Monthly Archives: September 2011

Captain Boomerang in Suicide Squad #4

Comic Vine has DC’s December “Edge” solicitations. including the cover and description for Suicide Squad #4:

SUICIDE SQUAD #4
Written by ADAM GLASS
Art by FEDERICO DALLACCHIO
Cover by DAN PANOSIAN
On sale DECEMBER 14 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

The body count rises! Another Squad member falls – but not the way you might expect! Betrayal follows betrayal as Captain Boomerang joins the Squad in a smash-and-grab against the terrorist organization Kobra, and Harley Quinn shows why you should never, ever recruit Squad members from Arkham Asylum. Brace yourself for a last-page shocker the likes of which the Squad has never faced before!

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, most of the Rogues faded from view as DC wanted to establish new villains for Wally West. Captain Boomerang remained visible as a mainstay of the classic Suicide Squad. In fact, it was an issue of this series, not The Flash, that first really fleshed out Boomerang’s origin: Suicide Squad #44 expanded on the connection between “Digger” Harkness and toy manufacturer W.W. Wiggins, revealing him to be not simply a businessman hiring a mascot to promote his product, but a father reaching out to secretly help his long-lost son. I wouldn’t be surprised if that story partially inspired Brad Meltzer’s decision to use Boomerang in Identity Crisis.

Quick Hits on the New 52: Demon Knights, Stormwatch, Justice League and Frankenstein

Halfway through DC’s New 52 debut month, here’s what I think of the comics I’ve tried so far.

Justice League #1

Looked at on its own, this wasn’t a Justice League story so much as it was a Batman/Green Lantern team-up. That’s OK for a team-up book, or the first chapter of a graphic novel, but not exactly ideal for a high-profile launch that’s billed as an introduction to the League (not to mention an introduction to the new setting for the DCU).

I’m going to call it now: just like Final Crisis, this first Justice League arc should have been presented from the beginning as a graphic novel, not as a serialized story. You only get one chance to make a first impression.

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Reminder: JLU Jay Garrick on Sale Tomorrow at Mattycollector.com

Salutations Speed Readers,

Just a quick reminder for those anxiously awaiting for the last major Flash-related offering from Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line. Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash will be on sale tomorrow in a three pack along with Alan Scott (the Golden Age Green Lantern) and the Golden Age Hawkman:

 

The three pack will officially go on sale at 9 a.m. Pacific (12 noon Eastern) time and will set you back around 20 dollars for all three. Not a bad deal at all, especially considering some prices for JLU at retail. Not to mention you get three all new action figures as opposed to the previous JLU three packs where we were lucky in some cases to get one (I’m looking at you Heatwave pack).

I personally had planned on getting two packs in order to support DC and the JLU line but this will probably be one of my last major Flash purchases for a while and I think I will only be getting one initially. I already purchased a prototype of the Jay Garrick Flash a few months ago and having three of the same figure would be overkill.

You can purchase the set tomorrow by following this link.

In any case happy hunting! I hope everyone gets a chance to grab one!

Thanks for reading,

Devin Johnson

 

 

 

 

Annotations: The Trial of the Flash, #326 – “Shame in Scarlet!”

Welcome to the latest installment in our annotations of the collected edition of The Trial of the Flash! We’ve been breaking down related stories leading up to last month’s release of Showcase Presents: The Trial of the Flash.  In addition, we’ve interviewed author Cary Bates about the buildup and the Trial itself, plus shown you what won’t be included in the collection.  For last week, and previous issues, click here.

Links to artwork and research are included throughout this post.  This time around, since the reprint is widely available, the format will be a little different than the notes for “The Death of Iris Allen”.  For legal analysis of the story, something I will not attempt, go here.  For this week’s corresponding Tom vs. The Flash commentary, go here!

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Speed Reading

Some weekend linkblogging. First the Flash stuff.

Then the rest.

Flashes in the Top 50: Halftime Report

Comics Should Be Good! has been reporting on the results of their new Top 100 DC and Marvel Characters survey, and has released #50-#26 of the DC results. We’ve seen two Flashes so far, and it’s a safe bet that the others are on their way.

#45: Jay Garrick, down slightly from #41 last time.
#36: Bart Allen, up from #42 last time.

When the poll was first done in 2007, Barry Allen came in at #29 and Wally West at #3. It’ll be interesting to see how far Barry has climbed the ranks since his 2008 return, and where Wally is since being moved off-page post-Flash: Rebirth.