Monthly Archives: March 2011

The Fwoosh Justice League Unlimited Giveaway

Popular action figure collecting and customizing site, TheFwoosh.com is holding 3 giveaways for 3 different sets of Justice League Unlimited Convention Exclusive 3 packs. Two of which feature characters that have been central to the Flash at one point or another.

From The Fwoosh:

To help get things started, The Fwoosh is going to give you the first chance at owning these exclusive three-packs with not one, not two, but THREE giveaways, each with a prize of one of the three packs. We know you have been waiting a long time for a lot of these characters and now you have the chance of getting your paws on them ahead of the curve. Pretty neat, eh?

We have all of the official rules and entrance criteria listed for each giveaway below so please read all of the fine print carefully. The best part is that you can enter all three contests so don’t forget to follow all of the steps. We want to send a big thank you to Matty and crew for sending along these exclusive sets to make these great giveaways possible.

Now, hurry up and get your entries in, all of the details are listed after the jump!

Are you ready? Here we go!

Pretty cool huh? The three packs in question are:

1) Firestorm (who ran as a back up story in Barry’s series for 15 issues), Angle Man and Killer Frost (who was a boss in the GBA gameJustice League Heroes: The Flash).

2) Kyle Rayner, Evil Star and Goldface (who had a role as a villain during Barry’s series and returned in Geoff John’s run of The Flash as Keystone City’s Union Commissioner)

3) and last but certainly not least Barry Allen (previously released as a single), and classic Flash Rogues, Heatwave (available for the first time) and Mirror Master (previously released as a single and in a 3 pack along with Copperhead and Lex Luthor).

I have zero interest in the Firestorm pack (sorry Ronnie), and almost the same in the Kyle Rayner pack (I just want Goldface). The Flash 3 pack however is a no-brainer except that I already have Barry and Mirror Master. I might have to try and track down Heatwave and Goldface as singles in the secondary market. I just can’t believe that Mattel does something really awesome and then screws it up almost immediately after (for me at least) by making these convention exclusives. I’m also not thrilled about the fact that they MAY have some left over at the END OF THE YEAR for those who couldn’t make it the cons. I understand that they didn’t have to make these sets and that its cool that they are releasing them in some way, but man I can see these sets making some scalpers a lot of money. Of course if I were to win one of these that would solve half of my problem.

If you plan on entering all three contests keep in mind that you need to have a valid Fwoosh account (sign up is free) and a Facebook account (sign up also free).

Entries are due by 11:59:59 pm CST Saturday, March 12th, 2011 so you’ve got about 2 days left. So get to it!

Good luck and thanks for reading,

–Devin “Flash” Johnson

Ask the Rogues!

Comic-Con Hotels

Hotel reservations go on sale in just half an hour for Comic-Con International, and fans across the world are gearing up for a grueling session of reloads and busy signals. I’m sitting it out this year — which actually feels kind of weird, since I’ve dealt with it every year since 2006 (and possibly 2005, but I think that may have been the last year it went smoothly) — but with the baby, we figured it would be better to make it a one-day trip this year.

To those of you planning to wade into the fray, I wish you the best of luck. And if you don’t manage to score a room through the convention block, I hope these tips for staying in San Diego that I wrote last year will help you find an alternative.

This Week: Kid Flash vs. Superboy, Batgirl vs. Slipstream

This week features the Kid Flash/Superboy race over in Superboy #5 (preview). Meanwhile, a new speedster villain named Slipstream is introduced in Batgirl #19 (preview).

Superboy #5

Written by JEFF LEMIRE; Art by PIER GALLO; Cover by EDDY BARROWS & J.P. MAYER; 1:10 Variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL

Get ready for the first-ever Superboy/Kid Flash race! Bart Allen may have the speed, but Conner Kent has the power – who will win?! Meanwhile, a dangerous threat is nipping at their heels, one that may mean the end for Superboy, Kid Flash and all of Smallville!

Batgirl #19

Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER; Art by DUSTIN NGUYEN & DEREK FRIDOLFS; Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN

Patience may be a virtue, but can Batgirl stand still long enough to stop a super-speedster foe? “The Lesson” continues as the mysterious Order of the Scythe unleashes its first weapon in their war on Batgirl – Slipstream!

Get on the Cosmic Treadmill of Introduction!

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I remember staring at the Greg LaRocque cover for Flash #48 for the better part of an afternoon, terror frozen in time while a flare of hands stopped a hail of bullets.

Weekly trips to the general store turned into transparent check-ins for the latest issue of Flash. Galvanized by the TV show, fandom took over. After receiving and wearing-out a copy of The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told, I saw the avenues and inroads throughout Flash’s fictional history.

I had fallen in love with the concept of moving faster than humanly possible, and the implications and consequences therein. Challenging the limits of time and reality, while remaining grounded in a world of human limitations…what more could comics offer?

As I grew up, I was especially thrilled by something I had managed to overlook: the prose piece in the Greatest Flash Stories, “The Final Flash Storyline”. I sought out each original installment at once.

Those waning days of almost unending tribulation and tragedy, spent in the constant specter of death, were unlike any other hero story I had read. Written by longtime Flash scribe Cary Bates, the issue-by-issue cascade of the Final Flash Storyline broke my heart. It also provided context, and weight.

The new world of The Flash’s protégé, carrying on in his name and dealing with a different set of challenges, made it simple for me to stay dyed crimson in the comic book wool. What an amazing hook.

Along the way, I immersed myself in Kelson’s unparalleled Those Who Ride the Lightning site, a major source of information and reading material when I was putting together the bulk of my Flash collection. I was of course very excited, as a fan, when the Speed Force blog launched. Concentrated Flash news!

I hope I’m able to do justice to the standard set by Kelson, and Devin.
With a few interviews on the board, I’m looking forward to working and collaborating on some projects for this space, including:

Annotations for the contents of the upcoming Trial of the Flash reprint, and related reading
Reviews and analysis of the Flashpoint event and tie-ins
More interviews with creators, and others linked to the generation of Flash stories, artwork and other media

You can follow me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/gregislands.
Many thanks to Kelson!

Flash #9 Ranks…#9 for February Sales

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ICv2’s February sales estimates are out based on Diamond’s rankings, and The Flash climbed back into the top 10 to score an impressive #9 ranking in units sold.

Issue	Rank	Month	Units Sold	% Change
Flash v.3 #1	2	April 2010	100,903
Flash v.3 #2	12	May 2010	76,560	(-24.1%)
Flash v.3 #3	11	June 2010	68,799	(-10.1%)
Flash v.3 #4	15	July 2010	64,832	(-5.8%)
Flash v.3 #5	14	September 2010	62,063	(-4.3%)
Flash v.3 #6	15	November 2010	57,673	(-7.1%)
Flash v.3 #7	12	December 2010	56,304	(-2.4%)
Flash v.3 #8	18	December 2010	53,975	(-4.1%)
Flash v.3 #9	9	February 2011	55,980	(+3.7%)

The issue actually sold more copies than the previous one for the first time since the relaunch! Some possible reasons for the climb:

Start of a new story arc.
Promoted as a Flashpoint lead-in.
Theme cover.
Return of the regular creative team.
Return of the speedster guest cast (Wally, Jay, Bart)

Or perhaps the book has reached its level. The next question: what kind of boost will Flashpoint bring to the book?

(Thanks to Esteban of Comic Verso for the link!)