Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, the creative team behind DC’s new Flash, talk to Comic Vine about the new series and unveil a page of exclusive artwork from the second issue. The duo answers questions about villains new and old, the challenges in handling both writing and art duties and the application of “super-speed thinking” as seen in the solicitation for issue #2.
CV: Does Barry always think at super-speed or does he have to activate the Speed Force?
FM: This is something we’ll be dealing with in our first arc. We know he physically taps into the Speed Force, but we haven’t quite seen the extent of what he could do if his mind tapped into it as well. This is a pretty major theme we plan to tackle, which has lent it self extremely well to visual experimentation.
They also discuss the fate of Wally West, echoing previous statements:
FM: Our main focus on this new book is Barry Allen. I LOVE Wally. He’s the Flash I grew up with and know. However our directive is to solidify Barry Allen as the fastest man alive.
BB: We know this isn’t what die-hard Wally fans want to hear right now, but we hope that people dig THE FLASH enough to give us a shot at winning them over with Barry. We are trying our hardest to tell compelling stories with whomever we have the honor of writing about.
Buccellato went into much greater detail on his blog today, including the following note:
Warner Brothers is going to make a FLASH MOVIE. It’s gonna happen. It’s in the works. And for the same reasons as stated above… it’s gonna be Barry. So EVEN if someone (smarter than I) were able to figure out how to solve those issues AND retain Wally’s essence… it wouldn’t make a lick of difference. Warner Brothers would NEVER buy into that. Wally was never an option for the movie.
Manapul and Buccellato have appeared to be as candid as possible regarding the new book, including sharing their thoughts on the fate of Wally West in great detail. Agree or disagree, the artwork previews have all been stunning and the concepts put forth in the solicitations and in interviews/on Twitter show the new writers challenging themselves and established notions of super-speed.
The full Comic Vine interview can be found here, and Buccellato’s blog post is located here.
My guess? Wally will be given a new ID and turn up again within 2-3 years. I feel bad for Manapul and Buccellato, though. They’re being set up to take the heat.
This is akin to Bilson and Demeo being sacrificed by editorial and then Guggenhiem being told “You have 4 issues, kill him and be done with it”.
DC editorial LOVES destroying the Flash
I almost wish they would’ve simply cancelled the book and put it on indefinite hiatus until they figured out what they were doing.
Funniest thing to me is how DC has managed to piss of everyone including the Barry Allen fans with this relaunch. I’m a huge Barry Allen fan but i’ve been turned off by the DC relaunch and won’t be picking up any of their books. If they can get someone like me who loves Barry with a passion and for years waved the flag to bring him back. To toss in the towel you can just imagine how people who are on the bubble must feel. This DC relaunch is going to turn out to be the biggest debacle in DC history and alot of people are going to lose their jobs over it in the next few years.
If Wally was never an option for the movie, maybe WB should have told David Goyer before he wrote them a script featuring both Barry and Wally back in 2004.
True… there WAS a script.
But it was BEFORE Barry came back. And it didn’t get made. I’m not saying it’s because it had Barry and Wally in it… but the fact remains that THAT version never got off the ground. And the Flash movie being developed right now is Barry Allen’s story alone.
That said… those were only my opinions based on the little I know.
Well, the reason it didn’t get made is Blade III, as far as I know. After that came out and bombed, they had no interest in having Goyer direct. Then they kept that script in development for a couple more years before abandoning it.
You can’t start a movie franchise by making a sequel….any film starring Wally West as The Flash would be a sequel…..because it would have to explain where Barry is or risk angering die-hard Flash fans. This would; of course, confuse the average viewer, who would ask, “Who’s this Barry fella, and why isn’t the film about him?”
Worked fine for Martin Campbell’s Zorro film in the mid 90’s.
Similarly, “Who’s this Abin Sur fella, and why isn’t Green Lantern about him?”
