While The Flash is currently on hiatus, it’s clear that DC is making a major push this year to promote the Scarlet Speedster.
Flash: Rebirth
The centerpiece of this push is Flash: Rebirth, a six-issue miniseries by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. In addition to re-integrating Barry Allen into the modern DC Universe, it’s described as an attempt to revitalize the Flash franchise and expand the Flash mythos. More info: what we know so far about Flash: Rebirth.
It’s a given that a new Flash ongoing will launch after Rebirth finishes, almost certainly starring Barry Allen. While Geoff Johns has been strongly hinted as the new writer, there have been no hints as to who might draw it, and DC has not confirmed a creative team or even a start date.
Of course, with Barry Allen taking over the main series, what happens to Wally West? All we know is that he’s getting a new costume.
Collections
2009 is going to be a huge year for collected Flash books.
First up is Emergency Stop in January, collecting the first half of the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run on the book from the late 1990s. (They filled in for a year while Mark Waid went off to do JLA: Year One.) The second half of their run comes out in June as The Human Race. This includes the introduction of the Black Flash, who figured prominently in the last few issues of Bart Allen’s series.
Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga, the story which brought Wally West and his family back from limbo, also gets a trade paperback this month.
March brings The Flash Archives Volume 5, picking up 1962–1963 (see also: write-up of the contents).
In May, the first Impulse collection in a decade will be released in the form of The Flash Presents: Mercury Falling (more info).
June, concludes the Morrison/Millar run with The Human Race.
July sees the release of two Flash hardcovers: DC Comics Classic Library: The Flash of Two Worlds collects the first few team-ups of Jay Garrick and Barry Allen during the Silver Age. Then Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge collects last year’s miniseries. [Edit: fixed date for Flash of Two Worlds.]
Seven collections — and that’s just half the year!
Around the DC Universe
All indications are that Jay Garrick will continue to appear in Justice Society of America, and that Wally West will stick around in Titans.
Justice League of America is another question. It looks like Wally will be there at least until the series catches up with the events of Final Crisis. What happens afterward, and when Barry Allen becomes DC’s primary Flash, remains to be seen. The two most popular theories:
- Barry replaces Wally in Justice League of America, bringing us back to the Silver-Age status quo of Barry in the JLA and Wally in the Titans.
- Barry joins the new team in James Robinson’s soon-to-launch Justice League, alongside Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen, and Ray Palmer — the heroes he knows best — and Wally keeps his spot in JLA, ensuring that each team has a Flash.
The Flash will probably continue to appear in Super Friends, and Kid Flash in Tiny Titans.
No one seems to know what’s in store for Bart Allen. Despite strong hints of his return in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, delays have prevented us from actually seeing it. We know he’s one of very few dead characters who have been ruled out as potential Black Lanterns in 2009’s big event, Green Lantern: Blackest Night.
Other Media
Animation: With Batman: The Brave and the Bold featuring regular team-ups with other DCU heroes, there’s a good chance of seeing the Flash on the small screen again this year. Articles about the soon-to-be-released Wonder Woman animated feature have indicated that an animated Flash movie is in the works. (Though at two a year, we aren’t likely to see one until at least 2010.)
Live Action: The long-planned Flash feature film seems to be stalled at the moment, but if this year’s big Flash push succeeds, its fortunes may turn around again.
Video Games: The Flash appears in Sony’s DC Universe Online MMORPG. A firm date hasn’t been set for release, but the earliest quoted is late 2009.
Wow! Sounds like I’ll be buying a lot of stuff this year! The inclusion of an Impulse collection seems to strongly hint at Bart’s return (or at least, SOMETHING to happen with the character). I thought he did a pretty good job as the Flash, even though he didn’t have time to do much before they killed him off.
.-= Brian’s latest blog post: Mighty Avengers #20 – Hank Pym Strikes Back =-.
Okay they didn’t kill Bart off because they wanted to they killed him off because the Co creator died. which was depressing for me cause I really like Bart Allen as Impulse .. and when the issues stopped at issue 84 i was extremely depressed then the Co Creator dies causeing me to go into total depression for like a week and now that he is returning i want to see how well they do … although as a fan i have always preferred Wally West
Jack, you’ve got your timeline confused. Mike Wieringo died in August 2007, two months after Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 came out. He even did a memorial sketch of Bart as the Flash, along with a writeup on how he felt about the character’s death.
Marc Guggenheim was brought in from issue 9 onward specifically to write a story that would end in Bart’s death, so they must have made that decision by the end of 2006.
I was half asleep when writing that note man please cut me some slack and thanks … but i realized that mistake when i got home that night i just couldn’t be bothered to fix it cause i was falling asleep
Any way My favorite character from the all the flashes as silly as this is gonna sound is Max Mercury but i haven’t been able to locate a single comic solely on him Does anyone have any links or suggestions as to where i can find this … cause I really want one of Max’s adventures but i can’t find any
No problem! I’ve posted things when I was half asleep that I really shouldn’t have.
Actually, I’ve posted things when wide awake that I really shouldn’t have, but that’s another thing entirely!
Ha ha yeah i do that alot… its okay … was at school and was like okay what to do when i half asleep i gonna go to my fav site … anyway I know exactly what boat you’re in when you do that.. My name is Jack which you already know and it is nice to meet you Kelson
Okay really though can anyone tell me where i can possibly find any comics that are just about Max Mercury himself cause i can’t find any and i really want one to add to my collection…. Please help
There aren’t really any Max Mercury solo comics, though of course he’s in Impulse throughout most of the run. He gets the spotlight a few times.
– Impulse #14-15
– Impulse #58
– Impulse #79
There are also a few flashback stories focusing entirely on Max, that appear in the following:
– Impulse Annual 2 (1997)
– Speed Force #1 (one-shot, November 1997)
– Flash 80-Page Giant #1 (August 1998)
OH MY GOSH you don’t know how happy this makes me thank you soooooo much. You just made my day. You really just made my day thank you so much for the help. I really appreciate it. This is beyond fantastic. I can’t thank you enough.
I also loved Max. Were there Max Mercury comics from before Mark Waid invented Max Mercury? (Wally Flash #75 or something I think.) What I mean is, I thought he was loosely based on some Golden Age character. Is that true?
Yeah, he’s based on a character named Quicksilver who appeared in National Comics during the 1940s (long before the Marvel character). As far as I know, only one of the Golden-Age Quicksilver stories has ever been reprinted, and it appeared in Flash v.1 #214. More info: Max Mercury profile.
Amazing someone other than me knew that max was based off of quicksilver WOW. that kinda just made my day yet again kelson … lol. I love Max and i kinda wish they would make a comic just for him … he is kinda like this wise all knowing figure that knows much more than the rest of them. It seems as though everyone goes to him or he goes to them…. I just wish we all knew where he got his knowledge … lol … has anyone else noticed that…?
Looking at this from 2022, Scheiver has left DC on hostile terms, DC is a total wreck DC trashed the New Earth continuity and brought it back with a second Rebirth.