Earth 2 #10 takes us into a mystical realm with Jay Garrick, his mother, and Khalid Ben-Hassin. We learn a bit more about Khalid and Kendra’s past, shocking news about the train wreck that Alan Scott survived, and we see the New52 version of the Tower of Fate! This issue has a little bit for everyone, and it continues a series that has easily established itself among the very best the New52 has to offer.
SOME MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD – PLEASE READ THE ISSUE BEFORE CONTINUING! Continue reading
Flash-related comics out this week:
Earth 2 #10 begins “The Tower of Fate.”
Smallville Season 11 #11 continues “Haunted,” the four-parter guest-starring Impulse. Jay Garrick also guest-stars in this issue as Bart and Superman seek to unravel the mystery of the Black Flash. The next digital chapter arrives on Friday.
The Shade miniseries from 2011-2012 is collected in trade paperback. The Shade has come a long way since his origins as a Golden Age Flash villain. (Note: This technically takes place in the New 52 continuity, but off in a corner such that it could easily share a universe with James Robinson’s Starman.)
In digital backissues, ComiXology takes a break from their regular schedule, and has jumped ahead a few issues to release Flash #120-121, the two-part “Presidential Race” featuring Wally West and Pied Piper vs. The Top.
For DC Comics’ same-day print-and-digital releases (i.e. most of their line), the print and digital editions line up exactly. But things get a bit confusing with their digital-first comics, because they run smaller weekly chapters online, then collect them together for the print editions.
In the case of Smallville Season 11, currently running a storyline guest-starring Impulse, every three digital chapters are collected in a print issue the following month. Each digital page is the top or bottom of a print page, run landscape to make it easier to read on a desktop screen or a small tablet.
The numbers get a little confusing because, starting with #28, instead of taking one week off each month to keep the print and digital runs in sync, DC started running a side story during those formerly-skip weeks, which is being collected separately.
Here’s how the digital and print chapters of “Haunted” line up.
| Digital Chapters | Print Issue |
|---|---|
Chapters 25-27 |
Issue #9 |
Chapters 29-31 |
Issue #10 |
Chapters 33-35 |
Issue #11 |
Chapters 38-40 |
Issue #12 |
Two things stand out about the different covers that suggest different target audiences:
This suggests to me that DC is aiming the digital editions at fans of the TV series and the print editions at more traditional comic book fans. It certainly makes sense — by numbers alone, a lot of people who watched Smallville don’t read comics, and it’s going to be easier to get them to buy online than walk into a comic store. I really wonder what DC’s market research has turned up as far as the digital/print audience breakdown.
CBR reports from DC’s New 52 panel at Emerald City Comicon:
“The Flash” will focus on the Reverse Flash for a long arc that will take most of the next year, but he’s not the only character who will be showing up. Trickster will be involved in a two-part story before that. When the Reverse Flash appears, he’ll be different in both secret identity and power set than any version of the character to appear before. Buccellato joked that “Wally West questions are off the table” for the rest of the panel.
I wasn’t aware that the Trickster appearance in #18 continues into #19 (which will feature the April we’re-not-calling-it-WTF-Certified-anymore fold-out cover), and it’s interesting that the Reverse-Flash story will be so long. I’m a bit concerned, though: pacing is very important when you’re dealing with a story about a speedster, and just about every long Flash story since Infinite Crisis has felt slow.
Update: According to @SpeedsterSite, Buccellato said the Reverse-Flash story would be “8 or so issues.”
Reverse Flash will take the stage for "the next 8 or so issues." #ECCC
— Brandan (@SpeedsterSite) March 2, 2013
The comment on Wally West is likely a response to the previous day’s All Access panel, when writer Josh Fialkov told fans who wanted to see Wally to, in CBR’s words, “track down Flash writer Brian Buccellato on the floor and demand he write Wally into the book.”
Today’s guest post is by Colin Crebs.
We are running right along, looking at the appearances of the Flash in video games, as rare as they are. In review from Part 1, the Flash does not get to appear as the titular character in games anymore. He’s lucky if he’s even mentioned by name as a member of the Justice League. See this travesty.
Today we are looking at the Flash in Justice League: Earth’s Final Defense, available on iOS and Android.
Pictured Above: He even made it on the title screen! I’m so proud.
I highly recommend Justice League: EFD for all you Android or iOS gamers out there looking for more Flash-action on their phone, perhaps in between your digital comic reading app and your digital copy of The Flash: Stop Motion. Continue reading
Spinoff Online reports that among the special features included in the upcoming Superman Unbound animated feature is a preview of the next film in the series, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.
I’m still of mixed feelings on this. On one hand, we finally get a Flash-centric animated feature. On the other hand, it’s basically a Flash/Batman story (and personally I didn’t like Flashpoint itself much), and now the Flash has even been demoted from the title.
As far as adapting a reboot? Most of the story isn’t about rebooting, and I still think that the conversion to the New 52 was tacked on at the end. Back when this was first hinted at last April, I noted that if you take out that double-page spread with Pandora and change the costumes in the epilogue, Flashpoint is back to being a standalone story.