Category Archives: Flash News

Flash: Rebirth #6 in February?

The Flash: Reschedule saga continues, but this time with some potentially good news. While DC’s website still lists a March 24, 2010 release date for Flash: Rebirth #6, Diamond Comics has posted on their shipping updates page that the title will appear on February 24, 2010. Still later than the January 27 date we had before, and still arriving after Blackest Night: The Flash wraps (though by only a week!), but much more reasonable than the 4-month gap between issues previously announced.

Thanks to PyroTwilight at Comic Bloc for the news!

Geoff Johns Talks Flash Update

Geoff Johns took a few moments out of his holiday travel to update fans on the state of The Flash. Ordinarily I’d pull out a couple of key quotes and point you to the original post, but this time I think I should just quote the whole thing:

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! I hope you all have save travels if you’re heading somewhere for the holidays.

Obviously, there have been some changes (among many) in DC’s approach to co-features and, in particular, the Flash universe that have raised questions and frustrations. Yes, THE FLASH will no longer have the Wally West co-feature. It’ll remain one of DC’s $2.99 books rather than $3.99 and Barry Allen will be the lead character. Yes, the plans for creating a book title KID FLASH have altered. (The creative team lined up never started on the book.) And, yes, it was a mistake to announce our plans before they were set in stone. Everyone was just excited about the Flash. No one wants to disappoint anyone. That’s not only bad business, it’s bad karma. So all that above? That’s the bad news.

But there is good news too. You will see the stories Scott Kolins and I have been working on. You will see Wally and Bart and everyone (Jesse will surprise a lot of people!). You will see the Flash universe grow organically. No one wants the Flash universe to achieve the same heights Green Lantern has more than me and the creative and editorial team working on it (and maybe the bean counters at DC! ). I’m also working hard on the movie. Despite what it looks like, the plans have grown for the Flash universe, although the rollout for things has changed. Imagine something more like how Green Lantern grew. The Flash universe is set for something VERY big in 2011 as well. It’ll take a bit more time to build (not too much), but in the long run I do believe the foundation will be stronger for it. I can’t get into specifics too much and I don’t want to until we literally have covers to show – which I’m sure will frustrate some people – but I don’t want to see anyone disappointed.

I am incredibly excited about the future of the Flash and I think when things are finally rolling in April, you all will be too.

I’ll try and answer any questions I can when I can over the next few days.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Geoff

Head over to Comic Bloc to read the original post and comment thread.

Edit: In reading through the thread, I’ve spotted one more answer by Johns so far, to a question about Wally West:

Think of it this way — Wally will continue to do what he’s always done, continue and build the Flash legacy, only in ways more insanely epic in scope and adventure than ever. Barry is the Flash who started the spark, Wally is the one who fans the fire.

Flash in 2010=100% Barry Allen – Kid Flash Series & Wally West Backups Canceled

So…DC’s latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio video has some bad news for fans of the extended Flash family. He answered my question about the Flash and Kid Flash books, explaining that they’ve decided to go back to “the original game plan” and focus on a single Flash book starring Barry Allen.

Wally West’s backup stories, by Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins? “On hold.” [Edit: This may be the result of DC restructuring the second features.]

The Kid Flash book by Sterling Gates? “On hold.”

He goes on to say, “Your Flash fix will be Barry Allen, pure and simple, for 2010.”

Warning: Rant Ahead

Edit: The rest of this post is a rant, bashed out in the heat of the moment immediately after watching that video. If I’d had the sense to wait until I’d cooled down, I wouldn’t have written it.

To clarify what I did write, it’s not just that Barry’s getting the limelight that has me pissed off. I’ve had a year and a half to get used to that. What really has me steamed is that DC announced ongoing stories starring Bart and Wally, then changed their minds and yanked that away.

I picked up Flash: Rebirth hoping that it would convince me to like the idea of new Barry stories. It hasn’t. If it had, this news would have still been disappointing, but wouldn’t have gotten me so angry.

Anyway, onto the original post…

Continue reading

Weekend Update: Rebirth Schedule & Secret Files

Some Flash news broke over the weekend. In case you missed the original posts…

First, Ethan Van Sciver reports that Flash: Rebirth #6 should be out sooner than March after all — he’s almost done with the art, and expects to finish this week!

Second, the Flash Secret Files 2010 solicitation is up. It’s due March 24.

I’ll be back this evening with a run-down of likely Flash appearances in the full March solicitations.

Flash: Rebirth #6 — Sooner Than We Think!

Flash: Rebirth #6 (thumb)Gee, you go away for one Christmas party, and news starts breaking fast and furious!

So, a couple of days ago, DC rescheduled Flash: Rebirth #6 from January 27 to March 24. On Saturday, Ethan Van Sciver stopped by Comic Bloc to let fans know what was going on:

This March date is strange. The book will be finished this week. I think you’ll see it get bumped back to January in a few days. [Emphasis added.]

The artist has previously stated that he sends the pages to the colorist in batches (of three, IIRC) as he finishes them, so they’ve already started coloring the book.

Meanwhile, Flash Secret Files has been solicited…with that same March 24 release date. Could someone at DC have mistakenly updated the website with the date for the Secret Files book?

Van Sciver also remarked on the delays, saying that it’s been taking him two months to draw each book, plus he had some health problems around the time that issue #3 came out.

(Thanks to Wayne Lippa and @MrEPCOT for letting me know about EVS’ posts!)