DC’s June 2011 solicitations are up, and it looks like our Flash fix will be Flashpoint, pure and simple, for June. Creative teams and write-ups have already been announced over the past two weeks (Flashpoint & Booster Gold, miniseries part 1, miniseries part 2 & one-shots), but here are the dates:
June 1:
Flashpoint #2
Flashpoint: Batman – Knight Of Vengeance #1
Flashpoint: Secret Seven #1
Flashpoint: Abin Sur – The Green Lantern #1
Flashpoint: The World Of Flashpoint #1
June 8:
Booster Gold #45
Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #1
Flashpoint: Deathstroke And The Curse Of The Ravager #1
Flashpoint: Frankenstein And The Creatures Of The Unknown #1
Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #1
June 15:
Flashpoint: Wonder Woman And The Furies #1
Flashpoint: Deadman And The Flying Graysons #1
Flashpoint: Legion Of Doom Starring Heatwave #1
Flashpoint: Grodd Of War One-Shot
June 22:
Flashpoint: Lois Lane And The Resistance #1
Flashpoint: The Outsider #1
Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost Starring Bart Allen #1
Flashpoint: Reverse Flash One-Shot
June 29:
Flashpoint: Project Superman #1
Flashpoint: Hal Jordan #1
Flashpoint: Green Arrow Industries One-Shot
Flashpoint: The Canterbury Cricket One-Shot
The first round of Flashpoint Action figures also get a release date: July 20, right before Comic-Con International.
That said, there are some upcoming collections on the list…and the Tiny Titans “All-Flash” issue!
TINY TITANS #41
Written by ART BALTAZAR and FRANCO
Art and cover by ART BALTAZAR
Outta the way – It’s the “Flash” issue!
It’s the fastest comic ever and the race is on! This special issue introduces Jessie Quick and features Inertia and Mas y Menos. Plus: Kid Flash sharpens his pencil to a FLASHPOINT! Plus plus: Blue Beetle makes a special appearance!
On sale JUNE 15 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
Upcoming Collections
BLACKEST NIGHT: BLACK LANTERN CORPS VOL. 2 TP
Written by JAMES ROBINSON, GEOFF JOHNS and GREG RUCKA
Art by SCOTT KOLINS, NICOLA SCOTT, EDDY BARROWS and others
Cover by RODOLFO MIGLIARI
The Flash, Wonder Woman and the JSA come face to face with their greatest foes and long-lost loved ones, newly undead as evil Black Lanterns, in this collection of three 3-issue BLACKEST NIGHT miniseries.
On sale JULY 20 • 240 pg, FC, $19.99 US
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE TRIAL OF THE FLASH TP
Written by CARY BATES and JOEY CAVALIERI
Art by CARMINE INFANTINO, DENNIS JENSEN and others
Cover by CARMINE INFANTINO and KLAUS JANSON
Following the murder of The Flash’s wife by The Reverse-Flash, the two foes are locked in a round-the-world battle that ends in the death of the evildoer. Collected from THE FLASH #323-327, 329-336 and 340-350.
On sale JULY 20 • 592 pg, B&W, $19.99 US
Notes: This picks up years after Iris Allen’s death, with Barry Allen engaged to Fiona Webb, and the return of the Reverse-Flash. The issues skipped are:
Flash #328: A reprint of the Barry/Iris wedding story with a very brief framing sequence.
Flash #337-339: Pied Piper has a nervous breakdown, and the Rogues goad Big Sir into attacking the Flash. On one hand it’s sort of a diversion, but on the other hand, it sets up a key moment in the later part of the story.
Update: I can’t believe I missed this one!
DC COMICS PRESENTS: IMPULSE #1
Written by TODD DEZAGO
Art by ETHAN VAN SCIVER, WALTER SIMONSON, ANGEL UNZUETA and others • Cover by ETHAN VAN SCIVER and WAYNE FAUCHER
It’s Batman vs. The Joker – with Impulse caught in the middle! Plus, Impulse battles Kalibak, son of Darkseid – and meets Inertia, the Reverse-Impulse! Featuring art by Ethan Van Sciver, from IMPULSE #50-53!
On sale JUNE 8 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US
Notes: Not where I would have started — the Waid/Ramos run is IMO the best of the series — but Todd Dezago’s stuff was really good, and these issues have big advantages for marketing: They introduced Inertia (making them Important™), and they guest-starred Batman.
I’d buy the Trial of the Flash if it was in color. I hate the black and white print they use for the Showcase editions. Gives me a headache.
Trial of the Flash is the big surprise here, I agree, I read all those when they came out and would like to have them again.
The regular Flash comic will suspend publication during Flashpoint?
Overall, way too much Flash product for me. It is a Flash Flood! 🙂 I will have to wait for the trades.
I really, really love Thad. Of all fictional characters, I’d say he’s the one I can relate to most closely, because his personality (snarky, something of a loner, and yet shares a lot of traits with Bart, no matter how much he’d like to deny it) is almost exactly like mine.
That said, I’m still apprehensive about these mentions of him – if it means he’s returning, then it seems likely that the writers will piggyback onto his flat-out awful characterisation from 2006-2008 (does he look like the kind of person who would make friends** easily, let alone a lover? I certainly don’t see it, and I honestly think he would hate the type of person Sun Girl is, ie. manipulative – he’d rather prefer straightforward answers, however harsh)…yes, he was jealous of Bart, but that was because Bart had a loving family and a circle of friends – things Thad never did have (because of what he was created for), and desired above all else. There’s a reason he tore off in rage when he could have killed both Max and Bart right then and there.
It’s a shame, because they would’ve made an excellent “comedy duo” of sorts. Alas, I have to rely on fanfic for that.
…that…was a long rant.
