off. I’ve had a year and a half to get used to that. What really has me steamed is that DC announced ongoing stories starring Bart and Wally, then changed their minds and yanked that away.

I picked up Flash: Rebirth hoping that it would convince me to like the idea of new Barry stories. It hasn’t. If it had, this news would have still been disappointing, but wouldn’t have gotten me so angry.

Anyway, onto the original post…

Continue reading