Category Archives: Flash News

Fastest Pet On Earth

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DC is teaming up with Capstone to produce a series of children’s books, DC Super-Pets. Super-heroes have pets just like we do…but what if their pets also fought crime? (Krypto would be the classic example of this concept.)

Writers at Capstone imprint Picture Window Books will provide the stories, and Tiny Titans artist Art Baltazar will provide the art. The 24-book series launches in January 2011 and will run through 2012.

Among the first few books in the series is The Fastest Pet on Earth.

I certainly wouldn’t expect these to worry about continuity, but Bart Allen used to have a pet dog named Dox during his days as Impulse…

Flash Collections for Spring 2011: Rogues HC & Rebirth TPB

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The Source has posted more detail on Spring 2011 collections.

We already knew that the hardcover edition of The Flash: The Dastardly Deaths of the Rogues was coming out next February, but there’s been a slight change. Earlier reports showed it featuring The Flash #1-7 and The Flash Secret Files 2010, but now DC is saying that it collects The Flash #1-6 and The Flash Secret Files 2010. This makes more sense, because it lines up exactly with the first story arc instead of extending one issue beyond it. On the other hand…

The Flash: Rebirth paperback is scheduled for April, and someone forgot that the miniseries was six issues long and not five! I guess we shouldn’t rely too much on the numbers here.

Other books

Additionally, the Justice League International trade paperbacks start collecting Justice League Europe with volume 5. Flash Wally West was a founding member of that branch of the League, based at first in Paris and later in London. This volume features two JLI annuals and the first six issues of JLE. The next two issues are actually part of a JLA/JLE crossover, “The Teasdale Imperative,” which picks up where the previous volume left off collecting Justice League America. I’d guess that volume 6 will feature that crossover and some mix of the two series.

Justice League of America: The Rise and Fall collects the “Fall of Green Arrow” and “Rise of Arsenal” storylines spinning out of JLA: Cry for Justice. Barry Allen appears in the Green Arrow story.

There’s a new Showcase volume of Justice League of America.

I think Kid Flash Bart Allen is in Teen Titans: The Hunt for Raven.

Flash Barry Allen appears in at least the opening chapters of Brightest Day Vol.1.

Justice League of America: Dark Things covers the JLA/JSA crossover that just started, featuring Flash Jay Garrick and Jesse Quick.

Flash #1 Gets Second Printing

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Francis Manapul reported on Twitter, and then The Source confirmed that The Flash #1 and 10 other recent launches are getting second printings.

No word yet on when it will ship, or what cover DC will use. They already used an uncolored sketch version of the original cover as a 1:100 variant, but with the number of random Flash covers they seem to have stocked up by various artists, I’m sure they could simply reassign the variant for, say, The Flash #7, or another issue that hasn’t been solicited yet. They could also put out a variation on Tony Harris’ variant cover for the first printing, or use an interior splash page, or take the black-and-white with spot color approach to either of the original covers.

Flash #4 Delayed One Week

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According to Diamond/Previews’ shipping updates, Flash #4 has been pushed back one week from July 28 to August 4. (Hat tip to Jay75 on Comic Bloc)

In the discussion on Comic Bloc, trmnlvlctyyy pointed out that Francis Manapul has been traveling a lot filming a TV show, which probably interferes with his time to work on the art.

On the other hand…how many comics is Geoff Johns writing these days? Add in the fact that Brightest Day is biweekly and has to be a priority, and he’s got that new job wrangling all of DC’s media adaptations, and you’ve got to wonder just where we should be pointing the finger.

Flash #3 is still scheduled to arrive in stores next Wednesday, as can be seen on Diamond’s upcoming releases list.

Flash #3 Preview

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DC has posted a 5-page preview of next week’s The Flash #3.

It may be BRIGHTEST DAY, but when a mysterious group of so-called heroes turns up, another Rogue ends up dead. Plus, the mystery deepens as The Flash witnesses another murder — his own!

The preview picks up the Brightest Day angle and focuses on Captain Boomerang. “Digger” Harkness discovers that he’s a bit…different now that he’s back from the dead. It’s an interesting development, but if what’s seen here can be taken at face value, I’m not sure it’s necessary. It seems like a second attempt (after Owen’s super-speed) to give a villain who throws weaponized boomerangs an extra edge. It’s an odd choice for Geoff Johns, who managed to revitalize the rest of the Rogues simply by taking them seriously.

The Flash #3 arrives in stores next week, on June 30.

Update: I’ve added this issue to my gallery of Dead Flash Covers!

Flash Sales for May 2010

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ICv2’s top 300 comics for May are up, and The Flash #2 is ranked #12 with an estimated 76,560 copies sold.

Here’s the round-up of how Flash vol.3 compares to other recent Flash relaunches.

Issue Rank Month Units Sold 2nd-Issue Drop
Flash:TFMA #1 7 June 2006 120,404
Flash: FMA #2 25 July 2006 77,487 (-35.6%)
All-Flash #1 22 July 2007 78,955
Flash v.2 #231 26 August 2007 72,898
Flash v.2 #232 32 Sep 2007 56,969 (-21.9%)
Flash: Rebirth #1 2 April 2009 102,429
Flash: Rebirth #2 4 May 86,183 (-15.9%)
Flash v.3 #1 2 April 2010 100,903
Flash v.3 #2 12 May 2010 76,560 (-24.1%)

That’s…steeper than I expected. Not as bad as the plunge from Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 to #2, but it’s bigger than the drop on between the first two issues of “The Wild Wests.” And it’s a lot steeper than the second-issue drop on Rebirth.

These are, of course, based on retailers’ orders, so it’s not a reflection of actual readers’ purchases, but how retailers anticipated those purchases. After the last several relaunches failed to catch on, perhaps we can forgive them for being skeptical.

The real test, as always, will be to see how orders for issue #4 and on hold up. With three months’ lead time, that’s the first issue on which stores will have placed orders after seeing how well the actual book sold.

Update: The Beat has posted a detailed analysis of DC’s May sales and seems to think these numbers are average.