It looks safe to say that DC and ComiXology have settled into a pattern, releasing three issues of the 1987-2009 Flash series each week. Among this week’s releases are Flash #25-27, featuring the middle segment of the “Porcupine Man” storyline that ran from Flash #24-28.
After the events of Invasion!, Wally West has been left powerless. In Flash #24, a team of scientists tries to re-create the accidents that gave him and Barry Allen their super-speed. It works…but his control is gone. In the moment he starts running, he cuts a swath of destruction across North America, then disappears. The next few issues follow scientists Tina and Jerry McGee and Wally’s neighbor Mason Trollbridge as they follow his trail and search for Wally West, only to find rumors of a legendary creature of the southwest desert: the Porcupine Man.
» Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology.
Update: I didn’t notice it in the blog post, but ComiXology has also added a digital edition of DC Presents: The Flash #1, a reprint book from 2011 containing a collection of Silver-Age time-travel stories.
Spotlighting tales of time travel and the Rogues! Collects [ed. note: stories from] SHOWCASE #4 and 14, THE FLASH (1959-1985) #125, 130 and 139, pitting The Scarlet Speedster against Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, The Top, Captain Cold, and more! NOTE: some issues are available individually online.
It’s a bit of an odd choice: wouldn’t it make more sense to digitize the original issues and then bundle them, rather add content from The Flash somewhere other than The Flash? I guess this way is easier since DC has already restored these stories, and they don’t have to take the time to restore the other story from each issue. (Most Silver-Age Flash issues contained two short stories instead of one full-length story.)
Showcase #4 (including “The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier”) and Flash #125 (“Conquerors of Time”) are already on ComiXology. Flash #139 (“Menace of the Reverse-Flash”) is a full-length story, so the only thing missing is the cover. That leaves one story each from Showcase #14 (“Giants of the Time World” is in this collection, but Dr. Alchemy’s first appearance isn’t) and Flash #130 (“Who Doomed the Flash?” is collected, but not “Kid Flash Meets the Elongated Man”) needed to get a full set in the library for the series itself.
I’m hoping this is not the death knell for getting these stories in a paper form.
What do you mean, Kyer? In TPB form? Cuz they were in paper form already…
Trades. Soft or Hardbound.
The problem with the single issues is that they were printed so long ago that they are turning yellow. That is one problem with paper over digital. Also why I like getting quality hardbacks of my favorite stories.
Man, seeing all these old Wally West covers in my weekly Comixology emails makes me really want to go back and read my old collection. In fact, I think I only started buying Flash around 1990, so there are a lot of these old issues that I’ve never read! And for just $0.99 each? Good chance I’ll give in at some point!
LOVE LOVE LOVE me some LaRocque Flash. He’s still the quintessential Flash artist for me…probably because that’s when I started collecting, but man, loved his stuff.
Gotcha. Outside of what they’ve already reprinted in trade, I couldn’t see them collecting much else. I’d totally rebuy Year One or Return of Barry Allen in hardcover, tho’!