Category Archives: Fandom

It’s Flash Appreciation Day!

Some super-heroes are loved by the cities they protect. Others are feared. But Central City and Keystone City celebrate the Flash. They raise statues to the Scarlet Speedster.

They built a Flash Museum.

They celebrate Flash Day.

Make no mistake: Central City loves the Flash.

Well, most of the time.

With his powers, the Flash can do more than just fight bad guys and rescue people from disasters. Across comics, cartoons and live-action versions we’ve seen Wally West and Barry Allen pitch in with everything from large-scale rebuilding to small-scale good deeds like fixing a car that’s broken down in the middle of rush hour. Sure, Keystone might have a higher budget for road repairs than most cities of its size, but the Flash is more than just a guardian flying above the city or swinging from the rooftops: He’s running alongside the rest of them.

In the “Flash and Substance” episode of Justice League Unlimited, which aired on February 11, 2006, Central City declared Flash Appreciation Day. At least nine comic book fan sites are getting together this year to celebrate our favorite red-suited speedsters!

Bounding Into Comics picks the top 5 moments from the TV show.
Comics Bulletin looks at the strengths of the three main Flashes: Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West – plus the Morrison/Millar run on the book and answers the question: Why the Flash?
FlashFans.org talks to artists and writers including Brett Booth, Van Jensen, Phil Hester and Eric Gapstur.
The Geeked Gods tackles the impact of the TV show on the Flash’s popularity.
Graphic Policy
Multiversity Comics reviews Jay Garrick’s first appearance, Emergency Stop, and JLU’s Flash and Substance, plus has a piece about Bart Allen aka Impulse aka Kid Flash aka the Flash, and finally interviews Mark Waid about why he loves the Flash.
Nothing But Comics looks back at the original Flashpoint, Wally West’s debut, and obscure Rogues.
Outright Geekery reviews Flashpoint and looks back at the history of the Flash.
Speed Force recalls a pivotal moment in Flash history: Barry Allen’s death in the Crisis on Infinite Earths – and considers the enduring appeal of Flash villains.

Please check each of these other sites as they update throughout the day!

Finally, more important than Flash Appreciation Day, we’re also spreading the word about the Hero Initiative. The comics industry isn’t exactly known for pensions or insurance benefits, and many artists and writers find themselves with emergency medical bills (remember Oliver Nome’s crowdfunded brain tumor surgery?), or in need of disaster recovery, or just forgotten by the industry. The Hero Initiative helps comics creators in trouble with their medical bills, covers rent or utilities, and helps them get back on their feet. Please take a look at the charity’s site and consider helping out the people who make the comics you love!

Poll Results: Your Favorite Flash Stories of 2015

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2015 has seen a full year of Flash comics, two Convergence tie-in miniseries, a Darkseid War one-shot, the second half of season one and the first half of season two of the Flash TV show.

What have your favorites been? We ran a poll asking that question, and here are the results from 70 responses:

1. What was your favorite Flash comic book story this year?

Convergence: Speed Force (Pre-Flashpoint Wally West)	22	34%
Flash vs. Professor Zoom (Flash #41-47)	18	28%
Convergence: The Flash (Pre-Crisis Barry Allen)	9	14%
Darkseid War: The Flash	8	13%
Savage Speed Force (Flash #36-40)	5	8%
Creation Myths (Flash Annual #4, Prof. Zoom recruits his team)	2	3%

Judging by comments, I was expecting readers to really shy away from the current storyline. But as it turns out, the Convergence miniseries starring pre-Flashpoint Wally West and the just-wrapped Professor Zoom story in the DCYou were tied for most of the week, with Convergence pulling ahead only in the last day.

2. What was your favorite episode from the second half of Flash Season One?

1.23 Fast Enough	20	30%
1.15 Out of Time	15	23%
1.17 Tricksters	11	17%
1.19 Who Is Harrison Wells?	4	6%
1.13 The Nuclear Man	4	6%
1.22 Rogue Air	3	5%
1.16 Rogue Time	3	5%
1.21 Grodd Lives	2	3%
1.10 Revenge of the Rogues	2	3%
1.20 The Trap	1	2%
1.18 All Star Team Up	1	2%
1.11 The Sound and the Fury	0	0%
1.12 Crazy for You	0	0%
1.14 Fallout	0	0%

Clear winners here were the time-travel episodes — including the season finale, which wrapped up a whole year of ongoing story arcs — and the nostalgia-fueled return of the Trickster.

