Category Archives: Flash News

Flash #8 Solicitation and Cover

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THE FLASH #8
Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL and BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art by FRANCIS MANAPUL
Variant cover by KENNETH ROCAFORT
1:200 B&W Variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
On sale APRIL 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

The Flash gets pulled into the Speed Force that gives him his super-speed powers…and he learns he’s not alone in there! Introducing Turbine, a prisoner of the Speed Force who just wants out – even if it means trading places with The Flash!

DC’s April Justice League solicitations are up at The Source. Full solicitations including upcoming collections will be forthcoming.

Flash Sales in December

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Last week we reported that Flash #4 ranked #8 for the month of December. ICV2 has released its December sales estimates, figuring that the comic sold 77,336 copies. Despite the slight climb in rank, that’s a 14.5% drop from previous issue. Not as big as the the drop from #2 to #3, but still big. And it’s a whopping 40% drop from #1. On the plus side, it’s still above any issue of vol.3 after the first, and above the 55K threshold I pulled out of thin air last year.

What does it mean?

To be honest, I have no idea. The New 52 was an unprecedented event, with all of DC’s books seeing a sales spike. The drop is big, sure, but the numbers are still high, and the ranking is phenomenal for the Flash. Is this just a reflection of the overall market re-adjusting after DC’s line-wide sales spike a few months ago? Is DC worried about The Flash dropping faster than other top-tier titles, or are they glad it’s not dropping as quickly as the lower tier? Obviously they’re not too concerned, because they haven’t changed the creative team — something DC hasn’t shied away from in the short time since the launch.

The more I report on sales figures, the less I understand the implications. And that’s assuming the numbers are consistent enough to analyze to begin with.

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%

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.

Flash Still in Top 10, Four Months into the New 52

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Diamond’s December sales rankings are out, and The Flash #4 is ranked the month’s #8 comic by units sold. Four issues in a row in the top 10 is, as far as I know, a first for The Flash (at least in recent memory). Volume three spent most of its time in the 10-20 range, and even Flash: Rebirth dropped to #14 in the fourth issue. Only Flashpoint held in the top 10 longer…for all five issues of the miniseries, in fact, including both August issues.

Detailed estimates will likely be available sometime next week.

Captain Cold Story Moved Up

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Old news, but I missed it with all the Christmas/New Year/catching up with family from out of town/etc.:

Flash co-writer Brian Buccellato posted in a couple of forums last week that the Captain Cold arc originally scheduled for issue #7 has been moved up to #6, replacing the stand-alone CSI mystery originally solicited.

From the CBR thread:

Speaking of Captain Cold…

I wanted to give you all a heads up that we’ve moved the Captain Cold storyline up to ISSUE #6. Rumor has it that the folks REALLY wanna see the Snart. Done and done. 🙂

Jingle Bells!

In response to questions, he adds:

Hey guys… as it stand now, the Captain Cold arc is gonna be 3 issues. As far as the original #6 with the mystery… not sure when we are gonna get to that one. We still want to do it, though. 🙂

Personally, I’m kind of disappointed, since I was really looking forward to reading about the history of Central and Keystone Cities, and a straight CSI story would really take advantage of the fact that DC chose Barry Allen for this universe’s Flash. (To be honest, I was more intrigued by the 150-year-old cold case than by the Captain Cold story.)

Still, I can understand the decision. If there’s anything DC learned from “The Wild Wests” and “Lightning in a Bottle,” it’s that the Flash audience wants to see Rogues. And then there’s the “Eh, it’s just filler” attitude that many readers have toward done-in-ones. I can imagine DC might be afraid of losing momentum on the book.

Here’s hoping that they’ll be able to fit in the cold case story sometime soon!

(via The Rogues Kick Ass)

Kid Flash’s Story to Unfold in 2012

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DC Comics’ EiC Bob Harras dropped a few hints yesterday about what’s in store for the DC Universe in 2012. Those wondering just what’s going on with Kid Flash — is he still from the future? — still related to Barry? — will be glad to hear that answers are on their way:

And what exactly is Kid Flash’s story? TEEN TITANS will explore that mystery early next year.

Flash #4 Preview is Up!

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The LA Times blog Hero Complex has a four-page preview of The Flash #4, arriving in stores next week. The preview sheds more light on Manuel Lago, and begins the origin of Mob Rule.

Tip: I found that the slideshow viewer makes the pages too small to read. Fortunately, they provided direct links to the images at the end of the article.

Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL and BRIAN BUCCELLATO; Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL; Variant cover by ERIC BASALDUA; 1:200 B&W Variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL

As Central City remains dark from the recent EMP blast, The Fastest Man Alive remains in hot pursuit of the one who set it off: Mob Rule! What does Mob Rule really want? Learn the rest of his origin right here!