Monthly Archives: December 2009

Geoff Johns: Already the Longest Run on Flash Since 2005

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Something just occurred to me: Between Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: The Flash, DC has scheduled 9 Flash comics in a row by the same writer. This hasn’t happened since 2005, when Geoff Johns finished his previous run on The Flash. We’re looking at the most creatively-consistent period the Flash has had in four years, even though we haven’t seen a single issue of the regular series!

The Flash has historically had very stable writing teams. The Golden Age was mostly Gardner Fox; the Silver age mostly John Broome. Robert Kanigher contributed to both. The Bronze Age was almost entirely Cary Bates. William Messner-Loebs did several years in the late 1980s, Mark Waid had the 1990s sewn up, and Geoff Johns took the first half of the 2000s.

But since 2005, the longest run had been just 8 issues by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo.

It’s nice to finally have some stability back for the Flash. Even if we didn’t already know Geoff Johns would be sticking around for the new series, it already feels like a minor miracle.

Review: Blackest Night: The Flash #1

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Blackest Night: The Flash #1 (Standard)

Blackest Night: The Flash: #1 shows how to start a Flash miniseries: by hitting the ground running. Literally. While Geoff Johns took a slow burn approach for Flash: Rebirth, this time he starts in media res, with the Flash racing around the world to let everyone know what Earth is up against: the dead are rising from their graves, possessed by Black Lantern rings.

The one-page opening sequence, followed by a dramatic double-page splash of the Flash running, serves another purpose: filling in readers who might not be familiar with the main Blackest Night miniseries. As someone who hasn’t been following the main event directly, I found this page extremely helpful. Similarly, I imagine the two-page recap of Flash: Rebirth would probably help anyone approaching this miniseries from the Blackest Night perspective get “up to speed” with the current status of the Flash.

Once the recaps are out of the way, the issue alternates between high-speed Flash vs. Black Lantern action and interludes of the Rogues as they prepare to face their dead comrades. It’s effective pacing, providing both contrast and a sense of weight to an issue that, despite the battles, is still mostly setup (more about that later).

Rogue Artist

I’ve probably said it before, but Scott Kolins’ art is a perfect fit for the grizzled Rogues. He proves equally well-suited to the undead Black Lanterns. Kolins also does a great job of conveying motion and stillness — important, since that contrast is one of the issue’s major themes. On the downside, there are places where his art comes off as too rough. A one-panel appearance of the Titans stands out as an example.

Connected

The story is surprisingly connected to Flash: Rebirth, following through on several elements established in that miniseries but not (at least as far as issue #5) resolved. It seems that Blackest Night: The Flash will be exploring the fallout from Rebirth‘s changes, paving the way (one hopes) for more stand-alone stories in the new Flash ongoing that launches next year.

Even so, this issue feels less like setup and more like an actual story than the five issues of Flash: Rebirth that we’ve seen so far.

Okay. It’s spoiler time. If you don’t want to know specifics, stop reading now. Otherwise, keep reading after the cut.

Continue reading →

Flash: Rebirth #5 Ranked #9 for November

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Full sales estimates aren’t available yet, but the November top 10 list shows that Flash: Rebirth #5 took the #9 spot (The Comics Chronicles, via Robot6). That’s lower then the debut issue (ranked #2 for April), but considerably higher than Flash: Rebirth #4, which had dropped to #14 for August.

DC Comics took seven of the top ten slots…four of them written by Geoff Johns: Blackest Night, Green Lantern, Adventure Comics and Flash: Rebirth.

EVS Speaks on Flash: Rebirth Delays

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Flash: Rebirth #6Artist Ethan Van Sciver dropped in at Comic Bloc this morning (for the first time since July) to apologize for the lateness of Flash: Rebirth and to answer fans’ questions. A couple of items that stand out are, first, on inking one’s own pages:

The allure of inking one’s own work is simply to work in a different medium (drawing with ink, as I do, is smoother…the effect of putting solid blacks down instead of scratchy pencils is often more pleasant.) and to be sure that the final product meets with my approval.

And second, on conventions:

Conventions are not “vacations.” They are a vital function of what we do, to promote the comics and meet fans. I do not ride roller coasters, lie on beaches, or relax in any sense. They are work.

That’s something worth remembering. For you or me as fans, a convention might be a vacation. But for someone who makes comics for a living, it’s a promotional event, it’s professional networking, it’s a trade show.

Of course, the sentence that will probably interest the most readers is this: “Issue 6 is more than halfway finished.”

This Week (Dec 3?): Blackest Night — The Flash

No, it’s not your imagination. It’s only been two weeks since the last Flash comic book, and here we have another one! Blackest Night: The Flash is starting before Flash: Rebirth finishes.

I’ve gotten conflicting information about whether new comics are arriving on Wednesday as usual or on Thursday due to last week’s holiday. DC’s website and whoever answered the phone at my local comic shop on Monday said December 2. IGN’s Blackest Night: Flash preview lists December 3…as does Diamond’s shipping list. If it is Thursday, it’s going to cut into my review-writing time. Wednesday night is clear. Thursday night, it looks like stuff might finally happen in FlashForward.

Anyway, onto the comics!

Blackest Night: The Flash #1 of 3

Blackest Night: The Flash
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Scott Kolins
Variant cover by Francis Manapul

The Flashes of Two Cities – Barry Allen and Wally West – battle the undead Rogues. Will the legendary speedsters be able to handle the Black Lantern Rogues’ revenge?

Plus, witness the resurrection of Barry’s greatest enemy, the Reverse Flash in this hyper-speed miniseries event reuniting the fan-favorite Flash creative team of Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins!

This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Scott Kolins), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Francis Manapul).

1 of 3 – 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Teen Titans: Deathtrap TP

Teen Titans DeathtrapWritten by Sean McKeever and Marv Wolfman
Art by Fernando Dagnino, Joe Bennett, Rick Leonardi and others
Cover by Andrew Robinson

The Teen Titans join forces with The Titans and The Vigilante in this new title collecting the “Deathtrap” storyline from TEEN TITANS ANNUAL 2009, TITANS #12 and 13, TEEN TITANS #70 and VIGILANTE #5 and 6.

192 pg, FC, $14.99 US