Category Archives: Flash News

Geoff Johns: Flash News Coming Soon

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With that single sentence on Comic Bloc, Flash: Rebirth writer Geoff Johns touched off a flood of speculation. DC has been very quiet about the post-Rebirth plans for the scarlet speedster, though it seems obvious they plan at least one new ongoing series (if not more).

Of course, Comic-Con International is next week, and chances are excellent that the news will be announced at next Friday’s DC Nation panel. It was at that panel last year that DC announced Flash: Rebirth in an almost offhand way: Dan Didio introduced Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver as working on “Barry Allen: Rebirth.”

Speculation at Comic Bloc has turned to an unspecified Geoff Johns/Gary Frank project coming up after Superman: Secret Origin and to a mysterious “Top Secret Forum” that has just appeared in the Geoff Johns section of the site. The forum is likely related to something else, as Comic Bloc has a history of combining related topics: The Flash topic was retitled as Flash: Rebirth, Green Lantern is now Blackest Night/Green Lantern, and so on.

My guess: At DC Nation, Dan Didio will announce the creative team and start date for the new Flash ongoing with Barry Allen and for the Flash: Blackest Night miniseries. It would be great if they’re planning a second ongoing, but even if they are, I don’t think we’ll get one right away. More likely a miniseries showcasing Wally West, or a second feature featuring Bart Allen as Kid Flash.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I plan to attend the DC Nation panel next week, and will probably be live-tweeting it (or at least the Flash-relevant bits) at @SpeedForceOrg. If all goes well, those posts should also get imported to a live blog entry here on Speed Force.

Flash: Rebirth Ranked #10 for June, Still Over 80K

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IcV2 has released sales estimates for June, and Flash: Rebirth #3 is still in the top-ten…but only barely, edged out by the start of Captain America: Reborn and a zillion Dark Avengers books.

Issue Rank Units Sold Change
Flash: Rebirth #1 (of 6) 2 102,429 +286.6%
Flash: Rebirth #2 (of 6) 4 86,183 -15.9%
Flash: Rebirth #3 (of 6) 10 83,086 -3.6%

From what I understand, it’s typical for a miniseries to drop sharply from #1-#2 and then slowly over the course of the series, so this is probably not unexpected. It’s also worth noting that the drop in rankings from #4 to #10 seems steeper than it actually is, since overall sales for June went up. And it’s still the fourth-highest-selling Flash issue of the decade, after Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 and the first two issues of Flash: Rebirth.

Down near the bottom of the chart, DC also managed to sell another 6,405 copies of issue #1 “variant edition,” presumably the third printing. I understand DC is actually planning a fourth printing of the book, possibly unprecedented in the history of The Flash. No word on whether any subsequent issues will be reprinted prior to next year’s hardcover collection.

Flash in Wednesday Comics Preview

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Flash Wednesday Comics ThumbAt The Source, DC has posted the first page of the Flash strip from Wednesday Comics by Brenden Fletcher and Kerl Kerschl! The story stars Barry Allen, Iris West and Gorilla Grodd.

As you can see by the layout, each page is basically the size of four standard comic book pages.

Wednesday Comics starts tomorrow and will run weekly for the next 12 weeks.

Flash: Rebirth #4 Delayed

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Flash: Rebirth #4DC has quietly rescheduled Flash: Rebirth #4 from July 22 to August 5 — a two-week delay for a book that was already scheduled at six weeks after the previous issue. No indication why, but DC did change the book from a 5-issue miniseries to a 6-issue miniseries. Even if Johns and Van Sciver were aiming for 6 issues from the start, it wouldn’t surprise me if they had some restructuring to do on #4.

So far, the schedules for issues #5 and #6 haven’t changed, so we could still see the series wrap by the end of September.

On a personal note, there’s a bit of a silver lining for me, since the original date was the zeroth day of Comic-Con International. I’d been trying to figure out the best way to buy the book, read it twice, and write up a full review on the same day that I’d be driving down to San Diego and attending Preview Night.