“Gee, sounds like Luke’s dad was an amazing guy. And Obi-Wan was probably awesome back in the day. Why are we watching a movie about Luke instead of those two?”
“Bilbo’s really interesting. Why’s the movie about Frodo instead?”
And of course the Zorro film Brian mentioned.
I think the “average viewer” could handle it.
Here is why Dan Didio’s arguement on why Barry over Wally falls flat to me. He says that in order to have Wally, you have to explain Barry. However, in order to have Hal, you have to explain Abin Sur. Yet, Hal is front and center and Wally is…somewhere, if not dead due to Flashpoint.
Look on the bright side. Dan D. also said in 2007 that there was no way Barry was ever coming back. No way, no how. Methinks a lot of things DC editorial says should be taken with a grain of salt.
I dislike the way the reboot is being handled, but I like everything I’ve seen in the previews of the new Flash book. Would I rather it be Wally? Sure, but that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy a Barry book.
Yeah… I dunno, I was always taught to not speak on subjects I wasn’t educated enough on. Best to stay quiet and let everyone think you’re a fool, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt, and whatnot.
Quite a few Flash treatments have been floating around Hollywood since the late 80’s. Not ONE of them featured a Barry Allen Flash as the main character. It’s possible that the defunct Justice League production from a few years back featured Adam Brody playing Barry, I’ve never been able to have that confirmed or denied.
Goyer’s Flash script was excellent, and about thisclose to being made. Even when Goyer left the project, his script was still the foundation for a Wally Flash film. It wasn’t until after Rebirth and DC’s insistence on shoving a dead man down our throats that Goyer’s script got officially ditched and a more Barry-centric screenplay popped up.
So to say that Wally was never an option for the film version of Flash is patently false. He was the ONLY option, up until Barry was brought back. Now, with the company line being, “Wally who?” Of course he’s no longer an option.
History can’t be erased, no matter how hard DC wants to try. It’s written in ink, and it’s permanent.
Josh, next time you want to say “I don’t think this is true, and here’s why,” try not to preface it with “I think you’re an idiot.” All that does is make people angrier and undermine your point.
My biggest Gripe with DC is they feel that since Barry is going to be the lead in the feature Film, they have to eliminate all other Flash’s to avoid “confusion” gee, I wasn’t confused in 1990 when Barry was the star of his own TV show!!!!!
another thing, Hal came back and while they never appeared in the movie, nobody “de-created” John, Guy OR Kyle!
This just….now I don’t know what to do.
I like Barry Allen a lot. I LOVE the artwork being done on the new book and think it has the chance to hit a home run because (and I said this on day one) I have nothing against an “untried” writer or artist…that’s how geniuses are discovered…by being given a chance.
On the other hand I am mad as all Goshen over Wally’s existence being obliterated like he’s been sent to The Phantom Zone or something. I HATED Citizen Cold. For that matter I HATED Act of God. The character did not deserve to be tossed down the crapper because “they couldn’t think of something to tie him in.”
Well, gee…I adore Wally as The Flash, but that’s over and done. Why NOT reinvent him as another speedster in another book from an alternate Earth? There is nothing in Imagination that says Wally can’t be very much like the Wally we knew *only without Barry being in the picture.* Maybe it wasn’t chemicals…maybe an alien artifact….*maybe* a stray bit of energy blast from The Antimonitor’s cannon if COIE actually took place? So now Wally would have speed without Barry. He could also have someone else…maybe his *dad* whom he fights the good fight for.
What I’m saying is that if a bad fanfic writer can think of ways to have him active and recognizable…why can’t DC *try*? Or even *gasp* let some writer under their hire make a side book about him…someone who has the time and a vast fan love…maybe even a few pages that’s only available online (and I say that as someone who can’t download huge bytes from online.)
Eh…I spoke to a Flash fan via Twitter and she doesn’t believe Wally’s down for the count. She suspects a project is in the pipeline. I could see them giving Wally a new ID IF there was a writer who really loved and “got” the character. And if that writer was given a chance to shine.
