Category Archives: Flash News

Flash by Geoff Johns Ombinus 3 Coming Late Summer/Early Fall

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Collected Editions made a discovery on Amazon.com this morning: The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns Vol. 3 is available for pre-order with a September 4 date, meaning it will most likely arrive in comic stores the last week in August. (Amazon gets their new releases on the Tuesday bookstore schedule, not the Wednesday comics schedule.)

What’s surprising about this is that volume 2 isn’t out yet (it’s due in April), and there was a full year’s gap between the first two volumes of the massive hardcover collection.

Volume 2 runs through issue #200 of the Wally West Flash series, completing the Geoff Johns/Scott Kolins run on the book. This will pick up with Alberto Dose’s “Ignition.” If the page count on this book is anywhere near the 640 quoted in the listing, it will easily cover Flash #201-225, including the entire Geoff Johns/Howard Porter run on the series. Highlights include a Superman/Flash race (pictured here in Michael Turner’s cover); the origin/profile issues of Mirror Master and Heat Wave; the Identity Crisis tie-in, “The Secret of Barry Allen”; at least half of the Villains United Flash/Wonder Woman crossover; and of course, “Rogue War.”

I still think we’ll see a volume 4 at some point covering Flash: Rebirth through Flashpoint. It’ll be about the same length as this one.

»Pre-order at Amazon.

Flash #9 Solicitation and Cover, the Return of Jay Garrick & Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns Vol. 3

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THE FLASH #9
Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL and BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
Variant cover by TONY S. DANIEL
1:200 B&W Variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
On sale MAY 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
• Continuing the debut of GORILLA GRODD in DC Comics – The New 52!
• THE FLASH travels to GORILLA CITY for the first time!
• Who are the “RUNNERS” – and what do they mean for THE FLASH and the SPEED FORCE?

Big thanks to Collected Editions for their always eagle-eyed approach, which spotted this listing for The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns Vol. 3.  The hardcover collection is due Sept. 4.  More to follow on the expected contents of this 640-pager.

DC’s May Justice League solicitations are up at The Source.  Flash fans looking for Jay Garrick should check out the solicit for EARTH TWO #1 after the jump…

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New 52 Month 5: Flash still in the Top 10

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Five months into the New 52, the latest relaunch of The Flash is still a top 10 seller, with Flash #5 taking the #8 stop in Diamond’s sales rankings. ICv2’s estimates put it at 71,611 units sold*.

Comichron points out that January is usually low, but this isn’t bad for a January. (via The Beat) And if January is usually down overall, that means the 7.4% drop for The Flash — the lowest drop since the relaunch — may be exaggerated itself. Could the audience for the series be leveling out near 70K, or in the upper 60s? If so, that’s a big win for DC, because the last volume, written by superstar Geoff Johns, stabilized at sales of about 55,000 copies a month.

Digital Difference

Interestingly, while The Flash is holding steady in the top 10 for North American print sales, it doesn’t appear even in DC’s top 10 digital sales for the month. This could mean that digital readers are less interested in the Flash than print readers, but I don’t think the market is quite so simple as having digital readers and print readers. I suspect that most people who buy digital comics still buy at least some of their comics in print form, and with the art being a big selling point for the book, I’d imagine a lot of them are choosing to keep The Flash on the print side of their list.

Numbers

Issue Rank Month Units Sold % Change
Flash vol.4
Flash v.4 #1 4 September 2011 129,260
Flash v.4 #2 5 October 2011 114,137 -11.7%
Flash v.4 #3 9 November 2011 90,417 -20.8%
Flash v.4 #4 8 December 2011 77,336 -14.5%
Flash v.4 #5 8 January 2012 71,611 -7.4%

A few key articles covering past sales (with lots of numbers):

*What these numbers measure: US-only sales, wholesale from Diamond to comics retailers. They don’t count sales through bookstores, they don’t count international sales, and they don’t count how many copies were actually bought and read…but they do measure the same thing every month, which means they can be used to spot trends.

Justice League: Doom Blu-Ray Release To Feature Exclusive Flash Figurine *Updated*

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Retailer, Best Buy will be adding a little something extra to the Blu-Ray release of Justice League: Doom; an exclusive miniature Flash figurine. The figurine will be similar to past DC Animated release exclusives and will be the eighth statue released thus far:

 

Justice League: Doom is the latest direct to video film to be released through DC Animated. Slated for release February 28th, the film adapts the Tower of Babel story line from the “Morrison Era” League and penned by Mark Waid. In the story it is revealed that Batman has devised different methods of incapacitating his allies if they ever were to go rogue. Unfortunately the plans fall into the hands of the bad guys and we get to witness the fall out.

The story was adapted for the screen by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie and features Michael Rosenbaum, the voice of Wally West on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and Lex Luthor on Smallville, as Barry Allen this time around.

I personally have to say, great move on DC’s part to include the  Flash figurine. Now I will be picking it up on launch day as opposed to not at all. Who else is picking up the release now that the Flash figurine has been added? Who would have picked it up otherwise? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks to Phantom Stranger for the tip.

*****UPDATED*****

I picked up Justice League: Doom on my break today and I was able to snap some pictures of the exclusive Flash figurine:

 

–Devin “Flash” Johnson

Flashpoint Digital Discount

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It must be a week for sales. ComiXology is holding a 3-day Flashpoint sale this weekend, offering each issue of Flashpoint, its related miniseries and one-shots, and the Booster Gold tie-in issues for just 99 cents. That’s the whole thing for around $30, the cost of two trade paperbacks.

For the most part, I’ve already read what I wanted of Flashpoint. (Well, technically, I’ve read more than what I wanted, for the sake of completeness. I really could have done without Legion of Doom) But I think I may pick up Batman: Knight of Vengeance. From what I hear, a lot of fans agree that it’s the best of the lot.

The Flash Companion is on Sale. Here’s Why You Want It

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TwoMorrows Publishing is running a sale on their Companion books through Valentine’s Day…for 40% off list price! That means you can pick up The Flash Companion for only $16.17!

So what is The Flash Companion?

It’s a book published in 2008 detailing the behind-the-scenes history of The Flash from Jay Garrick’s first appearance in 1940 through the death of Bart Allen and return of Wally West, including the 1990 TV series.

Most of it is about the artists and writers who have worked on the character. Articles on Gardner Fox, Sheldon Mayer, and Julius Schwartz. Interviews with legends like Carmine Infantino, who reveals the origin of the Rogues, and Harry Lampert. Cary Bates on going serial in the seventies. Mike Baron’s fast living with Wally West. Mark Waid on creating Impulse, his reaction to Bart Allen’s death, and his tribute to the late Mike Wieringo.

“Flash facts” about critical turning points. Pages and plots from the stories that went unpublished when Flash Comics was canceled. The Flash who DC almost introduced after Crisis on Infinite Earths. The actor who turned down the role of Barry Allen.

Artwork and photos. Lost covers. A Rogue’s Gallery.

The book was written by Keith Dallas, who recruited a number of Flash fans (including myself) from the Comic Bloc forums to contribute additional material.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the Flash, or in the writers and artists who have created and guided the character for the past 70 years.

(Full disclosure, since I contributed a few articles: No, I don’t get any money for it, unless you buy it through my Amazon link in the sidebar — but then, you’d miss out on the discount price at TwoMorrows.)