Update July 15: DC’s website now shows Flash: Rebirth #4 with a release date of August 12. That’s a full 3 weeks after the original release date, and a full 2 months after the previous issue. At this point it seems likely that issues 5 and 6 will be pushed back as well.

Update August 24: It’s coming out this week.

Not Just One Flash Book?

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From the latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio:

12. Is there word on a creative team for Flash post Rebirth? Obviously, it’s assumed that Geoff [Johns] will be writing it…

DD: Yes it is, it is assumed. (laughs)

NRAMA: What are the chances that Ethan will join him?

DD: Right now, we’ve got Ethan [Van Sciver] and Geoff pushing pretty hard on Flash: Rebirth, and once we get a little closer, we’ll be announcing the team on the Flash monthly comic. It’s all part of a bigger announcement, because it’s not just about one Flash book. [emphasis added]

Reeeeeallly…?

The obvious implication here is that there will be more than one Flash-related series spinning out of Flash: Rebirth. We can probably safely assume that one will be The Flash, starring Barry Allen, written by Geoff Johns. As for the other(s), Didio may simply be referring to the 3-issue miniseries, Blackest Night: The Flash, which starts in November. DC hasn’t announced the creative team for that book, either, so they could be planning to announce the mini and the ongoing together.

But what if he is talking about something more ambitious? What might a second Flash-related book be?

  • Kid Flash, starring Bart Allen?
  • Flash Family, starring Wally West and the twins?
  • Flashback (i.e. Flash: Classified), featuring stories of Barry, Wally, and/or Jay in times gone by?
  • All-Flash, starring a speedster team or rotating cast?
  • The Rogues, starring…well…the Rogues?

What else would you like to see? What else would you expect to see?

(via @collecteditions)

Flash News from Wizard World and HeroesCon (Updated)

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A few interesting notes from this weekend’s conventions, HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina and WizardWorld Philadelphia.

Wednesday Comics

Newsarama’s writeup of DC Nation at HeroesCon has the most direct Flash news. Ian Sattler showed of a copy of Wednesday Comics and talked about the series:

Sattler said that the Flash story features Flash Comics on the top of the page and Iris West Comics on the bottom half, but halfway through the story, the two meet and join, as the Flash literally and figuratively “runs” into Iris’ story.

I love this idea. It’s the kind of thing that only really makes sense in a comic-book format, as well. If you did it as a movie, it would just be alternating scenes with each protagonist until they meet.

Kid Flash

Newsarama also says that when a fan asked Ethan Van Sciver why Superboy gets a new series but Kid Flash doesn’t, the artist responded, “We’re going to make you so happy in Rebirth.”

From the way it was presented, it sounds like a non-sequitur. Presumably he means that Bart Allen will have a bigger role in the second half of the miniseries. I don’t really expect to turn to the last page of issue #6 and see a Kid Flash series announced, though certainly stranger things have happened.

The other item of interest comes from Wizard World Philadelpha. CBR’s writeup of Philly’s DC Nation included a segment in which Dan Didio talked about Teen Titans.

DiDio said fans will start seeing a more stable team starting with issue #75, adding that a “couple of returning characters are going to be coming back in”

Now, I’m probably reading too much into this, but Superboy and Kid Flash both returned pretty recently. How many Teen Titans readers would like to see them back on the team?

Following Through

Update: CBR’s article on HeroesCon’s DC Nation has a few details missing from the Newsarama version.

First, Ethan Van Sciver talked more about Flash: Rebirth:

“It’s the best thing to be doing right now,” Van Sciver said. “Geoff Johns and I have a very large vision for these characters.” He said they’re planting “little tentpoles” and have big plans for Bart Allen.

This puts the other remark about Bart into context…though of course, what those plans might be remain in the “wait and see” corner.

A fan also asked EVS about the fate of Rival, and he simply said, “What happens in the Speed Force stays in the Speed Force.”

Another fan wanted Barry Allen to wear bow ties in Justice League of America, but new artist Mark Bagley declined, saying he (Bagley? Barry?) “doesn’t own a single tie.”

Seriously, what is it with the bow tie?