Monthly Archives: April 2011

Save The JLU Campaign (Join The Fight)

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Earlier this month Mattel announced through their Facebook page that they would only be releasing two of the eight JLU 3-packs initially announced, and that based on the performance of those two sets they may release the others down the line.

To that end, some users from the Action Figure Insider Forums banded together in an attempt to try and get these last six 3-packs released.

First they started a Save The JLU Facebook Page and then a Twitter page, which Mattel themselves actually now follow. You can show your support by also liking the JLU page and following them on Twitter.

Several fans have even began making promotional materials for the cause. The first two were made by a user named Christhorne and the last one by a user named uberfriend:

 

Great work by both of these guys! I wish them lots of luck in their campaign (especially since I need that Vandal Savage in my collection). I’m going to be buying two sets of the Golden Age set from Matty and I encourage all that want to see the rest of these releases to do the same. I just hope I don’t have any issues with their site or they sell out before I get a chance to jump on them. I think the fact that these are actually desirable characters (not Parademons) will do a lot for the sales. Even though Jay had never been on the show,  I was still holding my breath for him after the release of Barry. I have no real use for Alan or Carter and I definitely don’t need two of them. Maybe we’ll be giving one of the packs away as a contest prize in the near future. You never know…

Speaking of which, congrats to the Winner of this week’s “Where Was Wally?” Contest and thanks to everyone who sent in answers! The next contest begins tomorrow, so dust off those back issues and get to work finding out “Where Was Wally?”.

Thanks for reading,

–Devin “Flash” Johnson

Toronto Comicon (Fan Appreciation 2011) Photos

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On April 9, I attended the first day of the free “Fan Appreciation” show in Toronto. This is the first year it’s been held for the entire weekend, but unfortunately real life got in the way and the spouse and I were only able to go for one day.

It was a pretty good show, with some great guests (including Flash artists Francis Manapul and Ethan Van Sciver) and quite a few vendors selling comics and action figures. I managed to get a couple of Professor Zoom figures and a Flash figurine, and commissioned Red Robin artist Marcus To for a drawing of Captain Boomerang.

Captain Boomerang, by Marcus To

The woman waiting in line behind me for Marcus To got this Impulse sketch from him, which she let me photograph.

Impulse sketch

Here’s Francis Manapul working on a Wonder Woman picture for a fan. I also saw him drawing several Flash pieces, and he drew the Flash on a t-shirt which was later given away in a contest. I didn’t take any photos of the shirt, but the gentleman who won it did!

 Wonder Woman in progress, by Francis Manapul

Alas, we ran out of money quickly (part of that real-life thing I mentioned earlier), and eventually left the show early. After leaving the convention, we went for lunch and wandered around some of the nearby streets before heading back to the car. And stumbled across this: the dressing rooms, washrooms, and hair/makeup trailers for the television show Flashpoint! The series is filmed in Toronto, of course. It was fun to see it given the name of DC’s imminent crossover.

The makeup trailer for Flashpoint

Spike's dressing room trailer

And then we walked by Piper Street, so I had to take photos of that too.

Piper St in Toronto 

Piper's Gastropub

All in all, it was a pretty good day for a Flash fan!

WWWW: Contest Winner, Week One

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Thanks to everyone who participated in the first “Where Was Wally West?” contest here at Speed Force! 

We posted a panel from a classic Flash comic, featuring Wally West in an alternate reality, the past or a “possible future”.  Correct answers were put into a raffle, and a winner was drawn at random.  To refresh your memory, here was this week’s subject:

Now, cast your eyes upon the mysterious Box of Speed, as we reveal this week’s champion and winner of an original copy of Flash: Iron Heights…

…and the winner is…

Congrats to Binyamin!  This week’s answer was Flash, vol.2, #113: “Wallyworld,” panel by Oscar Jimenez, story by Mark Waid.  In that story, Wally travels to the 64th Century, where his previous victories have led to a society sculpted in his image…for better or worse. 

Check back here on Wednesday for the next installment in WWWW!

Why I Don’t Like Barry Allen Generating the Speed Force

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Flash: Rebirth featured a number of retcons, some of them explained away by time travel, others explained as new information, and others simply stated with no explanation at all. The most galling one to me was the revelation that the Speed Force is generated by Barry Allen with every step he runs, and that all other speedsters (including those who preceded him like Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, and Johnny Quick) depend on Barry’s existence for their own.

There are two things that bug me about this.

First: it doesn’t make sense. The speed force was introduced to do two things: provide a hand-wave explanation for the impossible physics of super-speed, and tie all speedsters’ origins together. Where do Flashes get their energy? The speed force. Simple, end of story. But now the speed force gets its energy from Barry Allen. So we’re right back where we started: Where does Barry get his energy?

Second: it elevates Barry Allen above all other Flashes permanently.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it were simply a matter of: Barry’s back, and here’s why he’s important now. That would be the same kind of thing Mark Waid did when he had Wally West become the first Flash to mainline the speed force and gain new powers, or that Bilson & DeMeo did when they had Bart Allen absorb the speed force. In those cases, it was still a progression, and you could imagine that whoever came next would follow in their footsteps and become the most important Flash now.

What bothers me is that they didn’t want to take that route. They instead wanted to take the route that Barry Allen was not only the most important Flash now, but that he has always been and always will be the most important Flash ever. It flat out tells us that we’ve been reading about a second-rate Flash for the last 25 years. I know there are people who hold that opinion, but it’s galling for it to be declared canon.

It’s like two kids trying to one-up each other in a bidding war, and one pulls out, “well, I bid infinity!” — and because it’s the author of the series, not to mention the Chief Creative Officer of the company, it sticks instead of getting laughed off.

Adapted from a comment made last year. I was reminded of it by this recent Reddit discussion: What’s your least favorite retcon?

Speed Reading

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Weekend linkblogging.

Flashy links, as usual:

Be sure to check Fastest Fan Alive and The Rogues Kick Ass for more Flash art & collectibles.

Other comics links.