Category Archives: Flash News

Flash #12 Solicited

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DC’s April 2011 solicitations are up at CBR, Newsarama and elsewhere, including the next issue of Flash. Next month we should be seeing the first solicitations for Flashpoint, which launches in May. (Hmm, who wants to bet that there will be a Flashpoint #0 for Free Comic Book Day?)

The Flash #12

Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
1:10 Variant cover by GEORGE PEREZ

“The Road to Flashpoint” concludes as everything Barry Allen knows and cares about is lost. What is the Flashpoint? Find out in the upcoming FLASHPOINT #1!

On sale APRIL 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US, RATED T

Wow, that’s…vague.

But, hey, George Perez variant cover! I’m looking forward to seeing that one!

Also of likely interest to Flash fans:

  • Justice League International TPB Vol. 6, collecting several issues of Justice League America and Justice League Europe (featuring Wally West), including the first crossover between the two teams, “The Teasdale Imperative.”
  • Young Justice #3 with Kid Flash front and center on the cover.
  • The conclusion of Brightest Day, featuring Captain Boomerang (and probably Professor Zoom)
  • The usual team books: Justice Society of America, Teen Titans, Tiny Titans

Rumor: Will Flashpoint Retitle Everything?

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This is pure speculation, but it’s an interesting one. Bleeding Cool reports that DC Comics’ upcoming Flashpoint event will rename and renumber DCU titles all across the line, much as Marvel’s Age of Apocalypse retitled all of their X-Men titles for the duration of that alternate reality story.

Basically, that DC will change their publishing lineup to reflect the changes that (presumably) the Reverse-Flash makes in DCU history.

If they do it right, I think this could be fun. It reminds me of DC One Million, in which every DCU title jumped forward to issue #1,000,000 and either told a story about a future version of the lead character/team, or told a story about the character in the future (to varying degrees of success). The Armageddon 2001 and Legends of the Dead Earth annuals were similar (though A2001, IMO, was a more successful event), or perhaps the two https://hyperborea.org/flash/tangent.html”>Tangent Comics events in which DC released nine books as if they were first issues of new series detailing an alternate universe.

I guess the best comparison for a DC reader would be the Amalgam comics that took over a month on the DC & Marvel publishing schedules during the Marvel vs. DC event and its sequels: comics like Speed Demon, or the Uncanny X-Patrol, or Doctor Strangefate. Each was treated as a first issue of an ongoing, often with references to previous series featuring the characters.

Keep in mind that this is still a rumor: DC might not be planning this at all, or they might be planning a few miniseries to run alongside the regular monthly books like they did with Blackest Night, or they might be planning a single month like the resurrected titles last year.

Flashpoint Launching May 2011

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Following up on yesterday’s day of teasers for Flashpoint, DC has announced Flashpoint Fridays. Each Friday from now until the series launch, they’ll post something new about the story, which The Source describes as being “as ambitious and big as any event in DC history.”

Flashpoint #1, by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert, is officially launching in May.

Finally, they posted some new clues to yesterday’s teases, confirming that (not that anyone would be surprised) the Wayne Casinos hint is related to Batman, and (a less clear-cut choice, but still one that many people speculated) the arranged marriage hint was about Wonder Woman and Aquaman. The real surprise: “Where is his ring?” doesn’t refer to Green Lantern!

Update: Here are the logos they posted (after the cut). Continue reading →

Flashpoint Day at The Source

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Throughout the day, DC Comics is posting teasers for Flashpoint, this year’s Flash-centric “event” at The Source. The heading: “Whatever Happened to the World’s Greatest Heroes?”

So far we have:

It looks like someone — most likely the Reverse-Flash — is systematically altering history to prevent the origins of DC’S heroes. It’s a concept we’ve seen before. My first thought was of a JLI story from the early 1990s, but CraigRMacDonald pointed out on Twitter that it’s also the premise of the first year of Booster Gold. Of course, when you distill it down to such basic elements, just about any story has been told before, and it becomes all about the details and execution.

I’ll be updating this post with links to the new teasers when I have time, or you can keep an eye directly on The Source.

Or, for fun, you can play around with #FakeFlashpointTeasers on Twitter. [Edit: Fixed the link. IMO the biggest problem with new Twitter is the fragile link structure.]

The 5-issue(?) Flashpoint miniseries is being written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Andy Kubert.

Update: I linked to this the other day on Twitter, Facebook and Buzz, but for those who haven’t seen it, here’s a detailed analysis of what we know so far about Flashpoint at Inside Pulse.

Flash Sales for December 2010

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The latest relaunch of The Flash continues to hold steady around #10-15 in Diamond’s sales rankings, fitting into December’s chart at #12 for Flash #7 and #18 for Flash #8.*

ICv2’s sales estimates for the month have Flash #7 selling 56,304 copies, and Flash #8 selling 53,975.

Issue Rank Month Units Sold % Change
Flash v.3 #1 2 April 2010 100,903
Flash v.3 #2 12 May 2010 76,560 (-24.1%)
Flash v.3 #3 11 June 2010 68,799 (-10.1%)
Flash v.3 #4 15 July 2010 64,832 (-5.8%)
Flash v.3 #5 14 September 2010 62,063 (-4.3%)
Flash v.3 #6 15 November 2010 57,673 (-7.1%)
Flash v.3 #7 12 December 2010 56,304 (-2.4%)
Flash v.3 #8 18 December 2010 53,975 (-4.1%)

Some things to consider when interpreting these numbers:

  • Overall comics sales were down in December, as reflected in the fact that #7 went up in rankings even though it sold fewer copies than #6.
  • The book shipped twice this month.
  • A storyline concluded last month, making #7 a good jumping-off point.
  • #8 is the first issue without the Brightest Day banner on the cover.
  • #8 shipped the last week of the year, between Christmas and New Year’s. Any late shipments or reorders won’t factor into these numbers.
  • They’re fill-in issues. Good fill-in issues, but still stand-alone comics by a different creative team, pushed in between major stories to get the book back on schedule. The only thing today’s market hates as much as a late book is a fill-in issue. It will be interesting to see if #9 (the start of a new story, not to mention some high-profile speedster guest stars) climbs back up a bit or continues to drop.

Other interesting items of note:

  • Green Lantern #60, featuring a Parallax-possessed Flash on the cover, took the #2 spot.
  • Of the 11 books ranked higher, 4 were Green Lantern or Brightest Day, 4 were Batman titles, 2 were Avengers and 1 was Wolverine. That’s some solid company for the Flash.
  • T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2, focusing on the team’s speedster Lightning, sold 11,227 copies for a rank of #165.
  • Velocity #3 clocked in at 5,305 copies, ranked #263. I seem to recall that Top Cow considers this book a success (though it’s pulling half the numbers of Artifacts or Witchblade), which should tell you just how big a gap there is between the size of the DC/Marvel market and the size of the Indie market.

*Yesterday on Twitter & Facebook I mistakenly reported that they were #26 and #29, a big drop, but when looking back at the chart, I realized I’d been looking at the wrong column. Those were the dollar rankings, which differ from the units-sold rankings depending on cover price.