3. What was your favorite episode from the first half of Flash Season Two?

2.6 Enter Zoom	21	31%
2.2 Flash of Two Worlds	14	21%
2.8 Legends of Today / Arrow 4.8 Legends of Yesterday	10	15%
2.3 Family of Rogues	7	10%
2.7 Gorilla Warfare	6	9%
2.9 Running to Stand Still	6	9%
2.5 The Darkness and the Light	3	4%
2.4 The Fury of Firestorm	0	0%
2.1 The Man Who Saved Central City	0	0%

Viewers were clearly impressed by the first direct encounter between Zoom and Barry Allen.

4. Who is your favorite new character in Flash Season Two so far?

This was a free-form question rather than multiple choice, so I’ll summarize the top responses:

Harry / Earth-2 Harrison Wells	15
Jay Garrick	12
Patty Spivot	12
Zoom	10
Wally West	5

“Harry” Wells is the clear front-runner here. I was surprised to see Jay Garrick and Patty Spivot tied, which shows how well Patty works with this cast. Some of the other write-ins included Hawkgirl (2), Vandal Savage…and strangely, Barry Allen and “Flash.” Yeah, I’m a little confused about those last two.

5. Who are you most looking forward to seeing in the second half of Flash Season Two?

Again, this was a free-answer question, so I’ll summarize the top responses.

Wally West	17
Zoom	10
Mirror Master	8
Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash	7

Lots of anticipation for Wally West (no surprise there!) as well as finding out more about Zoom. Mirror Master’s also way up there, as the last high-profile Rogue yet to be seen. (The Top was part of the core group in the Silver Age, but has only appeared sporadically since then, and while Dr. Alchemy and Abra Kadabra are major Flash villains, they’ve never been part of the Rogues proper.)

Other responses included Jesse Quick (2), Killer Frost (2), Alan Scott, Tar Pit, Jay Garrick back in action as the Flash, Max Mercury, Barry breaking the time barrier by himself, and new Rogues.

So how about you? If you missed the poll, sound off here! If you answered, go into more detail. What do you think about your fellow fans’ choices?

Flashes in the Top 7

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Every few years, Comics Should Be Good polls its readers for their favorite DC and Marvel characters and ranks the top 50 from each of the two publishers. This year, two Flashes came in the top 10:

Barry Allen at #7
Wally West at #6

This is the third time CSBG has run this poll, and it’s interesting to see how the various Flashes have fared. Jay Garrick and Bart Allen have both been pushed out of the running since 2011, but Barry Allen and Wally West are still both in the top 10. And while Wally is still ahead of Barry in the poll, they’re a lot closer than they were last time.

Character	2007	2011	2015
Jay Garrick (Flash)	#41	#45
Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash)	#42	#36
Barry Allen (Flash)	#29	#9	#7
Wally West (Flash/Kid Flash)	#3	#6	#6

2007 was kind of an odd year: Barry Allen had been dead for 20 years, and Wally West had been the main Flash for most of that time until he was shuffled offstage in Infinite Crisis. That was 2006, and DC replaced Wally with a prematurely-aged Bart Allen. Then in 2007, they killed Bart and brought Wally back. The poll hit in the middle of all this. Feelings among Wally’s fans at the time were…intense, pushing him up to the #3 spot, right behind Superman and Batman. Barry, meanwhile, lacked visibility, explaining his much lower ranking that year.

Running Through Long Beach Comic Con 2015

Pics from HeroesCon 2015!

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There were some great times and great cosplayers at HeroesCon 2015. Below are some great Flash cosplayers who turned up at HeroesCon…and more!

You’ll find me with Robert Venditti, Francis Manapul…and none other than Greg Elias of our site! It was great to finally meet Greg in person and to talk comics for a while at HeroesCon. For those of you following the site, the staff of Speedforce.org are spread literally across the continent, so actually meeting in person is a rare and much-appreciated treat. Thanks to everyone who attended HeroesCon – and if you missed it this year, it is well worth the visit to Charlotte, North Carolina, USA next year!

Free Fall In Scarlet or You Will Believe A Flash Can Fall! (Skydiving 04/27/2015)

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“Free Fall In Scarlet” or “You Will Believe A Flash Can Fall!”

Hey Speed Readers/Viewers

So a few weeks back I celebrated my 30th birthday and to mark the special occasion I decided to try my hand at skydiving. Of course being Flash Johnson I couldn’t simply jump out of a plane…I had to do it in style! So to that end I decided to rock my brand new, CW Flash suit 2.0, with my favorite
Flashy footwear, my Adidas Wings 2.0. I figured they were more than appropriate for what I was doing and I didn’t want to ruin my slick new Flash boots.

Why skydiving? Well, after reading the William Messner-Loebs penned The Flash v2 #54, “Nobody Dies” (aka “Free Fall in Scarlet!”) many, many years ago I got it in my head that I needed to jump out of a plane in a frackin’ Flash suit.

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