In the meantime, I’d suggest looking into other books that tickle your fancy. And see my quote above about Didio’s comments regarding Barry.
The current DC crew has pretty much run the Flash book and the related franchise right into the ground. I wish the new writers luck…but I’m saving my money for other things. There’s a whole wonderful world of comics, after all.
Yes…but see….I’ve got this penchant for loyalty against me. Thanks to previous writers, I gave my heart and soul to Wally West back on Thanksgiving of 2008 and once something like that happens I become rather tenacious about it. 😛 Sure there are other comic book characters out there (and tv ones too) but it’s like loving multiple siblings and being told that one has to die to save the other. No way in heck that is going to go down well. Especially sticks in the craw when it’s the fault of the doctor that one of the patients is perceived to be terminal in the first place.
*sigh* I’ll get over it…in a decade or two. Maybe.
No worries. I don’t mind being called out for inaccuracies or overstating the case. 🙂
I should have been more clear from the get go. I wasn’t attempting to revise history or discount what happened before Barry came back. In hindsight I should’ve just said that with Barry back, a Wally movie IS not an option. I took it for granted that Wally was the guy being developed before Re-Birth. Totally my fault.
I’ll TRY to choose my words more carefully, Josh. 🙂
Brian,
You and Francis are Awesome, and I can’t wait for The Flash to start in September!! I’ll be picking up all the issues, because apparently I’m not as big a fan as some of the other commentators here.
I just enjoy seeing and reading The Flash in all his incarnations. The artwork looks spectacular and I’m sure the story arcs will be great as well. Keep up the great work, and I’m super-excited about a film in the works and the NEW Flash!!
Thank, John!
I totally appreciate the optimism! But I don’t begrudge loyal fans for feeling attached to their guy and being pissed at how he has been marginalized/disrespected in their eyes. The one thing we all have in common in this, is that those were not our decisions to make.
I hope you will take the time to let me know what you think of #1 when it comes out. 🙂 You can always leave comments on my new blog @ https://brianbooch.blogspot.com/
There is indeed a whole wonderful world of comics out there. Mark Waid, the man who made Wally the greatest character in comic history, is doing great work on Daredevil, for instance.
But, here’s a major thing about comics: There are a few things that cause people to keep buying them. Following a writer, following an artist, buying due to “collectorism” (I have every issue since 1979, I can’t stop now!) and… following a character. The latter two are better for the comic company, since artists and writers come and go.
Gail Simone was talking about Barbara Gordon, and used the phrase “soulmate character” to describe her, and then defined the term as (I’m paraphrasing) “that character you read for the first time, immediately and instantly fell in love with, and needed everything else with him/her in it right then and there.” For me, that was Wally West. I’d been reading comics a few years before that, but it was a Mark Waid/Greg LaRocque comic… #65. The Flash and Aquaman. Been hooked on the character ever since. And you know what’s funny? I had no clue who Barry Allen was then. None. Not a guess. Didn’t give me a single bit of problem getting into the character. And when it was important, Mark Waid explained what I needed to know on the fly while crafting The Return Of Barry Allen. Which is still one of, it not THE, best arcs DC has ever published. DC built a “brand loyalty” in me in the early 90’s. That brand loyalty is why I own Flash comics coming out the wazoo. It’s why I went back and bought as many of the old Wally issues I could find. It’s why I stuck with the book when Waid left, and gave Johns (then still a relative unknown) a chance. But that loyalty comes at a price. I’m loyal to Wally. Not to Francis Manapul (who has stunning work) or Geoff Johns (who has killed a LOT of my love for him with the last Flash series and some other things) not to Mark Waid (although Waid continues to earn my dollars by doing excellent work) and certainly not to Barry Allen.
I have no problem with Barry Allen. But I have no attachment either. I could have built an attachment to him, except for two things: The book sucked, and the pushing Wally away.
