Monthly Archives: June 2012

Four Top 4 Lists for Four Years of Speed Force

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Our celebration of Speed Force’s fourth anniversary (last Friday) continues with a look back the Top 4s of the last four years.

Don’t forget to share your favorite Flash memory for our contest! Only a few hours left!

Top 4 Most-Commented Articles

4. Young Justice: Bloodlines (June 2012, 61 responses). The recent episode featuring four generations of Flashes. People started out commenting on the big reveal of Impulse, then moved into discussing the episode when it aired. The response to this post, and the images posted on Facebook, Tumblr, and yes, even Google+, convinced me of two things: 1. People like photos more than text. 2. Young Justice has more fans than the Flash comic book. Which isn’t surprising, since Young Justice probably has more viewers than the most popular comic book has readers.

(I wasn’t sure how to count posts with the new comment system, since it includes Likes and Retweets along with local comments, Facebook comments and Twitter replies. Filtering out the Likes and retweets knocks it down to 50, just behind Wally West’s New Costume at 51.)

Earth 2 Cover3. Jay Garrick Redesign Revealed (April 2012, 64 comments). The Earth 2 redesign has been…polarizing? This was a simple repost of the cover from Earth 2 #2 when DC released it alongside a James Robinson interview.

2. Why I Don’t Like Barry Allen Generating the Speed Force (April 2011, 73 comments). An opinion piece about a retcon to the way the speed force works. Judging by the heated responses from some people, I’m not sure everyone read past the first six words in the title.

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Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes Featuring The Flash Available 6/19

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Hey Speed Readers,

Just a quick reminder that Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes featuring The Flash is available tomorrow, 06/19/2012. Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes features for the first time in a Lego game: open world game play, actual voice acting and a healthy roster of DC heroes and villains. In fact, this game almost sounds like Lego Justice League.

As with most games these days retail exclusive and downloadable content will be available for Lego Batman 2. Gamestop/EB Games is offering a special villains pack featuring Flash villains, Captain Cold and Gorilla Grodd if you preorder by today 06/18/2012. Black Adam, Bizarro, and Black Manta are also included:

On that same token if one preorders the game from Best Buy or Amazon they will be privy to a bonus Heroes pack featuring Shazam (Captain Marvel), Robin (Damian Wayne),  Nightwing, Zatanna, and Katana:

Of course this also means that if you want both at launch you will have to purchase two copies of the game to get two different codes from two different outlets. Or you could wait until they inevitably release the bonus characters as separate downloadable content. Although who knows how long that could take? Of course one could just return the unwanted, unopened copy, but should one have to go through this much trouble?

That is one of the problems I have with retailer exclusive and downloadable content. Oftentimes if you want the complete game you have to jump through hoops or shell out extra money after you’ve already plopped down 50 or 60 bucks. And for minuscule additions or things that really should have been included in the game in the first place (I’m looking at you Capcom) at that. Remember when Capcom released Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and then not six months later released a much more complete game called Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3? I won’t be purchasing another Capcom game anytime soon unless they somehow manage to pull off DC vs. Marvel. And even then I would wait six months to buy it to see if they will release a slightly cheaper version of the game, with more characters, more stages, and more awesomeness called Ultimate DC vs. Marvel.

I really can’t complain too much though as I’m going to be one of those people grabbing two copies of the game and returning one effectively contributing to the problem. Oh well. I want my bonus characters!

Who else is going to be picking up Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes? Anyone plan on preordering an extra copy for all of the bonus characters? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,

–Devin ‘Flash’ Johnson

Contest Reminder: Share Your Favorite Flash Memory!

In celebration of the site’s four-year anniversary, Speed Force is inviting you to share your favorite Flash memory. Submissions are open until Tuesday evening at 9pm EDT. After submissions close, you’ll get to vote on your favorite stories, and the four winners will get Flash prizes — including some cool variant editions! (Did I mention there’s a signed book in there?)

So head over to the Flash memory contest page and submit your favorite Flash memory!

Happy Anniversary!: The Flash, Years Four

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As Speed Force marks its fourth birthday, we decided to take a look back at where each of the Fastest Men Alive were in the fourth year of their titles.  Happy Speed Fourth!

Flash fans know a lot can change in four years, but Speed Force is still the place for Flash news, commentary and analysis.  But what of the heroes throughout the history of Flash comics?  Where were Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West exactly four years after their first solo titles launched?  After the jump, we’ll take a look at comics out on and around their fourth anniversaries, and the stories and creators involved.

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My favourite Flash memory

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As odd as it may sound, I think my favourite Flash memory might be related to the Justice League Unlimited episode “Flash And Substance”. I got into comics through Marvel, and for years had no interest in the DC universe. But eventually I slowly dipped my toe into the DC pool, for a variety of reasons that could really be detailed in its own post.

I didn’t watch every episode of JLU (and still haven’t seen them all — that should really be rectified someday), but was rather excited to hear there would be a Flash Rogues episode. I was fairly new to the Rogues at the time, but definitely made certain to watch when it aired. I enjoyed the episode, which was a lot of fun and probably made me like the Rogues (and Flash!) even more.

Time passed, and I learned more about the Rogues and Flashverse. At some point I watched the episode again, and was delighted by how many more easter eggs I recognized that I’d not understood before (the scene in the Flash Museum is particularly great for all the visual references crammed in there). I was tickled by all the character cameos I now recognized.

Yet more time passed, and I continued to learn more about the Flashverse. When I watched the episode for the third time, there were even more references I understood. That’s the sign of a great episode: I was never left confused by the stuff I didn’t understand, it merely went over my head. But there’s a wealth of riches to be found in it if you know what to look for, and it’s great fun for Flash fans.

So in addition to being my favourite episode of the series, I have fond memories of watching it repeatedly and realizing that I was understanding more about the Rogues and Flashverse. It actually became better and more enjoyable with each viewing. I’ve long since reached the point where I think I get all the references, and in a way that’s kind of sad because there won’t be any new easter eggs to discover, but it’s also a triumph too. And I still love re-watching it.

I tip my hat to the creative team of the show — not only did they produce a quality episode, but I have happy memories associated with watching it, and for that they deserve thanks.

Contest: Your favorite Flash memory!

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Hey there, Flash fans, and welcome to Speed Force’s fourth anniversary celebration! We four regular contributors will be writing about some of our favorite Flash memories, and thought it might be nice to get you folks involved as well. What better way to do that than with a contest?

Here’s how it’ll go: simply share your favorite Flash-related memory, or an early memory that you think is pretty special (for whatever reason — it could be entirely personal) in the comments section of this post. We’ll collect the stories and set them up as a poll to be voted on by readers, and the top-rated four will win!

There will be four winners, and the contest will run until 9 pm ET on Tuesday, June 19. Prizes will include Flash variant issues. There aren’t any rules or restrictions, although please share just one story to make things fair for everyone. So dig deep into your memories, and have fun!

Update: The results are in!