Category Archives: Flash History

WonderCon Flash Bits: Jesse Quick, EVS & Carmine Infantino, Movie Non-News

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I’m back from San Francisco, catching up on work, email, and reading. I’ll post my WonderCon write-up when I get a chance (tonight, I hope, but definitely by the end of the week [Update: it’s up now]), but for now, here are a few more Flash items from the convention:

Jesse Quick will be joining the Justice League of America after the upcoming JLA/JSA crossover, as announced at the James Robinson Spotlight.

He included the character because he was always such a fan of the character’s father, Johnny Quick. The writer made sure to mention that he has no plans to upset the marriage between Jessie Quick and Hourman. He promised there would be no cheap plot device to break them up.

Robinson also made some thought-provoking remarks about the Flash in the Super-Hero Origins panel, which I’ll write up when I have more time and can look at my notes. Update: Here they are: JR on super-hero origins.

When asked about plans for DC movies beyond Green Lantern, Geoff Johns said, “We’ll talk in San Diego.” A lot of sites are taking this to mean that DC will announce Flash & other movie plans at Comic-Con International in July.

At the Ethan Van Sciver Spotlight, the artist was asked about Carmine Infantino’s classic art in connection with Flash: Rebirth.

The artist said that he loved Infantino’s work, and that besides Batman, the Flash has one of the best set of villains in the DCU, which Van Sciver credits to Infantino. “His characters were so unique and individual, so wonderfully different from each other,” he said, also mentioning that he would love to go back to “revisit the wonderful, angular, ugly faces of Carmine Infantino’s rogues, and restore them.” Van Sciver even said he would talk with new “Flash” artist Francis Manapul about Infantino’s rogues.

And once again, my photos from the con are up on Flickr.

Age of TV Heroes Available Wednesday

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TwoMorrows Publications (publishers of The Flash Companion) will be releasing The Age of TV Heroes on Wednesday, March 24. The full-color hardcover book covers live-action TV super-heroes from the early Superman adventures and the Adam West Batman through Smallville, stopping off to visit Wonder Woman, Shazam and, yes, the Flash.

The Age of TV Heroes examines the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes! This handsome full-color hardcover features the in-depth stories of the actors and behind-the-scene players that made the classic super-hero television programs we all grew up with. From legendary shows like The Adventures of Superman and Batman, to the modern era of The Tick and Smallville, it’s colorfully presented in vivid detail, lavishly designed with a bevy of color photographs. Included are new and exclusive interviews and commentary from Adam West (Batman), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), Patrick Warburton (The Tick), Nicholas Hammond (Spider-Man), William Katt (The Greatest American Hero), Jack Larson (The Adventures of Superman), John Wesley Shipp (The Flash), Jackson Bostwick (Shazam!), and many more, including comments from Reb Brown, Stephen J. Cannell, Chip Kidd, Stan Lee, Noel Neill, John Romita, Alex Ross, Ilya Salkind, Lou Scheimer, Lorenzo Semple, Lyle Waggoner, and other actors, producers, and crew. Re-experience the pop culture birth of the super-hero phenomenon, and relive the first time that these heroes came to life on TV! Written by Jason Hofius and George Khoury, with a new cover by superstar painter Alex Ross

The publisher has posted a free 12-page preview [PDF] on their website, and is offering a 15% discount on purchases through their online store.

Flash Comics #1 Sells for $450,000

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It’s not a million, but a near-mint copy of Flash Comics #1 recently sold for $450,000 on Heritage Auctions. This 1940 comic book features the first appearances of both the Flash and Hawkman, and lesser-known characters Johnny Thunder and the Whip. This “finest known copy” of the issue previously changed hands for $273,125 in January 2006 and was ranked the fifth most expensive comic book in 2008. The new buyer placed an anonymous offer through the Heritage Auctions website.

This comic book is part of the remarkably well-preserved Mile High Collection. In August 2008, HA pulled in $553,583 for issues #2-24 and #60 from the same set.

They’ve also got a copy in Fine/Very Fine condition that’s asking a mere $12,500

If you’re like me, half a million — or even $12,500! — is a bit out of your price range. 🙂 I mean, I spent four years looking for a copy of Flash Comics #33 that I could get for around fifty bucks!

Not to worry: the budget reader can pick up the first Flash and Hawkman stories for a lot less in the Golden Age Flash Archives, Vol. 1 and Golden Age Hawkman Archives, Vol. 1. The issue has also been reprinted in full at least twice, in 1975’s “Famous First Edition” series and again in a 2000 “Millennium Edition.”

Flash vs…the Threat! (Updated)

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What Were They Thinking?! is doing a series of posts this week on the weirdness that is All-Flash Quarterly #2 (1941).

  1. All Flash Quarterly #2 is Special
  2. All-Flash Quarterly, Part II: THE BLOOD RED RAY!
  3. All-Flash #2 Part 3
  4. All Flash #2 Part 4. Almost Done. Really.
  5. All Flash Comics #2 ends with…ew

It’s notable as the first Flash story to be longer than the standard Golden Age length of 13 pages. Throughout its run, Flash Comics featured several 13-page stories starring various characters, and All-Flash featured typically four, then later three stories per issue of that length — but they were all Flash. Occasionally, All-Flash would feature two 26-page stories…or, as in this case, one really long one, broken up into standard-length chapters.

The full story is available in The Golden Age Flash Archives Vol.2.

Golden Age: Completing the Set & Tracing the Origins of the Shade

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It’s going to be a long time (if ever) before I track down the entire Golden Age run of the Flash, but I’ve finally tracked down the last item on a list I’ve been trying to complete for four years.

Getting Started

For the longest time I just assumed Golden Age comics would cost too much to collect. Then in late 2005 I picked a maximum, bid on several auctions on eBay (not expecting to win), and actually won two of them. They weren’t in good condition, but one of them was complete, and all I wanted to do was be able to read the stories.

So I took the appearance lists for those Golden Age villains who had survived into the Silver Age and beyond — villains who had returned like the Fiddler and the Thinker, or who had been re-imagined like Star Sapphire, the Turtle or the Thorn — removed anything that I had as a reprint, and made a list of books to track down.

Discovery

The first year I had pretty good success, and bought a bunch of other Golden Age books. I read them, indexed character appearances, and discovered forgotten recurring characters like the Worry Wart, Deuces Wilde, the Eel and the Keystone City Liars Club. After a while, though, the supply of (relatively) cheap, reader’s-grade copies on eBay dried up. Cons didn’t help because, as near as I can tell, most Golden Age collectors do it for the history. They’re looking for the books that are in the best condition possible, so that’s what dealers bring with them.

Pursuing the Shade

The one book I most wanted from the beginning proved to be the hardest to find: Flash Comics #33, the first appearance of the Shade. After four years, I finally found it. Last month a falling-apart copy showed up on eBay starting at $50, in a lot with two other books in much better condition. I figured it would quickly move beyond my price range, and didn’t even bother bidding — but I did put a watch on it. The day it closed, eBay sent me a reminder. Amazingly, it was only up to $55, so I put in a bid. Even more amazingly, it only went up to $56. To my astonishment, when I checked my email the next morning, there hadn’t been any more bids. I’d won!

It’s a strange feeling — a mix of astonishment and exhilaration — to finally track down something I’d sought for so long. I wrote up most of this post that day, but held off publishing it, just in case something went wrong.

It took a while, but the book arrived today. Continue reading →