I don’t like Hal Jordan. Actually, I loathe the character of Hal Jordan. But I bought a hell of a lot of Geoff Johns Green Lantern. Why? Because I was willing to give it a shot, because I was getting Kyle, first in GLC: Recharge, then in Ion, then in GLC, and coming up in GL:TNG (although my decision to stop buying DC makes that lost one somewhat moot.) I didn’t learn to like Hal Jordan (how could I? He still has no personality, 7 years into the series) but I got into the book, because Johns had lots of fun, interesting things happen around Hal. Sure, Kyle is a better character (I honestly don’t even know how one would go about arguing against this, seriously), and, yeah, the best parts of the awesome Sinestro Corps War were in GLC and in Ron Marz’s one shots… But Hal’s book was fine.
Had Kyle died/went into limbo/etc… I never would have given Hal’s book a glance, and then I wouldn’t own Sinestro Corps War, Rage of the Red Lanterns, etc etc in hardcover. Wally’s gone, so, frankly, I REFUSE to spend money on Barry Allen. Flash has been my favorite superhero since I was 11… I have no qualms with saying I have an “unhealthy” amount of emotional attachment to the character of Wally West. I won’t take a substitute.
Actually, that’s not true. I was willing to take a substitute in Bart Allen. Because it was about that incredible Flash legacy I love so much. Whether Wally was dead, or, as I chose to believe, living in the future with Linda and the twins, happily retired… I was fine with that. Bart’s book wound up being a mess, and tanking like a rock (probably because the writers apparently knew nothing about Bart Allen whatsoever) but I was fine with moving forward. Moving backward? No.
However, I do want to say something about the “written by an ARTIST?!?” thing: Frank Miller. John Byrne. Nuff said. This has nothing to do with Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato writing the book. It could be co-written by Grant Morrison, Peter David, Mark Waid, and Gail Simone, my 4 favorite writers in comics today… And I wouldn’t buy it.
Totally in sync! Was nodding at everything you wrote (save for that I don’t hate Hal…just ambivalent.)
I even purchased the first two hardbacks of Brightest Day even though I was never a fan of Geoff Johns beyond the Crossroads-Ignition arc and slogged through the graphically violent scenes in those *on the off chance* that Wally might be in some tiny little panel…like the beach rescue scenes. I got the Jim Lee Barry statue, the Mattel Barry’s, heck, even the Booster Gold one all only because they had a link with Wally and Wally was coming back in Speedforce where it was quoted that he would be awesome and all.
Right now kind of feel like I was taken in by a slick con artist (and willingly though I didn’t know at the time it was a con.)
So now I’m risking my money again….but at least they will be ones where there very might well be a glimpse of Wally…old crossover issues like Impulse and of course the non-trade issues of Wally when Flash. I’m going to be spending a lot on all of that. Would much rather letting the crossovers go and buying Speedforce plus Flash instead, but DC has stated that they aren’t interested in my age or sex group even if I spend as much or more as a teen on my loves because somehow my gaggle of Jacksons and Franklins aren’t as pristine as a young, white, male’s.
Seriously, I work in the field of sales/business and until DC came along I thought all businesses coveted customer loyalty like Scrooge coveted coins. Guess not.
But at the same time…maybe you’ll find other characters to love in the meantime.
Case in point: I loved Star Trek: DS9. I cried when the show ended. Talented writing staff, great stories, great characters. The best of the Treks, in my opinion. But I learned to accept that the show had ended. And though it was sad, I moved on.
That’s one thing to do if you’re so disappointed: Move on, and never look back.
Blame the Firefly fan in me. “Moving on” isn’t our strong point. 🙂
Ironically, the best ‘forward’ views I see come from the past: Sherlock and Doctor Who. (I loved the Sherlock eps. Now if only there were more than just three of them on the DVD!)
Love Barry Allen, can’t wait for the new book! 😀
At this point in the game, I’m really not interested in reading much, if any, of the ‘New DC’.
