Monthly Archives: June 2010

Jim Lee: Icons and the Flash

2 Replies

A couple of weeks ago, CBR previewed Icons, an upcoming book featuring Jim Lee’s WildStorm and DC Comics art. It got me thinking: Has Jim Lee ever drawn the Flash?

I posed the question on Twitter and Facebook. @Pogophile and Joe Dy came up with the cover of the “Joker’s Last Laugh” issue of The Flash:

I did some searching around the Grand Comics Database when I looked up the Flash v.2 #179 cover, and didn’t find anything obvious. Several people suggested that the Flash may have appeared in Superman: For Tomorrow.

Then of course there are his designs for DC Universe Online.

It’s entirely possible that this is the only published Jim Lee art focusing on the Flash!

DC Comics Goes Digital

11 Replies

Big news: DC Comics has launched a digital comics program, starting with the iPad/iPhone and the Playstation network.

And by launched, I mean launched. As in, you can download the app and buy comics right now.

I’m really looking forward to the day when they expand this to more platforms (desktop PCs, Android and Windows–based tablets, etc) and start reaching into their back catalog. I’ve griped about the lack of Golden Age Flash reprints before, and the Bronze Age is also virtually invisible in reprints (though at least with comics from the 1970s and 1980s, you can usually find the back-issues at a reasonable price).

I haven’t had time to read all the interviews, but I’ll definitely be reading them tonight:

With Jim Lee so heavily involved in this project, I can’t help but think of a moment at WonderCon this year. Saturday was the day of the iPad launch, and the Apple Store in San Francisco is just a few blocks from the convention center. Jim Lee was conspicuously missing from the DC Editorial panel. He showed up partway through the panel and stood in the Q&A line, where he planted a few questions…and then pulled out the brand-new iPad that he had stood in line for that morning!

Sadly, judging by ComiXology’s new releases, DC hasn’t brought Flash to the iPad just yet. But I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Update: Comics Alliance has another article I won’t have time to read just yet, on why this is a big deal.

Cross-posted at K-Squared Ramblings

Review — Flash: The Human Race

1 Reply

Flash Week continues at Collected Editions with my guest review of Flash: The Human Race. The trade covers the second half of the year-long Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run: The Flash must run in a cosmic race or else the Earth will be destroyed, but even afterward, death comes for him in the form of the Black Flash. Finally, rounding out Grant Morrison’s Flash solo stories is a short from Secret Origins which retells the classic “Flash of Two Worlds” in modern Post-Crisis continuity.

Mark Waid Joins Hero Initiative

1 Reply

The Hero Initiative has announced that long-time Flash Writer Mark Waid has joined its Board of Directors. Waid will take the place of director Guillermo del Toro on the Executive/Fundraising Board.

Among Flash fans, Waid is best known for writing the Wally West series through most of the 1990s. Some of his more notable contributions to the mythos include the speed force, centering the book on the Wally/Linda relationship, co-creating Impulse, more-or-less creating Max Mercury based on the golden-age Quicksilver, and generally building up the Flash Family of characters.

The Hero Initiative is dedicated to helping comics creators in need. You can read more about their mission at www.heroinitiative.org.

Review: Flash — Emergency Stop

2 Replies

Flash Week continues at Collected Editions with my guest review of Flash: Emergency Stop. The trade covers the first half of the year-long Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run with art by Paul Ryan and covers four stories:

  • Emergency Stop (Flash vs. the Suit)
  • Through the Looking Glass (Flash vs. Mirror Master)
  • Still Life in the Fast Lane (a focus on Jay Garrick)
  • Three of a Kind: Part Three (a courtroom drama dealing with the aftermath of a Flash/Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up)

Read the review at Collected Editions, or order the book at Amazon.

Flash #3 Preview

3 Replies

DC has posted a 5-page preview of next week’s The Flash #3.

It may be BRIGHTEST DAY, but when a mysterious group of so-called heroes turns up, another Rogue ends up dead. Plus, the mystery deepens as The Flash witnesses another murder — his own!

The preview picks up the Brightest Day angle and focuses on Captain Boomerang. “Digger” Harkness discovers that he’s a bit…different now that he’s back from the dead. It’s an interesting development, but if what’s seen here can be taken at face value, I’m not sure it’s necessary. It seems like a second attempt (after Owen’s super-speed) to give a villain who throws weaponized boomerangs an extra edge. It’s an odd choice for Geoff Johns, who managed to revitalize the rest of the Rogues simply by taking them seriously.

The Flash #3 arrives in stores next week, on June 30.

Update: I’ve added this issue to my gallery of Dead Flash Covers!