DC has posted a one-page preview (yes, just one page) of this week’s The Flash #12, the final issue of the current series and of “The Road to Flashpoint.” They also confirm that Scott Kolins is the second artist joining Francis Manapul (not that there was much doubt), and released an entirely new Francis Manapul cover for the book. The variant cover is the Francis Portela cover released two weeks ago.
Barry Allen is having a tough time balancing his life. Not only is he faced with his job as a CSI, his family, and being a super hero, but he’s struggling with a past that still haunts him.
In the conclusion of THE FLASH (on sale tomorrow), written by superstar writer Geoff Johns and drawn by the amazing artists Scott Kolins and Francis Manapul, emotions are running high and Barry needs to make a change…fast.
THE ROAD TO FLASHPOINT storyline ends here and then everything you know will change in a Flash.
nice cover!
I think I like the variant cover better again. I don’t know what it is as I love Manapul’s interiors, but I’m not terribly fond of his covers.
That single page looks pretty weak….which points to the scheduling issues this title has had for most of its run. Here’s hoping Kollins (or whoever the new artist is going to be) can stick to a consistent schedule.
Francis Manapul wasn’t the cause for the delays on the Flash. We would be lucky to have him back on the book.
“Francis Manapul wasn’t the cause for the delays on the Flash.”
I’m sure it was a combination of Manapul and Johns contributing to the title’s delay. Don’t forget that outside film project Manapul went on early in the title’s run, which he admitted “did affect our lead time” (which is basically a euphemism for “blew my deadline”).
Of course, that TV show commitment was finished early in the series. Once you get past the first few issues, it was no longer a factor.
Working in the commercial art field, trust me…once the schedule gets blown for one or two monthly cycles, then it creates a domino or snowball effect in the months following. Combining “catch-up” effort with the regular monthly effort (along with the mysterious “production delays” Manapul refers to…probably code for “Geoff Johns”), and you’ve got yourself a schedule that never really gets back on track.
At this point, I’m simply beyond caring. If there were strong stories to mitigate the annoyance of the frequent delays, then it would be a different story. But the whole series is just a lead-in to a heavily hyped story that, to be honest, I’m not sure I want to follow.
I agree. I don’t have much (or any) enthusiasm for Flashpoint. There’s no sense of there being anything at stake that just can’t be waved away…despite the breathless claims that “nothing will ever be the same again”. Between Marvel and DC, I think they’ve completely jaded the entire fan population, with the exception of a handful of Eager Beavers who can never get enough of this stuff.
In an interview, Dan Didio was having to address questions of event fatigue and how to counter it. So I think at this point, event fatigue isn’t unique.
Really nice cover!
And can’t wait to see what good (or bad thing) will come out of Flashpoint, as far as the regular on-going Flash comics is concerned.