A realization occurred to me. Ever since CoIE, through thick and thin, I had been emotionally invested as a reader in the DC Universe. That universe will be gone now, replaced by a newer, fresher, younger DC Universe.
I feel neither the excitement nor the joy of investigating this new universe, of re-discovering ‘new’ takes on classic relationships and friendships, where we readers are unsure which, if any, events or crisises of the previous DCU are still valid (DC doesn’t even seem to know)
Wally is just a casualty of this change. DC could have handled it better but they didn’t. They are only concerned about promoting their new product, which in this case, is Barry Allen.
Talk about ‘moving on’ all you want, but it’s hard for this comic reader to jettison a 20+ year commitment to a singular shared fictional universe. But I do wish Manapul luck in this venture. His art deserves praise and attention and I’m sure his writing will match it.
Hopefully, the book won’t suffer the same editorial interference that dogged previous Flash relaunches.
“I feel neither the excitement nor the joy of investigating this new universe, of re-discovering ‘new’ takes on classic relationships and friendships, where we readers are unsure which, if any, events or crisises of the previous DCU are still valid (DC doesn’t even seem to know).”
That last sentence sums it up for me. This whole reboot seems to be thrown together at the last minute. If it were planned out and changes rolled out over a year (like COIE), it would’ve been a different story.
I understand why some of you are upset….I’ve collected for years, and love my “list” of characters, but I’m actually looking forward to the NEW DC!!
The old DC was getting stale and running out of mega-events to prop up sales. Many of the B-Rated characters weren’t selling well, so unless they were cancelling everything but about 10 titles….DC was doomed.
The New DC titles for September have me excited! The new JLA, Batman, Action Comics, Green Lantern, The Flash, Green Arrow, The Savage Hawkman, etc. etc. etc. I love that it’s not the same old-same old, but that they are trying some new directions and different things.
New directions?
Barry is the ONLY Flash, Hal is still GL, Dick is once again Nightwing, Barbara is miraclously healed and Batgirl again, Superman is the FIRST superhero, effectively eliminating the Golden Age characters.
They’re shaking the status quo, yes, but hardly anything ‘new’.
Check CBR. Their fan poll of titles they plan on buying sums it up rather well. That is, if it doesn’t have big creative names attached, they ain’t buying. Justice League is far and away the clear favorite simply because of Johns and Lee.
If the old DCU was getting stale, it was because of stale imaginations. It also shouldn’t be about mega-events. I blame Johns as much as Bendis for this latest trend.
Put some stable creative teams on books, let them flesh out their runs, and support their work. Why is it so hard for Dido to do just that?
Not to refute what you are saying, here… but I wanted to clarify that Superman is not the first superhero in the new world order… as I understand it, he is the first PUBLIC SUPER HERO. I believe there were heroes prior to him (Batman, for instance), but they did not operate in the public eye.
🙂
What is kind of scary is that I am getting the same vibe of desperation from DC Editorial that I got months ago on my last visit to Waldenbooks before they put up Going Out Of Business banners. Salesclerk was trying too darn hard to get me to love their new card program at “just $10 a year”. Instead of exciting me, she made me leery of going back and being faced with another aggressive sales pitch when all I wanted was to find an enjoyable book or two.
If they hadn’t treated Wally’s last years and then his demise so extremely shoddily I might be feeling more sympathy if only for the sake of the universe of characters I remembered. Right now it’s hard to feel sympathetic towards anyone but a handful of artists and writers who didn’t want this path either.
They are bringing back the JSA. I can only hope that one year soon Jay at some point befriends brash young college freshman Wally West who also has a meta gene. (At this point I could care less about Wally’s having a tie or not with Barry. DC has ruined that for me in more ways than one. Heck, maybe since Jay and Max were friends they’ll be so on Earth Two and Wally’s a friend of Max? Really don’t care either way just as long as Wally can come back and…hey, there’s this cute Asian-American woman named Linda….