Monthly Archives: January 2010

Blackest Night: Flash #3 Variant Cover

DC has posted three variant covers at The Source, for upcoming issues of Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Blackest Night: The Flash. Francis Manapul’s cover for Blackest Night: The Flash #3 features the Rogues.

Oddly enough, we still haven’t seen the standard cover for the issue (scheduled for February 17). It was originally solicited using the variant cover for #1, and that cover still appears on DC’s website. I briefly wondered whether they might be hiding a giant picture of Blue Lantern Barry Allen for spoiler reasons (the solicitations went up in November), but the costume is similar enough that they could easily redraw the symbol and color his costume red for the preview, like they disguised Professor Zoom as the Black Flash on the preview image for Flash: Rebirth #5.

Update: Francis Manapul has posted the inks and watercolor version of this cover.

Review: Blackest Night: The Flash #2

If there’s one thing that best describes Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins’ Blackest Night: The Flash #2, it’s “caught in the middle.” It’s the middle of a three-part story. It takes place between chapters of a larger story. It fits between the end of one Flash series and the beginning of another. It’s about people caught between life and death.

It’s also about mirror images, both in terms of opposites and in terms of forcing characters to look at themselves.

Unfortunately, it looks like this miniseries isn’t going to stand on its own very well, for the simple reason that it’s not a self-contained chapter of Blackest Night. Each issue is interleaved within other chapters of the larger story. The first issue brought readers up to speed with Blackest Night #4. This one doesn’t pick up where the last issue left off, but skips ahead and has to recap a couple of major events from Blackest Night #5 & #6.

That may be a big part of why I liked the Rogues’ story a lot better than the Flash’s: their story actually does seem to be a solid story, not a loose collection of scenes that fit between panels in another series. In that way, it reminds me a lot of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.

Of course, another reason I liked the Rogues’ story is that it’s hard to go wrong with Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins on the Rogues. As I mentioned last time, Johns’ grim-and-gritty storytelling and Kolins’ angular art style are perfectly suited for the hardened Central/Keystone criminals…and for the undead Black Lanterns.

And now…it’s spoiler time! Continue reading

Flash Relics in new Smallville: Absolute Justice Preview

More Flash news from The Source: a new video preview of “Absolute Justice”, the Geoff Johns–penned Smallville episode airing February 5.

Comic Book Resources has taken some screencaps of the trailer, including two which show off the Justice Society’s resident Flash, Jay Garrick. He doesn’t appear in the episode himself, but we get several close-up views of that painting of the Justice Society spotted last month…plus there’s Clark looking at Jay’s helmet in a display case. It really is a clear view of the wing design.

Flash #1 Launches April 14

DC’s full April 2010 solicitations won’t go up for a few more hours, but they’ve posted the Brightest Day books at the Source…including the first issue of the new ongoing Flash series.

The Flash #1

  • On sale APRIL 14
  • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
  • Written by GEOFF JOHNS
  • Art, cover and 1:100 variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
  • 1:25 Variant cover by Tony Harris

A BRIGHTEST DAY tie-in! Get in on the ground floor of DC’s next epic in the making! The Flash races out of BLACKEST NIGHT and into his own monthly title as the all-new adventures of The Fastest Man Alive start with “Case One: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues!” Barry Allen runs back to his life in Central City, but when one of the Rogues turns up murdered under mysterious circumstances, it’s up to The Flash to not only solve this bizarre crime, but protect those that are still targeted by the elusive killer. Plus, don’t miss a peek into the future of the Flash universe in this special, extra-sized starting point issue!

Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.

Some Thoughts:

  • After a year of reshuffling the series’ concept, we finally have an official launch date for The Flash.
  • Now we know what happened to the cover Tony Harris was working on for Flash Secret Files.
  • I wonder how long they’ll keep doing variant covers.
  • It’s kind of funny that they dropped the backup stories in order to keep the price point at $2.99, but they’re starting with an oversized $3.99 first issue.

This Week (Jan 20): Blackest Night: Flash, More

Believe it or not, once comics ship this week we’ll have had three months in a row with new Flash comics. Astonishing, isn’t it?

Blackest Night: The Flash #2

Blackest Night: The Flash #2Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Scott Kolins

Variant cover by Francis Manapul

Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins continue this must-have BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in!

The Flashes find themselves more tangled into Nekron’s ultimate plan than they could ever have imagined. Meanwhile, it’s a well-known fact that Captain Cold hates running. But when the Rogues of the past rise to claim those that still survive, he has no choice!

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).

On sale January 20 (rescheduled) – 2 of 3 – 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Notes: The Black Lantern Rogues appear to be, from left to right:

Three of the dead Rogues have successors (four if you include the Rainbow Raiders). Two of them — Top and Boomerang — have died and come back to life before. Four of the surviving Rogues — Captain Cold, Mirror Master (Evan McCullogh), Weather Wizard, and Heat Wave — have also died and returned to life (Underworld Unleashed and Hell To Pay).

Continue reading