Monthly Archives: June 2013

Speed Force Fifth!: The Flash, Years Five

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

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Join us after the jump, as we journey back to 1944, 1963 and 1992 in search of Flash history, original artwork and more!

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A Future Flash Appears in Justice League 3000

Through Comic Book Resources, DC Comics has revealed plans for Justice League 3000 by Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire. The ongoing series, launching in fall, will feature (at least) future versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and Green Lantern

So far, all they’ve really released is the creative team and Howard Porter’s designs, including this one for the Flash.

Justice League 3000 Flash by Howard Porter

While the team is best known for the humorous “Bwahaha” Justice League International, they’ve written their share of serious stories as well. (You don’t get more serious than Giffen’s “Five Years Later” Legion.)

No doubt this is what’s behind both the end of the current Legion of Super-Heroes and the Justice Legion rumors: Presumably the LSH has been shifted to another timeframe, since I imagine the two concepts wouldn’t coexist very well.

Also, it’s worth noting: The Flash of JL3000 has red hair and green eyes. I’m not going to read too much into that. Other Wally West fans may be more optimistic, but I’ve been burned too many times to get my hopes up.

Updates: Giffen & DeMatteis talk to Newsarama, Giffen talks to CBR about the series.

Speed Force Fifth Anniversary Contest

Welcome to Speed Force’s fifth anniversary celebration! As part of the fun, we’re running another contest for Flash fans to participate in. And of course there will be prizes!

The idea is simple: just tell us why you like the Flash. Any Flash –- it can be Jay, Barry, Wally, Bart, or all of them (or even just the Flash as a concept). Or perhaps tell us about what he/they mean to you. You can write about it or draw it, whatever suits your talents, and we’ll post the entries after the contest is over. To enter, send your submission here.

The contest will run from Monday June 17 to Monday June 24, with a deadline of 11:50 PM Pacific Time. One entry per person, please. The five Speed Force writers (Kelson, Devin, Greg, Ed, and myself) will select our favourites from the submitted entries and award the prizes.

Good luck, and have fun!

Five Years Ago in The Flash…Review of Flash #241

flash 241As part of our SpeedForce.org celebration, we’re taking a look back to the issue of The Flash that came out the same month that this site started. Back in 2008, we were right in the middle of the “Fast Money” story arc. Wally West has seen the people of Keystone City turn against him, pushed by the villain Spin, who has brought Grodd in to help him in the battle. As for the kids…Iris and Jai have been taken captive by people working for “Boss Dark Side”. That brings us to issue #241 of The Flash, with an August cover date but released June 18th, 2008. (NOTE: Thanks to John at Capitol Comics in Raleigh NC for helping me find a spare copy of this issue for the review when I could not find my own copy in my back issues).

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD!

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Photo Challenge! Speed Force Fifth

Flash Stuff

Speed Force turns five years old tomorrow (hard to believe, huh?), and one of the ways we’re celebrating is with a photo challenge. (See, I told you we had something in store for our Instagram page.)

To participate, follow @SpeedForceOrg on Instagram and post a photo of your favorite Flash item tagged #speedforce5th.

It can be a comic book, a toy, a statue, a costume, a poster, a piece of original art, a DVD, a shirt or towel, a game piece, anything. It can be official or custom-made. It can be something you own, or something you’ve seen.

We’ll post the highlights next Friday. (Please post your own photos only.)

If you aren’t on Instagram, don’t worry — we’ve got something else planned that you can participate in too!

Wow, five years. Big thanks to Devin, Greg, Lia and Ed for joining me on this journey, to everyone who’s guest-posted, to my wife and son for putting up with me spending time on it, and to all of you for coming along with us!

When you get home from “Man of Steel” this weekend, check on Speed Force. We’ve got a lot more in store as we celebrate our fifth anniversary!

What Does “Man of Steel” Mean for a Flash Movie?

Superman vs the Flash

With Man of Steel opening this week, it’s no secret that the future of DC Comics’ super-heroes on screen is tied to the success of the new Superman film. The question, of course, is what form might that future take? With the success of The Avengers, there’s been a lot of talk about a possible Justice League movie, but of course Marvel didn’t launch the Avengers on its own: They launched four solo films featuring different heroes, then brought them together. If “Man of Steel” does well, DC could jump straight into the team movie, or they could do a Marvel-style slow build — and Mike Ryan at Huffington Post suggests that Flash might be the ideal viewpoint character to tie them together.

DC has had a Flash movie officially in development for almost a decade now. Back in 2004, Warner Bros. announced David Goyer was writing a script and would direct. It’s since been through multiple directors and writers. Early treatments would feature both Wally West and Barry Allen, while later treatments focused exclusively on Barry Allen. The last real news came in 2010, when DC announced the Green Lantern script team would be writing a Flash film based on Geoff Johns’ work. Of course when the Green Lantern movie performed less than WB had hoped, everything non-Superman or Batman went on the back burner again. We’ve heard a few rumblings since then, but little else. Everything’s riding on “Man of Steel”: If it succeeds, we can count on more DC movies. If not, we can expect more years of development hell.

But if it does succeed… Continue reading