**very ironic, considering the name “Thaddeus” does actually translate (though somewhat loosely) as “friend” in its root language, Aramaic.
What a strange chunk of Impulse to reprint. The Joker was is damn funny though.
I’ll be picking up the Trial TP even though it is black and white.
Its the Flash title going on break during Flashpoint or is this just an off month?
“The Joker was is damn funny though.”
WTH was I smoking this morning? I was trying to say that the Joker issue is really funny. Wow. That will show you how well I function without coffee.
Oddly enough, I read it the way you meant it. Which I guess shows how well I read before MY coffee.
Re: Flashpoint: Is it just me….or are other Flash fans just not feeling it for this mega-event? Don’t get me wrong….I’m thrilled the Flash is taking center stage in the DCU (for a change), but I don’t know. I guess I’ve got a bad case of “Event Fatigue” and it’s getting harder to muster any enthusiasm for yet another one. Especially since it appears to be nothing more than DC’s answer to Marvel’s “House of M” alterna-event (six years later, that is).
(sigh) Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong and Flashpoint will be everything they’re hyping it to be….but my long experience as a comic book fan tells me “probably not”.
I really thought we’d hear *something* about Wally in the June Flashpoint solicits. I’m a bit disappointed on that front.
The teasers seem to indicate that in Flashpoint, Bruce Wayne never becomes Batman as his parents are never killed. I’m curious as to who this Batman “Knight of Vengeance” is, if it’s not Bruce. Perhaps Jason Todd or maybe without Bruce Wayne taking him in after the death of his parents (unless Prof. Zoom prevents that too) maybe he takes a dark turn. I’d put my initial guess with Jason Todd though.
I wish they had started with the actual first issue of Impulse when collecting the series, but I’ll probably be buying the new trade anyway. I’m guessing the decision to start at #50 also has a lot to do with Ethan Van Sciver being the artist, but It’s still a weird choice by DC, especially when you consider that they recently published a TPB of the Mercury Falling arc that came *after* the issues in this trade.
I’m also not crazy about the idea of bringing Inertia back, since I don’t think anything he’s been in outside the Impulse series (and the brief Tiny Titans appearance) has been any good. If they were going to bring Todd Dezago back to write some Bart/Thad issues, however, I’d be all for that. How about it, DC?
There’s a theory going around the fandom that the version of Inertia who appeared in TFMA onwards isn’t actually the original character, rather yet another clone who – well, I’ll let this fanfic piece speak:
He cringed at the blond clone. “There’s something not right with this one. I don’t know what Thawne is trying to do with it, but I wouldn’t let it out of this tube for any reason.”
Impulse moved to peer over Inertia’s shoulder. “Is he sick?”
“It depends on your definition of sick,” he answered, “This one is meant to be more of an attack dog than me.” The next block of information made Inertia suck in his breath. “He’s giving him a copy of all of my memories! (…) He was going to replace me with this aberration!”
So, two versions:
-One from 1999-2000, the one speaking, and who the fandom base their views of him on
-One from 2006-2008, implied to be the “attack dog”/”aberration” shown here but not completely prepared
Very tempting theory, and also one that I think is plausible and in-character for all parties involved…though it doesn’t seem likely to leave the realm of fanon anytime soon…
I can totally see DC bringing back Inertia to further solidify the “legacy” aspect of the Flash titles. They could do a lot with an Eobard/Thad father/son dynamic. But I hope if Thad gets brought back he gets brought back as “Kid Zoom” from Rogues Revenge, and not as Inertia.
That being said I’m also hoping Owen Mercer gets either resurrected or maybe Zoom “undoes” his death… after all, he too has Thawne blood in him. I can totally see DC creating a “Negative Speed Force” or “Reverse Speed Force.”
But I hope if Thad gets brought back he gets brought back as “Kid Zoom” from Rogues Revenge, and not as Inertia.
Ugh, no…
At least with the Kid Zoom costume… I much prefer that costume over the Inertia costume. I like the character name, Inertia, but I never warmed to the costume.
And all the bad things associated with that costume? Yeah, no.
All the bad things associated with the costume?!? The costume was only used in what? 1 or 2 issues of Rogue’s Revenge… There’s not a lot of history to that costume.
(apparently there’s no response button beyond a certain point…)
Fine, bad choice of words. It represents, to me, all the mangling that’s been done to his character ever since he was brought back from limbo.
To me Rogues Revenge represented more the start of the UNdoing of all the mangling of the Flash titles between Flash #232 & FC: Rogues Revenge #1. It continued with the FC: Legion of Three Worlds & Bart’s resurrection (and at the appropriate age, no less).
The Rogues started acting like the rogues again and not the out of character way in which Guggenheim was forced to portray them in FFMA.
I tend to think of “Rogues’ Revenge” as “Rogues: Rebirth.” It was very much about taking characters who had been mishandled in the years since Johns left The Flash and saying, “No, this is how they work.”
That said, I think they made a few missteps along the way, and one of them was pushing Inertia past the moral event horizon and getting rid of him instead of trying to make the character work again. The Rogues got revamped — why not Inertia?
Mmm. My preferred scope is on Bart and stuff more closely related to him than anything else, so my opinion on the Rogues and such is mostly that of a bystander.
That said, I think they made a few missteps along the way, and one of them was pushing Inertia past the moral event horizon and getting rid of him instead of trying to make the character work again. The Rogues got revamped — why not Inertia?
I’ve always been of the mindset that he’d work as an anti-hero; less compromising, more cynical, less spontaneous (but quicker to anger), still keeping with the whole “Bart’s dark half” theme, but with a moral code.
Plus, seeing them work – and hell, live – together amuses me.
Let’s not forget Young Justice!