Monthly Archives: January 2013

This Week: Impulse in Smallville (in print!) plus Digital Flashbacks for Wally West & Bart Allen

Smallville Season 11 #9 Cover by Scott Kolins

The print edition of Smallville Season 11 #9, the first part of a story guest-starring Impulse (Bart Allen), arrives in stores today. If you’ve been reading online, this contains the same story as the digital edition Smallville Season 11 #25-27. (Confused yet?) Written by Bryan Q. Miller; art by Jorge Jimenez with a cover by Scott Kolins.

Also in digital back-issues at ComiXology, we have four new issues from the 1990s:

Flash #90: Wally West has realized that his whole trial has been manipulated by Abra Kadabra…too late to stop an injunction against using his powers within city limits. Now he has to stop Kadabra and clear his own name while on the run from the law. (Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo)

Flash #91: Determined to never leave anyone behind again, Wally West adds Johnny Quick’s speed formula to his own super-speed…and finds himself trapped in a single moment of time. (Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo.) This issue was included in the Flash: The Greatest Stories Ever Told trade paperback collection.

Impulse #45: “Bart’s mom comes back from the future to see her time-lost son, but not everybody is imbued with the spirit of the Christmas season. The odds of there being peace in Manchester are slim!” (William Messner-Loebs, Craig Rousseau)

Impulse #46: As the Flash family of the late 20th century prepares to embark on the time-spanning mission in “Chain Lightning,” Impulse imagines meeting his grandfather Barry Allen…and how different his life might be with this living legend as his mentor instead of Max Mercury. (William Messner-Loebs, Craig Rousseau)

Impulse #46

Domo Flash Coming From Funko Toys!

Salutations Speed Readers,

Funko has announced that they will be teaming up with DC Comics again to bring us some Vinyl Domo collectibles including two versions of The Flash.

Now for those that are unfamiliar with Domo, Domo started out as the mascot for the Japanese TV station, NHK and made his first appearances in stop-motion animated shorts. He quickly grew to worldwide fame and now you can find him in comics, games, toys and all kinds of other merchandise. You can learn more about him by visiting Domonation.com.

The first stands 3.75 inches tall and is similar to past Funko Pop Vinyl releases:

DCDomo1FlashPV

The second will be 2.5 inches tall, also made of vinyl and will be blind packed along with 13 other DC characters. Blind packing refers to the practice of packaging a product as to give no discernible evidence as to what may be in the box. The first picture of Domo x DC Blind Box Vinyl Flash is courtesy of Action Figure Insider:

FunkopopDomoFlash

As mentioned in the AFI article some Domo figurines will be rarer than others with Flash being packed at a normal ratio of 2/24. This handy diagram provided by Funko might help explain things better:

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I, for one am pretty excited for these guys. I always found the Domo character to be pretty cool visually and I like the combination of DC heroes and Domo. Some look a little funky but I think the Flash Domos came out looking great, especially the 3.75 inch one. I’m hoping these guys will be easy enough to track down online.

Domo x DC Comics 3.75 inch Vinyl collection will go on sale February 14th, 2013 while the Domo x DC Blind Box set goes on sale February 28th, 2013.

Who else is a fan of Domo? Who just plans on picking them up for the DC Comics connection? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,

-Devin ‘Flash’ Johnson

Peter David Stroke Update: How You Can Help

Writer Peter David (Young Justice and a whole lot more) is in the hospital recovering from last weekend’s stroke. His wife has posted an update on his condition. Things are looking up, but rehab is going to take a lot of time and money, even with insurance. You can help most directly by buying his books from Crazy 8 Press. (Buying his stuff from other publishers will help in the long term, but these will help out sooner.) Kathleen David has a run-down of these books, some epic science fiction, others fantasy and humor. I picked up the two Hidden Earth books to start with.

Update (Jan 17): They’ve put together a donation button through the Hero Initiative if you’d like to contribute directly. Also, he’s able to keep writing (apparently the damage was mainly to parts of the brain that control movement), and he’s still on X-Factor.

Wanted: Guest Bloggers

Flash reading letters

Happy new year! To celebrate 2013, we’re going to do something we haven’t done in a while at Speed Force: Turn the reigns over to you! That’s right, we’re looking for guest writers to shake things up a bit.

Here’s the kind of post that we’re looking for:

  • Something about the Flash, another speedster, or a related character. (Max Mercury, Impulse and Jesse Quick are fair game. The Flash supporting casts are fair game. The Rogues are fair game. Quicksilver, Cheetara, Sonic the Hedgehog, speedsters from Heroes, even Stan Lee’s Lightspeed if you can stand watching it.)
  • A mix of topics would be great. Review a trade paperback or a single issue, submit photos of your fan costume, write up how to make your costume, talk about your favorite writer or artist, show off a convention sketch or commission, tell the story behind your favorite item of Flash memorabilia, explain what you like about your favorite speedster or Rogue, write up your favorite Flash story, etc. You can write about the New 52, or about any period in the Flash’s 72-year history. Heck, you could write about Hermes and speedsters of mythology.
  • Don’t be nasty. You can be negative if you want, but please don’t start griping about “Boring Allen” or crowing about how Wally is a pale imitation of the “real Flash.” Similarly, no personal insults toward writers, artists or fans.

If you’re interested in writing a guest post for Speed Force, please email me at speedforce – at – pobox – dot – com or let me know through the contact form. Include the topic(s) you’d like to write about (but feel free to change your mind later if you think of something better).

Depending on how many responses we get, we’ll probably run two or three each week starting the second half of January or beginning of February.

So, who’s interested?

This Week: Gorilla Warfare in Flash #15, Flashbacks to the New Trial of the Flash & Impulse

Flash #15

Flash #15 is out today (preview).

“Gorilla Warfare” rages on! In THE FLASH #15, Barry Allen must go to extreme measures to defeat Grodd while the Gorillas take over the Gem Cities. With his body out of commission, The Flash uses the Speed Mind to glimpse the future, and things are not looking good for him and the Rogues! Can Barry think of a way out of this situation? Or are the Gem Cities doomed forever? From the creative team of Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato, Marcus To, and Ryan Winn, THE FLASH #15 races into stores this Wednesday.

Smallville Season 11 is on break this week (DC’s digital firsts are generally three chapters each month) and will be back next week, along with the print edition of the first three chapters of “Haunted” guest-starring Impulse.

Meanwhile, ComiXology’s digital re-releases continue:

Flash #88-89: Wally West is sued for negligence by a woman who was horribly injured during the battle with Razer, and the shock sends him into a frenzy of crimefighting. How do you fight a lawsuit when you blame yourself? Can even the fastest man alive save everyone? Flash on ComiXology

Impulse #43: Gamal runs a convenience store in Manchester, Alabama, but in his home country, he was a brilliant scientist and inventor. Now he’s being pursued by foreign agents intent on weaponizing his inventions.

Impulse #44: School bully Evil Eye steals his dad’s super-villain costume for Halloween. What could possibly go wrong? Impulse on ComiXology.

Flashpoint Figures On Sale at WB Shop

Flashpoint Action Figures (Flash, Aquaman, Batman, Wonder Woman)

Quick note: WBShop.com has set of Flashpoint figures featuring the Flash, Aquaman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a Wayne Casino poker chip available for $20 down from a regular price of $60.

I’m not sure how long it’ll last — I’ve been really bad at reading my email lately and the message was sent last week.

Thanks to West for the scoop!